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Futurama

Author: Matt Groening

Matt Groening is one of the true geniuses of the last century. The Simpsons alone, with its incredible variety of stories and concepts, not to mention The X-Files cross-own episode, is worthy of his inclusion in the Hall of Fame, but it is Futurama that runs with the science fiction ball the further. It's a story that takes elements of a hundred years of scifi storytelling, mixes it with a hundred years of animation traditions, and then adds a surrealist layer of weird right over top of the whole thing. And, as is often the case, it's the characters that we come to love. Fry, a sleeper who has awakened on the cusp of the 31st century, Leela, a one-eyed and gorgeous ship captain, Bender, and alcohol-fueled bending robot, and even the lobster-man, Dr. John Zoidberg, all are incredibly well-developed, and in ways that are not often found in half-hour cartoons.  The episodes tell brillaint stories, and sometimes go into dark places, but they always remember that it's a cartoon. From talking heads in jars, to loveable, world-eating pets, it's a series that just runs with it! Why it's on the list: Funny, and weird, if you want to understand what's cool in scifi, watch Futurama!