Hello all, and welcome once again to my all-encompassing rant about my favorite couples that were given "the shaft" by TPTB. I apologize to everyone who've been watching this page but nothing had happened in almost a year. So, here's some good news, everyone! Today, I'm focusing on another one of my favorites from one of the better series to spiral out of the early 2000s.

Couple #7: Fry/Leela (Futurama)

Philip J. Fry is one of the main characters in the "Futurama" series. He is a delivery boy who, after stumbling into a cryogenic freezer, wakes up in the year 3000 to start his life over as... a delivery boy. Although depicted as lacking common sense or ambition at times, Fry has sometimes demonstrated that he could amount to anything if he wanted to. Along the way, he would make friends out of booze-drinking, compulsive gambling, overall bad influence of a robot named Bender. But the better part of his experience in the future would come in the form of Turanga Leela.


Leela is the cool-headed mutant cyclops pilot of the group's delivery ship for Planet Express and also the first person Fry meets upon entering the future. She, at first, treated him and Bender coolly and brushed off Fry's not-so secret affections for her. As time went on, and after saving her life on several occasions, she would begin to slowly warm up to him and become something of a casual friend. In spite of several not-so subtle hints throughout the series, Leela refuses to admit to any attraction to her easy-going friend. In several episodes, however, it took either a desperate situation or altering Fry's personality for either of them to finally come to terms with it.

(WARNING!!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!)

In the film, "Bender's Big Score", Leela is introduced to Lars, who works at the Head Museum, and falls deeply in love with him. It turns out that he is in fact a version of Fry who is now twelve years older and much more mature. To escape aliens who brainwashed Bender and conned Earth in a (absolutely brilliant) internet scam, and to avoid any trace of Leela and Lars's relationship, Fry returned to the 2000s by using a time code tattoo (on his butt???) and lived twelve more years. He had grown up in that time, finally understanding Leela's needs, and refroze himself after narrowly avoiding getting killed by Bender. After becoming Lars, he would ultimately sacrifice himself to save the lives of Leela and the current Fry. Whether the two would still become involved in a relationship in spite of this remains to be seen.

(UPDATED SPOILER ALERT!)

In the film "Into the Wild Green Yonder", Fry gets the ability to read minds and Leela gets involved in a group opposed to a giant miniature golf course being built over a planetoid housing every endangered species in existence. After getting blamed for killing the headless body of Vice President Spirow Agnew, she shares a rare and touching moment with Fry before she leaves. Later, the two meet again and Leela can't decide if she can trust Fry after he gets blamed for killing the group's founder, Frieda Waterfall (yes, ANOTHER Waterfall relative but hopefully the last one). She eventually decides to finally trust him after trying to stop Amy's father from blowing up the star the planetoid was in orbit of (which turns out to be a giant space sperm and egg and creates a giant talking manta ray). In the last scene, as the Planet Express crew tries to flee the stupidity of Zapp Brannigan (for the umpteenth time), Leela FINALLY bits the bullet and admits that she loves Fry. They kiss briefly just before the Planet Express ship flies into a wormhole to parts unknown.

(END SPOILERS!!! RESUME READING!!!)

(WHY DO I LIKE THIS COUPLE?)

What's not to like? Fry and Leela share a very complex relationship which is extremely rare. Although Fry make an honest (but sometimes misguided) effort to understand the cyclops captain, she covers her own attraction to him with either flimsy excuses or trying to be interested in other men. In one episode, it was a similar choice that would make her sleep with Zapp Brannigan (who now has the rank of Level-1 stalker/annoying nusiance) but THAT is another rant entirely. In either case, the day Fry finally matures and Leela begins to see it in him is the day they can FINALLY start a new life as an official couple.

(Recommended Artists)

coldangel1 (One of THE BEST Futurama artists I've ever seen and a good artist in general. He draws the best Fry/Leela stuff.)

(Recommended Sites)

Futurama Madhouse [link] (It's a HUGE storehouse for not just Fry/Leela art but has some gret info on the series as well. Check it out when you get the chance!)

"This is gonna be fun on a bun!"
-Bender, Futurama