Futurama: "Naturama" Review

Warning: Full spoilers for the episode to follow.

For this year's midseason finale, Futurama went full-on fauna in "Naturama." Depicting three harrowing tales through the lens of a National Geographic-esque documentary series, we watched as the Planet Express crew lived their sexually-driven lives as various forms of wildlife. All of these vignettes were also narrated by Phil LaMarr, who delivered a Morgan Freeman-inspired performance throughout.

Kicking things off was "The Salmon," which presented our heroes as fishy counterparts. Of the three, this was probably the strongest story, structurally, and utilized the most interplay with LaMarr's voiceover. The incorporation of the salmon's habitual life cycle offered some interesting and often times heartwarming obstacles for Fry, who oh so desperately wished he could travel to the other side of the stream to mate with his true love.

From a visual standpoint, "The Pinta Island Tortoise" had the most eye-catching interpretations of the characters, with the Professor as the titular tortoise, Bender as a lackadaisical iguana and the Planet Express crew as zippy little finches. "The Elephant Seal" felt the least inventive, although it arguably had the best cameo from Zoidberg as a friendly squid. ("Hooray! We're three friends at the beach!")

Of course, half the fun of this episode was seeing how each character was portrayed as a different animal, some of the best coming from little cameos like Lrrr as "Brrr" the bear or Sal as a slithering python. Just the subtleties of the character designs were enough to draw your attention. Overall, this was definitely a refreshing and creative way to liven up the ensemble cast.

Most notably, though, these stories were almost depressingly true to nature. While "The Salmon" and "The Elephant Seal" had slightly hopeful conclusions, "The Pinta Island Tortoise" was easily the most dismal. This is not so much a complaint as it is a nod to the authenticity and comedy of nature's twisted circle of life. It also felt somewhat in keeping with the series, which has been known to drop the occasional bittersweet ending. All things considered, "Naturama" was certainly an enjoyable and entertaining concept.

Max Nicholson is a writer for IGN, and he desperately seeks your approval. Show him some love on Twitter and IGN.

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