Futurama 11×1 Review: ‘The Impossible Stream’

Futurama is back, baby, and the first episode is all meta! Here are my thoughts about Futurama season 11 episode 1 ‘The Impossible Stream’.

I was provided with free advanced screeners for Futurama season 11 for review. The opinions I have shared are my own.

The story of Futurama is of the little cartoon sitcom that could. Originally released on the Fox network way back in 1999, the show became a cult classic. The show got canceled. Got revived on Comedy Central. And canceled again. Fortunately, it was announced in February 2022 that Hulu would revive the series for an 11th season.

Fast forward to July 2023, and the first episode of the latest season is like the show never left. We’ve got the usual suspects of characters (and their respective original voice actors) and we’re still living in the future. Except – the show takes what’s happened in mind and makes a joke about time standing still for the past ten years.

That’s just the first of many self-referential jokes the debut episode makes throughout the series. The plot of ‘The Impossible Stream’ has Fry (Billy West) hooked into ‘the streaming’ after he sets a goal of watching every TV show ever made. He manages to make it through all but one, the soap opera All My Circuits. But wait – the show has been canceled, and revived, and canceled again, and hasn’t been on in ten years! So they go to “Fulu” to revive the series to keep Fry going.

Yep – the show goes there, making fun of its history in the plot of this season’s opening episode. But of course, that’s not the first time Futurama has done this, and it almost wouldn’t be the show fans love if the creative team didn’t make some sort of commentary. Futurama has always been very eager to break the fourth wall. And that wasn’t going to change for the latest installment.

The current iteration is quick on the humor and seems to be the same show as before. The formula hasn’t gone stale and the narrative still zings.

So, if you like Futurama, you’ll be happy with this… reboot? Sequel? Extension?

Futurama airs Mondays, and more information can be found on Hulu’s website.

Author: Angie Fiedler Sutton

Angie Fiedler Sutton is a writer, podcaster, and all-round fangirl geek. She has been published in Den of Geek, Stage Directions, LA Weekly, The Mary Sue, and others.

She also produces her own podcast, Contents May Vary, where she interviews geeky people about geeky things. You can see all her work (and social media channels) at angiefsutton.com.

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