REVIEW - Futurama - S07E23 - 'Game of Tones'

The other week I was concerned that Futurama had lost it's touch, but this week's episode blew that concern right out of the water. 'Game of Tones' was equal parts amusing and touching, and reminded me of not only how great the show once was, but how great it still can be. Futurama still has so much potential, so many more stories to tell... It just made this episode all the sadder when you realise how close the show is to ending.

A mysterious spaceship has been blasting a loud melody through space, threatening to destroy planet earth. No one has heard this tone before, except for Fry. The Professor uses a dream machine to enable Fry to relive the day he first heard that melody (December 31st, 1999 - the day Fry got frozen) in the hopes they will be able to find out what it is and stop it. Fry is annoyed that he has to relive a part of his old life, since he hated so many aspects of it, but then he starts seeing old friends, family, and Seymour... Perhaps Fry has just been telling himself all this time that he hated his old life so that he wouldn't miss it as much? With the world about to end, and Fry refusing to leave his dream family, can anything be done to save planet earth?

There were so many things about this episode I loved - the witty one-liners ("Back in my day, sound didn't travel through space"), seeing more old characters (especially 'noticeably F-A-T'), the visual gags (the eiffel tower scene), the parodies (shazzam), the inventions (thought spikes) - but the thing I loved the most was just how touching the episode was as a whole (that end scene... *sniff*). This has always been one of Futurama's great strengths, its ability to seamlessly weave comedy and sadness together to make you appreciate and empathise with the characters. There are only three episodes to go until Futurama is over, and boy am I hoping FOX picks the show up again...

Review by Heather Bale.