10 Funniest Christmas TV Specials To Watch This Holiday Season
8. Futurama - Xmas Story
Xmas Story is arguably the first great episode Futurama made, depending on whether you’d put Space Pilot 3000 and Hell Is Other Robots in that category. Follow up Christmas episode A Tale Of Two Santas doesn’t quite recapture the magic, and the less said about The Futurama Holiday Spectacular the better.
Comparisons aside, Xmas Story stands on its own as a fantastic Futurama episode. Robot Santa and Tiny Tim are two brilliant characters introduced here who stay in the Futurama canon for years to come. It introduces a creative and complex Xmas (pronounced ‘ex-mass’ if you have to ax) lore that folds in nicely to the wider mythology of the year 3000.
Making Robot Santa the villain of the piece was inspired, and it was great to see the first glimpses of Fry and Leela connecting. They hadn’t leaned on them both being alone since introducing it in the pilot, and Xmas is the perfect time to bring it back.
As you’d expect, the writing is as slick as ever with Fry debating whether to buy Leela a parrot or a swarm of lizards being vintage Fry. Girls like swarms of things, right?