Futurama: Volume One
Set in the year 3000,Futuramais the acme of sci-fi animated  sitcom fromSimpsonscreator Matt Groening. While not as universally  popular asThe Simpsons,Futuramais equally hip and hilarious,  thanks to its zippy lateral-thinking contemporary pop cultural references,  celebrity appearances (Pamela Anderson and Leonard Nimoy are among a number of  guest stars to appear as disembodied heads in jars), and Bender, a distinctly  Homer Simpson-esque robot. Part ofFuturama's charm is that with decades  of sci-fi junk behind us, we've effectively been living with the distant future  for years and can now have fun with it. Hence, the series stylishly jumbles  motifs ranging fromLost in Space-style kitsch to the grim dystopia ofBlade Runner. It also bridges the gap between the impossible dreams of  your average science fiction fan and the slobbish reality of their comic  reading, TV-watching existence. Groening himself distinguishes his two series  thus: "The Simpsonsis fictional.Futuramais real."The opening season (premiered in 1999) sees nerdy pizza delivery boy Fry  transferred to the 31st century in a cryogenic mishap. There, he meets the  beautiful, one-eyed Leela (voiced byMarried with Children's Katey Sagal)  and the incorrigible alcoholic robot Bender. The three of them join Fry's great  (great, great, etc.) nephew Professor Farnsworth and work in his intergalactic  delivery service. Hyper-real yet strangely recognizable situations ensue--Fry  discovers he's a billionaire thanks to 1,000 years' accrued interest, Leela must  fend off the attentions of Captain Kirk-like Lothario Zapp Brannigan, and Fry  accidentally drinks the ruler of a strange planet of liquid beings.--David  Stubbs