After 13 Seasons, Futurama's Best Episode Remains Unmatched

Even a cartoon can remind you it's okay to cry. With 30 award wins and 58 nominations under its belt, sci-fi-comedy "Futurama" and its tale of a pizza delivery boy traveling 1,000 years into the future doesn't just deliver the laughs — it delivers emotions, as well. However, even for a series with a 13-season run (and counting), one episode stands above the others according to IMDb. While the episode doesn't hold a perfect 10 rating — very few shows do — it's still the top dog.

The "Futurama" episode "Jurassic Bark" is the highest-ranking episode of the series on IMDb, and its tale of a man making a difficult decision about his faithful companion is a heavy-hitter. As if the episode won't already have you clutching your beloved pet, a producer for the series also revealed in an interview that the original premise was far more grim. Fortunately, catching "Jurassic Bark" on streaming is easy, so you can see for yourself why this may be the case.

In a 2015 review for AV Club, critic Zack Handlen said about "Jurassic Bark" that "The brutality of this half hour is simply astonishing. It's a kind of brutality we almost never see on television, because it's not particularly dramatic or shocking." We were thrilled when "Futurama" was brought back for the third time in 2023, and we're thrilled that the series is returning for a 14th season in 2026. It may be hard for the series to top "Jurassic Bark." but it's going to be great to see those behind the series do their best to try.

If you're unfamiliar, Season 5, Episode 2 of "Futurama" is "Jurassic Bark." In the episode, Fry (Billy West) discovers that his dog Seymour has been fossilized after last seeing him 1,000 years ago. Missing his faithful companion, Professor Farnsworth (also Billy West) informs Fry that he can potentially clone the animal, giving him a new life in the future. We won't spoil it from here, but let's just say this episode is big on feelings. The episode not only earned the series an Emmy nomination, but it also won over the internet, as well. Well, IMDb, at least.

Checking the user ratings of "Futurama" episodes on IMDb, "Jurassic Bark" has a 9.5-star rating with over 7,700 reviews. However, Season 10, Episode 13, "Meanwhile," — in which the Professor creates a device that allows people to travel back in time by 10 seconds — isn't too far behind, with a 9.5-star rating and 5,100 votes. For what it's worth, Season 3, Episode 10, "The Luck of the Fryish," in which Fry must recover his 7-leaf clover, holds the bronze.

As emotional as "Jurassic Bark" may be, the episode was originally going to kick things up a notch, as it was originally going to be his mother that Fry discovered was fossilized. However, writer and producer Eric Kaplan revealed in an interview with Mel Magazine that executive producer David Cohen found it to be too "gruesome." Given how "Jurassic Park" ends, this may have been for the best. You can find "Futurama" streaming on Hulu alongside one of the most underrated sci-fi horror movies ever made.