Warning: Spoilers ahead forFuturamaseason 12, episode 5, “One is Silicon and the Other Gold.“Futuramaseason 12, episode 5, “One is Silicon and the Other Gold,” focuses mainly on Leela’s story, but the installment also reveals a harsh truth about the animated sitcom’s formula. The show’s latest run marks the second time it has been rescued from cancelation, and by two different studios.The Hulu era has been divisive so far, as while some ofFuturama’s strengths have shone through, many of its weaknesses have also been on display. One of these downsides has been highlighted in “One is Silicon and the Other Gold.”
Leela has been at the heart of some ofFuturama’s best episodes, so while there is clearly nothing wrong with her character, the show makes it difficult for her to interact with a certain group of individuals within the show’s lore. Katey Sagal remaining in place as the voice of Leela in theFuturamacastthroughout the sitcom’s various runs has allowed the character an impressive level of consistency. However,there’s one negative facet to Leela’s story that can’t be ignored.
10 Best Non-Human Characters On Futurama
There is no shortage of brilliant Futurama characters, but the non-human roles often make a bigger impact than their terrestrial counterparts.
Futurama Season 12 Admits The Show’s Lack Of Female Characters With Leela’s Book Club
The “Girls of the Grape” is populated with some very minor characters
The main story inFuturamaseason 12, episode 5, is about Leela feeling as though she has a lack of female friends. It’s probably true, as the only female character she’s shown regularly interacting with is Amy Wong, and the pair don’t seem particularly close. WhenLeela joins an all-woman book-turned-wine clubto rectify this issue, it’s populated with some very minor characters. This showcases how few female characters there are inFuturamafor Leela to realistically befriend.
Amy Wong and LaBarbara Conrad are the two most recognizable members of the self-titled, “Girls of the Grape.”
Amy Wong and LaBarbara Conrad are the two most recognizable members of the self-titled, “Girls of the Grape” of course, other than Leela. While the point of the group is for Leela to make new friends, the less-familiar faces are seen on the show incredibly rarely.Dr. Lauren Cahill and Vyolet the Mutant are incredibly scarcely-used charactersin theFuturamauniverse, and Phoebe is brand-new and introduced for narrative reasons. The overall effect of such a patchwork group of characters is that it’s very unrewarding.
Tress MacNeille voices Lauren, Vyolet, and Phoebe.
Futurama’s All-Male Book Club Story Works Far Better For 1 Key Reason
The “Brothers of the Book” story is much funnier because of its use of established Futurama characters
Feeling left out of the girls' book club, all the male members of the Planet Express team start their own group to discuss literature. What’s interesting here is thatthe “Brothers of the Book” consists of almost every main character inFuturama. The overall scenario is very similar to Leela’s book club, in that all the members are hilariously ambivalent toward reading, but the interactions are much funnier because all the characters and their personalities are much more familiar and significantly more fleshed out.
8 Things That Happen In Every Episode Of Futurama
Futurama’s formula allows several things to happen again and again without feeling stale, with certain repeat events getting funnier each time.
The Brothers of the Book aren’t necessarily funnier because they’re men, but rather because viewers are watching established characters interact in a new way. The Girls of the Grape lack this massive advantage, as none of the characters other than Leela and Amy appear on the show with any real regularity. If there were more female characters as part of the main cast inFuturama, this disparity would be much less present.
1
2
3
4
Beauty and the Bug
5
One is Silicon and the Other Gold
6
Attack of the Clothes
7
8
9
10
Futurama
Cast
Futurama is an animated science fiction series that follows Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy from late-20th-century New York City. He is accidentally cryogenically frozen for a thousand years and becomes an employee at Planet Express, a delivery service in the retro-futuristic 31st century.
