A cartoon show isn’t supposed to make you cry. I can honestly say that in twenty years, I’ve never seen a The Simpsons
WARNING: This list will spoil these episodes for you if you haven’t seen them. Also, if you have seen them, this list alone might make you cry.
5. The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings – Desperate to get Leela’s attention and prove his love for her, Fry makes a deal with the robot devil to switch hands in order to play the holophonor.Of course, being a deal with the devil, things don’t go according to plan. Yet in the end, when Fry gets his hands back and can no longer play as beautifully as he wanted, Leela asks him to finish his song. The moment comes in the end, when a crudely-manifested version of Fry and Leela walk off into the distance. This moment was made a lot sadder when it seemed like the episode would be the end of the series forever, but Comedy Central revived the series.
4. The Sting – When Fry is apparently killed by a giant space bee, Leela finds herself tormented by hallucinations of Fry begging her to wake up. Leela awakens to find herself in the hospital. It turns out that Fry was only wounded, and Leela has been comatose and dreaming. The moment is when we find out that Fry is not only alive, but has been at her bedside for weeks, talking to her in hopes that his voice will bring her back, which it did. This moment touches us because the whole episode is about how Leela copes with losing Fry, but it turns out that Fry’s love and devotion for Leela is so much deeper.
3. Luck of the Fryrish – When Fry goes on a quest to find his beloved seven-leaf clover, he finds an ancient statue that looks like him with a seven-leaf clover, and dedicated to “Phillip J. Fry – First Person on Mars.” Enraged by the belief that his older brother Yancy stole his clover, his name, and his dream of going to Mars, Fry heads out to find the grave. In the end, Fry discovers that what he thought was a final jab was really a dedication to him. Yancy missed Fry so much that he named his son after Phillip, and Philip J. Fry II was the one who achieved Fry’s dream. It tugs at us because just when Fry thought his brother hated him, it turns out Yancy loved him more than he ever knew.
2. Leela’s Homeworld– This episode reveals the
true origins of Leela; that she’s not an alien at all, but a mutant.
Since mutants are forbidden to live above ground, her parents secretly
placed her in the orphanarium so she would have a better life. The end
shows a montage of Leela’s childhood and adolescence. It shows her
parents’ hands and tentacles coming out of the walls at various moments
to care for her; stopping her from falling down stairs, covering her
with a blanket, leaving a birthday gift for her, etc. It touches us
because we see that Leela has always felt alone, but in reality, she was
never alone – her parents were always there.
1. Jurassic Bark – Well, you knew this was coming. Of all the episodes, Jurassic Bark is the one that gets Futurama fans the most. Some fans won’t even watch this episode again or will skip past the ending. The story is about Fry finding the fossilized remains of his beloved dog Seymour in the 20th Century. Professor Farnsworth attempts to bring the dog back to life, until Fry discovers that Seymour is much older than he remembered. Fry stops the experiment, believing that Seymour lived long after him, and doesn’t want to interfere with what he assumes are happy memories. The moment is a montage of Seymour sitting outside Panucci’s Pizza, waiting, as the years go by, until the dog lies down and closes his eyes. Why does this moment capture us? Because Seymour spent the rest of his life faithfully waiting for Fry, the essence of every dog’s devotion to its master. It also gets us choked up knowing that if Fry hadn’t stopped the process, Seymour could have seen him again.
Did any of these episodes make you cry? Any other episodes that moved you?
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<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="40884 ">27 Comments
This is the ultimate cartoon, for me. It's science-fiction-y, hilarious, and yeah, because of these types of touching episodes. I'm one of those who can't re-watch Jurassic Bark because it just about done me in when I first saw it. But The Sting…that's my all-time fave when it comes to the Leela-Fry thing. For me, that's their ultimate episode, for the character duo.
Great picks…all of these are tear jerkers.
luck of the fryrish should be #1, but all in all an awesome list
Time Keeps on Slippin when Bender is rejected from the Globe Trotters. Kidding. The moment when Leela misses the moment that made her fall in love with Fry.
Jurassic Bark definitely earned 1st place. I cried just remembering that episode..
dont' forget the Fry and the Space Worms… when Fry was willing to give up "perfection of himself" to see if Leela loved him or what the worms were making him.
Not as much of a tear causer as some of these, but it definitely deserved consideration.
(But yeah, Jurassic Bark is the ultimate tear jerker)
One of the new episodes from Season 6 is actually rather touching as well. Episode 6, The Lethal Inspection where Bender finds out he's mortal and travels to Mexico with Hermes to find out who inspector #5 is so he can "kick his a$$." It's revealed in a flashback that Hermes was inspector #5 and he was supposed to terminate Bender for being faulty but let him "live." Granted, it's not as heart warming as these 5 episodes, but definitely in the top 10.
(Editor: Language)
I stupidly watched Jurassic Bark (having seen it before) a week after my dog died. I was a complete mess.
Every episode in this list has me in tears, every time I watch them. My daughter and her friend had a great laugh, waiting to see if I would still cry on watching Jurassic Bark for the twentieth time. I did not let them down.
The shipment of candy hearts?
That was a good one
That episode still holds up
Same thing with my brother
That was a good recent one
That song they play at the end with the flashbacks just kills me.
"Jurassic Bark" defines Futurama's timeless appeal.
I felt like that episode was them trying too hard to make a touching episode.
The episode when we find out who Inspector #5 is
Your brother watched it a soon after his dog died? Or did you watch it soon after, um — oh, never mind.
I'd say "The Late Philip J. Fry" is on the list, even if only in the top 20.
I cried so hard the day I watched Jurassic Bark…. although the song on Leela's Homeworld is the song I can relate to the most…. my gf and i were going through a hard time… and id call her and sing her the song or send her a message with the song in the link.. but it still makes me cry
Love and Rocket….
In 'Cold Warriors', it was sad to learn about what a great kid Fry was. Dumb, but as he said, "I may not have brains, but at least I have heart." Also, it was touching to hear Fry's dad tell him that he loved him, even though it didn't seem like it (most of the time).
I agree, the others were just so natural and unexpecting. This one was predictable and didn't really make sense. After 4 seasons, this problem just comes outta nowhere? Still liked it.
I'll admit the episode "Game of Tones" made me cry, where Fry got to spend one last moment with his mom. I thought that episode was on par with "Jurassic Bark" in terms of how touchingly sad it was.
I loved this show. I will miss it greatly.
I am one of the fans who wont even watch the episode with Fry's dog. I get choked up just reading about it.
I agree! When Fry just smiles at his mom and then hugs her, then she wakes up and looks at his picture…OMG i was trying so hard not to cry!
Because people were so upset about Jurassic Bark, they actually fixed it later, In one of the best time travel stories I've ever seen (title escapes me). A duplicate of Fry created by a time loop lives out his life in the 21st century. This means the dog actually lived with Fry his whole life. The scenes of him waiting for Fry are just like any dog waiting for it's person to come home every day. So were the years of loneliness part of an original time line that was erased and therefore never happened at all? You decide if both equally happened or only the final one where an "Instance of Fry" never left his dog.
What about "Game of Tones"??? *When fry get's to see his mom again after having never been able to see her before and ever again. I think that was pretty emotional wouldn't you guys agree?