The fourth season of Futurama began airing on February 10, 2002 and concluded after 18 episodes on August 10, 2003.
The complete 18 episodes of the season have been released on a box set called Futurama: Volume Four, on DVD and VHS. It was first released in Region 2 on November 24, 2003, with releases in other regions following in 2004. The season was re-released as Futurama: Volume 4, with entirely different packaging to match the newer season releases on July 17, 2012.[1]
This is the last season that composer, Christopher Tyng, used a live orchestra before switching to a produced score, starting with Season 5. This is also the last season of the show to air on Fox, and the last season of the show's original run.
Amy's relationship with Kif leads to pregnancy... Kif being the pregnant one. But Amy fears that she will not be able to handle the burdens of motherhood, much to Kif's dismay.
When Bender disposes nuclear waste in the sewers, the angry mutants drag him, Fry, and Leela down to the depths to be mutated. As they attempt to escape, two hooded figures manage to convince the mutants to let them go, and it's through chasing after these two that Leela discovers that the lost homeworld she's been looking for all her life has been much closer than she thought.
After landing a major contract with a romance factory in Wisconsin and using the money to update the company, Bender falls deeply in love with the Planet Express ship autopilot's female voice setting (voiced by Sigourney Weaver). Meanwhile, Fry searches for the perfect candy heart to properly convey his feelings for Leela.
Dr. Zoidberg's mysterious miracle cream gives Fry and Leela superpowers. Teaming up with Bender, they form the New Justice Team, under the respective alter egos of Captain Yesterday, Clobberella, and Super King. But Leela's new duties as a superheroine put a strain on her relationship with her parents.
When Zoidberg publicly devours an Earth flag on Freedom Day, he is sentenced to death for his anarchic behavior. In protest, the Decapodians come to Zoidberg's aid by invading Earth, teaching the populace the true meaning of freedom.
"All My Circuits" holds an audition to replace the part of Calculon's son after the original actor has a literal breakdown on-set, and Bender lands the part, despite not being a child robot actor. Soon, Bender's uninhibited behavior proves to be a bad influence on children, and an outraged Bender leads a protest group to get himself banned from the airwaves.
Fry discovers his dog Seymour is being exhibited in a museum as a fossil, and takes it to Professor Farnsworth's lab to be revived. However, Bender is displeased with the lack of attention he has been receiving and becomes increasingly jealous of Seymour's fossil.
The rapid increase in global warming (despite Leela telling Fry that nuclear winter canceled it out on "Xmas Story") is traced to a ventilation flaw that Professor Farnsworth failed to correct in his first robot prototype. As a result, all robots are ordered to be destroyed, but Bender refuses to go without a fight after adopting a turtle.
The crew's attempts to de-age Professor Farnsworth result in everyone returning to their more youthful stages. While Farnsworth seeks out a way to re-age the crew, the newly-teenaged Leela takes the opportunity to experience the parental childhood she never had.
Still unable to impress Leela, Fry sadly suspects that he has no importance in life - until Nibbler takes him on a mission to prevent the brains (last seen on "The Day The Earth Stood Stupid") from destroying the universe. In the process, Fry learns what really happened when he was cryogenically frozen on December 31, 1999.
Fry leads the crew on a quest across the galaxy to regain the forbidden 79 episodes of "Star Trek: The Original Series", where they encounter the original cast of the show - as well as their captor, an obsessive energy being named Melllvar.
A mission to collect honey from deadly space bees leads to Fry's death from a stinger. Leela, who is wracked with remorse, soon finds solace in eating space bee honey, where she can meet Fry in her dreams. But as the hallucinations intensify, Leela must fight her addiction to the honey.
In order to compete in the Fembot's division of the 3004 Olympics, Bender is surgically rebuilt to become a woman named Coilette. Her trashy behavior angers Leela and Amy, who thinks she's making women look bad, but catches the eye of Calculon, with whom she develops a strong and confusing celebrity relationship.
Bender is incompatible with Professor Farnsworth's new Robot 1-X, but rather than get an upgrade, Bender escapes to a desert island to start his life anew. There, he meets several other outdated robots and receives a downgrade, then leads his new comrades in a rebellion against technology.
Professor Farnsworth forbids the crew to look inside a mysterious box. Leela can't resist taking a peek, discovering the box to be a gateway to a parallel universe.
During a camping trip, Fry is abducted by aliens, who harvest his nose as an aphrodisiac. The crew traces Fry's missing nose to Lrrr, leader of the Omicronians, who decides that Fry's "lower horn" would be a much better aphrodisiac to jump start his stagnant marriage with Ndnd.
Desperate to learn how to play the holophonor in order to impress Leela, Fry swaps hands with the Robot Devil. He goes on to become a skilled holophonor player, winning Leela's heart and penning an opera about her life story, but the Robot Devil still has a trick or two up his sleeve.
Reception
The fourth season was met with critical acclaim and remains popular among the show's fanbase. Andy Patrizio of IGN wrote a positive review of the season, giving it a score of 8 out of 10.[20]
Optional full-length commentaries on all 18 episodes, plus one bonus commentary featuring Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, and the writers on "Jurassic Bark".
