The 30 best cartoons even adults can enjoy

7. Futurama

Futurama undoubtedly owes much of its existence to The Simpsons. However, while the animation is similar and Matt Groening created both of them, Futurama has a lot more in common with classic sci-fi movies and TV shows. Honestly, from the start, the origin of Futurama has one of the saddest moments in cartoon history.

Fry is a pizza delivery boy who heads out one day to deliver a pizza and falls into a cryogenic pod, frozen for 999 years. In the future, he wakes up and learns that time had passed and he met new friends, including the one-eyed Leela, alcoholic robot Bender, and brilliant Professor. Together, they have adventures, and while the entire series is family friendly, the humor is perfect for adults, with satire, black comedy, surrealism and a parody of today’s world in a futuristic society.

However, it was the writing and the heart that the show possessed that makes Futurama so great. Go back to the sad moment mentioned earlier. When Fry went to deliver his pizza, he left his dog waiting for him at the restaurant. Fry never returned. In the future, Professor planned to bring the dog back to life but told Fry the dog lived to be 15, despite Fry leaving when it was three. Fry decided the dog lived a happy life without him, but the final scene showed the dog waiting outside the pizza shop for 12 years for Fry to return before lying down to die. Those moments make this one of the best cartoons of all time.

Futurama lasted four seasons before Fox canceled it. It returned in 2009 to Comedy Central for three more seasons and a total of 140 episodes.