Futurama Season 11 Brings Back The Angry Dome, One Of The Show's Best Random Gags
Episode 2 of "Futurama" season 11, "Children of a Lesser Bog," was a sequel to an episode from back in season 5, "Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch." Amy Wong (Lauren Tom) and Kif Kroker (Maurice LaMarche) had children, but Kif's species (the Amphibiosians) live as tadpoles in a swamp for 20 years before maturing. The episode took advantage of the real life time lapse by having Amy and Kif finally become new parents.
The latest episode, "Rage Against The Vaccine," again referenced "Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch," but only a minor gag from it. In that episode, Amy asks the Planet Express crew to drop her off to see Kif on their next delivery. Professor Farnsworth (Billy West) refuses and throws a tantrum: "We could but we won't! It's a spaceship, dammit, not a prom limousine!" Farnsworth is so furious he retreats to "The Angry Dome."
Cut to the Planet Express ship taking off while the Professor stews in a small glass dome on top of the company's office building. After the ship departs, the shot pans a smidge to the right and zooms in for about two seconds, giving us a closer glimpse of the Professor walking in circles and rambling incoherently.
"Futurama" always kills it with random, left-field humor, and the Angry Dome is one of the best examples of this. From its on-the-nose name to its hilariously singular purpose, everything about it is absurd. Actually showing Farnsworth in the Dome immediately afterwards plays the joke out just enough without it being too much. It helps that it comes left field. In the Professor's overblown reaction, he name-drops the Angry Dome like it's something we and the characters already know about. Then, the Dome is visible on the Planet Express building for the first and last time ... until now.
Beyond Angry Dome
The Angry Dome is well-remembered by fans despite its brief presence, so I understand the impulse to make another joke about it. However, "Rage Against The Vaccine" makes the Angry Dome plot relevant.
As you can tell from that title, the episode is a parody of the COVID-19 pandemic. Leela (Katey Sagal) is the first to pick up the virus, Explovid-23, which induces rage. Thus, the Professor orders her to be quarantined inside the Angry Dome; a vacuum tube sucks Leela up into the Dome, back on top of the Planet Express Building like it never left. The design has evolved though, now including a gray metallic foundation (instead of a green one) and a door. There's a two-second shot of Leela walking in circles and swearing, calling back to the Professor's original trip to the Dome.
Fry (Billy West) visits Leela and eventually decides he can't be apart from her, so he enters the Angry Dome to be with her even if he will contract the virus and get beaten up by the angry Leela. The couple are last seen worse for wear getting their vaccine shots.
Was bringing back the Angry Dome the right move? The original joke works because of how inexplicable the Dome is, so underlining the concept kind of undermines it. However, the joke was so long ago and so brief that many viewers probably won't pick up on the reference — barring "Futurama" scholars such as yours truly.
Maybe "Futurama" will bring back the Chamber of Understanding next.
New episodes of "Futurama" release on Hulu on Mondays.