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Futurama Reviews: S10E02 -"The World is Hot Enough"

In spite of its far-future setting, Futurama has always been a show in conversation with the present and sometimes in very glaring ways. Yet I don’t think it has ever been so overtly preachy as in “The World is Hot Enough”. To be clear, this is by design, the episode was no doubt structured to be a dressing down through both satire and direct confrontation of our world’s lack of climate action and the irreversible harm that is being done to both the planet and its ability to sustain us. The ‘Climatastrophy’ -a seeming apocalypse from about the mid-21st century- is nebulously alluded to several times through the episode and what the people of that time could have done were they not so stupid.
It is oftentimes very fair, the derisiveness this episode demonstrates towards modern humanity and it makes for a novelty -though it lacks the sharpness and punch of say, the message episodes of BoJack Horseman, or even a few of Futurama’s earlier ones. And beyond that premise there isn’t anything really noteworthy or entertaining here.
Every year, Planet Express has been dropping a giant ice cube in the middle of the arctic as a preventative measure against climate change (a practice going back centuries until the events of “Crimes of the Hot” -presumably another source of giant ice has been found since then), but the Professor finds that the ice isn’t helping and that the Earth is warming at an alarming rate that requires immediate action. So he presents his findings at the annual Climate Research Organization Kegger, where we learn what progress there has been on climate action since “Crimes of the Hot” and more generally in the past thousand years -and it has not been great. Much to the annoyance of Bill Nye, nobody on Earth has managed to exceed climate goals (barring a handful of island nations that have sunk into the ocean). There are a couple good visual jokes showcasing the problem of even the well-intentioned -after leaving the ice cube the Planet Express engines on departure melt a chunk of it instantly, and all the ships arriving at the climate convention emit a foul smog. Dr. Banjo is brought in to once again be the avatar of dissenting opinion, running off a series of conservative objections and rhetorical points that writer Maiya Williams does a nice job representing with frustrating authenticity.
That authenticity ends of course the moment the Professor frames his data in a slightly more accessible way and then Fry makes a humane appeal that resonates. For as dysfunctional as the world of Futurama is, it can be bafflingly utopian at times. Fry’s suggestion of an anthem bringing the world together “like in his time” is actually a solid read on a character who grew up in the 1980s. It’s not by any means a new or clever joke but it allows Maurice Lamarche the rare opportunity to sing as Calculon (the song’s an okay parody). Very quickly of course this is deemed insufficient, the Professor ultimately deciding on an alternative approach to set off a volcano and blot out the sun. And where else do they go for this but Mount Vesuvius -cornucopia of easy gags. This is the only real section of the episode to have much in the way of action and stakes, as obviously the Planet Express ship finds itself with a short time window to set off the eruption. All the drama built out of this is fairly old-hat for Futurama by now -and some last words from Leela to Fry (who had to stay behind) fall dead without even a semblance of sincerity from either the script or the actors.
The reason Fry was not included in this mission has to do with his subplot, where in the arctic he adopts a pair of seemingly orphaned polar bear cubs and gets really into mothering him -indeed the episode hammers his self-identification as a mother so hard it goes from tiresome to deeply annoying (and borderline offensive). The gags around this are not funny beyond their entertainment of the idea of what Fry might look like as a parent -though even this often just has him raising them like a bear until the mama comes back in the end. Oh, and we see the biologist character brought back from the dead to rail more abuse at animals.
The episode ends on a note of the Earth now having to set off one volcano a week from now until the end of time and a black volcanic winter setting in with snow of toxic ash. But of course the real kicker is that none of this was necessary. As often happens for the genius Professor, he misread his own data, which, wouldn’t you know it, was from 2025 instead of 3025. As Fry and the Professor expound on how people from that era could have been so dumb to ignore such a dire situation, you find yourself envying Fry for dodging that bullet.
It is again not unwarranted -but for an episode that features Bill Nye, “The World is Hot Enough” doesn’t pair its stern climate warning with much of the fun promised. Some good jokes here and there and some potent commentary, but a fairly disjointed and -unfortunately for its cause- forgettable episode otherwise.
Now a few stray observations:
  • Kudos for resisting Al Gore this time. I figured he’s got a contract guaranteeing he appear in every mildly climate-themed Futurama outing. Bill Nye was a good substitute, and between fighting Nixon and his almost dying observation “these jars really should have lids on them” he had a couple of the episode’s relatively few good jokes.
  • What exactly does Amy’s business bikini look like? We see her arctic bikini.
  • “But our children will inherit a world that’s uninhabitable!” “That’s our children’s problem.” The fact that a powerful figure in our actual world could likely make that remark without consequence is horribly chilling.
  • The meta comment about cartoons making science fun-ny I fear was a self-fulfilling prophecy in the Professor’s dismissing it as something that wouldn’t work.
  • Fry’s pleading statement about Earth being “our only home” is fittingly rebutted by Amy -a Martian, but it does also point to an aspect of the climate debate in this world that the show is unwilling to engage with. There are indeed plenty of other habitable worlds out there -which I’m sure would fuel the arguments of climate skeptics. Factoring their own resources, Earth’s alliances and what that could mean for the climate is a heavy slew of concepts to fit into one episode, but I think a little more creativity on that front was warranted.
  • Who was that 80s-Style Celebrity Head voiced by Lauren Tom? There was a time when Futurama could get a relevant celebrity or use their name for a joke like that. It feels like they are a little cagier now and can’t attract the celebrities they once could.
  • I see the Diamondium vs. Diamondilium war continues to rage between Farnsworth and Wernstrom.
  • “Those poor innocent morons” -Us. Incidentally, I’m fairly certain -especially by how the episode frames it- that all that data the Professor presented is indeed the accurate climate data for the time the episode was produced. In fact, since then and its release it has probably gotten worse.
  • “People of my time…” Fry, 2025 was not your time. You were frozen in 1999, a whole half-century has passed, you don’t know shit about 2025!
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