Futurama Season 11 Episode 9 Review: The Prince and the Product

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series being covered here wouldn’t exist.

Futurama Season 11 Episode 9, “The Prince and the Product,” is a mixed bag consisting of clever gags and plot points that don’t necessarily make sense for the characters. 

This episode, written by Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, and Ari John Kaplan, features minimal plot regarding the main characters — at least, the characters as we know them. The “Prince of Space” plot seems like a side quest to the three storylines featuring the Planet Express crew as toys.

These Prince and King of Space characters are ones we’ve never seen before, but this shake-up gives us something new. However, we spend too little time with this alien species for us to care about them one way or another. 

As such, Leela’s sudden infatuation with the Prince of Space (Phil LaMarr) is ludicrous and is only briefly explained at the end of the episode. Leela’s longtime love, Fry, is pushed to the side and forced to be a bystander for this part. 

And, when Fry takes action, it doesn’t fit his character. Sure, he has always wanted Leela to be happy. But after everything Fry and Leela have been through, it’s not believable that Fry would not only let Leela’s new relationship slide but would go out of his way to advocate for it. 

During a moment meant to be climactic, we get a quick aside from Fry about him being Leela’s “one true love.” And, while they do end up [back] together by the end of the episode, the detour from their relationship is disappointing. 

This episode features three toy variations: Windos, Round Wheels, and Rubber Ducks. Even though these toy versions of beloved characters are quirky, they retain the personalities and relationships we’ve come to know. 

These alternate versions of Futurama characters have been seen on previous episodes throughout the show’s long run, but never quite like this. Sure, we saw alternate/parallel universes on Futurama Season 5 Episode 10, “The Farnsworth Parabox,” but most were mere glimpses.

These stories are more interesting than the principal story, thanks to the solid world-building of these relatively short segments.

The Windos segment is philosophical in his discussions about Heaven and mortality, and the other two feature nearly as many dramatic moments as comedic ones.

Additionally, these segments are uniquely presented.

In previous episodes like Futurama Season 9 Episode 13, “Naturama,” the stories are depicted as nature documentaries. This episode describes them as ads — i.e., show sponsors.

It’s a delight to see more characters reappear in this episode, even if they are only seen briefly and mostly in the toy segments. For example, we see Preacherbot (Phil LaMarr) in the Windos story and Hedonismbot (Maurice LaMarche). 

We even [quickly] see Zapp Brannigan and Kif in the Rubber Duck segment. It’s fun to see certain characters pop up in these segments. Even though they look and act differently, their distinct personalities are intact. 

Like the rest of the season, “The Prince and the Product” is focused on character relationships.

Yet, in this case, the relationships featured in the toy segments are more interesting. And, despite their ridiculous premises, more authentic to the characters. 

We see the strength of Bender and Fry’s relationship in the Windos segment, Zoidberg’s disappointment at being left out of everything in the Round Wheels one, and the seemingly mismatched pairing of Fry and Leela in the Rubber Duck one. 

Plus, the Zoidberg twist in the Round Wheels segment shouldn’t be that farfetched, especially if one recalls the reveal on Futurama Season 9 Episode 7, “The Six Million Dollar Mon.” 

Stray Observations:

• Fry references the book-turned-movie Eat Pray Love, one of the few overt, modern references on this episode. 
• We hear a few of Bender’s notable phrases, such as “Shut up, baby, I know it” and “I’m back, baby,” which are always a delight. 
• There’s a fair bit of violence on this episode, although not more than we’ve seen on Futurama.
• Leela and her opponent fight with lightsaber-light swords. Fortunately, they aren’t too similar to the lightsabers seen in the Star Wars universe.
• There’s a Men in Black-esque zoom-out moment at the end of the episode that is unexpected yet fits in with the toy segment theme.

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