Neutopia

"Neutopia" is the one hundred and eighth episode of Futurama, the twentieth of the sixth production season and the first of the eighth broadcast season. It aired 23 June, 2011, with "Benderama" immediately following its airing. Seeing as "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular" was broadcast between the two seasons as a holiday special, "Neutopia" is considered the season premiere.

Story
Planet Express needs money to keep its building after getting away with free deliveries. The men decide to do a sexy calendar, unfortunately, there are only three women willing to do the photos. The next idea is to turn the Planet Express ship into an airline. Unfortunately, the first flight crashes on an uncharted planet. It is there they encounter an alien that does not understand the concept of 'gender' and so when it meets the crew it goes about conducting experiments such as altering their own genders.

Production
On 28 February, 2011, Comedy Central released two promotional pictures for "Neutopia" in celebration of the show's 10 million likes on.

During May 2011, Countdown to Futurama released six items of promotional material for the episode: a video clip featuring the Planet Express crew members with swapped genders on 4 May, concept art of a female Zoidberg on 5 May, a promotional picture featuring Amy, Fry, and Leela sleeping together on 6 May, concept art of the Planet Express ship dressed as an airplane on 7 May, part of the storyboard showing the crew make a photo shoot on 8 May, and concept art of a female Scruffy on 14 May.

On 16 June, a video clip from the episode was released on io9, featuring humans (including the PE crew) on a desertic planet, discussing the concept of gender with a rock alien.

Reception
In a preview of "Neutopia" and "Benderama", Katie Schenkel from CliqueClack TV commented that these episodes "[weren't] [her] favourite". On "Neutopia", Schenkel felt the episode was too reminiscing of "Amazon Women in the Mood", but not in a good way. Schenkel argues that the usage of stereotypical male jokes towards women (such as women likes shopping) – which is primarily what "Neutopia" is about – is rather tiring and used. But where "Amazon Women in the Mood" excelled at the usage of these jokes, "Neutopia" falls flat, Schenkel writes, considering many of the jokes seem like they were the ones that didn't make it to the season 3 episode. In fact, the sex changing plot, Schenkel writes, fells tacked on and ruins the pace of the episode, as it is resolved just as it happens. Further, Schenkel feels the episode is unlike Futurama in that its reflection on gender and sex doesn't feel smart or witty, but rather lazy and unfunny.

In a more positive preview, David Hinckley of The Daily News was more receptive of the episode however. He gave it three and a half stars out of five. He stated that the return of the show "doesn't seem to have lost much from either its edge or its attitude."

Trivia

 * It is among the few one-word titled media.
 * It is also among few Futurama media featuring its title, as LaBarbara says the line "this is like a neutered utopia - a neutopia".

Allusions

 * The rock alien resembles a gray-coloured.
 * The design of female Scruffy's clothes resemble that of Cora in . The same reference is made in "A Clockwork Origin", in which Amy's clothes are ripped in a similar fashion by the trilobots.
 * Leela's line "thank God most of our fans are huge perverts" is an obvious reference to the Futurama fan base, and the many nude and semi-nude fan art pictures of the characters posted online.

Continuity

 * The Professor's girlfriend from "Three Hundred Big Boys" appears. This is her only cameo appearance except for the audience scene in Into the Wild Green Yonder.
 * Dr. Cahill, who handled Hermes' head in Bender's Big Score, makes an appearance.
 * Zoidberg tries a poor comedy routine aboard the Planet Express air plane. His passion for comedy, and his lifelong dream to become a comedy star has been seen previously, and was the focus of "That's Lobstertainment!".
 * When Bender switches gender and becomes a fembot, it is in his female persona Coilette from "Bend Her".
 * Fry posing semi-nude for the calendar while inside a cryogenics tube is a reference to him being accidentally frozen in the pilot.

Characters

 * Debut: Amana
 * Amy
 * Bender
 * Debut: Borax kid
 * Dr. Cahill
 * Farnsworth
 * Farnsworth's girlfriend
 * Fry
 * Hattie
 * Hermes
 * LaBarbara
 * Leela
 * Petunia
 * Debut: Rock alien
 * Sal
 * Scruffy
 * Debut: Small rock alien
 * Victor
 * Zapp
 * Zoidberg