2ACV04: Xmas Story First UK airing: Sky One, 8:00pm, 4-4-00 "Xmas Eve. Another pointless day where I accomplished nothing. Aaaahhhh..." Ah, bliss. For the first time in ages my cable TV is delivering clear, sharp, non-futzing pictures (turns out my cable box was a reconditioned 10 year old model in serious need of replacement), and to celebrate, from now on I'm taping Futurama in better quality short-play mode. So I only get 11 episodes per tape. Big deal -- it's not like I'm going to wind up having to beg for booze at a centre for homeless robots because I spent all my money on E240s. (Watch that statement come back and bite me in the ass some day...) Anyway, just wait until I get my DVD-RW player. That's where all my money will get spent! One of the quirks of living in the UK but only watching American TV shows is that Christmas gets celebrated over a period of several months. Like this week -- it's Christmas in April. Or Xmas, rather. 'Xmas Story' continues the run of strong, funny episodes from the 2ACV production block, combining bang-on one-liners, slapstick, character comedy, cruelty to animals and children, movie references (Hitchcock and Harold Lloyd in the same sequence -- yowza!), another near-romantic moment for Fry and Leela and plenty of Amy into the bargain. I could have done without seeing the Professor's and Hermes's arses, though... In fact, now that the parody episodes seem to be out of the way, Futurama is just getting better and better. All the regular characters are developing nicely, with Leela's photo album being both blackly funny and quite touching. And it's good to see that while Fry is still an insensitive jerk, he's got just enough self-awareness and conscience to know and feel guilty about it. Hell, he even misses his family now, which is quite a change from the pilot episode. Thankfully, though, without an empathy chip Bender is still his good old evil self. ("Get her purse!") The Planet Express crew really are a dysfunctional family now -- Amy would rather spend Xmas with her workmates than with her parents (though her reasoning is quite understandable) and Hermes actually brings his wife to the staff Xmas dinner rather than the two of them spending it together at home. In fact, don't these people have homes to go to? The Professor certainly seems to live in the office, Leela has a pet who resides permanently there... no wonder everyone was so keen to chuck Fry and Bender out! Just one query: Amy's parents are clearly in the ranks of the super-rich... yet their daughter has to sell her hair to buy Xmas presents? Must be one of those trust fund things -- with a 'grandchild clause'... Rating: