2ACV16: Anthology Of Interest 1 First UK airing: Sky One, 7:00pm, 23-7-00 "Wow, sporty go-kart, Leela! So hip and sexy, not like you at all!" Noooooooooo! Futurama's finished! At least seven months before new episodes get shown in Britain! Aaaaiiiiaaaaeeeiiighhhh! On the other hand, 'Anthology Of Interest 1' was a great way to finish off the season, which had been wobbling a bit as it drew near a close. It was an obvious counterpart of the Simpsons' Halloween Specials, and turned out to be on a par with their best. Hopefully there'll be a follow-up, though I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't an 'Anthology Of Interest 2' in the episode list for season three. Maybe it'll be one of the episodes held over until season four... Freed of the need for A: a plot, and B: continuity and consequences, the three mini-stories could just get on with knocking out jokes as quickly as possible. Of the three, Leela's little murder spree was my favourite (as much as I love The Iron Giant, and all the references to it in Bender's story), and the new, impulsive Leela was arguably an improvement on the regular one. Ooh, that'll get the Leela fans going! But yeah, hair-down Leela looked superfine (or maybe it was the green stripe on the boots). Seeing her slice and dice (and microwave) her way through the Planet Express gang was hilarious as well (yes, even Amy biting the big one made me laugh), although the best moment had to be Hermes rushing off to call the police, "right after I flush some tings." That said, the other two stories were entertaining too, though the Fry story was the least successful of the trio (in a relative sense, of course). But how on Earth did the producers go about getting Al Gore not only as a guest star, but sending himself up too? Don't tell me that the man holding a job of less value than "a pitcher of warm spit" (not my quote -- look it up!) is a Futurama fan! This is scary -- a politician who might actually be an okay guy! And Hanson were crushed to death, always a plus. Wasn't that how they went on Celebrity Deathmatch as well? On a continuity front, did you notice how Bender said "aks" instead of "ask", but Leela didn't? Mind you, they can always get away with it on the grounds that it didn't 'really' happen! Nichelle Nichols doesn't look like that any more, either... Rating: