There are a lot of couples that have come to define animated romance. There's Mickey and Minnie, Shrek and Fiona, and Popeye and Olive Oyl. However, if there was ever an underrated master of animated romance, it would be Matt Groening. Starting with The Simpsons, Matt Groening helped America look at how dysfunctional yet endearing a married couple can be.
And while Homer and Marge Simpson may be his more famous pairing, they, and many other animated couples, don't hold a candle to Groening's other master pairing: Futurama's Philip J. Fry and Turanga Leela. Two outcasts who managed to find each other across space and time, Fry and Leela's relationship wasn't just a bit in the series. It became a defining plot point, as evident by a few of the grand, romantic gestures set by Fry himself.
Sacrificing Body Enhancing Parasites
Even though it took him years to finally be with Leela, Fry had an easy answer to love in the episode "Parasites Lost." These little worms acted less like gluttonous bugs and more like an advanced race that deeply cared for their home. They repaired Fry, enhanced him, and made him much stronger and smarter than he could have ever imagined (at least before).
This helped him woo Leela in his first-ever successful date with her. However, he didn't want these worms to define him. Even though they helped put his love into words, he sacrificed them so that he could see if Leela truly loved him for him.
Learning The Holophonor
If the worms from "Parasites Lost" helped Fry with anything, it was helping him find better ways to articulate his love than with his own words, which always tended to come out as mush. This little adventure inspired Fry to learn the Holophonor, a beautiful, futuristic instrument that few people within the universe could really play well.
As learning impaired as Fry might be, he worked hard ever since "Parasites Lost" to learn the Holophonor as well as prepare a musical that could perfectly illustrate his love for Leela. Unfortunately, the latter parts of his plan required someone who could actually play a Holophonor.
Making A Deal With The Robot Devil
Fans of the series should know at this point that Philip J. Fry was willing to do anything and sacrifice everything to prove his love for Leela. One of the best instances of this was when he was willing to switch hands with some poor robot, a quirky little game set by the Robot Devil. Unfortunately for the Robot Devil, Fry ended up switching hands with him.
This helped a great deal in helping Fry prepare his great play, but the Robot Devil, always a sly one, ends up trying to use his love of Leela against him and tricks her into marrying him. Having to choose between Leela's freedom and the very gift that made her love him in the first place, Fry decides to make a new deal with the Robot Devil.
Building A Robot Leela
When Futurama returned to the airwaves, it didn't take long for the series to pick up the ongoing love story between Fry and Leela. In "Rebirth," Fry becomes distraught after learning that Leela may not be able to be fully revived after the events of Into the Wild Green Yonder.
In his mourning, he decides to rebuild Leela in robot form; and with the help of some video logs from Planet Express, he's able to seemingly clone a new Leela with the robot double. Without spoiling too much, "Rebirth" is a fine restart for the beloved series and has its own fair share of teases for Fry and Leela's story.
Trying To Grab Leela From Another Planet
In the aptly named "A Farewell to Arms," Fry tries to prove his worth to Leela time and again by trying to save her life. And, in grand, comical fashion, he ends up doing more harm than good. When the seeming apocalypse threatens all of Earth, the two separate only to find themselves together once again when Mars and Earth almost collide.
As the people of Mars jumped off to reach the safety of Earth, Fry tries to reach for Leela, only to have the two's arms ripped off. While Scruffy would inevitably be the person to save Leela, Fry and Leela's detached arms now remain in space as an eternal monument of their love (and Fry's stupidity).
Staying With Leela During Her Bee Coma
Sometimes, it doesn't take diamond rings or boxes of chocolates to show one's love. Sometimes, it just takes patience. In "The Sting," Fry tries to protect Leela from an alien bee and ends up getting impaled through the stomach. Though it appears as if Fry has died, Leela has actually become trapped within a venom-induced coma due to the stinger still managing to reach her.
In her dreams, Leela is slowly and surreally brought back to reality by Fry's constant calls and appearances. As it turns out, Fry decided to stick by her hospital bed every day and night, believing that a familiar voice could help bring her out of her coma.
Switching Oxygen Tanks With Leela
Valentine's Day can be an awkward holiday. It's always weird to appear alone, no one knows what exactly to get their sweetie, and sentient space ships always try to kill their crew. It's the perils of a greeting card holiday. In "Love & Rocket," the Professor decides to upgrade the Planet Express ship, giving it a new A.I. interface that quickly falls in love with Bender.
While the two's romance is cute at first, it quickly turns deadly once Bender breaks up with her. On the other side of the episode, Fry tries to find the right way to express his love for Leela. It isn't until the ship tries to kill them that he gets his opportunity, particularly when he decides to switch oxygen tanks with Leela. As they say, love can leave one breathless.
Becoming Lars
Love has the propensity to really change people; and in Bender's Big Score, Fry really takes the change seriously. After becoming trapped in the past after some time traveling shenanigans with Bender, Fry becomes increasingly lovelorn, especially after he loses Leela to her new boyfriend, Lars.
After going through a whole journey with a narwhal, an older, weathered Fry returns to his apartment, only to find Bender trying to assassinate him. After surviving a huge, ray gun blast, Fry suddenly finds himself looking like Lars. As soon as he realizes the change, he immediately finds a cryogenic chamber and awaits to find Leela once again.
Trying To Make A Proposal Last Forever
In the series finale "Meanwhile," Fry finally decides to propose to Leela and tries to do so once the Professor tries his hand again at time travel shenanigans. Fry manages to steal the Professor's new time travel device and plans to use it to make his proposal to Leela last seemingly forever but not after a few gags along the way.
Once the two finally meet, they accidentally break the time travel device, suspending time for everyone in existence besides the two of them. Wanting to make the best of a bad situation, the two decide to live out their married life in the isolation of suspended time.
Writing A Love Letter In The Stars
Even though Fry has messed with time a few times and has even risked his life for Leela on several occasions, few romantic gestures have quite reached the epic scope seen in "Time Keeps On Slipping." After the Professor risks the very fabric of spacetime trying to beat some guys at basketball, Fry has the opportunity to write Leela the ultimate love letter by shifting the stars themselves to write it.
While breaks in the spacetime continuum would blur their perception of this, this would seemingly lead to Fry and Leela getting married. Right as Fry discovers this, however, Planet Express was already underway on a plan to destroy the stars he had so carefully arranged.