<Tr> <Td> ← Previous "Lethal Inspection" </Td> <Td> Next → "That Darn Katz!" </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Futurama (season 6) List of Futurama episodes </Td> </Tr> <P> "The Late Philip J. Fry" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of the animated series Futurama . It originally aired on Comedy Central on July 29, 2010 . In the episode, Fry attempts to make it on time to a birthday dinner date for Leela . He is sidetracked by Professor Farnsworth and Bender, who force him to test out the Professor's time machine, which only goes forward in time . After overshooting and thus going forward to the year 10,000 AD, they must keep traveling forward in time until a backwards time machine has been invented . </P> <P> The episode was written by Lewis Morton and directed by Peter Avanzino . From June 16 to June 23, as part of its "Countdown to Futurama" event, Comedy Central Insider, Comedy Central's news outlet, released various preview materials for the episode, including a storyboard of the time machine and character designs for the aged Planet Express crew . The episode was met with critical acclaim from critics and won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 2011 . In 2013, fans ranked it the fourth best episode in the history of the series . </P>

Futurama episode where they go forward in time