Good news, everyone!
Twenty-seven years ago today, on March 28, 1999, Futurama made its debut on Fox with the very first episode, "Space Pilot 3000." Written by David X. Cohen and Matt Groening and directed by Rich Moore and Gregg Vanzo, the pilot introduced us to a hapless 20th-century pizza delivery boy named Philip J. Fry, who gets accidentally cryogenically frozen on New Year's Eve 1999 and wakes up a thousand years later in the year 3000.

In just twenty-two minutes, the episode had to introduce an entire universe: Fry stumbles into a job as a delivery boy for Planet Express, meets his short-tempered one-eyed coworker Leela and the delightfully immoral robot Bender, and tracks down his own great-great-great-...-nephew, the ancient Professor Farnsworth. It also gave us Leonard Nimoy playing his own disembodied head in a jar, Dick Clark ringing in the New Year one last (extremely long) time, and a certain tiny alien's shadow sneaking past in the background for the sharp-eyed among us.

"Space Pilot 3000" set the tone for everything that followed: jokes flying by faster than you can catch them, a surprising amount of heart buried under all the cynicism, and a boy-and-his-dog story most of us still aren't emotionally ready to think about. Twenty-seven years, several cancellations, and just as many miraculous revivals later, the crew of Planet Express is still out there delivering packages to the edge of the universe.

Crack open an Olde Fortran Malt Liquor and raise a glass with us today. Happy anniversary, Futurama!