I will admit, neither one of these is my go-to cartoon show (I'm more of a King Of The Hill type of gal (NEVER KILL OFF LADYBIRRRRRD) and even The Simpsons and Bob's Burgers hold my heart more)but either way both of these were extremely well cone and will pull at your heart like you've never known. So here is the first ever cartoon edition of versus!
Plot
Futurama obviously takes place in the future. We know that on New Years Eve 1999 Fry was cryogenically frozen while out on a pizza delivery and was woken up 1000 years in the future. This tells the story of the friend that Fry left behind. While living his futuristic life it is discovered that a pizza parlor was found preserved from 1999, the year that Fry disappeared. When he and Bender go to check it out they find that it is the exact parlor and in the fossilized section there sits Fry's old dog Seymour Asses. He met Seymour when he was delivering pizza to a fake customer of the same name. He sat down to eat the pizza himself in an alley only to see the hungry dog whimpering at him. He shared the pizza with the dog and in time they became best friends. On his last delivery (unbeknownst to him) he tells Seymour to wait for him at the parlor. When he doesn't return the dog tries desperately to find him. He goes to his families house who blames Y2K for him missing, he goes to the cryogenics lab and nothing. As we see these flashbacks, Fry goes through a few hoops to reclaim his dog from the museum and after his success decides that he will clone him. Bender is quite jealous and tries a few times to stop it, realizing how much the dog meant to Fry he saves the dog and allows the cloning to begin. Fry then discovers that the dog is fifteen meaning he lived for twelve years after Fry disappeared. Assuming he found new owners and lived a good life Fry shuts down the cloning process. It is then we see that Fry's dog actually did wait for him. After the missed attempts at finding him he sat on the curb year after year waiting until he eventually passed away.
You sobbing yet?
Family Guy decided to kill off one of the primary characters of the show. After travelling in the time machine with Brian and almost being assassinated by Native American's with guns, Stewie decides that it's time to destroy the machine. He feels it has caused enough near-death experiences and he'd rather not take that risk anymore. Brian is quite surprised by this and also a little sad, it's the end of an era. When they take it to the junkyard for the final burial in the trash compactor, Brian sees a lot of perfectly good stuff. They take home a barely used street hockey net. While setting it up outside, a car comes out of nowhere and slams into the dog. Stewie tries to save him but once he reaches the hospital it is told he doesn't have long to live. The family says their goodbyes and goes home to try and cope with the loss. A month passes and they're still not quite adjusted when Lois suggests maybe looking for a replacement pet. Stewie isn't okay with this, he feels responsible for the death and when he tries to rebuild his time machine he finds out that some of the parts needed are no longer available. He has to accept that won't be coming back. The family goes to the pet store and they come home with a new dog named Vinny. Vinny seems like a genuine spirit and tries his best to fit in with the family. All of them like him with the exception of Stewie. He cries out in the backyard missing his friend and tells Vinny that even though he seems nice he isn't Brian and he is upset the rest of the family moved on so quickly. Vinny shares a story about his own owner passing away and in the pet store he sensed that the family was going through the same troubles. He thought maybe they could help each other with their grief and Stewie seems to show signs that he will be able to move on.
More sobbing, I know.
Characters
Seymour vs Brian - the dog. It's almost an unfair comparison because if you watch either show you're probably closer to Brian overall. He was in every episode, had a lot of prominent plot lines, so I think his death hit a bit harder. Doesn't mean that Seymour's wasn't tragic. Waiting year after year for your master to come back, and the audience just hearing about it now? That being said, call me nuts, but I'm going with Seymour, but honestly just barely.
Fry vs Stewie - the close companion. I will side with Stewie. Fry seemed to have moved on as soon as he figured his dog must have as well, even if it wasn't the case. Stewie didn't want to adjust and it took a new friend and kind words to get him to accept it, but when he lost it in the backyard thinking he was alone, my heart dropped.
Breakdown
The death - Both were sad, there is no denying that. Brian's was quick and Seymour's was dragged out over twelve years. That says something so Seymour takes this.
The bring-back - Brian. Stewie was ridiculously upset when he couldn't fix his time machine realizing that Brian was gone for good. Fry did try and made a really good effort but considering so much time had past it was a little underwhelming.
The realization - I've said it before, when Stewie began sobbing over the loss of his best friend it took me. It was really hard, and Fry's decision to stop the cloning process, maybe not so much, but that final montage of Seymour growing older and older waiting for Fry, the realization to us all what had actually happened wins on all levels.
By one and one only, Futurama wins this one. And I'm very much okay with that though both were really tearful. If you can stand it I do recommend both of these, just know you will sob. And kudos to both shows for putting regular potty humor aside to focus on the story. Super super good.
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