Turanga Leela
Turanga Leela | |
First Appearance | Space Pilot 3000 |
Sex | Female |
Race | Mutant Human |
Voice Actor(s) | Katey Sagal |
A Day in the Life
Turanga Leela is the Captain of the Planet Express ship, being one of the few pilots in the known galaxy with only one eye. In her case, she is a Cyclops from birth due to having two mutants for parents, who brought her to the surface of the planet with a note written in Alienese in hopes of her being adopted by a normal family as an abandoned alien sent to earth. As a result of this, she grew up as an orphan and an alien and faced much scrutiny. She later found out that she was a mutant when she accidentally found her parents.
Leela represents wrath in the universe of “Futurama”, often using her extensive karate training and high kicks to deal out punishment. She dishes out her emotions from a bitter upbringing in the form of violence on many occasions, with her love of animals such as her pet, Nibbler, balancing out her high-maintenance mood swings. She lives alone in Apartment 1I; likewise, she was formerly Officer 1BDI.
Leela can be seen as a sensitive tomboy, becoming the first female blurnsball player in the galaxy and thus setting the gender back with her horrible play due to lack of depth perception. Due to being a cyclops she almost hit players with the ball and played professionally and, without her knowlege was played just for ammusment and to keep fans watching. Leela has had many romantic encounters, though the two that continually pop up are between Fry and Zapp Brannigan, when a star-struck Leela fell for the self-proclaimed intergalactic hero.
Romances
Fry
Throughout the years, Fry and Leela have dabbled in romance before deciding to make a go of it. In episodes such as “Parasites Lost” and “The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings”, Fry wins Leela over using synthetic means to increase his desirability, such as swapping hands with the Robot Devil to be more skilled with instruments. Fry once aligned the stars to show his love of Leela, which “tricked” her into marrying him in “Time Keeps on Slippin’”.
Lars Fillmore
When Fry is sucked back in time, he spends a life devoted to protecting and caring for a narwhal, assuming the identity of Lars Fillmore. His appearence is changed in the past after bender attemps to kill him by burning the apartment he was in, burning his hair and lowering his voice. Going back to the future, Lars takes up a job at the Head Museum when he bumps into Leela and the two begin a romance, which leads to wedding bells. After learning that time paradox duplicates, which Fry becomes as Lars, are doomed to die, he stands Leela up on the altar. He uses his remaining time on Earth to destroy Nudar and end the suffering that the scammer aliens brought upon the planet. Leela discovers his identity thereafter.
Zapp Brannigan
Star-struck by the mighty personality of Zapp Brannigan, the Captain of the Planet Express ship takes pity on him in a weak emotional state and sleeps with him before realizing that he is a blubbering buffoon. Brannigan continually believes that he has a chance of sleeping with Leela at every meeting, which happens to be frequent, to her complete and total disgust. He never misses an opportunity to hit on her or remind her of what they did together. One one occasion after a crash which rendered Leela unconsious Zapp made the scene look like she was pinned and they had no supplies and that he saved her by gathering food and water. After the crew stubled upon their wreckage she saw past what he had did but short after a giant ship which had been censoring other planets by destroying them saw Leela and Zapp as Adam and Eve and forced them to do the dirty deed again to save earth.
Sean
Sean is an unseen, oft-mentioned character who Leela was dating prior to the show’s start-up. She often speaks of him in a negative light, but may still hold strong feelings towards him. She claims their break-up was mutual, yet it sounds more and more as though it was not at all. He may or may not have been cheating on Leela.
Alkazar
In the episode, “A Bicyclops Built for Two”, Leela founds a shapeshifter named Alkazar who tricks her into believing that she was part of a great race of people who died out due to a great war. In the end, it is discovered that he has done this to numerous species throughout the galaxy, and they bust him for shifting into various shapes to correspond with their appearance after he attempts to marry multiple species on one day because of how expensive it is to rent a shape sshifting tuxedo. This episode is an in-joke on Katey Sagal’s work on “Married… with Children”, as Al is short for Alkazar.
Adlai Atkins
Without parents to separate the bullies from those likely to get picked on at the Orphanarium, Leela was often called out for only having one eye. Amongst the children making fun of her was one she had a crush on, Adlai Atkins. At their orphanage’s reunion, she meets Adlai again to find that he has blossomed into a handsome doctor who gives her two eyes. The pair get on the verge of starting a family before going to adopt a child, in which Leela finds that he has not changed at all, wishing to correct a mutant child’s three ears.
Chaz
While Fry was trying to win Leela over with his usual crusty methods, Leela was smitten by a mayor’s aide named Chaz. He is power hungry and always a kiss-ass to the mayor, for whom he “can’t fail.” Leela succumbs to his charms and his ability to get a table at any restaurant, but dumps him in regards to his feelings towards orphans. This is an ongoing theme with Leela’s lovelife.
The Dean of Mars University
Leela went on a single date with the Dean of Mars University, but he never bothered to call her back.
William Shatner
Leela gave herself to Shatner on Omega 3, as most women in the “Star Trek” universe tended to do.
Doug
A seemingly average Human, Leela went on a date with Doug once and enjoyed the experience until she discovered he possessed a freakish reptilian tongue.
Amy Wong
Though not a relationship, most viewers were pleasantly surprised to see Leela and Amy break their rivalry long enough to vent their frustrations with one another by making out in “Bender’s Game”.