Turanga Leela

Futurama character
name = Turanga Leela


age = 25-33
gender = Female
species = Mutant Human
planet = Earth, specifically New New York City, New New York
job = Captain of the Planet Express Spaceship
relatives = Father: Turanga Morris
Mother: Turanga Munda
Children: Kif Kroker's tadpoles
Spouse(s): Philip J. Fry (ex-husband), Lars (ex-fiance, deceased)
appearance = Space Pilot 3000
line = Good afternoon, sir.
voiced = Katey Sagal

Turanga Leela is a fictional main character in the animated television series "Futurama" and is voiced by Katey Sagal. Leela is captain of the Planet Express Ship and is the primary love interest of one of the series' main male protagonists, Philip J. Fry. She is originally believed to be a cyclopean alien, but in "Leela's Homeworld" she discovers that she is actually a Sewer mutant.

Role

Leela is the captain of the Planet Express Ship under the employment of Hubert J. Farnsworth. She pilots the ship and gives orders to the crew. Having been raised in an orphanage (Cookieville Minimum Security Orphanarium), she believes that she is a cyclopean alien for much of the series. She eventually learns that she is actually a human sewer mutant who was given up by her parents (Turanga Morris and Turanga Munda [Episode #4ACV04 "Less Than Hero"] ) because they didn't want her to live as part of a minority group, merely posing her as an alien due to her non-distinct mutant appearance. Her parents constantly watched over her from the sewers during her childhood, and after Leela discovers the truth, she attempts to spend as much time with them as possible.

Leela's and Fry's relationship is a major plotline that runs throughout the series. Fry constantly seeks her approval, though she turns him down constantly due to his immaturity. Of course, there are various moments when she does fall for him even briefly, especially whenever he would risk his life for her. She sees him as a true friend and does not want anything less of him, but it constantly appears as if she is hiding (and denying herself) deeper feelings for him.

Leela also slept with Zapp Brannigan because he seems very pitiful, but he eventually shows that he is a "pompous dimwit". Throughout the series, Zapp brags about his night with Leela and constantly tries to entice her into dates and romantic encounters. Leela remains unswayingly disdainful of him and avoids or attacks him whenever possible. Leela owns Nibbler, who seems to be just a simple pet animal, but in actuality he is part of a wise, ancient, sophisticated race known as the Nibblonians.

Leela's name is a pun on Olivier Messiaen's most famous orchestral work, the "Turangalîla Symphony".cite news|first=Robert|last=Lloyd|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20000824051913/www.frcr.com/library/la_weekly1.html|title=Life in the 31st Century, Matt Groening: Past, present, Futurama|publisher=LA Weekly|date=1999-03-26|accessdate=2007-03-17] The word "lila" (pronounced like "leela") means purple (same color as her hair) in the German language. The name Leela may or may not also be related to character from the 1977 Doctor Who serial, "The Face of Evil." See Leela (Doctor Who).

Physical characteristics

Leela is the lead female character of the series. As discussed above, she is a cyclopean human mutant, designed as such as a deliberate subversion of the sex appeal normally associated with women in science fiction. She is very conscious about how different she is from two-eyed people, as she has problems with depth perception. This defect sometimes prevents her from fighting villains, and always prevents her from doing well playing blernsball (a game played in the fourth millennium similar to the baseball of the second millennium and the third millennium).

Despite this defect, Leela is very athletic and in great physical condition. Most males in the series find themselves unable to match her in physical combat. She studied Arcturan Kung-fu as a child, and uses this style of fighting whenever she or her crew is in danger.

Another prominent physical feature of Leela is her purple hair, which she inherited from her mother. Her hair is very long, and she often wears it in a ponytail.

As revealed in "The Beast with a Billion Backs", Leela has another mutant defect: elbow talons, which she normally trims.

At one point in the film "Bender's Game", Leela transforms into a centaur. The lower half of her body is covered in black hair, excluding her tail which is purple, and obviously reminiscient of her usual hairstyle.

ee also

*List of women warriors in folklore, literature, and popular culture

References