I remember the support that Fox gave Futurama when it debuted in 1999. The network that gave us The Simpsons was in love with its new Matt Groening-created show, and they wanted you to love it too. My, how love and excitement can turn to uninterest. Once Futurama started rolling, those same Fox executives, who apparently just didn't "get" it, gradually turned their collective back on the show, running it only haphazardly and dropping promotions.

You might think Futurama lasted five increasingly sporadic seasons, but the truth is more pernicious. Unsure what to do with Groening's admittedly wacky brainchild after its first couple of seasons, Fox simply left the show to die after four seasons worth of episodes were in the can. Following two exciting seasons, fervent fans were left with a couple more seasons worth of inspired Futurama zaniness sprinkled over 3 years, but we never really knew when to expect them or in what order. It was a sad state of affairs at Fox, resulting in bad vibes on both sides. The ultimate irony—or perhaps a form of apology—is the fact that Fox is finally lavishing the proper attention on this first-rate show in the form of gorgeous and elaborate DVD season sets.

Season 3—at least when considered in its production order, and not in Fox's careless air-date order—is a strong extension of the colorfully odd humor that we grew to love in the show's first two seasons. At this point, we've forgiven Futurama's minor flaws—for example, the show's lack of a truly sympathetic character—and we can adore it for what it is: a potent, if absurd and cartoony, sociological commentary about our own present-day world.

In case you're coming to the show blind, Futurama is about the continuing adventures of Philip J. Fry (Billy West), a 20th-century pizza-deliveryboy blasted into the future, who has found himself suddenly inhabiting a strange Earth filled with weird aliens and robots, an insane media, and any fancifully technological marvel that suits any given episode's plot. Fry has become part of a bizarre star-hopping troupe of characters that include cyclopean hottie Turanga Leela (Katey Sagal), the blissfully malevolent Bender (John DiMaggio), the Grandpa Simpson-inspired Professor Farnsworth (also West), the squid-like Dr. Zoidberg (also West), the Jamaican bureaucrat Hermes (Phil LaMarr), and the human Amy Wong (Lauren Tom).

Many consider the 22 episodes of Futurama: Season Three to be the sharpest and funniest of the entire series. Particular standouts for me are the brilliant Emmy-winning Roswell That Ends Well, the hilarious and oddly touching Luck of the Fryrish, and the clever Time Keeps on Slipping. Here's the breakdown, and as usual, the episodes are presented in production order. (The actual schizophrenic air dates are in parentheses.)

Fox presents Futurama: Season 3 in a very colorful transfer of the film's original 1.33:1 television presentation. At first, you might be alarmed by some severe combing and interlacing errors in the menus, but once you get into the actual presentation, the image is wonderful. The level of detail is strong, and colors are bright and intense. The reason for this absolutely fine presentation is probably thanks to the fact that the animators use a digital coloring process.

The DVD offers a Dolby 2.0 audio track that's accurate to the original televised production. Although Futurama isn't an aggressive surround presentation, it does boast healthy separation across the front. Dialog is clean and clear, and I noticed no distortion at the high end. Sound effects, which are a particular strength of Groening's crew, come across vividly.

The menus and the selection of supplements are very similar to those of the first two seasons. The somewhat unwieldy menus give you a separate submenu for each episode, but when you select Special Features on a submenu, you're directed to a central repository of that disc's extras.

The best extras are once again the scene-specific Audio Commentaries over all the episodes. The participants vary from show to show, but you get wacky banter from Matt Groening (producer), David Cohen (producer), assorted directors and writers, and voice actors Billy West and John DiMaggio. These tracks are more of the same from this crew—filled with laughter and trivia. There are hilarious moments here and there, but surprisingly, there are also extended periods of silence. The moments I enjoyed most include those when the group talks about fan reaction to particular episodes and, of course, when they point out in-jokes. A special treat on Disc 4 is a second, separate commentary over the Emmy-winning "Roswell That Ends Well" that focuses on animation. One of the participants on this commentary, Rich Moore (supervising director), sounds a lot like Steven Soderbergh.

The set includes very funny Deleted Scenes from all but five of the episodes. These are mostly polished, finished scenes that were no doubt cut for time or because they were a bit risqué.

Disc 1 contains Storyboards for "Parasites Lost."

Disc 4 contains a few more supplements than the other discs in the set, adding a Still Gallery, a How to Draw Characters (Fry & Leela) short piece, an Animatic for "Anthology of Interest II," an International Clip piece that echoes the other sets, and 3-D Models.

If you search around a little, you'll find a couple of mildly humorous Easter Eggs.

Really hitting its stride in its third season, Futurama became a classic animated series despite Fox's dropping the ball. I highly recommend these lovingly produced sets, put together by a studio experiencing renewed interest.