'Futurama' showrunner David X. Cohen digs into the 'looser' lunacy of Season 13 (exclusive)

"Futurama" Season 13 has officially lifted off on Hulu, carrying a crazy cargo load of 10 more hilarious episodes featuring the 31st-century antics of Philip J. Fry, Leela, Bender, Dr. Zoidberg, Professor Farnsworth, Kif, Amy, and the future denizens of the Milky Way galaxy.

Conceived by "The Simpsons" Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen, with executive producer roles falling on Groening, Cohen, Ken Keeler and Claudia Katz, "Futurama" continues to build its cross-generation fan based since its inception on Fox in 1999.

Planet Express faithful will be pleased to learn that this latest satirical peek into the colorful world of tomorrow still feels fresh and funny, despite its 26-year-old pedigree. Space.com connected with co-creator David X. Cohen to hear what potent gags, puns, and pranks are in store for fans.

Futurama Season 13 | Leela and Fry Take Control of Giant Bender | Hulu - YouTube

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"I feel really happy and proud of what we put out, but you never really know what people are gonna think," Cohen tells Space.com. "One of the original things we wrestled with when I was talking to Matt Groening about this in the late '90s and what the tone of the show would be.

"I love 'Blade Runner' but it's a very dark world, and that's a cool setting. Then I love 'The Jetsons'' tone but that's all happy. The logic is, we want to be able to comment on real-life problems even if we're in this crazy future. To address everything that people do in their lives there has to be good and bad. Just as today, there's technology that's great and there's technology that's terrifying. We wanted to give ourselves the maximum chance to have our characters experience emotions and problems people could relate to no matter how kooky the setting was."

Adding to the long-running series' spirited tone, Cohen admits that he always finds it tiresome that the concept of science is so often portrayed as the villain in popular entertainment.

"I know a lot of real scientists and I have a science background. Scientists just love nature and love the world and want to save it and have no agenda other than to know more about it. And it's a very beautiful thing. I always want to make science the hero in our show whenever possible. That's sort of a guiding principle for me."

"Futurama" simply wouldn't be the same without its phenomenally talented voice cast which includes John DiMaggio, Billy West, Katey Sagal, Maurice LaMarche, Lauren Tom, Phil LaMarr, Tress MacNeille, and David Herman. This Emmy-winning animated sci-fi sitcom seems even more relevant today as a contrarian choice for viewers tired of dystopia.

"The setting itself is optimistic in a subtle way in that the world is there in one-thousand years and life goes on," Cohen notes. "So that's good if that's the case. Just because we're not coming back and we're not going away at the end of the season it is a little bit of a looser season.

"There's a pretty big variety of episodes, a few of which are based on the characters' inner fears and personalities. In the first episode Bender is insecure about being short and makes himself 200 feet tall in a major overcompensation. We have some great backstory in Dr. Zoidberg which is strangely touching later in the season. And since this is Space.com, it relates a little to the concept of panspermia, which is a G-rated term. Look it up. So there's some interesting scientific comment in that episode called 'Crab Splatter.' Then an experimental mathematical episode where our crew goes into a completely abstract world of numbers. It was a question of how do we depict that and it has a lot of great 3D designs by Rough Draft Studios, our animators."

"Futurama" Season 13 is now streaming all 10 segments on Hulu , and also airing on FXX at 8 p.m. ET with two episodes landing each Monday. You can watch all your favorite sci-fi shows for less with our streaming deals guide.