Animation has always been a great medium to explore the boundless potential of sci-fi stories, and there are plenty of comedy shows which seize the freedom of animation. Animation and sci-fi go hand-in-hand, since both are interested in that which can't be ordinarily depicted using Earthly means. Animated sci-fi comedies have the opportunity of using the entire universe as their setting.

Ever since The Jetsons premiered in the 1960s, there have been animated sci-fi comedies, although most of these were targeted toward children. The arrival of Futurama in 1999 was a massive game-changer. After The Simpsons ushered in a new dawn for adult-oriented animated comedy, Futurama set the tone for sci-fi comedies. Since then, the 21st century has seen a boom in animated sci-fi comedies, with new classics such as Rick and Morty pushing the genre forward.

10 Inside Job

Netflix Canceled The Conspiracy Comedy Too Soon

Inside Job looks like many other animated sitcoms which have come out in the last decade, with Netflix making more than a few of these. However, its humor is a step up from the industry standard, thanks in part to its intriguing concept. Inside Job explores the inner workings of a shadowy government department that keeps things ticking while the public remains blissfully ignorant.

Inside Job devotes episodes to pulling apart some famous conspiracies, from the JFK assassination to the existence of hyperintelligent reptile people.

Inside Job devotes episodes to pulling apart some famous conspiracies, from the JFK assassination to the existence of hyperintelligent reptile people. The show aims a few jabs at the kinds of people who construct these elaborate theories, showing just what the world would have to look like if they ended up being right. After two critically-acclaimed seasons, Netflix surprisingly pulled the plug on Inside Job. The show ends on a cliffhanger.

9 Space Ghost Coast To Coast

Adult Swim Reinvented A Classic Cartoon Character

Space Ghost Coast to Coast was the first show produced by Williams Street, the studio that went on to launch Adult Swim, and its influence on the network is clear. Aside from its spinoffs, The Eric Andre Show and other Adult Swim have taken inspiration from Space Ghost Coast to Coast's subversive humor. Although the character is based on a Hanna-Barbera cartoon from the 1960s, Space Ghost hosts a talk show from a space station.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast was the first show produced by Williams Street, the studio that went on to launch Adult Swim.

Space Ghost Coast to Coast features interviews with celebrity guests, although Space Ghost's questions are often changed after the fact to poke fun at the guests. This unusual blend of scripted comedy and unscripted conversation is just one way that the show pulls apart the tired format of talk shows from the inside out. Space Ghost Coast to Coast uses some sci-fi surrealism to underline how strange talk shows are.

8 Final Space

Final Space Pays As Much Attention To Its Ambitious Sci-Fi Drama As Its Comedy

Final Space didn't get the ending it deserved, but it still delivered three seasons of hilarious sci-fi comedy with an expansive scope. While Final Space often resembles an apartment-share sitcom on a prison ship hurtling through space, it's also an intriguing adventure show about different factions fighting over the fate of the universe. Final Space isn't afraid to get philosophical amid its fast-paced humor.

Final Space features an all-star voice cast, including David Tennant, Steven Yeun and Tom Kenny, each of whom can get laughs in their own way.

Final Space seeks to find the balance between personal drama and lofty themes about the very nature of existence. Its humor is proudly silly, especially with its hyperactive protagonist Gary, and this makes it all the more surprising when the show pivots into boldly ambitious sci-fi storytelling. Final Space features an all-star voice cast, including David Tennant, Steven Yeun and Tom Kenny, each of whom can get laughs in their own way.

7 Clone High

Clone High Uses Historical Figures To Mock Teen Dramas

Long before Phil Lord and Christopher Miller led the revolution in animated movies with their Spider-Verse series, they created Clone High alongside Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence. Fans of Scrubs will likely be able to pick up on the many actors who have roles in both shows, and they will also appreciate the similarities in the humor of the two. Scrubs has always had some cartoonish tendencies, with cutaway gags, exaggerated sound effects and snappy physical humor. Clone High provides more of the same, with a simplified visual style that places emphasis on the writing.

Clone High developed a cult following during its brief run, and this was enough to warrant a short-lived revival two decades later.

Clone High focuses on a high school filled with the clones of famous historical figures, such as Cleopatra, Abraham Lincoln and Joan of Arc. It subverts the popular imagination of these figures to fit them into tropes of American teen dramas, with JFK becoming a dimwitted jock, for example. Clone High developed a cult following during its brief run, and this was enough to warrant a short-lived revival two decades later, with a new raft of famous figures.

6 Solar Opposites

Solar Opposites Is Far More Than A Clone Of Rick & Morty

Solar Opposites was always going to have to endure comparisons to Rick and Morty, but the sci-fi comedy has been able to stand on its own two feet. The show follows a family of aliens from Planet Shlorp sent to scout out Earth as a potential new home for their species. This set-up allows Solar Opposites to function as an unorthodox family sitcom, with the aliens becoming bogged down in the minutiae of everyday life on Earth.

Solar Opposites uses its alien characters to reveal the bizarre nature of humanity.

Solar Opposites uses its alien characters to reveal the bizarre nature of humanity. These outsiders are the only characters in the show with the right perspective to question human social mores and pop culture. Their increasingly fraught attempts to keep a low profile and assimilate, even with a spaceship lumped on top of their house, begs the question of who would even want to spend time with humans in the first place.

5 Star Trek: Lower Decks

Lower Decks Is A Great Star Trek Show For Newcomers

Star Trek: Lower Decks was the first animated Star Trek show in almost 50 years, and it's much more comedic than the franchise's other shows and movies. Despite jetting off into uncharted territory, Lower Decks has proved to be a huge hit. In some ways, it seems derivative of other animated sitcoms which have popped up in the last decade, but its sense of humor is fresh and original.

Despite jetting off into uncharted territory, Lower Decks has proved to be a huge hit.

Star Treck: Lower Decks has plenty of details which connect it to other Star Trek shows, and it has the same sci-fi action and adventure which fans of the franchise love, but it's also a great introduction for those who aren't as familiar with Star Trek. Ensigns Boimler and Mariner are a great comedic duo, and two guides through a wide universe who are fun to spend time with. Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 will wrap up the series.

4 Adventure Time

Jake And Finn's Adventures Are Set In The Aftermath Of A Nuclear War

Adventure Time often looks more like fantasy than sci-fi, with magical kingdoms and brave adventurers, but the land of Ooo and all its strange inhabitants are the result of a nuclear war which wiped humanity off the face of the Earth. This makes Adventure Time a candy-colored post-apocalyptic show. There are other elements of sci-fi too, such as Princess Bubblegum's experiments and the lovable robot BMO.

More observant viewers have been able to pick up clues and hidden details about the Mushroom War and the deep lore of Adventure Time.

Adventure Time is targeted toward younger audiences, but it has developed a cult following of all ages. More observant viewers have been able to pick up clues and hidden details about the Mushroom War and the deep lore of Adventure Time. For those who aren't as interested, Adventure Time's rapid-fire comedy is both hilarious and accessible. Although the show ended in 2018, there are several Adventure Time projects lined up for the future.

3 Gravity Falls

Gravity Falls Has Fans Of All Ages

Although it ran for just two seasons, Gravity Falls left a lasting imprint, and attracted legions of devoted fans. In fact, the show's length contributes to its appeal, as it can be appreciated as a whole more easily. Although most of the Gravity Falls can be enjoyed in any order, watching the show from start to finish builds to an immensely satisfying payoff. The three-part "Weirdmageddon" finale ties all the different threads and characters together into an apocalyptic swirl of surreal humor.

Although it ran for just two seasons, Gravity Falls left a lasting imprint, and attracted legions of devoted fans.

Gravity Falls is an exploration into the unexplained, and the show steadily introduces more and more bizarre concepts. What starts with ghosts and killer garden gnomes soon evolves into a hellscape being run by a charming pyramid who wants to end the universe. Through it all, Gravity Falls retains a keen focus on the two main characters. Awkward, anxious Dipper and his outgoing sister Mabel are the beating heart of the show, and a perfectly weighted comedic double act.

2 Rick & Morty

Dan Harmon's Freewheeling Multiverse Comedy Was An Instant Hit

Dan Harmon's Rick and Morty often threatens to buckle under the weight of its own self-referential meta humor. The set-up establishes the show's dedication to sci-fi parody, with the two main characters sharing a lot with Doc and Marty from Back to the Future. Rather than traveling through time, they go on dangerous journeys throughout the universe and into other dimensions. This gives the show an almost infinite playground, which breeds a kind of snarky nihilism. Rick and Morty's meta jokes are one way of going beyond the multiverse, and looking at the show itself from an outside perspective.

The show has an almost infinite playground, which breeds a kind of snarky nihilism.

Harmon's obsession with the mechanics of storytelling is just one avenue for comedy that Rick and Morty explores. It also has plenty of great episodes which take unique sci-fi concepts and push them to their limits. Take "Total Rickall," for example, which features an alien parasite that implants false memories into the Smith family's minds, and this creates a cavalcade of bizarre characters. Rick and Morty season 8 promises more madcap adventures.

1 Futurama

Matt Groening's Futuristic Workplace Comedy Has Set The Standard For Sci-Fi Comedies

Futurama is the show which other animated sci-fi comedies often get compared to. Matt Groening's second big hit after The Simpsons is a loving spoof of the genre, with a quirky retrofuturist design that makes the year 3000 look surprisingly similar to how people imagined it would in the 1950s. This combination of the past and the future is at the heart of Futurama's sense of humor, as Fry is catapulted forward in time.

Throughout its many iterations, Futurama's best episodes are miniature masterpieces of sci-fi comedy.

Futurama has been canceled and rebooted so many times that the show has no option but to poke fun at itself. Throughout its many iterations, Futurama's best episodes are miniature masterpieces of sci-fi comedy. The key is that Futurama can ground almost magical sci-fi concepts in the everyday. In doing so, it highlights the timeless foibles of human nature and western society.