Turanga Leela

Turanga Leela (born July 29, 2975), better known as Leela, is captain of the Planet Express ship. With a "not rain nor sleet" attitude and a kick-your-ass grace, the big-booted eyeball of this delivery company is the only wellspring of professionalism to counterpoint the rest of the crew. For better or for worse, the ship runs on her high octane passions, be they her yearning for family, her love of violence, her commitment to a job well done, or her аffection for animals. She has been known to scrap missions on a whim at the promise of learning more of her past, jeopardize the crew's life to spite Zapp Brannigan and save Nibbler, and have sudden emotional outbursts about an ex-boyfriend from her past named Sean. Although she doesn't often show it, she is in love with Fry, and vice versa. Leela was the first woman blurnsball player, and the worst player ever due to her poor depth perception.

Childhood
Having grown up in the Cookieville Minimum-Security Orphanarium, Leela long lived the lonely life of an orphan and a freak, thinking herself as the only member of an unknown alien race on all of the planet Earth. It is not until her late 20s that she discovers she is in fact the daughter of Turanga Morris and Munda, shamed sewer mutants from Earth's own degraded depths. It would appear that she was born as a surprisingly un-mutated mutant, her only know mutations being purple hair, the "elbow talons" she apparently shaves, and of course her distinct cyclops eye. One might also speculate that her strength is beyond human capacity, judging by the ease with which she can manipulate Bender's five hundred and twenty-five pound bulk, but perhaps this is simply the power offered by her knowledge and mastery of Arcturian Kung-Fu. Leela was taught Kung-Fu by Master Fnog, who had crashed down on her dreams by telling her that she did not have "the will of the warrior" but the will of "a school mom" or "housewife."

Adulthood
"Look, I don't know about your previous captains, but I intend to do as little dying as possible."

- The Series Has Landed - Turanga Leela on dying

After growing up, Leela begins work at Applied Cryogenics as a Fate Assignment Officer, code number "1BDI" (one beady eye). When Leela meets Fry, she becomes a job deserter in favor of piloting for Planet Express. Leela lives alone in a small unfurnished apartment, "1I" (one eye) in New New York City. She was named Orphan of the Year in 3000 and for a short while, Miss Universe. Due to an accident, she and Kif Kroker have several children together, though Amy, as Kif's Smizmar, is considered the mother.

Relationships with Random Men
"Men who call too much are the worst... I bet."

- Amazon Women in the Mood

Leela has an ex-boyfriend named Sean, an uneducated, unambitious, pasty and hunched, with an incredible, beautiful creative soul, and musical talent. Their breakup may not have been entirely mutual, judging by the fact that Leela stresses how mutual it was every chance she can and that she believed he was cheating on her.

She went on at least one date with Doug.

Leela dated the Dean of Mars University after Fratbots won a boating race, however, he didn't call her after one date.

Leela started dating Adlai Atkins, an orphan she grew up with after she reconnected with him as an adult. They became engaged after he performed phaser eye surgery on her, but broke up after Leela realized he didn't like her the way she was.

Leela dated Chaz, the mayor's aide, but broke up with him after she realized he thought he was too important for most everyone.

While stranded on Omega 3, Leela has a quick fling with William Shatner.

Leela almost married Alkazar after he tricked her into thinking they were the last of their race.

Leela gets engaged to Yivo, along with the rest of the universe.

Leela made out with Amy Wong during the battle at Wipe Castle.

Relationship with Zapp Brannigan
Leela met Zapp Brannigan en route to Vergon 6. She took pity on him and had sex with him, something she regrets constantly. Zapp believes he still has a chance with Leela and hits on her every time they meet. Bender frequently reminds Leela about her affair with Zapp, to her disgust. Zapp makes an attempt to convince Leela that they will be the new Adam and Eve in the episode, In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela.

Relationship with Bender
Leela first met Bender when she was chasing after Fry, before later working together at Planet Express. Although they are seen as friends, they rarely seem to agree with one another, or even enjoy each other's company, due to Leela's un-impulsive nature, and Bender being the subsequent opposite. After Bender flushed Nibbler down the toilet, the Professor installed an empathy chip in Bender, allowing him to feel Leela's emotions. The act initially seemed to bond the two, but it was later revealed that the empathy chip had to be running at triple capacity to get Bender even close to Leela's true feelings. When Bender asked Leela what she likes most about him, she commented that she liked his "in-your-face attitude."

Relationships with other members of Planet Express
Leela's relationships with the rest of the Planet Express crew differs from time to time. Though she mostly spends time with Fry and Bender, she sometimes hangs around Zoidberg, Hermes, and the Professor. However, apart from Bender and Fry, she hangs out most with Amy Wong. She first met Amy after joining Planet Express, and didn't think much of her. She was shocked when Amy saved her and Fry's life by flying to their rescue in the Planet Express ship. Leela and Amy's friendship is hot and cold at times, and often Leela feels jealous of her.

Relationship with Fry
"You know, Fry? I don't care if you're not the most important person in the universe. It really makes me happy to see you right now."

- Leela

"Then I am the most important person in the universe."

- Fry While Fry seemed to have fallen in love with Leela, she at first only considered him a "kid from the stupid ages". They kiss for the first time on the Titanic. Fry often tells Leela she is beautiful and reminds her that she is perfect just the way she is. When they are turned into teenagers by age-reducing tar, they go on at least one date. When Leela is stung by the space bee, Fry first tries to save her, then sits by her hospital bed while she is in a coma. In her dreams, it is apparent that she cares for Fry as well. While they did get married during time skips, she quickly divorced him, thinking he had tricked her into marriage. In an alternate universe, Leela learns that she could be happily married to Fry if only she flipped the coin differently. During the time Fry had worms, the improvements they made to him allowed him to effortlessly woo Leela, but he lost his chances when he wanted her to love him and not what the worms made him. The Robot Devil swapped hands with Fry so that Fry could become better at playing the holophoner. Fry performs an opera to effectively win Leela's affection again, only to be interrupted by the Robot Devil's scheme to reclaim his hands. Fry plays the finale of the opera privately at Leela's request.

Leela met Lars Fillmore in Bender's Big Score and quickly fell in love with him. They planned to be married, but Lars called off the wedding mysteriously on the day of the ceremony, ending their relationship. He reveals near the end of the film that he always loved Leela, and sacrifices himself to save Leela and Fry. Leela then discovers that Lars was really the older, maturer time duplicate of Fry, and it was Fry she had been in love with.

When Fry met Colleen, Fry and Leela lost interest in each other again. However, later after Fry dumped Colleen, Leela and Fry regained their interest again in Into the Wild Green Yonder.

In Overclockwise, Leela and Fry begin to wonder about the big question: what will their future be if the two decide to get together after all? Leela left Planet Express to become a real estate agent. She returns towards the end of the episode, saying she always thought of Planet Express and memories of Fry. Bender then reveals that he printed out the answers to life's greatest questions, including what becomes of Leela and Fry. Once they read it, and share facial expressions as well as slapping each other's face at least once, they smile and look at one another as the episode ends. While the contents remain unknown to the viewer, it seems clear that Fry and Leela's future together would be a wonderful one.

Nibbler identifies Leela as "the Other", referencing some yet unexplored aspect of Fry's prophesied destiny.

Death
Leela survives the Planet Express Ship crashing because of Fry shielding her with his body. After accidentally building Fry-bot with too much wiring she was severely electrocuted to death but was brought back by the stem cells.

Trivia

 * Leela's officer code (1BDI) is reference to her only having one eye
 * Leela's name might be a reference to Oliver Messaien's Turangalila symphony.
 * In a commentary track for Futurama, creator Matt Groening states that Leela's name is derived from the Fourth Doctor's companion Leela on the British science fiction television show Doctor Who.
 * Her last name might also have been inspired by the German, Hungarian, Swedish and Spanish word lila ("purple, violet"), in a possible allusion to her hair color.


 * The wrist device that Leela is seen consistently wearing has been shown to have at least seven uses: a communicator, reattach Fry's nose , play tetris and Pong, detect whether or not the Omicronian young (later known as Popplers) are edible , a tracking device reciever she uses in the Central Bureaucracy , a tissue dispencer, and has a (possibly deadly) laser.
 * In "Rebirth" it i s revealed that Leela wears size 12 shoes.
 * Leela also has a singing boil on her butt named Susan, a parody of Susan Boyle.

Appearances

 * Along with Fry and Bender, she is one of only three characters to appear in every episode and film.