LeelaTurangaDK

Leela’s orphan upbringing and mysterious origins have helped fuel the development of her character over the course of the series.

Despite her strong-willed nature, she often feels self-conscious about her distinctive appearance, and at one point elects to have surgery to give her the appearance of having two normal-sized eyes, though she later has this reversed. Leela’s single eye hampers her depth perception and is sometimes exploited for comic effect, for instance, in the episode “The Problem with Popplers” it is suggested that she actually is crashing into billboards every time in the opening credits, though it typically does not interfere with her ability to pilot the Planet Express Ship (beyond crashing into the odd billboard) or her mastery of martial arts. She is very athletic and in great physical condition, with most males (of any species) unable to match her in physical combat.

Originally a career placement officer for new defrostees at a cryogenics lab in the year 2999, Leela quit her job after meeting Philip J. Fry, a defrostee from 1999, and Bender, a high-tech job-deserting girder bending robot. Together they are employed as the crew for Planet Express, an intergalactic delivery business run by Hubert J. Farnsworth.] Leela serves as captain of the Planet Express Ship, proving herself to be a skilled officer and often rescuing her less-talented coworkers from peril.

A committed environmentalist and lover of animals, Leela defies Brannigan’s orders in order to save Nibbler from a collapsing planet and adopts him as a pet;⁸ later in the series Nibbler reveals himself to be a member of an ancient race of wise, sophisticated beings known as the Nibblonians. Her environmentalist beliefs resurface again in Into the Wild Green Yonder. Despite her love of animals and nature, she embarks on an Ahab-like quest to kill a space whale in the episode “Möbius Dick”.