Caterpillar

Caterpillar is one of the many odd faces that populate the fringes of New New York, a small presence glimpsed rather than dwelt on. Like so much of Futurama's background population, the character exists to fill out the world's teeming strangeness rather than to drive its plots.

The appeal here is less the character than the craft behind the voice. Maurice LaMarche, one of animation's great chameleons, brings the same commitment to a passing bit part that he gives his showier roles, proof that Futurama's world feels alive even in its smallest corners.