Time Travel

[Reply #40 on:]

I would definitely like to see that and it has a lot of potential. We don't hear nearly enough about those thousand years Fry missed out on.

You see a lot of it in the very first episode, Space Pilot 3000 when he is frozen. Earth seems to de-evolve at least twice (castles been destroyed by UFOs twice). And another episode mentions carrots enslaving the Earth.

I would like to see one or two episodes dealing with the intervening millenium.  One thing I would love to see is an episode that shows the ancestors of Hermes, Amy, Leela (before they became mutants), the Professor and other prominent characters like Zapp and Mom.  Even if its just brief, like we see a horrible, shrieking rich asian couple that somehow have a rather sweet and friendly daughter, or someone with purple hair who mentions she and her husband are going on a guided tour of the sewers, or a jamaican man/woman who is obsesed with accounting.   That kind of thing.

Sounds boring to me. You know that Family Guy episode The Big Bang Theory? That seems like it should have been a Futurama epsiode.

[Reply #41 on:]

DON'T YOU EVER, EVER, COMPARE FUTURAMA TO FAMILY GUY.

[Reply #42 on:]

I would definitely like to see that and it has a lot of potential. We don't hear nearly enough about those thousand years Fry missed out on.

You see a lot of it in the very first episode, Space Pilot 3000 when he is frozen. Earth seems to de-evolve at least twice (castles been destroyed by UFOs twice). And another episode mentions carrots enslaving the Earth.

I would like to see one or two episodes dealing with the intervening millenium.  One thing I would love to see is an episode that shows the ancestors of Hermes, Amy, Leela (before they became mutants), the Professor and other prominent characters like Zapp and Mom.  Even if its just brief, like we see a horrible, shrieking rich asian couple that somehow have a rather sweet and friendly daughter, or someone with purple hair who mentions she and her husband are going on a guided tour of the sewers, or a jamaican man/woman who is obsesed with accounting.   That kind of thing.

Sounds boring to me. You know that Family Guy episode The Big Bang Theory? That seems like it should have been a Futurama epsiode.

I think it would be interesting, because it wouldn't be the focus of the episode.  Just little easter eggs for the viewers. 

I can't remember the Big Bang Theory, was it like Road to the Multiverse or something?  (Speaking of which, I really would love them to do another multiverse hopping episode, like the ones that were shown in Parabox.)

[Reply #43 on:]

Yeah, it was very similar to Road to the Multiverse. Stewie created back in time to the point of the big bang and accidentally created the universe -thus making himself God.

[Reply #44 on:]

I would definitely like to see that and it has a lot of potential. We don't hear nearly enough about those thousand years Fry missed out on.

Especially because they mentioned society was destroyed and rebuilt a bunch of times within those thousand years. I want to see how they got to where they are now.

Same here. All that stuff going on that we could see through the window in Space Pilot 3000 while Fry was cryogenically frozen, I'd like some more details. There must be a rich history between Fry getting frozen and him thawing. Lots of untapped potential I'm sure...

[Reply #45 on:]

Not to mention we could learn why/how the Cryogenics lab was never destroyed that Fry was stuck in for a thousand years. I'd like to hear the silly excuses the writers could come up with for that. So much potential for a cool story lies in that 1000 year span of time. I'd be up seeing a bit of it myself.

[Reply #46 on:]

Not to mention we could learn why/how the Cryogenics lab was never destroyed that Fry was stuck in for a thousand years. I'd like to hear the silly excuses the writers could come up with for that.

They would of purposely kept the building erect cause of all the people inside waiting to be un-frozen at the right time. Can you imagine if Fry woke up in Old New York? He'd think Nukes would've destroyed everything.

[Reply #47 on:]

Yeah, but how did they manage to keep that building erect while destroying everything else with lasers from the sky? There has to be a neat sci-fi story there.

[Reply #48 on:]

Yeah, but how did they manage to keep that building erect while destroying everything else with lasers from the sky? There has to be a neat sci-fi story there.

Cause he wasn't trying to destroy everything, he was trying to get back to the limestone cavern underneath PE and escape the Swedish...

[Reply #49 on:]

Then why did they rebuild with castles instead of replacing what was there before (I mean, castles might be considered an improvement, but still...)?

[Reply #50 on:]

That's the one thing we'll never truly understand....

[Reply #51 on:]

Then why did they rebuild with castles instead of replacing what was there before (I mean, castles might be considered an improvement, but still...)?

It was just a design faze the architects were going through, they were still advanced but liked the old style English castles. Or it was a theme park which got destroyed, so they rebuilt it and it got destroyed again!

[Reply #52 on:]

Also I guess they thought castles would give them more defence against future attacks, possibly even against space attacks... yep, that'll hold up to scrutiny...

[Reply #53 on:]

Cause he wasn't trying to destroy everything, he was trying to get back to the limestone cavern underneath PE and escape the Swedish...

But he wasn't specifically trying to avoid the cryogenics lab either. This is Bender, do you think he gives a damn? All I'm saying is maybe the cryogenics lab had some sort of neat sci-fi protection thingamajig that could be brought up in a future episode.

[Reply #54 on:]

It's possible that the Nibblonians were indirectly protecting their investment in the security of the future. I can see Nibbler posting some sort of guard or setting up some sort of forcefield to absorb laser blasts before he went off to Vergon Six. They do tend to try and cover all the angles, those cute little Machiavellian snugglebunnies.

[Reply #55 on:]

All of the time travel eps have been great until ATPH which just didn't do it for me, and at that point I really did think enough was enough. The method they used was also really stupid in ATPH. I think it was meant to be funny but it just made it more unbelievable and caused issues with continuity...

TLPJF was an excellent time travel episode, but I would be happy if they left the time travel alone for now, it's been done enough, think of something else to do instead. I'd be pleased if no Season 7 ep had any time travel. We shall see though, we shall see ...

[Reply #56 on:]

Agreed, I don't believe that someone, somewhere has never drank Head Jar water before...

[Reply #57 on:]

ATPH was the one episode where I thought that time travel was actually handled badly, but I don't think that it means we've seen too much time travel. As long as it's a once-in-a-season event on average, I think it's alright.

[Reply #58 on:]

I thought "All the Presidents' Heads" would have worked just as well if licking the heads only caused you to hallucinate that you were back in a certain historical period. The story could have progressed in much the same way--though, of course, it would have had no dramatic weight if everything that was happening was all in a dream. So I guess it comes down to the question of whether or not AtPH was a story that needed to be told...and probably it wasn't. It had its moments, but I could really take it or leave it--and I agree that the time travel aspect was a little ridiculous.

But yeah, every other time travel episode has been brilliant. Even though I sense an over-reliance on it this production season (two time travel episodes in one season compared to one (possibly two, if you want to count TKoS) in the first four seasons is an over-reliance, in my book), I do think the writers have handled it well. But it's probably time to give it a rest, lest it become overused to such an extent that the conceit itself loses all meaning.

[Reply #59 on:]

I'm not a fan of the time travel episodes, aside from "Roswell That Ends Well."  

"Roswell" was a great episode, and it handled the concept of time travel really well (better than most television shows do).  More importantly, it handled time travel as a unique event, something that couldn't really be repeated.  I would have prefered if that was the only time travel episode.  The time travel aspect of "The Why of Fry" didn't bother me too much (although I would have changed the ending), but that should have been it for time travel in Futurama.

I'm not saying that all of the newer time travel episodes have been bad; I just think that they're unnecessary.  I'd prefer that we didn't have them, or at least that we didn't have so many of them.  So much casual time travel makes it seem commonplace.  It loses the specialness that time travel had in the original series.

[Reply #60 on:]

I think generally, they handle time travel well and do it in a way that lends itself to a heartfelt, emotional, fascinating, or really funny story. BBS was brilliant. Roswell was brilliant. Why of Fry was a really deep sort of episode and had so much sci-fi fun. TLPJF was astonishing.

All the President's Heads was just kind of stupid.

I think that time travel should be used sparingly and only when necessary to drive something of an emotional point home. It shouldn't be used just for a casual, forgettable romp, like in ATPH.

[Reply #61 on:]

I love time-travel and Futurama's yet to do a time-travel episode that doesn't do it for me to some degree. My favourite episode is Roswell that Ends Well, my favourite of the movies is Bender's Big Score and the likes of Time Keeps on Slipping, The Why of Fry and The Late Philip J. Fry are up there with my favourite episodes of all time. I very much enjoyed All the Presidents' Heads even if it's the weakest of the time-travel episodes so far (unless you count Bender's Big Score: Part 1 as a separate entity).

[Reply #62 on:]

The entire premise of the show is time-travel. The primary character, who serves as the contemporary point-of-reference for the audience, has travelled 1000 years into the future using a (admittedly rudimentary) form of time-travel. This sets up the entire show. A show set in the future and starring a man from the past. Called Futurerama.

So suggesting it does time-travel too much is like saying the same of the Back to the Future films. It's the whole damned point. You don't have extratemporal characters in a comedy unless it's to juxtapose them against other time periods.

Besides which, sci-fi can do time-travel as often as it likes. Time-travel in sci-fi is a trope. It's as common as spaceflight. Might as well ask to see less of the crew flying into space.

[Reply #63 on:]

This is true, coldangel. I just agree that they shouldn't whip out time travel much more than they already do, just to keep it kind of special and not the sort of thing one does every day.

[Reply #64 on:]

Two or three a season is sufficient.
The frequency of Star Trek time travel episodes should be a good gauge. Since in many ways Futurama stands as Trek satire.

[Reply #65 on:]

 

[Reply #66 on:]

Hmmm...coldangel brings up an interesting point. But I think the main gripe here is with traveling back in time, which causes paradoxes and grandma-inseminating and big ol' rifts in the very fabric of space-time. So I guess I should qualify my too-much-time-travel statement by saying that traveling forward in time doesn't bug me (though, after "Time Keeps on Slipping" and "The Late Philip J. Fry," they can probably keep the plot device alone unless a really good story comes along)--but traveling back in time should be special, like they say in the commentary for "Roswell That Ends Well."

So, at the most, it shouldn't happen more than once a season. And, thus far, that's been the case (if we're talking broadcast seasons; technically, production season six has two time travel episodes).

[Reply #67 on:]

We need a lot more time travel in Futurama, but make it more interesting somehow...

Why can't they go forward for once? (Yes, they did in TLPJF, but I mean go forward and stay forward.)

[Reply #68 on:]

Uh...because that would mess up the show? It would have to change forever. Or end.

I think after All the President's Heads, it's indeed time to stop doing time travel on Futurama. Cold Angel makes a good point, but as far as time-travel as we usually understand it in science fiction - Roswell, The Why of Fry, Late Philip J. Fry, Bender's Big Score, and President's Heads being the qualifying Futurama entries - they've officially used it more than enough times. Finding another frozen person or something is one thing, but no more "the crew travels through time and alters the past/future/present" episodes unless there's a really good idea behind it.

President's Heads wasn't awful, but plot-wise it was fairly weak. The main catalyst behind it wasn't very interesting and it was sort of structured all wrong; the fact that they mess up the present (well, future) and have to fix it is really main (or at least most interesting) "problem" in the episode, so it should have taken up more then two minutes of screentime.

[Reply #69 on:]

I don't mean go forward and stay there forever.

I mean for all of the episode.

[Reply #70 on:]

I think one of the problems with time travel in the show is that each time they go back in time so far, they've had to establish a new means of time-travel. Just as with Nibbler revealing his secret identity, there's only so many times you can do that before it becomes a bit redundant.

Whilst I loved the insane method of time-travel used in All the Presidents' Heads, it's obvious that its craziness and lack of holding up to real scientific scrutiny annoyed a lot of people.

[Reply #71 on:]

The plot was full of holes with the time-travel method, but the scientific element doesn't really bother me. Futurama uses a lot of science, but by the admission of the writers it's usually not scientifically sound - just often (not always) based in some sort of actual scientific concept, to the point that actual scientists will enjoy it. But time-travel itself is ultimately a fictional concept that most likely isn't actually possible.

But, they did need to explain why they could lick any random head and go to any random place and time...or rather, how they could lick a random head and get to a totally different time and place that they were aiming for (the Revolutionary period in this case) when seconds before licking an unrelated head had taken them to Andy Warhol and a speakeasy (though I suppose Hoover was at least related) without them appearing to "choose" that by themselves. It just seemed too convenient without a line or two to at least explain it.

[Reply #72 on:]

I think the idea was that the heads in jars existed as heads within time-bubbles of sorts, so that you were taken to their respective time-periods by consuming the time-altering substance. They couldn't just lick a random head and go to a random time. The revolutionary period was always gotten to by licking a head from that era. I can't remember who they licked to get to the 1960s or 1930s, but my guess is that they were sound as well.
As for places... yeah, you're right.

[Reply #73 on:]

I can't remember who they licked to get to the 1960s or 1930s,

Lyndon Johnson and Herbert Hoover.

[Reply #74 on:]

I love time travel episodes. The next one they could do could be similar to Quantum Leap..Oh boy!

[Reply #75 on:]

I love time travel episodes. The next one they could do could be similar to Quantum Leap..Oh boy!

I can imagine Hermes as Al quite easily, Fry as Beckett... no. Doesn't work for me. There's just something wrong with it.

[Reply #76 on:]

I've never seen Quantum Leap, but couldn't anything sci-fi theoretically be parodied that way? I mean, when they parody Moby Dick or Star Trek or anything else the characters generally aren't clones of the originals, they're just put into a similar plotline.

As for places... yeah, you're right.

Even that doesn't bother me so much - given maybe an offhand line, which I totally don't mind if it's just a made-up, nonsensical Farnsworth excuse - but what got me was that the first couple times it's like "oh we licked his head and, OH SHIT there's Andy Warhol," like they obviously had no way of predicting when/where they'd go exactly, but then the Professor sort of arbitrarily decides he wants to go to a specific time/place and has no trouble doing so. I don't care too much about scientific logic in a show with ghosts and brains flying through the air and everyone eating lasers, but it just bothered me that the main plot catalyst wasn't treated consistently. It makes it a lot harder to buy into or become invested in.

[Reply #77 on:]

If the writers can come up with a really neat idea/method and also a strong, compelling reason for doing time travel again, I say do it. Otherwise, leave it. If they go for a parody, it's going to have to be really strong without seeming pop-culture-esque or failing to appeal to the whole audience. And, like DotheBartman said, it's going to have to be well-thought-out, at least comfortably rooted in science, and without any arbitrary elements.

[Reply #78 on:]

We wouldn't have TLPJF had the writers been tired of time travel after using it only a few times. The Why of Fry, Roswell That Ends Well and TLPJF should be on most top-10 lists for best episodes and I trust that any future time travel episode will be just as epic. A few more spread across the next couple seasons would be ok with me.

[Reply #79 on:]

Hmmm...coldangel brings up an interesting point. But I think the main gripe here is with traveling back in time, which causes paradoxes

Coldangel always brings up an interesting point.

The temporal paradox is one of the fundamentally fascinating aspects of the time-travel story. Added to that, you can have all the fun of inadvertently creating alternate timelines, which the show only really tried in President's Heads (poorly). They could actually do an Anthology of Interest type of episode where differing timelines created by temporal blunders could showcase different possibilities while still remaining canon. Futurama can do this because it's sci-fi.

time-travel itself is ultimately a fictional concept that most likely isn't actually possible.

I'll see your scepticism and raise it one Roman Ring.
Also, Quantum Entanglement

If the writers can come up with a really neat idea/method

Peh. Haven't you people ever watched Star Trek?
Virtually anything anybody ever does has the potential to accidentally result in time travel.

If the PE ship accidentally violates the (increased) speed of light - you have time travel.
If it falls into a wormhole with a time differential at its terminus - time travel.
Plus, forward time travel is absolutely easy. Time dilation due to high gravity or velocity is a recorded phenomenon.