Year 3000, things should be advanced right?

[on:]

Just watching the sting and though it funny that they still have the old style guillotine in the year 3000, i know its because civilisation has been destroyed twice, but anyone else notice funny little things like that, that havent advance one bit?

[Reply #1 on:]

That was just in Leelas fantasy. For all we know she could have read it in a history book and thought about the professor when she read it.

We don't know if the guillotine actually exists anymore.

[Reply #2 on:]

lame reply, any other things that havent advanced?

[Reply #3 on:]

What the hell do you mean "lame reply" ?
Lame name !

[Reply #4 on:]

Umm, isn't the guillotine meant to be deliberately anachronistic? I mean, in an age where they have suicide booths and wind-up blaster rifles, you don't *need* a guillotine.

But working from that lame example, what about the professor still using a hypodermic needle (WMIBACIL)?

[Reply #5 on:]

I thought the Professor's use of a VCR and the old projectors in the Alpha-Null Plex, both from I Dated A Robot, were somewhat nostalgic.

[Reply #6 on:]

Bathrooms....the bathrooms are EXACTLY the same.
And gas ovens aperantly still exist 3000 years in the future, among other household items...

[Reply #7 on:]

 

Originally posted by chay's head:Just watching the sting and though it funny that they still have the old style guillotine in the year 3000, i know its because civilisation has been destroyed twice, but anyone else notice funny little things like that, that havent advance one bit?

Have you ever heard of the phrase "missing the point entirely"?

And Xmpel's reply is perfectly valid.  The guillotine scene WAS in Leela's fantasy.

[Reply #8 on:]

The printer!!! And why shouldn't the world get barbaric again? Guillotines are teletubby-ish compared to the futuristic visions of other series/movies...

[Reply #9 on:]

i think the point in the guillotine was it being a joke, because obviously they werent used anymore otherwise Leela would have known what it was! Even if it was her fantasy...

edit: typo

[Reply #10 on:]

Just a thought, in "A Bicyclops Built for Two", after about over 1000 years, the second coming of Jesus and the world nearly destroyed by aliens, companies such as Coke and Microsoft seem to have gone but we still have the quite rubbish ISP AOL?

[Reply #11 on:]

And Namco, apparently (but they're not crap)

[Reply #12 on:]

yeah i know it was in her fantasy i was just using it as an example of things that havent advanced one bit, you dont have to get all technical on me and disregard my topic

[Reply #13 on:]

And you don't have to go round calling other people's replies lame.

And it's more than just a technicality; Leela's fantasy is no more a part of Futurama's "reality" than my dream last night is a part of our reality.

[Reply #14 on:]

^ Exactly. Any time there's a dream sequence in so many shows (see commentaries for Futurama, the Simpsons, Red Dwarf as well as soooo many movies) either a writer, an actor, a director or a combination of the above will comment upon what a logistical nightmare it was seen to be until someone goes: "Wait! It's a dream - it doesn't need to make any sense!"

Also, the explanation for the advancement of some technologies but not others is given by DXC and Matt Groening as the second dark age implies that civilisation had to rebuild itself from two destructions, therefore not everything is going to advance during that time lapse.

[Reply #15 on:]

i know i said civilisation had been destroyed, sorry xmpel, you reply was not lame, please back to the topic, funny things that havent advanced

[Reply #16 on:]

I apologise. Its very early in the morning here (ie it's still dark) and I've lost me contact lenses. That's my lame excuse as to why I didn't notice it in your original message.

In reply to the topic: Light bulbs.

[Reply #17 on:]

Originally posted by Bushmeister:
companies such as Coke and Microsoft seem to have gone QUOTE]

theres Horse Coke or horse pepsi from luck of the fryrish

[Reply #18 on:]

I'll say it again: The printer!!!
The PE ship apparently uses a boiler-type thingy for powering its engines.
But one thing that has advanced is the Jacob's ladder- they figured out how to use it as a mean, painful weapon (I'm really pissing you off going off topic like this, eh, Chay'sHed)

[Reply #19 on:]

 

Originally posted by chay's head:
Just watching the sting and though it funny that they still have the old style guillotine in the year 3000...

Why shouldn't Professor Farnsworth have a guillotine?  It seems like the kind of thing that he would have.  He probably has a catapult stashed somewhere too.

[Reply #20 on:]

They mostly seem to take existing things from the 2000's and import them into the year 3000 but add things to them and modify them.
eg: Axe with laser in XMas, coin operated booths.

[Reply #21 on:]

I think it can be pretty funny when they use purposely anachronistic technology (reel-to-reel projectors, dot matrix printers, overhead projectors), or combine obsolete and futuristic technology (AOL, the Professor's 78 million RPM holodiscs), but I think it sometimes falls a bit flat when they act as if something that's considered big and hi-tech nowadays will still be such in the future.  The stem cells in "300 Big Boys" come to mind, and the "You sound like a broken MP3!" line from "A Tale of Two Santas," while kind of funny, should have been replaced with something a little more futuristic-sounding.  (If nothing else, he could have at least said "MP300" or something; I'm pretty sure there's already MP4 compression today, so it wouldn't be too far-fetched that they'd just keep coming up with new versions.)

As far as companies and products that still exist in the year 3000, a few come to mind: eBay, Amazon.com, 7-Up, Mr. Pibb, Tab, Taco Bell (owners of Taco Bellevue Hospital, although it's possible they no longer exist as a restaurant chain), Howard Johnson's, McDonald's (not mentioned by name, as far as I can remember, but "Fishy Joe" Gilman says he doesn't have a franchise on "McPluto" )...I'm sure there are plenty of others, but I can't think of them just now.  I'm pretty sure Matt Groening has specifically said that Pepsi no longer exists, yet it's mentioned in "That's Lobstertainment" and "The Luck of the Fryrish."

[Reply #22 on:]

And don't forget Namco!!!
And I think maybe the meaning of all this outdated junk is to spoof most 70s to early/mid 90s sci-fi movies where monochrome monitors are ALWAYS state-of-the-art.

[Reply #23 on:]

Another thing I forgot to mention is how many electrical cords, plugs, and power lines we see on the show.  Doesn't it seem like we'd see more wireless devices in a show set in the future?

We see holograms used multiple times in the show, yet movies and TV are always two-dimensional, except for the silent holograms from "That's Lobstertainment."  Must have been a fad that didn't last.  Another modern technology that apparently didn't last is laser eye surgery, considering how many characters we see wearing glasses.

[Reply #24 on:]

Glasses cam be very attractive. Maybe people didn't want to give that up...

[Reply #25 on:]

 

Originally posted by VoVat:
...and the "You sound like a broken MP3!" line from "A Tale of Two Santas," while kind of funny, should have been replaced with something a little more futuristic-sounding.

No, no, no.  You're missing the point.  MP3 was used because MP3s are supposed to be obsolete in the year 3000.  Today, people say "broken record" but hardly anyone listens to records anymore.  Some of these kids have never even seen a record, and wouldn't even recognize one if you showed it to them.

 

I'm pretty sure Matt Groening has specifically said that Pepsi no longer exists, yet it's mentioned in "That's Lobstertainment" and "The Luck of the Fryrish."

Perhaps he forgot to tell the writers of those episodes about it.   

 

Originally posted by VoVat:
Another modern technology that apparently didn't last is laser eye surgery, considering how many characters we see wearing glasses.

It makes your eyes fall out after ten years.  (cf. "Bart to the Future" )

[Reply #26 on:]

The thing I find interesting is that Futurama's past is very similiar to our current past. For example, they have black & white silent holofilms. You figure they could just go to color. After all, we didn't have black & white DVDs. It's almost saying no matter how advanced we get, we wind up doing the same things. It's also a history teacher's worst nightmare. They are truly ignorant about "The Stupid Ages" How the hell could they think whalers landed on the damn moon? I know it's comedy, but the social commentary here is obvious.Also, consider this. Mankind basically had to start all over. We haven't been around long, but that's quite an advancement. Perhaps we deserve the title of "The Stupid Ages" 1,000 years might seem like a long time and I could certainly see the advancement if things had stayed similiar to now, but not if they had to start over. Hell we were just getting started 1,000 years ago and we're not even close to Futurama's level.

I'll stop babbling now