Just reserving a thread regarding all the time travel messes created in BBS. In the DVD commentary DXC and gang freely admit they started writing the script with the time travel components mostly done for gags, but soon realized that they were going to have to start keeping track of all the time loops and character duplicates. It got to the point where they had to sketch out a chart to keep track of what's going on (it appears as an Easter Egg in the DVD).

Overall I had a lot of fun with the time travel plot, but as my mind wanders over it I pick out quite a few logical errors. Understandable, but one in particular stands out as problematic, which I call the "missing Fry" problem:

Spoilers ahead! Highlight to read.

At one point in the movie, three Frys exist at the same time. One is frozen in the cyrogenic chamber, and two are talking to each other. According to the rules, all copies must eventually die. But only one Fry dies in th movie. Why didn't the third Fry (i.e. the original Fry in the cyrogenic chamber) die? Since the rules seems to be (a) the character that actually travels in the past is the "original" and (b) the "copy" dies after the time that the "original" goes into the past.

I'll outline my logic in more detail later, if you have trouble seeing what I mean.

Spoilers ahead! Highlight to read.

We have two Frys frozen in one cryo-tube. One of those Frys defroze on Dec. 31st, 2999, and in the film we see the second Fry step into that same cryo-tube and set it for 7.95 years. BUT, in Space Pilot 3000, Leela accidently leaps into that same cryo-tube (which Fry left open) and the dial sets itself to 1000 years, which Fry changes to 5 minutes. How could Leela fall into the open, unset cryo-tube when Fry2 has already set it?

quote:

---

Originally posted by boingo2000:
Another question that just occoured to me:

Spoilers ahead! Highlight to read.

We have two Frys frozen in one cryo-tube. One of those Frys defroze on Dec. 31st, 2999, and in the film we see the second [spoiler]Fry step into that same cryo-tube and set it for 7.95 years. BUT, in Space Pilot 3000, Leela accidently leaps into that same cryo-tube (which Fry left open) and the dial sets itself to 1000 years, which Fry changes to 5 minutes. How could Leela fall into the open, unset cryo-tube when Fry2 has already set it?

Man, that question was hard to word so it'd make sense.

---

Spoilers ahead! Highlight to read.
Actually, I thought of the same question. If it's not paradox'd, i suppose it reset itself when Leela entered, it opened up again and he had to change the time again. If it made sence please tell me.

Spoilers ahead! Highlight to read.

In 'The Cryonic Woman', Michelle says something like "I didn't know what happened to you. No one did. The police were going to organize a search, but your parents thought it was a waste of taxpayer money." But now we know that a copy of Fry returned to the past on January 1st of 2000. We know the copy-Fry stayed in touch with his parents because we see him eating with them. He even lived above the place where he worked (until he took a job at the aquarium). The only time that copy-Fry leaves New York for a long time is when he goes on that whaling trip, but Mr. Panucci is the one who tells him to do it, so again, it's not like no one knows where he is. So, when did Fry dissapear long enough to warrant a police search?

Unlike this, which is the pair-a-Docs!

quote:

---

Originally posted by FuturamaPac:
Uh, Xanfor, may I remind you this thread is about Futurama? xD

---

No. No you may not.

quote:

---

Originally posted by soylentOrange:
I think I found a big paradox

Spoilers ahead! Highlight to read.

In 'The Cryonic Woman', Michelle says something like "I didn't know what happened to you. No one did. The police were going to organize a search, but your parents thought it was a waste of taxpayer money." But now we know that a copy of Fry returned to the past on January 1st of 2000. We know the copy-Fry stayed in touch with his parents because we see him eating with them. He even lived above the place where he worked (until he took a job at the aquarium). The only time that copy-Fry leaves New York for a long time is when he goes on that whaling trip, but Mr. Panucci is the one who tells him to do it, so again, it's not like no one knows where he is. So, when did Fry dissapear long enough to warrant a police search?

---

Spoilers ahead! Highlight to read.

Seymour came looking for Fry in Jurrasic Bark, and eventually found him frozen in the cryonic tube at Applied Cryogenics. Now that we know that a time-duplicate Fry stayed back in the past, this no longer makes sense. Why would Seymour go searching for Fry if, as far as Seymour knew, he never dissapeared in the first place? The only thing I can think of to get around this problem is if time-duplicate Fry for some reason didn't immediately return to his house once he got back to the past. In "Bender's Big Score" Bender does say that Fry must have left the city, but I cant think of a reason why he'd do that. Maybe this will be addressed in one of the other movies?

quote:

---

Originally posted by soylentOrange:

Spoilers ahead! Highlight to read.

Seymour came looking for Fry in Jurrasic Bark, and eventually found him frozen in the cryonic tube at Applied Cryogenics. Now that we know that a time-duplicate Fry stayed back in the past, this no longer makes sense. Why would Seymour go searching for Fry if, as far as Seymour knew, he never dissapeared in the first place? The only thing I can think of to get around this problem is if time-duplicate Fry for some reason didn't immediately return to his house once he got back to the past. In "Bender's Big Score" Bender does say that Fry must have left the city, but I cant think of a reason why he'd do that. Maybe this will be addressed in one of the other movies?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by FuturamaPac:

Spoilers ahead! Highlight to read.
Something I think was good was when Bender was in that UFO battle, and we see Fry in the cryogenic tube, and the city being destroyed in the background. But, in SP3K, we see a medieval period. In Bender's Big Score, this wasn't seen or talked about or come to think of it, it's never ever been talked about.

---

I just realized that probably has something to do with the medieval thing in the third movie.

As far as the time paradoxes go I saw something that I think is called the "Theory of Complementary Outcomes", or something to that affect. It says that time can only be altered if the outcomes are complementary. For example if Fry had killed his grandfather in Roswell and left he would never exist and never go back to kill his grandfather creating a paradoxical endless loop. However since he slep with his grandmother which ended up leading to a very similar result. The point is that according to the theory details don't matter as long as the end results are the same or similar to the original. This means that any changes have to be minor and relatively insignifigant because everything has such a far ranging affect on everything else. Bear in mind this is just a theory I heard.

Well, that is without a doubt the longest post I've made in a long time. I wonder where all this energy and exitement came from.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Frisco17:
As far as the time paradoxes go I saw something that I think is called the "Theory of Complementary Outcomes", or something to that affect. It says that time can only be altered if the outcomes are complementary. For example if Fry had killed his grandfather in Roswell and left he would never exist and never go back to kill his grandfather creating a paradoxical endless loop. However since he slep with his grandmother which ended up leading to a very similar result. The point is that according to the theory details don't matter as long as the end results are the same or similar to the original. This means that any changes have to be minor and relatively insignifigant because everything has such a far ranging affect on everything else. Bear in mind this is just a theory I heard.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sine Wave:
I'm pretty sure this has to be how it goes down in the movie, because obviously the time traveling done changed the past, if only through the interaction of time duplicates. If history wasn't changed, Fry (that stayed Fry) would have interacted with himself the first time he threw Bender into the chamber, gone to Panuccis, gone back to the cryogenic chamber, talked to himself on the opposite side of the conversation, and then fallen into the freezer, creating a linear, duplicate-free timeline. However, because the Fry that threw Bender into the chamber acted differently after meeting his future self, history changed, and allowed him to eventually become Lars. This now explains the retconning of Luck of the Fryrish and the cheapening of Jurassic Bark. They still happened the way we saw them, but the time traveling caused different, but ultimately similar enough events to take place instead.

---

Well, here's what I had to say on the matter, posted in the wrong spot apparently:

Here

Also, where's TNUK when you need him? Banned again?

I guess it's trendy to mark spoilers here

Heh, thank goodness I wasn't the only one confused by some parts of the movie. ^^;

Now, I don't know if this has been mentioned before but anyway, I think I should mention this.

(I'm not sure if this is a paradox though, or just some weird thing that doesn't make any sense)

Spoilers ahead! Highlight to read.

Basically, the thing about the tattoo (time code) being on Fry's ass confused me. I mean, it actually contradicts several episodes!! - In episode 1, "Space Pilot 3000", when Fry is on the probulater, wouldn't they have shown the tattoo being there? (then again, I don't remember if they actually showed Fry's ass in that scene, so this one may not count...) - In "Futurestock", Fry pulls down his pants and moons Mom (of Mom Corp), by rubbing his butt against the window of the ship. However, as you can see, there is clearly no tatoo there. So, how is that possible? - In "Insane in the Mainframe", Fry is stripped of his clothes, on his way into the robot assylum. But again, we don't see the tattoo anywhere. This is one of the many things that confused me about the movie, the tattoo/time code being on Fry's ass - and how the tattoo was somehow absent in episodes where Fry's ass has been shown. If in the above episodes it wasn't there before, then at what point in the series is it chronologically, supposed to be there?

Also, there's something else I've been wondering.

There's 3 things that REALLY confused me.

Spoilers ahead! Highlight to read.

1. How many duplicate copies of Fry were there total? (not including the one in the freezer tube, because this is actually the original Fry, or rather becomes the original Fry in the future) I mean, there was only one duplicate copy of Fry, because he only used the time code once, right? 2. How many copies of Bender were there? Actually, I'm guesing there were probably too many to count, lol. XD 3. Okay, so if the second Fry (the duplicate of Fry) IS Lars, then....who is Lars at the beginning of the movie? Shouldn't there now be 2 Lars? The Lars that exists at the beginning of the movie (Lars 1) BEFORE Fry went back in time and duplicated himself. And supposedly, there's a second Lars (Fry's copy realizing that he is Lars), who froze himself and therefore created Lars 2? If so, then wouldn't that mean there's actually two copies of Fry? The original Lars (which apparently, was Fry to begin with), and the Lars that gets killed in the movie? But if that's true, then wouldn't the orginal Lars still exist? Man, I'm so confused here. XD

------------------
Uh, hi... *doesn't know what to say*

I like Fry, and I think he's awesome!! ^_^

There is yet another contradiction.

Spoilers ahead! Highlight to read.

In the movie, they had the Box Network, which was the company that cancelled Planet Express. However, in "When Aliens Attack", there was a flashback of Fry spilling soda (or was that beer?) all over the transmitter of the Fox Network, therefore knocking Fox off the air. But this would mean that the network Fox does exist in the Futurama universe. So how come in the movie they used the...Box network instead?

------------------
Uh, hi... *doesn't know what to say*

I like Fry, and I think he's awesome!! ^_^

I forgot about that. XD

I guess that part kinda confused me at first, with the sign changing back and forth from Box to Fox, lol.

and also have't we seen the professor's back before? I'm sure he didn't have his 'ink.'

quote:

---

origionaly posted by FryFangirlLisa:
3. Okay, so if the second Fry (the duplicate of Fry) IS Lars, then....who is Lars at the beginning of the movie?

Shouldn't there now be 2 Lars? The Lars that exists at the beginning of the movie (Lars 1) BEFORE Fry went back in time and duplicated himself. And supposedly, there's a second Lars (Fry's copy realizing that he is Lars), who froze himself and therefore created Lars 2?

---

we the first Lars from the beginin onlgot there because Fry froze himself. there was no Lars when fry becme lrs because it was in the past in abou 2012.