Questions!

[on:]

So yes I had a few questions about the show:
(Its for a report on futuristic transportation) Any help from you guys would be sweet.

1)What forms of transportation do people use to get around? Are there problems with them such as smog, traffic, etc?
2)How much better is the future than today presented as in the show? Or is it worse? What details in the show demonstrate this (eg. suicide boothes)?

[Reply #1 on:]

Sorry to sound arrogent but I think this should be in the off topic section.

Regardless though, how far into the future are you thinking?  100yrs or a 1000yrs etc...?

[Reply #2 on:]

1. There are a few choices. A popular one is travelling through light green transparent plastic tubes, which (seemingly with the help of some sort of vaccuum) suck you from one place to another. The tubes go everywhere around New New York - you just tell it where you want to go (it works on audio command) and it will pull you through the tubes to wherever that is. Very busy at peak hour, and impossible to use if there is any sort of blockage (as there is only one "lane" ). You can also buy a hovercar, which is much like a normal car except it flies. Obviously, hovercar-ing can take place in 3 dimensions, but there seem to be strict traffic rules so you really can only move in particular directions/roads. You can get jetpacks, although they don't seem to be popular, or you can use a spaceship like the PE crew do - just following the hovercar rules is all that's required. You can also make your own intergalactic vehicles (see "The Route of all Evil" ) although that's also not popular. You can walk, or get hovercar taxis, and hovering restaurants are also drivable (see "Amazon Women In The Mood" ).

2. There are quite a few different opinions. You can read some in this thread. There are suicide booths, but they're only ways of making society more efficient (sorry if that seemed crude and awful). There are lots of changes:
a) You get assigned the job that best suits your ability, and have to stick with it;
b) It's impossible to get anything filed/retrieved at Central Bureaucracy (it's bad today, but it takes several decades in the year 3000)
c) Our time is referred to as "The Stupid Ages". Perhaps then, society is smarter.
d) Intergalactic travel is commonplace, so you can really expand your horizons.
e) Inflation has been kept in check - prices are similar to today's, so the economy is doing well;
f) Planets keep getting invaded;
g) People are nicer about inter-racial stuff, even inter-species stuff;
h) Entertainment is varied and advanced (you can do "Choose your own adventure" in movies, play virtual virtual skeeball, ride a dinosaur, blow up a planet...)
i) we've got heaps more sports at the olympics (including Limbo)
j) Ads are everywhere, including in your dreams.

I'll let you decide which of these are good and which are bad. But read the above thread, it's a good background 

[Reply #3 on:]

sums it up dolcelannah

[Reply #4 on:]

 

Originally posted by gismodog:
2)How much better is the future than today presented as in the show? Or is it worse? What details in the show demonstrate this (eg. suicide boothes)?

Matt says in one of the DVD commentaries that the year 3000 is neither a Eutopia or a distopia, it's meant to be just a futuristic version of today.

[Reply #5 on:]

aslate, i like the add for your website there, i love that episode

[Reply #6 on:]

 

Originally posted by gismodog:
1)What forms of transportation do people use to get around? Are there problems with them such as smog, traffic, etc?

As it was illustrated in "Space Pilot 3000", people (at least in New New York) can travel around in tubes. Space ships work well for interplanetary travel (look at the Planet Express ship) and hover cars (such as the one purchased by Amy in "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" ).
Welcome to PEEL, by the way.

[Reply #7 on:]

 

Originally posted by zoidbergrocks:
aslate, i like the add for your website there, i love that episode

can you say "pointless post"? 

seriously, though, try saying that three times fast! 

[Reply #8 on:]

 

Originally posted by gismodog:
1)What forms of transportation do people use to get around? Are there problems with them such as smog, traffic, etc?

Walking is still popular, with streets still having footpaths.
- - - -
Zeep: What is the point of posting an almost pointless post to point out the pointlessness of a previous post, while not contributing anything to the thread topic?
Also, try saying that outloud three times fast!

[Reply #9 on:]

 

Originally posted by Dolcelannah:
c) Our time is referred to as "The Stupid Ages". Perhaps then, society is smarter.

No, they just think that they are, in much the same way that many people of today look down on the "primitives" of the past.

 

e) Inflation has been kept in check - prices are similar to today's, so the economy is doing well;

Keep in mind that it may be a different system of currency.  The denominations may be the same (dollars and cents), but remember that it's earth currency, not U.S. currency.  Then again, Fry was able to access his old bank account, so maybe it is the same currency after all.

 

g) People are nicer about inter-racial stuff, even inter-species stuff;

Are they?  The Professor hates Cygnoids.  Zapp doesn't seem to like aliens (unless they're attractive and female).  Hermes has called Zoidberg several things which could be considered racial slurs.  Similarly, Bender uses racial slurs when adressing humans.  And let's not forget the mutants who are forced to live in the sewers.

It's not the people of the 31st century who lack prejudice, it's Fry.