Future-Drama/References

Cultural references

 * The episode title, and Bender's appearance, are references to Futurama.
 * The on Professor Frink's large video screen resembles the green-on-black waterfall display from The Matrix.
 * In the future, Superintendent Chalmers is shown to be wheelchair-bound and only able to say "Skinner!", similar to from Star Trek.

Songs

 * "" by is heard while Homer and Bart are cruising in Homer's hovercar.
 * Heard at the prom:
 * "" by
 * "" by
 * "" by
 * "" by is heard briefly when Ralph drinks the spiked punch.
 * "" by plays when Homer and Marge kiss in Homer's undersea home.

Trivia

 * This is the 350th episode to air, despite the fact that officially "Don't Fear the Roofer" is the 350th.
 * This episode has had two sequels: "Holidays of Future Passed" and "Days of Future Future".
 * At one point Bart gets bored and wants to see what else the future holds, the astrology machine acts and sounds like TiVo, one future event listed has Cletus as Vice President of the United States. Other options include Kang and Kodos invading Earth, Flanders' violent revenge on Homer, Moe finally gets e-mail, Maggie getting arrested for DUI, and Lenny having a super pet.
 * Near the beginning of the episode, Frink shows Bart and Lisa welcoming signs with their names on them, to prove he predicted their arrival at his lab. However, he hides an extra sign welcoming Maggie, who didn't arrive, perhaps hinting that this vision into the future may not be accurate.
 * This is the first time in the entire run of The Simpsons that Frink is called "Dr. Frink".

Future events

 * Keep in mind due to the timelessness of the show, exact dates are disputable.


 * Maggie sends a video postcard from Alaska, which, due to global warming, has a climate similar to Florida. One polar bear survives long enough to try to attack Maggie.
 * Milhouse is muscular and emotionally unstable, similar to The Incredible Hulk after Lisa dumps him, and goes on a rampage fighting off four "Robo-Cops" (see below).
 * Skinner is principal of Springfield High School, with Kearney as the very anti-drug assistant principal.
 * Superintendent Chalmers is in a Christopher Pike-like persistent vegetative state after taking the drug stim. All he can say is, "Skinner!"
 * Nelson impregnated Sherri and Terri, who each gave birth to twins. He then deserts them both, similar to the way his own father deserted him.
 * The United States is in the midst of Gulf War V, "Operation: find our president's head".
 * Moe has a clone and a spider clone (because a spider entered the cloning machine). All three pursue Marge's love.
 * Mr. Burns, now a 112-year-old shut-in, sponsors a Yale scholarship as punishment for stealing Christmas. He keeps diamonds to have them changed into Earth's most precious mineral of the age: coal. His home is also guarded by a large group of unicorn-clam creatures (uni-clams).
 * Ralph can use the toilet.
 * Yale University is now owned by McDonald's and has banned men from taking science. It offers majors like "femis-try" and "gal-gebra"
 * All the cops in Springfield have become RoboCops. Clancy Wiggum has a rotisserie in his belly.
 * Smithers (who apparently is gay after all) is straight, as long as he takes special injections every ten minutes.
 * Patty now has a fluffy tail because of plastic surgery.
 * The U.S. Dollar has been replaced by the "Reagan". There is also a 51st state: Saudi Israelia, and apes are trying to get the right to vote.
 * Snake's weapon of choice is his phaser/cell phone.
 * Genetically modified foods have led to smart puke, capable of moving on its own.
 * Singers at prom night have been replaced with iPods. A-ha remains overplayed.
 * Prof. Frink seems to have hung himself; his skeleton hangs from a rafter in his basement.
 * The garbage man uses a spaceship. (similar to the one from E.T.) It has to fly all the way up to move to the next house.)
 * Blinky the three-eyed fish has hundreds of descendants; a three-eyed whale is even shown.
 * Marriage has become a three-year commitment.
 * Teens have a new social interaction: "getting some forehead" (head-butting).
 * The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant has three cooling towers.
 * Jenda has had a sexual relationship with Todd Flanders in the past (while trying to get Bart to with her she proclaimed "Ugh, I never had this problem with Todd Flanders.")
 * Scientists have invented magic, which allows people to do nearly anything. At the beginning of the episode, Marge takes a Polaroid photo of Bart and Lisa which transforms into a cake.
 * Homer owns the first hovercar ever made, which has various imperfections.
 * Sinks are operated by voice-command, although, when Jenda operates one, she has to use a sterner voice than usual.
 * The now-elderly Apu, and his eight children, manage the Kwik-E-Mart. The Octuplets now wear personal jet packs so they can torment staff members more easily.
 * Quantum Tunnels (wormholes) exist and are used in lieu of vehicle tunnels; when Bart and Homer use one, they inadvertently pick up Bender from Futurama.
 * Homer is still taller than Bart, if only by as little as 1 inch.

Goofs

 * When Marge calls to Bart and Lisa for their photo, she is holding a very small camera, but after they come down the stairs, the camera is much larger and is now the size of a Polaroid one, which from the back appears white, but is in fact black when viewed from the front. Also, Marge is seen to put the camera down somewhere to her left, but when the view changes, we can see there is no surface to put it on, and the camera is nowhere to be seen.
 * Several of the characters—e.g. Apu, Willie—look a bit too old for only eight years to have passed, but it can be attributed to stress, especially for Apu. In addition, in the long shot of the school at the beginning of the prom, Willie's whiskers are red, but gray in close-up. The coloring error is repeated in a second long shot at the graduation ceremony.
 * In the FOXCAST of this episode, the title is confused for the episode "Home Away from Homer," which aired two weeks after this episode.
 * When Frink shows Lisa a picture of her shocked face after discovering that Milhouse caused the house fire, Lisa is shown with regular braces. However, in Season 4's "Last Exit to Springfield", Lisa has already been given braces, which are shown to be invisible.

Continuity

 * In many Simpsons episodes, notably "Homer Badman", Homer has wished to have an underwater home.
 * Bart's girlfriend Jenda (who breaks up with him during the episode) is later mentioned as his ex-wife in "Holidays of Future Passed", another future-set episode.