Future-Drama
"Future-Drama" is the fifteenth episode of the sixteenth season of The Simpsons. It takes place in the year 2013 (although no-one says "2013" in the episode, rather that it is "eight years from Tuesday"). The title is based on Matt Groening's other show, Futurama. In fact, Futurama character Bender the Robot makes a brief cameo in this episode.
Synopsis
While walking through Springfield, Bart and Lisa childishly squabble over who is "gay for Moleman" - fighting, they roll into Professor Frink's basement. He welcomes them, saying that his new astrology machine told him they would come to his house, and he goes on to show them a film of how life will be in their final days of high school, eight years in the future.
Bart and Lisa are graduating. Lisa is doing this two years early, and is bound for Yale. She goes to the prom with a muscular, steroid-addicted Milhouse, having only agreed to this after he saved her from a house fire that he caused. Bart is in love with a blonde girl, Jenda; after the prom, Bart proposes to Jenda, but she turns him down and ends their relationship, because she doesn't believe he can provide for her.
Meanwhile, Marge has separated from Homer after he blew the family savings on an underwater house. Homer takes Bart to a night on the town in his hover-car, but the only girls they find are Mrs. Krabappel and Ms. Hoover. Bart then decides to get a job at the Kwik-E-Mart. While making a delivery to Mr. Burns, he is held at gunpoint by Snake (who now uses a combination phaser/cellphone), but Bart saves Burns when Snake is distracted by a phone call.
As a reward, Burns offers to send Bart to Yale with his scholarship, which was previously promised to Lisa. Believing it will impress Jenda enough to take him back, Bart accepts. When Lisa finds out at their graduation, she becomes furious with Bart. Meanwhile, in the audience, Homer fights Krusty, whom Marge is now dating.
Jenda does indeed take Bart back, now that he has the scholarship. Meanwhile Lisa, dejected, decides to settle for Milhouse. While walking with Jenda, Bart finds Professor Frink's house, and uses the astrology machine to see what the post-2013 future holds for Lisa and Milhouse: they live a nowhere marriage and Milhouse sells all his bone marrow just to pay the electric bill, which still isn't enough. Even though Jenda wants to have sex with Bart, he rushes away to save Lisa from life with Milhouse, and gives her the scholarship.
Jenda dumps Bart again, and he decides he wants a girl who loves him for himself. In the present, Frink tells Bart he will find that special girl... one minute before he dies at the age of 83. Meanwhile, Home has won back Marge's heart by getting beaten up by Krusty.
In the year 2013
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.
- Selma 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 have sex 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.
Trivia
- This is the 350th episode to air, despite the fact that officially Don't Fear the Roofer is the 350th.
- 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's 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".
- In many Simpsons episodes, notably Homer Badman, Homer has wished to have an underwater home
Cultural References
- The title, and Bender's appearance, are references to Futurama.
- The music playing while Homer and Bart are cruising in Homer's hovercar is by Donald Fagen of Steely Dan.
- Songs heard in this episode include "Take On Me" by A-ha, "True by Spandau Ballet, "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order and "Sea of Love" by The Platters
Awards
- Nominated for a 2005 Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour), with
Family Guy's "North by North Quahog",
Samurai Jack's "Episode XLIX",
South Park's "Best Friends Forever"
and SpongeBob SquarePants' "Fear of a Krabby Patty".
The winning episode was South Park.
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 grey in close-up. The coloring error is repeated in a second long shot at the graduation ceremony.
- Nelson exits Homer's underwater house without decompressing.
- 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.
Quotes
- Lisa: You're gay for Moleman!
Bart: No you're gay for Moleman!
Moleman: (sadly) No one's gay for Moleman. - Kearney: Okay, I want a nice clean prom. That means no booze, kick, puff, doze, max, stim, or turb. Remember, stim kills!
Skinner: It's what turned Superintendent Chalmers into a vegetable.
Chalmers: (going around in a circle in an electronic wheelchair) Skinner! Skinner! Skinner! Skinner! Skinner! Skinner! - Moe: (MoeClone drops a beer mug) You moron! Oh, why did I think I ever needed a clone?
MoeClone: Hey, I'm not the clone! You're the clone!
Moe: Oh, please, not this again. audio clip - (Moe and MoeClone are watching Homer and Krusty strangle each other)
Moe(?): Once they destroy each other...
MoeClone(?): ...then we make our move.
(a spider with Moe's head lowers himself down)
MoeSpiderClone: Yes, we make our move.
(camera zooms in on SpiderClone and both Moes look at him)
MoeSpiderClone: What? A spider got into the cloning machine. - (In the future, Teenage Lisa strangling Teenage Bart after finding out he took the Yale scholarship)
Teenage Lisa: You've wrecked my life!
(In the present, Lisa is also strangling Bart)
Lisa: You're gonna wreck my life! - (Homer puts on a wig and leads Bart to the airlock in his underwater home)
Homer: Come on, boy! We're hitting the town!
(They sit in the decompression chamber. Homer reaches for a knob)
Homer: After decompressing, of course.
(Homer turns the knob which begins a countdown of three hours as well as the hissing noise of decompression. By the end of this dialogue, only eleven seconds tick by)
Bart: (beat) So...what do ya do to kill time in here?
Homer: There's a DVD player, but it doesn't work. - (Milhouse gets stuck between two trees)
Milhouse: Lenny, Carl, can you pull me out?
Lenny: Sorry, we're ghosts now.
Carl: Our spirits live in those two trees.
Lenny: Or maybe we're alive and feel like jerking you around!
Carl: Or maybe we're one of each!
(Lenny and Carl chuckle as they leave, complete with eerie alien-style music) audio clip - Bart: This blows! I wanna see Vice President Cletus!
(changes machine screen to VP Cletus)
Vice President Cletus: (on phone) You want me to attend the funeral of the Sultan of Brunei? Well, I would consider it my honor. (yelling) Hey, Brandine! Pack my evenin' britches! We goin' to Brunei! audio clip - Lisa: How did you know we were coming?
Prof. Frink: Because I have mastered the one true science...(dramatic pose) astrology!
Lisa: Don't you mean "astronomy"?
Prof. Frink: No, my dear, I said (goes back to dramatic pose) astrology! - (Homer and Bart pass through a mountain using a portal/tunnel, coming out of the other side with Bender in the car)
Bender: Alright! You guys are my new best friends!
Homer: You wish, loser! audio clip - Snake: Don't move, Teenage Bart! I've got you covered with my phaser-slash-cell phone. (the phone begins playing The Entertainer) (talking into phone) Dude, this is totally not the time to call me...I don't know, some kind of pasta...look, just get me what you're having...ew, not that! (Bart knocks Snake out) (semi-delirious) What soups do they have? (passes out) audio clip
- (at the high school prom, it's time for slow dance. Martin and his date, "Childlike-Humanoid-Urban-Muchacho" {or C.H.U.M., which he invented in "Fat Man and Little Boy} are dancing)
Martin: So, any plans after graduation?
C.H.U.M.: Travel.
Martin: Do you need a traveling companion per chance?
C.H.U.M.: Travel cancelled! - Ralph (to a girl at prom): I can use the potty now. audio clip
- Lisa: (Bart is watching a hologram of the prom, Martin is dancing with his robot "date") Is that robot break dancing?
Bart: No he just activated his self-destruct mechanism.(the robot explodes) - Homer: Hey Moe. Hey MoeClone.
Moe: Hey ya, Homer.
MoeClone: Hey, Homer.
Moe: Hey hey hey hey. I don't pay you to socialize.
MoeClone: Oh right. You're the "people person"!
Moe: Watch with the attitude, mister! You came from my back fat. - Otto: (runs nude from the limo he was driving) I can fly! I can fly! (runs toward a cliff while flapping his arms, but stops before he reaches the edge) Just kidding. I know I can't fly. I can glide though! (runs off the edge and falls to his death)
- (Bart is cleaning the Kwik-E-Mart floor.)
Anoop: (Spits on floor.) You missed a spot! Do it again!
Bart: Yes, Mr Gheet.
Anoop: I'm Anoop, you racist cracker! (Kicks Bart.)
