Warning: Spoilers for Futurama Season 12, Episode 3, “The Temp.”

Summary

• New edition of a classic
  Futurama
  An episode 23 years later has caused confusion in the timeline.
• The original cast reprised their roles in the season 12 flashbacks, demonstrating how effortless animation works.
• The temporal nature of the show in “The Temp” underlines the unique flow of time in
  Futurama
  .

Futurama Season 12 only quietly expanded the story of a 23-year-old episode, but the decision has left the show’s timeline making little sense. The installment, expanded more than two decades after it aired, is considered by many to be one of the best Futurama episodes ever, making the move particularly risky. While the events of the original remain unchanged, mentioning the episode so long after its debut – especially from a “present-day” perspective – has a very strange effect on the universe’s fictional timeline.

The core Futurama The cast has thankfully remained the same throughout the series’ various seasons and cancellations, so everyone from the original episode is available to reprise their roles in season 12 of an existing story. The wonders of animated series mean that flashbacks are incredibly easy to pull off, as there is little consideration for aging characters or similar obstacles that must be overcome. That being said, this ease of to revisit each point in FuturamaThe timeline is part of what caused the problem in question.

Futurama’s “Snoo Snoo” episode confirms that the events of the original took place 23 years ago

“Amazon Women in the Mood” was first broadcast in 2001

Futurama Because it’s both an animation and a sitcom, all the characters are twice as likely to end each episode in the same situation as they were at the beginning. As a result, it becomes difficult to estimate how much time has passed in total. Futurama Season 12, Episode 3, “The Temp” openly confirms that the events of the main story take place 23 years after Futurama Season 3Episode 5, “Amazon Women in the Mood.” All of the characters look and act the same in both episodes, which makes the sequel a little jarring.

The passage of time in Futurama is generally quite linear. The year of each episode in the universe depends largely on when it first aired. For example, “Amazon Women in Mood” premiered in 2001, and the year in the show is 3001. It is similar with “The Temp,” which first aired in 2024. The thousand-year span between Futurama and reality allows for a sense of continuity, but also forgives the presence of sci-fi technology and all the various alien beings. So, all things considered, the confirmed 23-year gap between Amazon Women in the Mood and The Temp isn’t that surprising.

Why Futurama’s latest flashback is so unusual

“The Temp” shows flashbacks over 2 decades without the world of Futurama changing

Although time passes quite normally in the Futurama universeit’s also obvious that the show’s present lasts much longer than it should in reality. This is mostly fine, as it’s nothing new in animated sitcoms. It allows for more stories to be told without having to worry about the characters’ lifespans and general course of life. Unfortunately, “The Temp” is one of the few times where the focus is drawn to the temporal idiosyncrasy.

The paradox of time passing without real consequences is a phenomenon that can easily be ignored and forgiven when it happens as gradually as Futurama does that a lot. The problem with The Temp is that it flashes back 23 years without any of the characters getting older, and then the problem becomes incredibly clear. Of course there would be no point in making Fry and the gang look younger in the flashbacks to Amazon Women in the Mood because they just looked the same. Instead, it’s one of those weird scenarios that you just have to accept.

Farnsworth says goodbye to Fry with the words: “
Have fun in the Amazon region!
” This confirms Fry’s imminent return to the planet of “Amazon Women in the Mood” for a two-week vacation.

Futurama has already proven that time can pass in the traditional way

Matt Groening’s sci-fi sitcom also contains traditional flashbacks

FuturamaThe entire premise of is based on the traditional passage of time. Without it, Fry would never have made it to the future. So this is enough evidence that the time-jumping quirk in “The Temp” does not negate the fact that time is not completely divorced from how the real world works. There is also further evidence that this is the case, namely during one of the Futurama‘s many other flashbacks. Insights into the past are not limited to the visit of Fry’s family even in the 20th century – although these certainly contribute to the evidence.

The younger years of many others
Futurama
Throughout the show’s run, several characters were featured and when they were, they appeared physically younger than the version audiences know best.

The younger Years of many other Futurama Characters were shown throughout the show’s run, and when they did, they appeared physically younger than the version audiences are most familiar with. This prevents the same confusing experience from happening as in “The Temp.” Again, it’s inevitable that a sequel to “Amazon Women in the Mood” would cause such a time discrepancy, as 23 years is a significant amount of time, but it still makes the situation difficult to ignore.

Futurama
also has more than one type of time travel device built in that allows users to traverse the timeline.

Matt Groening’s biggest animated series avoided this problem

The Simpsons flashbacks always follow the conventional rules

FuturamaThe sporadic broadcast of “The sporadic run on TV” since 1999 is overshadowed by another Matt Groening show, The SimpsonsGröning’s best-known project has been continuously active since 1989 – a decade before FuturamaThe first season began. Although it runs much longer than Futurama and yet with the same half-frozen-in-time approach, The Simpsons managed to avoid time differences. Of course The Simpsons has produced sequels in his timebut the passage of time becomes secondary to the fact that a character has returned or some other scenario.

If The Simpsons were a look back at 21 years as Futurama In “The Temp” the characters were aged accordingly – which sometimes in Futurama too, but the science fiction series rarely picks up events from earlier episodes so directly. The Simpsons A look back at this time would lead to many reflectionssuch as Bart, Lisa and Maggie not being born and Homer and Marge appearing much younger. Since Homer and Marge were married through Bart’s conception, they would not even have been married yet.

While
Futurama
has mastered his handling of time almost as well as
The Simpsons
“The Temp” is the first major inequality of the former.

While Futurama has mastered his handling of time almost as well as The Simpsons“The Temp” is the first major discrepancy of the former. Annoyingly Futurama didn’t necessarily need to revisit “Amazon Women in the Mood” for the story to work, which illustrates the problem. Fry would have simply had to be gone for a while at some point in the past, and by doing a direct sequel to a 21-year-old episode, the show’s temporal formula dissolves. On the other hand, FuturamaOne could argue that the misstep is forgivable, as the series is more of an absurd science fiction show than anything more serious.