Futurama's Mind-Blowing Time Travel Solution Revealed - You Won't Believe What Happens in Season 6!
Futurama's Hulu Revival Resolves Season 6 Time Travel Issue with Ingenious Solution, Creating an Exciting New Adventure
Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Futurama season 11, episode 6!
Summary
Futurama season 11 resolves a significant time travel issue from season 6 through the introduction of a solution for Professor Farnsworth's one-of-a-kind time machine. The series brings back beloved elements and characters such as Robot Santa Claus, ultimately addressing the most significant flaw in the time machine.
The forward time machine is now fixed, resolving the timeline inconsistency introduced in the episode "The Late Philip J. Fry" from season 6. Futurama season 11 has brought back a significant storyline from season 6, effectively addressing one of the show's most prominent time travel issues. While time travel has been explored in previous episodes, the crew of Planet Express faced a significant challenge in season 6 regarding their ability to navigate the timeline. Although the problem remained unresolved in season 6, Futurama season 11 ultimately provided a solution for Professor Farnsworth's distinctive time machine.
Futurama has returned after being off the air for over a decade, with Hulu reviving the beloved sci-fi series for an eleventh season. While previous episodes of season 11 have already featured classic elements from Futurama, episode 6, titled "I Know What You Did Next Xmas," takes it to a whole new level. Not only does this episode bring back Robot Santa Claus for another diabolical Christmas scheme, but it also reintroduces Professor Farnsworth's time machine, offering a solution to its major flaw.
Futurama Season 11 Fixes The Forwards Time Machine
In Futurama season 11, episode 6, the Planet Express crew once again uses Farnsworth's time machine. However, this time Farnsworth makes a crucial adjustment that greatly improves its usability. In season 6, episode 7, titled "The Late Philip J. Fry," Fry, Bender, and Professor Farnsworth venture into a time machine that only moves forward. Their plan is to go forward until a backward time machine is invented, but unfortunately, they are unable to find one. Instead, they witness the universe's heat death and the cycle of cosmic life repeating, ultimately arriving in a new iteration of the year 3010.
The absence of a backward time machine creates the main conflict in "The Late Philip J. Fry," but in Futurama season 11, this problem is finally resolved. At the beginning of the episode, Farnsworth re-introduces the time machine with a significant improvement - a manual transmission with a reverse gear. This modification allows Farnsworth to travel back in time to the year 2801. Consequently, the Planet Express crew now possesses a fully functional time machine, successfully resolving the major timeline struggle from season 6.
Farnsworth Creates An All-New “The Late Philip J. Fry” Problem
Despite fixing the forward time machine in Futurama season 11, "The Late Philip J. Fry" introduces a new problem. In this episode, Fry, Bender, and Farnsworth attempt to find a backward time machine but are unsuccessful. However, Farnsworth had already invented one in the year 3023. This means that instead of traveling too far forward, they only needed to go forward 13 years to obtain the new time machine, invalidating the entire episode's story.
Futurama's time travel mechanics have always been somewhat flexible, offering possible explanations for this inconsistency. It is conceivable that Farnsworth creating the backward time machine altered the timeline, potentially erasing certain events from "The Late Philip J. Fry." Alternatively, Farnsworth might have assumed that it would take longer for a backward time machine to be invented, which could explain why he skipped over 3023. While the show may never address this plot hole, it remains as one of the significant consequences of the time travel storyline in season 11.
New episodes of Futurama release Mondays on Hulu.
