The Mind-Boggling Farnsworth Family Tree: Untangling the Confusion in Futurama's Revival
Futurama's Farnsworth Family Tree: Unraveling the Confusion Surrounding Farnsworth's Lineage and Its Impact on Key Characters
Summary
Futurama season 11 brings back classic characters, but also the show's confusing family tree, causing problems in mapping out relationships.
In the latest season, an important reveal in the series is overlooked—the connection between Professor Farnsworth and his son Igner.
The intricate family tree of Futurama becomes even more bewildering due to time travel and sci-fi elements, and Fry's mischievous behavior further complicates matters.
The revival of Futurama in its eleventh season has reintroduced many beloved characters, but it has also resurrected the complicated family tree of Professor Farnsworth, which has been a longstanding issue due to the show's time travel and intricate history spanning over 1000 years. The convoluted relationships within the Planet Express crew, especially those involving Professor Farnsworth, are among the most perplexing aspects of Futurama. In fact, even Hulu's season 11 revival got it wrong. Despite these complexities, Futurama remains highly anticipated and its recent episode, "Related to Items You've Viewed," centers around Fry and Leela's move-in together and an amusing storyline involving a parody of the real-life Amazon company called Momazon, which once again highlights the baffling nature of Professor Farnsworth's family tree.
Futurama Season 11, Episode 5 Forgets That Farnsworth Is Igner's Father
In Futurama season 11, episode 5, Farnsworth and Mom are reunited. However, the episode fails to address the significant connection between Farnsworth and Mom's child, Igner, who was revealed in the movie Bender's Game. This omission is surprising considering that Farnsworth being Igner's father is a major revelation in the series. Despite sharing screen time, Farnsworth and Igner barely interact in the episode, and their father and son relationship is not acknowledged. This is unusual considering that Futurama season 11 has been diligent in highlighting important storylines. It is expected that Farnsworth and Igner's relationship would be discussed, but the episode overlooks it.
How Igner Is Also Related To Fry In Futurama
Why Futurama's Farnsworth Family Tree Is So Confusing
As Igner is the son of Professor Farnsworth, it follows that Igner is also related to Fry in Futurama. The show has confirmed that Fry is in fact a distant ancestor of Farnsworth, making him his great (x30) uncle. Consequently, if Igner is the son of Farnsworth, this would make Igner the great (x31) nephew of Fry. Although Fry and Igner's familial connections are never explicitly addressed in Futurama, they undeniably exist due to Farnsworth's intricate family tree. Nevertheless, the intricate relationships between Fry, Farnsworth, and Igner extend far beyond this.
The complexity of Farnsworth's family tree is heightened by the show's frequent utilization of time travel and sci-fi technology, resulting in intricate familial relationships among the characters. One noteworthy example is Igner, who has three half brothers. Larry and Walt are biologically related to Mom, while Cubert is Farnsworth's other son. Interestingly, Cubert is actually a clone of Farnsworth, meaning he does not have a mother. Furthermore, Farnsworth has a younger brother named Floyd Farnsworth, who remains unseen throughout the series, thus adding him to the extensive list of Fry's great-nephews.
Fry's actions in Futurama add to the complexity of the family tree. Yancy Fry Sr. is Fry's father and the original son of Enos Fry. However, Fry's time-traveling experience in season 3's "Roswell that Ends Well" results in him sleeping with his own grandmother, leading to the birth of Yancy and making Fry technically his own grandfather.
Moreover, the familial connections between the characters in Futurama become even more uncertain. In "The Late Philip J. Fry," Fry, Farnsworth, and Bender use a forward-only time machine, continuously propelling themselves into the future until they encounter a backward time machine. However, they eventually go so far that the universe ends, giving rise to a new, identical universe. Consequently, although characters like Igner and Cubert share the same DNA, Farnsworth is not the version of Farnsworth who gave birth to them, further complicating Futurama's peculiar family tree.
