Future-Drama
Encyclopedia
"Future-Drama" is the fifteenth episode of The Simpsons
' sixteenth season
, the 350th episode overall, and originally aired on the Fox network
in the United States on April 17, 2005. In the episode, Bart
and Lisa
stumble into Professor Frink
's basement, and he gives them a look into their future as teenagers as they get ready for their high school
graduation. Matt Selman
wrote the episode, and Mike B. Anderson
served as director. Amy Poehler
and John DiMaggio
guest-starred as the characters of Jenda and Bender respectively.
-based machine to show the kids their future
as teenagers.
Eight years in the future (2013), Bart and Lisa are getting ready for their high school graduation and Homer
and Marge
have separated after Homer impulsively purchased an undersea home
. Lisa is graduating two years early and has a scholarship to Yale University
, while dating a muscular Milhouse
and Bart dates a skateboarder named Jenda. Also shows a brief picture of Lisa at age 12 in year 2008 after she was saved by Milhouse
from a fire (which she later learned that he actually started). After the prom, Jenda wants to have sex with Bart, but Bart has no plans for the future and wants Jenda to marry him and live an aimless life, so she breaks up with him.
Bart unsuccessfully seeks advice from Homer on dating. He then shows Lisa a hologram of the prom, and tells her love can be painful; she agrees, noting she broke up with Milhouse and he had an Incredible Hulk-style meltdown. Lisa suggests that to get Jenda back, he must show her he can provide for her. Bart decides to take Lisa's advice and gets a job at the Kwik-E-Mart
. While delivering groceries to an elderly Mr. Burns, he rescues him from a robbery by Snake Jailbird. As a reward, Burns gives Lisa's scholarship to Bart. He accepts it, seeing it as a way to get Jenda back. He then tells Lisa about the scholarship causing present and future Lisa to both get angry at Bart. Bart reconciles with Jenda, and now has a good future. That night, Jenda again wants to have sex with Bart, but then he goes into Professor Frink's basement and sees Lisa's bleak future with Milhouse on Frink's machine. Jenda is furious at Bart (she notes she never had any problems sparking romance with Todd Flanders), and gives him an ultimatum: leave and they are finished. Bart does head out and saves Lisa from accepting Milhouse's dismal proposal, then tells his sister he is giving her scholarship back and will find a woman who loves him for himself. Professor Frink then tells Present Bart that he will do just that at age 83—then die one minute later, and his brain would be buried in a pauper's grave.
Meanwhile, Marge has dumped Krusty and reunites with Homer in the underwater home. During the credits, Bart is shown to find the sequence boring, and instead watches Cletus Spuckler
's future as the Vice President of the United States
on his way to a funeral for the Sultan of Brunei.
The episode was written by Matt Selman
, his thirteenth writing credit for The Simpsons. The episode was the third season sixteen episode that Mike B. Anderson
directed, following "Fat Man and Little Boy" and "Pranksta Rap
". It was the third future-themed episode of The Simpsons, following the season six episode "Lisa's Wedding
" (which was praised by critics) and the season eleven episode "Bart to the Future
" (which was named "The Worst Episode Ever" by Entertainment Weekly
).
Even though this is the 350th episode broadcast on FOX, the 350th in production order is "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star
" (which was temporarily shelved following Pope John Paul II's death, and was originally supposed to air after "Don't Fear the Roofer
").
In an interview, Selman stated that the story of the episode originated when he asked himself what if people saw Bart and Lisa grow up as "ugly teenagers."
The episode's title is a parody of the TV series Futurama
, which was also created by Simpsons creator Matt Groening
. The character Bender makes a cameo appearance when Homer and Bart pass through a quantum tunnel; voice actor John DiMaggio
reprised his role voicing Bender. The song playing while Homer and Bart cruise through the former's hovercar is "I.G.Y.
" by Donald Fagen. The songs "Take on Me
" by a-ha
, "Bizarre Love Triangle
" by New Order, "Incense and Peppermints
" by Strawberry Alarm Clock
, and "True" by Spandau Ballet
are played during Bart and Lisa's prom. "Sea of Love
" by Phil Phillips
plays while Homer and Marge kiss in the former's aquatic home. "Lenny's Super Pet" bears a strong resemblance to Superman
's pet dog, Krypto the Superdog
.
The episode has garnered positive reviews from critics. Eric Messinger of Springfield Weekly gave the episode a positive review. He gave the episode a B+, and praised the episode for having a "complex, well-handled, well-paced plot, a concept that's funny in both theory and execution, and strong, wordplay-based humor".
The episode was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
in 2005.
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
The Simpsons (season 16)
The Simpsons 16th season began on Sunday, November 7, 2004 and contained 21 episodes, beginning with Treehouse of Horror XV. The season contains six hold-over episodes from the season 15 production line....
, the 350th episode overall, and originally aired on the Fox network
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
in the United States on April 17, 2005. In the episode, Bart
Bart Simpson
Bartholomew JoJo "Bart" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the Simpson family. He is voiced by actress Nancy Cartwright and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Lisa
Lisa Simpson
Lisa Marie Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons. She is the middle child of the Simpson family. Voiced by Yeardley Smith, Lisa first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Cartoonist Matt Groening...
stumble into Professor Frink
Professor Frink
Professor John Nerdelbaum Frink, Jr., or simply Professor Frink, is a recurring character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria, and first appeared in the 1991 episode "Old Money". Frink is Springfield's nerdy scientist and professor and is extremely...
's basement, and he gives them a look into their future as teenagers as they get ready for their high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
graduation. Matt Selman
Matt Selman
Matthew "Matt" Selman is an American writer and producer. Selman grew up in Massachusetts, attended the University of Pennsylvania and was editor-in-chief of student magazine 34th Street Magazine. After considering a career in journalism, he decided to try and became a television writer...
wrote the episode, and Mike B. Anderson
Mike B. Anderson
Mike B. Anderson, sometimes credited as Mikel B. Anderson, is a television director who works on The Simpsons and has directed numerous episodes of the show, and was animated in "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" as cadet Anderson. While a college student, he directed the live action feature films...
served as director. Amy Poehler
Amy Poehler
Amy Meredith Poehler is an American comedian, actress and voice actress. She was a cast member on the NBC television entertainment show Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film Mean Girls with Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is...
and John DiMaggio
John DiMaggio
John William DiMaggio is an American voice actor. A native of North Plainfield, New Jersey, he is known for his gruff, deep voice and New Jersey accent, which he uses to voice mainly villains and anti-heroes.-Filmography:...
guest-starred as the characters of Jenda and Bender respectively.
Plot
In the midst of one of their arguments, Bart and Lisa fall into Professor Frink's basement. Frink uses an astrologyAstrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
-based machine to show the kids their future
Fortune-telling
Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination...
as teenagers.
Eight years in the future (2013), Bart and Lisa are getting ready for their high school graduation and Homer
Homer Simpson
Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
and Marge
Marge Simpson
Marjorie "Marge" Simpson is a fictional main character in the animated television series The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. She is voiced by actress Julie Kavner and first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...
have separated after Homer impulsively purchased an undersea home
Underwater habitat
Underwater habitats are underwater structures in which people can live for extended periods and carry out most of the basic human functions of a 24-hour day, such as working, resting, eating, attending to personal hygiene, and sleeping...
. Lisa is graduating two years early and has a scholarship to Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, while dating a muscular Milhouse
Milhouse Van Houten
Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Pamela Hayden. He is Bart Simpson's best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class at Springfield Elementary School....
and Bart dates a skateboarder named Jenda. Also shows a brief picture of Lisa at age 12 in year 2008 after she was saved by Milhouse
Milhouse Van Houten
Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Pamela Hayden. He is Bart Simpson's best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class at Springfield Elementary School....
from a fire (which she later learned that he actually started). After the prom, Jenda wants to have sex with Bart, but Bart has no plans for the future and wants Jenda to marry him and live an aimless life, so she breaks up with him.
Bart unsuccessfully seeks advice from Homer on dating. He then shows Lisa a hologram of the prom, and tells her love can be painful; she agrees, noting she broke up with Milhouse and he had an Incredible Hulk-style meltdown. Lisa suggests that to get Jenda back, he must show her he can provide for her. Bart decides to take Lisa's advice and gets a job at the Kwik-E-Mart
Kwik-E-Mart
The Kwik-E-Mart is a fictional chain of convenience stores in the animated television series The Simpsons. It is a parody of American convenience store chains, such as 7-Eleven and Circle K, and represents many myths and stereotypes of them. It is notorious for its high prices and the poor quality...
. While delivering groceries to an elderly Mr. Burns, he rescues him from a robbery by Snake Jailbird. As a reward, Burns gives Lisa's scholarship to Bart. He accepts it, seeing it as a way to get Jenda back. He then tells Lisa about the scholarship causing present and future Lisa to both get angry at Bart. Bart reconciles with Jenda, and now has a good future. That night, Jenda again wants to have sex with Bart, but then he goes into Professor Frink's basement and sees Lisa's bleak future with Milhouse on Frink's machine. Jenda is furious at Bart (she notes she never had any problems sparking romance with Todd Flanders), and gives him an ultimatum: leave and they are finished. Bart does head out and saves Lisa from accepting Milhouse's dismal proposal, then tells his sister he is giving her scholarship back and will find a woman who loves him for himself. Professor Frink then tells Present Bart that he will do just that at age 83—then die one minute later, and his brain would be buried in a pauper's grave.
Meanwhile, Marge has dumped Krusty and reunites with Homer in the underwater home. During the credits, Bart is shown to find the sequence boring, and instead watches Cletus Spuckler
Cletus Spuckler
Cletus Delroy Spuckler is a recurring character in the Fox animated series, The Simpsons, and is voiced by Hank Azaria. Cletus is Springfield's resident hillbilly stereotype. He is very messy and is usually portrayed wearing a white sleeveless shirt and pair of blue jeans.- Biography :Cletus was...
's future as the Vice President of the United States
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
on his way to a funeral for the Sultan of Brunei.
Production
Matt Selman
Matthew "Matt" Selman is an American writer and producer. Selman grew up in Massachusetts, attended the University of Pennsylvania and was editor-in-chief of student magazine 34th Street Magazine. After considering a career in journalism, he decided to try and became a television writer...
, his thirteenth writing credit for The Simpsons. The episode was the third season sixteen episode that Mike B. Anderson
Mike B. Anderson
Mike B. Anderson, sometimes credited as Mikel B. Anderson, is a television director who works on The Simpsons and has directed numerous episodes of the show, and was animated in "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson" as cadet Anderson. While a college student, he directed the live action feature films...
directed, following "Fat Man and Little Boy" and "Pranksta Rap
Pranksta Rap
"Pranksta Rap" is the ninth episode of the The Simpsons sixteenth season, which originally aired February 13, 2005. It guest stars 50 Cent as himself, and Dana Gould as Barney Fife.-Plot:...
". It was the third future-themed episode of The Simpsons, following the season six episode "Lisa's Wedding
Lisa's Wedding
"Lisa's Wedding" is the 19th episode of The Simpsons sixth season, which originally aired March 19, 1995. The plot focuses around Lisa visiting a carnival fortune teller and learning about her future love. It was written by Greg Daniels and directed by Jim Reardon. Mandy Patinkin guest stars as...
" (which was praised by critics) and the season eleven episode "Bart to the Future
Bart to the Future
"Bart to the Future" is the seventeenth episode of the eleventh season of the American animated sitcom The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 19, 2000. In the episode, after their vacation in the woods is cut short due to a mosquito infestation, the...
" (which was named "The Worst Episode Ever" by Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
).
Even though this is the 350th episode broadcast on FOX, the 350th in production order is "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star
"The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star" is the last episode of The Simpsons sixteenth season. The episode aired on May 15, 2005 in the United States. Originally supposed to air April 10, the episode was dropped from the week's schedule due to the death of Pope John Paul II, since this...
" (which was temporarily shelved following Pope John Paul II's death, and was originally supposed to air after "Don't Fear the Roofer
Don't Fear the Roofer
"Don't Fear the Roofer" is the sixteenth episode of the sixteenth season of The Simpsons. It was originally broadcast on May 1, 2005 and guest-stars comedian Ray Romano. The episode is a parody of the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind.-Plot:...
").
In an interview, Selman stated that the story of the episode originated when he asked himself what if people saw Bart and Lisa grow up as "ugly teenagers."
Cultural references
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
, which was also created by Simpsons creator Matt Groening
Matt Groening
Matthew Abram "Matt" Groening is an American cartoonist, screenwriter, and producer. He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell as well as two successful television series, The Simpsons and Futurama....
. The character Bender makes a cameo appearance when Homer and Bart pass through a quantum tunnel; voice actor John DiMaggio
John DiMaggio
John William DiMaggio is an American voice actor. A native of North Plainfield, New Jersey, he is known for his gruff, deep voice and New Jersey accent, which he uses to voice mainly villains and anti-heroes.-Filmography:...
reprised his role voicing Bender. The song playing while Homer and Bart cruise through the former's hovercar is "I.G.Y.
I.G.Y. (What a Beautiful World)
"I.G.Y. " is a song written and performed by American songwriter, singer and musician Donald Fagen. It was the first track of his 1982 debut solo album The Nightfly, and was released as a single, charting on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Rock and Adult Contemporary charts.- Background :Fagen,...
" by Donald Fagen. The songs "Take on Me
Take on Me
"Take on Me" is a song by the Norwegian pop band A-ha. Written by the band members, the song was produced by Alan Tarney for the group's first studio album Hunting High and Low, released in 1985...
" by a-ha
A-ha
A-ha were a Norwegian pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. The band was founded by Morten Harket , Magne Furuholmen , and Pål Waaktaar...
, "Bizarre Love Triangle
Bizarre Love Triangle
"Bizarre Love Triangle" is a single released in 1986 by the English rock band New Order. A version is included on their album Brotherhood....
" by New Order, "Incense and Peppermints
Incense and Peppermints (song)
"Incense and Peppermints" is a song by the Los Angeles based psychedelic pop band Strawberry Alarm Clock. The song is officially credited as having been written by John S. Carter and Tim Gilbert, although it was based on an instrumental idea by band members Mark Weitz and Ed King...
" by Strawberry Alarm Clock
Strawberry Alarm Clock
Strawberry Alarm Clock is a psychedelic rock band from Los Angeles best known for their 1967 hit "Incense and Peppermints". The group took its name as an homage to the Beatles' psychedelic hit "Strawberry Fields Forever", reportedly, at the suggestion of their record company Uni Records.They are...
, and "True" by Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...
are played during Bart and Lisa's prom. "Sea of Love
Sea of Love (song)
"Sea of Love" is a song written by John Phillip Baptiste and George Khoury. Phillips' 1959 recording of the song peaked at #1 on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, Marty Wilde covered the song, and Phillips' version failed to chart there...
" by Phil Phillips
Phil Phillips
Phil Phillips is an American singer and songwriter, best known for his 1959 hit, "Sea of Love".-Biography:...
plays while Homer and Marge kiss in the former's aquatic home. "Lenny's Super Pet" bears a strong resemblance to Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
's pet dog, Krypto the Superdog
Krypto the Superdog
Krypto the Superdog is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation, based on the DC Comics character Krypto. The show premiered on Cartoon Network on March 25, 2005 and aired on Kids' WB! in September 2006...
.
Reception
In its original American broadcast, "Future-Drama" garnered roughly 8.3 million viewers. The show finished third in its original timeslot.The episode has garnered positive reviews from critics. Eric Messinger of Springfield Weekly gave the episode a positive review. He gave the episode a B+, and praised the episode for having a "complex, well-handled, well-paced plot, a concept that's funny in both theory and execution, and strong, wordplay-based humor".
The episode was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour)
The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program is a Creative Arts Emmy Award which is given annually to an animated series which is judged to have been the best...
in 2005.
External links
- "Future-Drama" at The Simpsons.com