The following contains spoilers for Futurama Season 12 Episode 10, “Otherwise,” now streaming on Hulu.
FuturamaThe Season 12 finale opened the door for the show to delve into the multiverse, which could be an exciting (but risky) direction for the series. Futuramahas always been able to push the boundaries of science fiction and comedy thanks to its futuristic setting. However, the emergence of a multiverse rift known as the Ship Graveyard expanded the series’ scope to countless other possible realities. This episode even had a great basis for expanding on this concept, with the main cast venturing across timelines and dimensions.
The ending of season 12 is ready Futurama for a truly wild 13th season. However, there are some elements in the series that may only anger this new direction. If Futurama careless, these problems could rob the Planet Express crew’s adventures of any sense in the stakes. Instead, by using Fry and Leela’s bittersweet ending in “Else” as a guiding light, the series has the perfect path to avoiding the mistakes that have marred other multiverse stories in film and television.
Futurama Multiverse expands series
“Otherwise” opens up a multiverse of possibilities
FuturamaA new approach to the multiverse is an exciting but risky way to expand the sci-fi series.. Futurama has always been an inventive series, thanks in large part to the scope and design of the setting. The 31st century is a place where technology and culture, both on Earth and throughout space, could open up theoretically limitless possibilities. There were even other dimensions and realities on the table, as seen in episodes like season five’s “Farnsworth Parabox.” However, “Otherwise” goes even further, revealing a riff on the multiverse.
Connected
The existence of a multiverse is an exciting prospectespecially for a series that has already featured many iterations of the main cast throughout the various anthology episodes. The Planet Express team is completing the 12th season of the series. Futurama drifting through a vast multiverse, the action is ready to take the cast on wild and inventive new adventures. The formal introduction of the multiverse means Futurama has no limitations, especially if he avoids the habit of brushing aside important events between episodes.
Futurama season 13 needs to deal with the Multiverse
Futurama Can’t miss a great idea
Futurama They previously threatened to remake their entire universe in episodes like Season 6’s “Into the Wild Green” and the Season 12 finale “Attack of the Clothes” but quickly backed down. The first even calmly matches the ending of Otherwise, both ending with the Planet Express crew heading off into the unknown. However, season seven quickly undermined this twist by returning the team to Earth in that season’s premiere episode, “Rebirth”. Futurama we need to avoid repeating this mistakeas the prospect of a full multiverse of adventure is too good to pass up.
Even if the Planet Express team manages to find their way back to their version of New York, the series won’t be able to simply ignore the turn of events. The Planet Express team needs to recognize the possibility and scope of the multiverse.. The concept is too big and expands the universe so much that it would be a real waste if the show didn’t explore this issue in the future. This could allow Futurama potentially going into the multiverse and creating new stories or threats to face would be a fun expansion of the setting.
Futurama anthologies may reveal the problem of the multiverse
Lack of bets can make FuturamaMultiverse
There is also a real risk associated with conversion Futurama into a multiverse show. Futurama there were already problems with the stakes, since death means little in an environment like the 31st century. Introducing a multiverse full of options could lower those stakes even further, making character deaths so minor and routine that they lose any dramatic weight. Non-canonical anthologies highlight this risk, albeit in a funny way. These shorts, free from the typical Futurama canon, quickly disrupted the status quo and even accidentally killed the main characters.
This may work in short bursts thanks to the comedic nature of the show and these anthologies, but it can undermine any attempt to give stakes and weight to the adventures of the main characters. “Otherwise” tells a surprisingly small, bittersweet story of the multiverse.but arcs that aren’t as character-focused can give the entire multiverse a disposable feel, which undermines the strong character work that has always elevated Futurama like a show.
The finale of Futurama season 12 is a great story of the multiverse
“Else” proves the multiverse can be great for storytelling
Fortunately, “Otherwise” is a great little example of how powerful FuturamaThe multiverse could be. The story diverges when the Planet Express crew ends up in the multiverse, and much of the episode is about their options for avoiding that fate. Fry and Leela get engaged, although visions from other lives constantly drive Fry to despair. Fry, Leela and Bender return to the Spaceship Graveyard and find themselves in a battle they cannot win, dying in the process.
Futurama Creative writers of season 12 episode 10 |
Role |
Ira Sherak |
Director |
Ken Keeler |
Writer |
Care and time are given to these choices to really make them feel like full versions of the characters, especially as the intensity of their situation increases. “Otherwise” allows the creatives to give one version of Fry and Leela a painfully bittersweet ending.a fitting tragic ending that isn’t undermined by its lack of canonical importance. Just like Futurama has always grounded massive sci-fi concepts in humanistic elements, a focus on character-driven storytelling could allow the series to explore the multiverse without losing sight of itself.
What Futurama Season 13 Should Do with the Multiverse
Focusing on character is vital to Futuramafuture
Futurama it is necessary to avoid trappings that are characteristic of multiverse shows, such as Rick and Morty or franchises such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These stories, for better or worse, have created multiverses so vast that entire realities can be erased by an afterthought. Dramatic tension is released if the character can simply be replaced by a variant, or if the transition to another reality has no consequences for the character. Futurama it is necessary to use the multiverse as a chance to expand and explore its main characters.especially in completely new conditions.
Bye [Futurama] remains character-driven, the plots and emotional arcs must remain strong no matter where the story takes the crew.
Futurama could return to settings from previous anthologies, expanding their stories or openly comparing them to the main cast versions. The multiverse could create dangerous new adventures that would allow the series to subvert sci-fi stereotypes and expectations. While the series remains character-driven, plots and emotional lines must remain strong no matter where the story takes the team. Futurama has a great chance to expand their world to a limitless extent, but they need to be careful in how they do it.
Futurama follows the exploits of Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy from 1999 who was cryogenically frozen for 1,000 years. Waking up in the year 3000, Fry befriends a cyclops named Leela and a rogue robot named Bender, and the three find work at Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery service. Their work takes them to every corner of the universe, exploring space and the future as imagined by Matt Groening and the creators of The Simpsons.
- Release date
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March 28, 1999
- Seasons
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12