The following contains spoilers for Futurama season 12 episode 10, “Different,” now streaming on Hulu
FuturamaSeason 12 introduces the Graveyard of Spaceships as a means of bringing the show further into the multiverse. Futurama has always had some firm rules about his approach to sci-fi, ensuring some common tropes of the genre are rarer. This includes multiverse travel, with previous episodes poking fun at the concept of a limitless multiverse. Season 12 recommends some of these turns by introducing a gateway to the multiverse and throwing the Planet Express ship through it, setting them up as a ghost ship drifting through dimensions. It’s an exciting turn, especially with Futurama Seasons 13 and 14 confirmed.
The graveyard of spaceships is a fantastic concept, a clever element of the world that fits in neatly Futuramas scope. The more exciting development is the way the episode ends, setting up an adventure that could theoretically take the Planet Express crew to any setting or location, including non-canon ones that have appeared in various anthology episodes of Futurama. This episode reinforces that this can still work inside Futuramas emotional arcs, highlighting how the core relationships that make the series so compelling are not forgotten in the process. Here’s how Futurama Season 12 greatly changes the multiverse and what it means going forward.
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What the graveyard of spaceships is and how it works in Futurama
The graveyard of ships is the key to expanding Futurama
The graveyard of ships in the Futurama Season 12 finale is a unique place that opens the sci-fi comedy to more multiversal adventures in the upcoming seasons 13 and 14. “Other” is largely about the Planet Express ship is so badly damaged that the professor decides it’s time to add it. to rest The crew takes “Old Bessie” to the Graveyard of Ships, which quietly serves as a final resting place for beloved spaceships. Described by the professor as a “plasma sea,” the rift known as the graveyard exists as a connection between Futuramas universe and the multiverse.
A storm under all realities, the cemetery is treated with a seriousness that is somewhat surprising Futuramas habit of turning even the saddest of events into gags. Ships that are set loose in the raging cosmic storm are shown to drift through the multiverse, passing through alternate universes. The episode’s big turn comes when Frey and the crew of the Planet Express ship are left adrift in the multiverse, with much of the episode focusing on them being trapped in an alternate timeline and Error as a “ghost ship” phasing between timelines While they encounter countless other versions of their reality.
The new elements of Futurama change their previous Multiverse Adventures
Futurama has previously introduced alternative realities
The episode does not end with the plot resolvedThe Planet Express ship is sailing into the unknown and fading into another reality. The multiverse was an interesting element of Futurama Since the early seasons, with seemingly contradictory elements actually expanded the universe in interesting ways. Season 3 “I Dated a Robot” that there was only one parallel universe running directly along the main line Futurama Timeline. However, season 5’s “The Farnsworth Parabox” saw the crew venture across several other universes that simultaneously built upon one another, effectively forming a self-made multiverse that could only be expanded through further invention and experimentation.
Futurama Episodes that visit other dimensions |
Time |
“I’m Dating a Robot” |
3 |
“The Farnsworth Parabox” |
5 |
“The Beast with a Billion Bucks” |
6 |
“2-D Blacktop” |
10 |
“other” |
12 |
Other dimensions are also confirmed to exist within Futuramas confirmationSuch as the space outside reality from season 6 or the 2-dimensional timeline glimpsed in season 10’s “2-D Blacktop.” However, this reaffirmed multiverse opens up the series for all sorts of different adventures or explorations. Previously, their dimensional excursions were short and relatively contained. In their current state drifting between realities, the Planet Express crew could theoretically go on limitless adventures in any scenario. It is similar to the season 6 ending “Into the Wild Green Yonder,” which was reversed right in the first episode of season 7.
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Every other world and anthology that Futurama’s multiverse makes canon
like FuturamaThe multiverse is already out
The cosmic rift connected to the ship graveyard ends up Taking the Planet Express crew past several realities Until they end up in one functionally similar to their own. They interact heavily with this universe, even killing the timeline’s Frey, Leela and Bender. This confirms that they can actually interact with other realities, such as those they encounter while venturing deeper between realities. Some kill the entire crew or make benders in the King of Earth. Other worlds seen include Dreamland of DisenchantmentSuggesting that Matt Groening’s Netflix series shares a multiverse (but not a single timeline) with Futurama.
The sight of the 1920s Golden Age animation parody “Colorama” from season 8’s parody anthology “Reincarnation” outside the window of the Planet Express ship suggests other similar parodies also exist in the multiverse as possible places the crew could visit to observe or Interact with . This may allow the main crew of Futurama To meet, fight, and Interact with their more distinct variants Like the anime-inspired versions of the characters from “Reincarnation” or the latest tintin-inspired Versions of FuturamaThe characters of season 12 “The Futurama Mystery Library.” It’s an inventive and fun way to tie the non-canon episodes together.
Futurama’s multiverse reinforces the show’s theme
The world may change, but the lesson doesn’t
One of the things that is always made Futurama What stands out from other shows is the way it fuses a potentially boundless setting with very specific emotional stories. Futurama Can shift tones and styles with ease, and the limitless scope of their sci-fi future allows for any creative direction. However, the show remains rooted to the core emotional growth of Fry, Leela, Bender and the rest of the crew. This carried over into the other realities that are seen in the anthologies, which still support romances like the one between Fry and Leela, regardless of the era. This gives Futurama Endless storytelling possibilities.
Fry and Leela dying in “Otherwise” were the main characters for much of the episode, and their bittersweet decision to face the end together is still a powerful and moving moment. Futurama has proven that it can Keep that core emotional strength Even when messing around with non-canon stories and settings. This gives FuturamaS possible multiverse shift has a very strong potential, because the creators can send the crew anywhere and in any story, while keeping a consistent heart with their characters. FuturamaThe multiverse shift is a great twist, but one that could easily play to the show’s strengths.
Futurama follows the exploits of Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy from 1999 who is cryogenically frozen for 1000 years. Set in the year 3000, Frey befriends a cyclops named Leela and an evil robot named Bender, and the three find work with Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery service. Their work takes them to all corners 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
- Writers
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Matt Groening
- Directors
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Matt Groening