| The Simpsons episode | |
|---|---|
| "Future-Drama" | |
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| Episode no. | 350 |
| Prod. code | GABF12 |
| Orig. airdate | April 17, 2005 |
| Written by | Matt Selman |
| Directed by | Mike B. Anderson |
| Chalkboard | None |
| Couch gag | Five Transformers-style action figures line up in front of the couch and turn into The Simpsons. |
| Guest star(s) | Amy Poehler as Jenda and John DiMaggio as Bender |
| Season 16 November 7 2004 – May 15 2005 |
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| List of all The Simpsons episodes | |
| Seasons | |
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11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 |
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"Future-Drama" is the true 350th episode, and the fifteenth episode of the sixteenth season of The Simpsons. It takes place eight years into the future of The Simpsons' timeline. The title is based on Matt Groening's other show, Futurama with Bender making an appearance.
Plot
While walking through Springfield, Bart and Lisa childishly squabble over who is "gay for Moleman" (Moleman laments that "No one's gay for Moleman") - fighting, they roll into Professor Frink's basement. He welcomes them, saying that his new astrology machine told him they would come to his house (although it also told him Maggie would be coming), and he goes on to show them a film of how different life will be in their final days of high school, eight years from now in the future, in 2013.
Bart is graduating at the age of 18. Lisa is also doing this two years early, at the age of 16. She is bound for Yale via the Montgomery Burns scholarship. She goes to the prom with a muscular, steroid-addicted Milhouse, having only agreed to this after he saved her from a house fire that he caused. Bart is in love with a blonde girl, Jenda. After the prom, Bart hires Otto as a limo driver. Otto drives crazily and glides down a cliff. Later, while watching the town at night Bart asks Jenda a question that he is embarrassed about. Jenda at first believes he means sex, and she tells him not to be embarrassed about it. Bart instead proposes to her. Jenda turns it down, because she does not believe he can provide anything for her. The next day, Bart goes to Homer's new home and tells Homer what happened to him the previous night. Homer tells Bart that some people grow apart like he and Marge did. Bart reminds him that Marge has separated from him after he blew the family savings on an underwater house (Which Marge said would never happen in 'Homer Badman'). After three hours of decompression, Homer takes Bart to a night on the town in his hover-car (Bender from Futurama makes a cameo at this point). Homer and Bart make one stop at Moe's Tavern, but the only girls they find are Mrs. Krabappel and Ms. Hoover. The next day, Bart watches a hologram of the prom, and tells Lisa love can be painful. Lisa tells Bart that she broke up with Milhouse, which made him behave more Hulk-like. She also tells Bart that to get Jenda back, he must show some initiative, and get a job, because it's never too late for love. Marge, who is now dating Krusty the Clown, agrees with her. Later that evening, Bart does get a job... at the Kwik-E-Mart. While making a delivery to Mr. Burns, he sees Burns with his arms tied up and his mouth covered with a blind fold. Snake shows up, about to zap Bart with a combination phaser/cellphone, but he is distracted by a phone call about a trip to a restaurant with a friend. Bart uses a diamond to knock Snake unconscious and unties Burns' arms. Burns takes the blindfold off his mouth and thanks Bart for saving him. He rewards Bart with something. He can't give Bart the diamond, because the next day, it will be retromorphed into coal, the most valuable substance on Earth. Instead, he offers to send Bart to Yale with his scholarship, which was previously promised to Lisa. Believing it will impress Jenda enough to take him back, Bart accepts. The next morning, Bart tells Lisa that he is going to Yale, and she is not. Lisa enraged, strangles Bart, saying that he has wrecked her life. Meanwhile, in the present, Lisa is strangling Bart, stating "You're going to ruin my life!" During the graduation ceremony, Lisa, who will now be attending Hot Dog On A Stick Management Camp, is upset, but understands why Bart is doing it. She decides to accept her now-hopeless future. Meanwhile, in the audience, Homer ends up fighting Krusty. At the graduation party, which is in Homer's submarine home, Jenda does indeed take Bart back, now that he has the scholarship. Bart sees Milhouse crying, then consoles him and tells him to go to help Lisa. While walking with Jenda, Bart seems a bit worried about Lisa and Milhouse. He and Jenda find Professor Frink's house. Bart uses the astrology machine to see what the post-2013 future holds for Lisa and Milhouse: they have a nowhere marriage, Lisa thinks about taking up poetry class at the community college and Milhouse sells all his bone marrow just to pay the electric bill, which still is not enough. Even though Jenda wants to have sex with Bart, he realizes what he must do, but Jenda guarantees one thing she knows about Bart's future: she won't be in it. Lisa and Milhouse watch the city at night, and Milhouse tells Lisa that not going to Yale is the end of the world and that her only hope is to clutch at straws, straws that have always loved her. Then he asks her if he can kiss her. Lisa asks him if he has been eating onions lately. Milhouse says no, but it's hard because he is on an all-onion diet. Lisa agrees to kiss him, but before their lips can touch each other, Bart shows up in Homer's hover-car to stop Lisa from destroying her life. He grabs Lisa and puts her in the car, leaving Milhouse stuck between two trees. Bart says to Lisa that he won't be going to Yale, and that Lisa deserves the scholarship. After she reminds him that this decision has cost him his relationship with Jenda, he decides he wants a girl who loves him for himself. In the present, Frink tells Bart he will find that special girl... one minute before he dies at the age of 83, and he will get buried in a pauper's grave. Lisa tells Bart that she appreciates what he will do for her, to which he asks what will happen to their parents. Frink shows them that Homer has won back Marge's heart by getting beaten up by Krusty. Homer and Marge have romantic sex inside the underwater home, with lots of fish swimming outside. During the credits, Bart, Lisa and Frink see a shot of a three-eyed fish on the astrology machine. Bart says "This sucks!" and that he wants to watch "Vice President Cletus," and changes to the future from Cletus' point of view. We see Cletus getting a phone call from a friend to attend the funeral of the sultan of Brunei. He then shouts out "Hey, Brandine! Pack my evening britches! We're going to Brunei!"
Cultural References
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- The music playing while Homer and Bart are cruising in Homer's hovercar is "I.G.Y." by Donald Fagen, a 1982 song describing the utopian "future" of 1976 from the perspective of the 1950s.
- Other songs heard in this episode include "Take On Me" by a-ha, "True" by Spandau Ballet, "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order, and "Sea of Love" by Phil Phillips
- The sanitation workers' spaceship is a parody of the ship in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
- Professor Frink refers to astrology as the "Tampa Bay Devil Rays of Sciences"
- Waylon Smithers is straight in the future, as long as he injects himself with an unknown substance every 10 minutes.
Awards
- Nominated for a 2005 Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour), with
Family Guy's "North by North Quahog",
Samurai Jack's "Episode XLIX",
South Park's "Best Friends Forever"
and SpongeBob SquarePants' "Fear of a Krabby Patty".
The winning episode was South Park "Best Friends Forever".
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