We want to bring you to the year 3000, and talk about some of the greatest innovations known to man… okay, well, we made that last part up, because we’re actually going to talk about Futurama today. One of the inconvenient realities of science fiction is that innovations are conceptualized through the lens of today, meaning that when a writer or a filmmaker dreams of the distant future, they tend to lean into what they know about the technology of their time, and extrapolate from there.
Matt Groening was well aware of this, and sourced a lot of humor for Futurama by heightening this concept to ridiculous proportions. Sure, there are flying cars and spaceships that aren’t really out of the ordinary, but when you pull back the curtain just a little bit, you see a world of wildly impractical technology that lends itself to disorder, massive waste of resources, and, of course, humor.
Suicide Booths
20th Television
If you’re ever tired of life in the year 3000, suicide booths can be found on every street corner. Much like the phone booths of the past, you can unalive yourself (or attempt to make a collect call) for just a quarter. If you’re a person who likes options, you even have the luxury of choosing between “quick and painless,” or “slow and horrible.” And since we’re on the topic of wildly impractical, the suicide booths in Futurama give you a receipt when the deed is done– just in case you need to let your accountant know.
Robots That Run on Booze
Bender is named Bender for a very good reason: he guzzles alcohol like his life depends on it. Actually, his life does depend on it. His name is suiting because he is literally on a nonstop bender. The ironic part is that if a robot stops drinking, they start to slur, fall apart, grow a five o’clock shadow, and get bloodshot eyes. That’s right, all the same things that happen to a human after a day (or week) of heavy drinking happen to their robotic cohorts when they stop drinking.
Nibbler’s Organic Waste Fueling the Planet Express Ship
When the Planet Express crew adopts Nibbler (or Lord Nibbler) from Planet Vergon 6, he does nothing but cause trouble. The little guy stands just over a foot tall, but has an appetite that would make Andre the Giant blush. When Leela, Fry, Bender, and the rest of the Planet Express crew try to round up all the animals in a Noah’s Arc fashion on Vergon 6, they discover Nibbler, who wasn’t on the list of endangered animals. While their backs were turned, Nibbler very quickly eats the rest of the animals the crew was trying to rescue, which leads them to extinction. Luckily for Nibbler, the Planet Express ship runs out of fuel, and the crew finds out that Nibbler’s bowel movements are actually dark matter, which is a fuel source in the year 3000. So whenever they’re in a pinch, they just need to wait for Nibbler to pinch something off himself, and this more often than not saves the day.
Occupational Microchip Inserts
When Fry wakes up in the year 3000, he is whisked away to the employment office by Leela to get his career chip implanted. That’s right, in the year 3000, your career is predetermined by a series of personality tests, and once your occupation is chosen for you, a microchip is jammed into your hand by a contraption that looks immensely painful. Back in the day, you’d have to talk to your guidance counselor for career advice, but in the future, you get a needle the size of a kitchen knife jammed through your hand.
Radiation Everywhere
Futurama is jam-packed with gadgets and gizmos that emit an alarming amount of radiation, but nobody seems to mind. Well, except for all the radioactive mutants that live in the sewage system below New New York. When you see citizens walking around with a soft green glowing aura, you know that they’re registering higher numbers on the Geiger counter. When Bender starts messing around with an X-ray light and shines it on Fry’s crotch, Fry appropriately yells “Ow, my sperm!” nodding to the fact that he’s probably been sterilized. It’s almost poetic how even in the year 3000, Matt Groening utilizes nuclear power for the sake of comedy. Homer Simpson would be proud.
Robot Arms Apartments
Robots don’t ask for much in Futurama. Just a clean, well-lit place to hang their hat up for the day, and sleep standing up in a closet-sized enclosure. This is a source of tension for Fry when Bender lets him crash at his place; there’s just not enough room for the two of them, and it puts their friendship at odds after a series of sleepless nights. Luckily for Fry, he soon finds out that Bender’s “closet” is a massive apartment overlooking New New York, with plenty of unutilized square space for him to call it a suitable home.
Will technology in the distant future be drastically different from the technology of today? While there is no way to know for certain, we can only hope that it’s a little more practical than Futurama’s year 3,000.
