Days of Future Future

Last updated

"Days of Future Future"
The Simpsons episode
Episode no.Season 25
Episode 18
Directed by Bob Anderson
Written by J. Stewart Burns
Production codeSABF13
Original air dateApril 13, 2014 (2014-04-13)
Guest appearance
Episode features
Couch gag The couch and the floor are covered in bubble wrap, which the Simpsons pop.
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Luca$"		Next →
"What to Expect When Bart's Expecting"
The Simpsons (season 25)
List of episodes

"Days of Future Future" is the eighteenth episode of the twenty-fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons and the 548th episode of the series. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 13, 2014. It was written by J. Stewart Burns and directed by Bob Anderson. [1]

Contents

The episode follows the 2005 episode "Future-Drama" and the 2011 episode "Holidays of Future Passed", set 30 years from the present. In this futuristic installment, Bart goes to a clinic to rid himself of his feelings for his ex-wife Jenda (who is now dating a xenomorph-like alien named Jerry), Lisa must choose whether or not to cure her zombie husband Milhouse after he gets bitten by a homeless zombie, and Marge (after putting up with years of Homer dying and being cloned back to life by Professor Frink) loads Homer onto a flatscreen monitor and throws him out of the house.

Plot

Marge wakes to find Homer atop of the kitchen table in nothing but his underwear, and gives him advice on his health. Just when Homer seems to be taking Marge's words to heart, he marches upstairs to tell his wife that he will take his health seriously, only to fall down the stairs and die. At his funeral, Professor Frink announces that he has made a clone of Homer, and Marge warns Homer to take this second chance seriously. After thirty years of clones dying, Frink cannot bring Homer back, but has stored his memory in a flash drive, which he plugs into a television screen. When Marge realizes that her husband is just a face on a screen, she is fed up with him, and gives the flash drive to Bart, so that Homer can reside with him until she can figure out a way to get used to him in his current form.

Bart shows Homer his new digs, an abandoned classroom at Springfield Elementary. As soon as a glum Bart sends his two sons to his ex-wife Jenda's house, he needs advice more than ever now, but Homer is of no use when the monitor freezes. Working at a dinosaur amusement park, Bart laments that he misses his children. Elsewhere, at Lisa's zombie soup kitchen, her husband Milhouse is attacked by a zombie. Unable to move on from his ex, Bart sees a targeted billboard telling him to move on using shock therapy that makes him forget. After the procedure, Bart visits Marge, who claims to not miss Homer that much, but in an attempt to initiate a conversation between her and Homer, he sees she does miss Homer.

Homer returns to normal when Bart starts to get back into the dating scene, and sleeps with one woman after another, including Lisa's former teacher, Miss Hoover. At Bart's apartment, Homer gets a new lease of life in a robot suit. Bart's sons visit him and ask him to help Jenda out with her depression. She shows up in tears, telling Bart that after she bought a shedding tank for Jerry, her alien boyfriend, he humiliated her and broke up with her for someone else. Bart comforts her by mentioning he is trying to get his life on track, and her crying is a reminder of what he lost. Jenda is impressed by Bart's newfound maturity and invites him to dinner. It goes well and the two decide to patch up their relationship again. However, the two later fall into their bad habits of not paying attention to each other that destroyed their marriage the first time, and become unsure whether to continue working things out. Meanwhile, Lisa and zombie Milhouse are attacked by bullies, and Lisa actually finds it attractive that Milhouse fights them off. She does not want him cured and is stalked by Dr. Hibbert who is not happy about her decision.

Bart and Lisa both go to Moe's to deal with their respective marital problems, where Marge tells them to stick through. She then electrocutes herself to death in order to live in the flash drive with Homer. Milhouse is cured and Bart moves on from Jenda, discovering that she has started seeing Jerry again.

Bart then finds himself back in the therapist's chair, and learns that what he experienced was just a neural implant. Bart and Lisa visit Marge and find out that she and Homer have finally gotten back together, and she gave him a new robot body and personality. Bart recommends Lisa try moving on if things do not work out with her and Milhouse, but Lisa points out that Milhouse is still a zombie and there is no cure, much to her own affection, and Santa's Little Helper (who is now a hybrid of him and the family cat) is seen talking.

Production

In September 2013, Entertainment Weekly reported that Amy Poehler would reprise her role as Jenda in a followup to the sixteenth season episode "Future-Drama." Executive producer Al Jean said that the episode would feature Bart getting over his divorce from Jenda. [2]

The couch gag was based on an idea by Katie Hemming of Burlington, Ontario. [3] A couch gag contest was held the previous season, and Ray Savaya won the Canadian fan vote. [4] However, the writers preferred Hemming's idea, so they decided to make hers as well. Although she did not win the grand prize, she received a "Simpsonized" drawing of herself and a first season DVD box set. [3]

Cultural references

Bart has his memories altered with a method similarly depicted in Total Recall . [2] [5] Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still is shown working in a restaurant. [5]

Reception

Dennis Perkins of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C, saying "Things are even worse for The Simpsons after tonight's sequel, 'Days Of Future Future,' where Burns returns to the (it seems) inevitable sci-fi future of the series and limits the show's world even more. Losing much of the heart of its predecessor in favor of the sort of ill-conceived and contradictory character arcs the latter, scattershot Simpsons has become notorious for, 'Days Of Future Future' reveals a series willing to shrug off what it still could be. Instead, this future Simpsons world seems just a playground for writers to use up whatever Futurama jokes they had left over." [5]

Tony Sokol of Den of Geek gave the episode four out of five stars, saying "The Simpsons's 'Days of Future Future' is a laugh every 2.5 seconds, allowing for wind resistance. A very worthy entry into what will someday be an even longer running longest running show that has ever walked slowly up a flight of stairs. I absolutely love Jerry, Bart's future ex-wife's new soon to be ex-Alien lover. Nelson's mom still has to strip at the age of 87 because there is no more retirement. Even with 99 Democrats in the Senate, because the Republican still knows how to get things his way. Of course Ralph Wiggum will be the new chief of police, he is a chip off the old cop. Santa's Little Hybrid is an unnatural progression that Cosmo does not teach about." [6]

Teresa Lopez of TV Fanatic gave the episode four out of five stars, saying "I always love The Simpsons episodes that show the possible futures of Bart, Lisa, Maggie, Homer and Marge. And this week was no exception. Even though the future episodes are not technically canon (I mean, who can say what will really happen in their future?), I liked that this one attempted some continuity. [7]

The episode received a 1.7 rating and was watched by a total of 3.64 million people, making it the second most watched show on Animation Domination. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror XIV</span> 1st episode of the 15th season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror XIV" is the first episode of the fifteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 2, 2003. In the fourteenth annual Treehouse of Horror episode, Homer takes on the role of the Grim Reaper, Professor Frink creates a Frankenstein-version of his deceased father ("Frinkenstein") and Bart and Milhouse obtain a time-stopping watch. It was written by John Swartzwelder and directed by Steven Dean Moore. Guest stars in the episode include Jerry Lewis, whose character in The Nutty Professor served as the inspiration for recurring Simpsons character Professor Frink, as Frink's father, and Jennifer Garner, Dudley Herschbach, and Oscar De La Hoya as themselves. The episode was nominated for the 2004 Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series.

"Future-Drama" is the fifteenth episode of the sixteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. The 350th episode overall, it 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 getting ready for their high school graduation.

<i>The Simpsons</i> opening sequence Opening sequence of the TV series The Simpsons

The Simpsonsopening sequence is the title sequence of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It is accompanied by "The Simpsons Theme". The first episode to use this introduction was the series' second episode "Bart the Genius".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treehouse of Horror XXI</span> 4th episode of the 22nd season of The Simpsons

"Treehouse of Horror XXI" is the fourth episode of the twenty-second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 7, 2010. This is the 21st Treehouse of Horror episode, and, like the other Treehouse of Horror episodes, consisted of three self-contained segments: In "War and Pieces", Bart and Milhouse discover a real-life board game that they must win to return home; in "Master and Cadaver", Marge and Homer go on a honeymoon on a sailboat, and rescue a mysterious castaway named Roger; and in "Tweenlight", Lisa falls in love with a vampire named Edmund.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MoneyBart</span> 3rd episode of the 22nd season of The Simpsons

"MoneyBart" is the third episode of the twenty-second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 10, 2010. In this episode, Lisa coaches Bart's Little League baseball team to a record winning streak by using her book smarts in statistics and probability. However, when Bart questions Lisa’s coaching tactics and accuses her of taking the fun out of baseball, Lisa benches him from the championship game.

"Homer Scissorhands" is the twentieth episode of the twenty-second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. The episode was directed by Mark Kirkland and written by Peter Gaffney and Steve Viksten. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 8, 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holidays of Future Passed</span> 9th episode of the 23rd season of The Simpsons

"Holidays of Future Passed" is the ninth episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 11, 2011. Most of the episode is set thirty years into the future, when Bart and Lisa take their children with them to Homer and Marge's house over Christmas, while a pregnant Maggie goes into labor. Bart has divorced his wife, Jenda, and is struggling to become a better father for his two boys, while Lisa has trouble connecting with her rebellious teenage daughter, Zia. The Simpsons creator Matt Groening made a minor uncredited cameo appearance as a sports commentator shouting "goal!" during a soccer game.

"Beware My Cheating Bart" is the eighteenth episode of the twenty-third season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. The episode was directed by Mark Kirkland and written by Ben Joseph. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 15, 2012. The title refers to the song "Be Still My Beating Heart" by Sting.

"Moonshine River" is the first episode of the twenty-fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. The episode was directed by Bob Anderson and written by Tim Long. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on September 30, 2012.

"Pulpit Friction" is the eighteenth episode of the twenty-fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 526th episode overall. The episode was directed by Chris Clements and written by Bill Odenkirk. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 28, 2013. The name is a pun on the film Pulp Fiction.

"What Animated Women Want" is the seventeenth episode of the twenty-fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 525th episode overall. The episode was directed by Steven Dean Moore and written by J. Stewart Burns. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 14, 2013. The name is a take on that of the film What Women Want.

"Hardly Kirk-ing" is the thirteenth episode of the twenty-fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 521st episode overall. The episode was directed by Matthew Nastuk and written by Tom Gammill and Max Pross. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 17, 2013.

"Black Eyed, Please" is the fifteenth episode of the twenty-fourth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 523rd episode overall. The episode was directed by Matthew Schofield and written by John Frink. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on March 10, 2013. The name is a pun on black-eyed peas and the band of the same name.

"What to Expect When Bart's Expecting" is the nineteenth episode of the twenty-fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons and the 549th episode of the series. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 27, 2014. It was written by John Frink and directed by Matthew Nastuk.

"Luca$" is the seventeenth episode of the twenty-fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons and the 547th episode of the series. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 6, 2014. It was written by Carolyn Omine and directed by Chris Clements.

"Diggs" is the twelfth episode of the twenty-fifth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons and the 542nd episode of the series. It premiered on the Fox network in the United States on March 9, 2014. The episode was written by Dan Greaney and Allen Glazier and directed by Mike Frank Polcino.

"The Kids Are All Fight" is the nineteenth episode of the twenty-sixth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 571st overall episode of the series. The episode was directed by Bob Anderson and written by Rob LaZebnik. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 26, 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barthood</span> 9th episode of the 27th season of The Simpsons

"Barthood" is the ninth episode of the twenty-seventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 583rd episode of the series overall. The episode was directed by Rob Oliver and written by Dan Greaney. It aired in the United States on Fox on December 13, 2015. The episode parodies the 2014 film Boyhood.

"Dad Behavior" is the eighth episode of the twenty-eighth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 604th episode of the series overall. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 20, 2016. The plot revolves around Homer discovering an app that makes his life easier, and Grampa learning that he's about to become a father again. It was the first episode to be written by Ryan Koh, and was directed by Steven Dean Moore. Matt Leinart makes a guest appearance as himself.

"Gone Boy" is the ninth episode of the twenty-ninth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons, and the 627th episode of the series overall. The episode was directed by Rob Oliver and written by John Frink. It aired in the United States on Fox on December 10, 2017. The title is a spoof of the novel Gone Girl.

References

  1. ↑ "(SI-2513) "Days of Future Future"". The Futon Critic . Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Snierson, Dan (September 11, 2013). "Amy Poehler to guest on 'The Simpsons'". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved July 7, 2023.
  3. 1 2 Ruf, Cory (April 13, 2014). "Burlington woman's Simpsons couch gag airs Sunday". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  4. ↑ Kennedy, John R. (May 16, 2013). "Canadian 'couch gag' a dream come true for 'Simpsons' fan". Global News . Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 Perkins, Dennis (April 14, 2014). "The Simpsons: "Days Of Future Future"". The A.V. Club . Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  6. ↑ Sokol, Tony (April 14, 2014). "The Simpsons: Days of Future Future, review". Den of Geek . Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  7. ↑ Lopez, Teresa (April 13, 2014). "The Simpsons Review: Moving On". TV Fanatic. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
  8. ↑ Bibel, Sara (April 15, 2014). "Sunday Final Ratings: 'Resurrection', 'Once Upon a Time', 'The Simpsons', 'The Amazing Race', 'Cosmos', 'The Mentalist' & 'America's Funniest Home Videos' Adjusted Up; '60 Minutes' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers . Archived from the original on April 16, 2014. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.