Just shy of 10 years ago, we saw Fry, Leela and the whole Planet Express crew make the decision to "go around again" in a what at the time was the Futurama series finale. It was a graceful ending, sweet, funny, symmetrical and beautiful. The long running, fan-favorite series went on to receive a great deal of acclaim, an Emmy nomination and the opinion from many of being one of the best series finales of all time.
So the idea of reviving the series with Futurama season 11 was met with much skepticism and hesitation from fans.
After the first episode of the new season arrive on Hulu Monday, July 24, some suggest this ruins the series finale. But, as a die-hard Futurama fan, I'm hear to provide another perspective.
The Impossible Stream
To explain why folks may not be on board with the season premiere, entitled “The Impossible Stream”, we should discuss what happens in it.
The episode begins where "Meanwhile," the previous series finale, left off. Fry and Leela, having grown old together, agreeing with Professor Farnsworth to go back to the moment when time stopped. Farnsworth resets the universe to that exact moment, and Fry and Leela become young again.
What commences is a standard episode of Futurama with hijinks about binging and streaming content, as Fry decides to dedicate his life to watching every TV program ever. Jokes are made about the series' multiple cancellations and everything feels like status quo.
It's a perfectly fine, funny episode. But was it worth losing the original series finale over? Debatable. But one episode is not necessarily indicative of the quality of the rest of the season. And, more importantly, it does not erase "Meanwhile" or its impact. Here's why.
How time works in Futurama
If there's one thing any hardcore Futurama fan knows, it's that the series likes to play with the concept of time, doing so over and over again.
For example, in the Futurama season 7 episode, "The Last Phillip J. Fry," its established that the show's concept of time is not linear, but rather cyclical. Professor Farnsworth, Bender and Fry get trapped in a machine that only goes forward in time, flying past the existence of their friends and colleagues into the far future and eventual destruction of the universe. Then a funny thing happens, the universe resets itself all over again, with the history of history and the series playing out once more (just 10 feet lower than the previous one).
So if the concept of time in the Futurama universe is indeed cyclical, then the events of "Meanwhile" are inevitable. Even if the Professor resets things at an eventual point in time, as he does at the beginning of this episode and the end of "Meanwhile," the events of the previous series finale are still destined to happen, and can therefore still taken as a valid series finale. It's still the end, but they just "go around again" to an additional beginning each time.
Futurama has been here before
Personally, I've stuck around through several reboots of Futurama, with Futurama season 11 just the latest. Following the original run of the show, which ended in 2003, Futurama has been rebooted in the form of direct to DVD movies and a Comedy Central revival. Each time fans have claimed "it's lost its quality" before rallying once more and praising some of the most terrific episodes in the series' run.
For instance, when the series came back on Comedy Central, many received the Season 6 premiere, "Rebirth" with mixed-positive reviews. But then it yielded some of the show's very best episodes and iconic moments immortalized in memes today. "Shut up and take my money" came from the season 6 episode, "Attack of the Killer App;" "I don’t want to live on this planet anymore" came from "A Clockwork Origin;" and actual real-life math theorems were established in episodes like "Prisoner of Benda."
"The Impossible Stream" does certainly feel like a mediocre episode, as Digital Spy cited in its review. But "Rebirth" felt that way to many fans and critics too. So did "Bender's Big Score." As real true followers of the show know, Futurama has a tendency to start slow before building to some wonderful emotional moments, as it did with “Meanwhile.”
In fact, those declaring "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings" and "Into the Wild Green Yonder" were perfect ends to the series changed their tune completely when "Meanwhile" came out. That wouldn’t have been possible if a "mediocre" revival like "Rebirth" hadn't happened.
It’s important to remember the debut of a mediocre episode isn't indicative of a season of television that will negate the brilliance of a finale. It's quite possible that it could lead to an even better finale for this fan-favorite series. All you have to do is be a fan and have faith in the future.
Watch Futurama season 11 exclusively on Hulu, with new episodes releasing each week.
