Futurama: Space Pilot 3000 (1999)

By Calimlim, Noli R.

2013-11406

Futurama’s first episode, Space Pilot 3000, was first aired on March 28, 1999 which technically a time where advancement and improvement of technology was surely evident. This year was part of the decade when Dolly the sheep was cloned, Hubble Space Telescope was launched, World Wide Web and HTML were created, Microsoft’s Windows 95 and 98 were introduced to the market, the first SMS text message was sent and a lot more development. The way how science in 1990s revolutionizes astronomy, biology and other branches of it and the fast trend how technology advancement controls people’s life to be more efficient shows no doubt why would be the concept of “time-travelling” might enter a creator’s mind (during the mentioned period) and introduce it to public through fiction cartoon sitcom like Futurama.

This episode tackles time-travelling by letting a noise maker knocks back Philip Fry’s face, causing him to accidentally fall backwards into a cryogenics tube as he enthusiastically toast to another lousy millennium. The tube sets itself for a thousand years as Fry becomes frozen. While he is in deep slumber, New York City experienced drastic changes such as the invasion of destructive mysterious spaceships. The reconstruction of it into a primitive Medieval-era kingdom, only to be destroyed again by more floating armed ships. As soon Fry awakens, he sees that the city has become an extremely futuristic metropolis that leads him to deduce that he is in the future.

From a comedic point of view, this episode might take future and science as a perfect and ideal living. At first, we may only acknowledge the advance technologies shown such the floating vehicles, transport tubes, DNA Probulators, the existence of robots even the walk of an alien among people. But then, although indirectly implied, most life as shown in the future was doomed because of science. The presence of Suicide Booths implies that most people (or robot) were not satisfied with their living as programmed in their career chips, “You gotta do what you gotta do!” This dissatisfaction was also shown as Bender lines up next to Fry to use the said booth and as Leela removes her own chip and joins Fry on the run.

Basically, Science and Technology may progress exponentially but then changes should be direct proportional to as humans manage to be highly satisfied with it.

Works Cited

"1990s in Science and Technology." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Dec. 2013. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.

"Space Pilot 3000." Theinfosphere.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.