Breaking Its Own Sci-Fi Rules Paid Off Big For Futurama
By BJ COLANGELO
Movies - TV
After a ridiculously successful decade of writing and creating “The Simpsons,” creator Matt Groening and writer David Cohen approached Fox with a new adult animated series, the sci-fi comedy “Futurama.” Since the writers’ room was full of math and science experts, they dedicated themselves to legitimate science and had one rule — “No time travel.”
This worked for some time, but as the saying goes, some rules are meant to be broken, and in Season 3's Episode 19 ("Roswell That Ends Well"), the show finally sent the characters across space and time. Here, the crew lands in 1947 Roswell, New Mexico, making them the "aliens" that supposedly landed there.
This would be an integral part of the lore for protagonist Philip J. Fry, as he inadvertently becomes his own grandfather. This unique circumstance leads to him missing delta brainwaves, which makes him immune to mind control later and allows him to save the galaxy. This episode was such a smash hit it earned the show an Emmy and spawned more time travel episodes.