Futurama Had An Unspoken Explanation For Traveling Faster
Than Light
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
Movies - TV
Sci-fi shows have many different ways to get around the issue of how absolutely vast the universe is, like “Star Trek” and its warp drive, which somehow goes faster than the speed of light. “Futurama,” a show run by proud math nerds, was too scientifically meticulous to let the questions about light speed and space travel go unanswered.
Showrunner David X. Cohen, who has a BA in physics, came up with a funny workaround, with the help of physicist David Schiminovich. Ultimately, according to Cohen, they settled on “If you can’t go faster than light, simply make light travel faster.”
Although they never went into the details on the show, Cohen pictured that “a reaction was set off on earth” that created a bubble, “and within that bubble the speed of light is now faster.” However, with the series set to return again, perhaps Cohen will be able to show us how it happened.