Movies - TV
Futurama’s Owl Infestation Has An In-Universe Explanation
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
In the third episode of Futurama, "I, Roommate," Fry is still sleeping at Planet Express and has yet to find a place to live. His slobbish habits cause issues for the team.
“Someone's been leaving food around,” Hermes (Phil LaMarr) complains at the team’s meeting, “and it's attracting owls. And I, for one, am tired of cleaning those owl traps.”
Yes, by the year 3000, owls will have replaced rats as New York City's most prolific warm-blooded vermin. They’re depicted lurking in filthy alleyways and garbage-strewn streets.
On the commentary track for “How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back,” Co-Creator Matt Groening tried to explain the gag, claiming that owls merely hunted rats to extinction.
Groening said in his reasoning, “Well, they brought the owls in to catch the rats, and the owls killed all the rats and became a nuisance. That's the science fiction explanation!”