Futurama's Hulu Revival Finally Fixes Major Season 6 Time Travel Problem

Futurama season 11 has fixed one of the show's biggest time travel problems, but in the process it opens up another major timeline plot hole.


Futurama season 11 just brought back a major storyline from season 6, finally fixing one of the show's biggest time travel problems. Although Futurama has dabbled in time travel before, one story in particular from season 6 saw the Planet Express crew wrestling with a major problem involving their ability to traverse the timeline. Although this issue wasn't solved back in season 6, Futurama season 11 finally introduced a solution to Professor Farnsworth's unique time machine.


Futurama is finally back, with Hulu bringing back Matt Groening's beloved sci-fi series for an eleventh season over a decade after the show first went off the air. Although plenty of season 11 episodes have brought back classic Futurama elements so far, Futurama season 11, episode 6, "I Know What You Did Next Xmas" takes this to a whole other level. The episode not only brings back Robot Santa Claus for another nefarious Xmas plot, but it also brings back Professor Farnsworth's time machine, finally bringing about a solution to its biggest flaw.


Futurama Season 11 Fixes The Forwards Time Machine


Futurama season 11, episode 6 sees the Planet Express crew once again use Farnsworth's forwards time machine, but Farnsworth makes one adjustment that completely changes the device's usability. Futurama season 6, episode 7, "The Late Philip J. Fry" sees Fry, Bender, and Professor Farnsworth hop in a time machine that can only go forward. They decide to go forward until a backward time machine is invented, but the trio is never able to find one. Instead, they go past the heat death of the universe and witness the life cycle of the cosmos repeating, landing in a new iteration of the year 3010.


Although not having a backward time machine is the main conflict in "The Late Philip J. Fry," Futurama season 11 finally fixes this problem. At the beginning of the episode, Farnsworth reintroduces the time machine and explains that he has installed a manual transmission with a reverse gear, allowing him to travel back in time to the year 2801. Because of this change, the Planet Express crew finally has a time machine that properly functions, fixing the big season 6 timeline struggle.


Farnsworth Creates An All-New “The Late Philip J. Fry” Problem


Although Futurama season 11 fixes the forward time machine, the episode also introduces an all-new problem with "The Late Philip J. Fry." In the episode, Fry, Bender, and Farnsworth only go forward in time far enough to find a backward time machine, although they are unsuccessful. However, since Farnsworth invented one in the year 3023, the trio should have only had to travel forward 13 years in order to get the new time machine, negating the entire story of the episode.


Futurama's time travel mechanics have always been a little loose, meaning that there are some explanations for this. It's possible that Farnsworth inventing the backward time machine changed the timeline, with it possibly removing parts of "The Late Philip J. Fry" from canon. It could also be that Farnsworth simply assumed that it would take longer for a backward time machine to be invented, explaining why he skipped 3023. Although Futurama may never address this plot hole, it is one of the biggest effects of season 11's time travel storyline.

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