Future-Drama

Infobox Simpsons episode
episode_name = Future-Drama
episode_no = 350
prod_code = GABF12
airdate = April 17, 2005
writer = Matt Selman
director = Mike B. Anderson
blackboard = None
couch_gag = Five Transformers-style action figures line up in front of the couch and turn into The Simpsons.
guest_star = Amy Poehler as Jenda
John DiMaggio as Bender


image_caption = "All right! You guys are my new best friends!" Bender next to Bart and Homer after they go through a quantum tunnel in their hover car.
season = 16

"Future-Drama" is the fifteenth episode of the sixteenth season of "The Simpsons". It takes place eight years into the future of The Simpsons' timeline. The title is based on Matt Groening's other show, "Futurama", with Bender from Futurama making an appearance.

Plot

While walking through Springfield, Bart and Lisa childishly squabble over who is "gay for Moleman" (with Moleman responding that no one is gay for him). Fighting, they roll into Professor Frink's basement. He welcomes them, saying that his new astrology machine told him they would come to his house (though he swiftly takes down a banner for Maggie, indicating the machine isn't always right). Frink shows them how different life will be eight years in the future (2013 at the time of this episode)., having only agreed to this after he saved her from a house fire – that Milhouse personally started – when Lisa was 12 years old. Bart is in love with a blonde skateboarder named Jenda. At the prom, we learn that Nelson has impregnated both Sherri and Terri, "Gulf War V: Operation Find the President's Head" is ongoing, Kearney is the school's vice principal, and a drug overdose has left Superintendent Chalmers in a vegetative state and in a malfunctioning wheelchair. After the prom, Jenda expresses a desire to sleep with him that night, but Bart proposes instead, causing her to break up with him, as she realizes that Bart is not serious about providing for her.

The next day, Bart goes to Homer's new underwater home and tells him what happened the previous night. Homer tells Bart that some people grow apart like he and Marge did. Bart reminds him that Marge has separated from him after he blew the family savings on the underwater house in which Homer currently resides. They head off to Moe's, where Homer accidentally flirts with Edna Krabappel, and a disgusted Bart realizes he needs to get his act together (however, present-day Bart ignores Lisa's advice to watch this scene because he's throwing playing cards into a hat).

The next day, Bart watches a hologram of the prom, and tells Lisa love can be painful. Lisa tells Bart that she broke up with Milhouse, which made him behave more Hulk-like. She also tells Bart that to get Jenda back, he must show some initiative by getting a real job and showing Jenda that he can provide for her. Marge, who is now dating Krusty the Clown, agrees with her.

Later that evening, Bart gets a job at the Kwik-E-Mart. While making a delivery to Mr. Burns, he sees Burns with his arms tied up and his mouth covered with a blind fold and thinks it is a trick to keep from tipping Bart. However, Snake shows up, about to zap Bart with a combination phaser/cellphone, but he is distracted by a phone call. Bart uses a diamond to knock Snake unconscious and unties Burns's arms. Burns thanks Bart for saving him and rewards him with a scholarship to Yale, which was previously promised to Lisa. He accepts, believing it will impress Jenda enough to take him back, and inspiring both future-Lisa and present-Lisa to sob. Waylon Smithers shows up from his date and reveals that, due to regular injections, he is now heterosexual.

During the graduation ceremony, Lisa, who will now be attending "Hot Dog On A Stick Management Camp", is upset, but understands why Bart is doing it. She decides to accept her now-hopeless future. At the graduation party in the undersea house, Jenda takes Bart back. Bart sees Milhouse crying, then consoles him and tells him to go help Lisa. Nelson also abandons both his girlfriends and their newborn twin sons.

While walking with Jenda, Bart seems a bit worried about Lisa and Milhouse. He and Jenda find Professor Frink's house (now broken down and abandoned after Professor Frink [whose skeleton is still there] hanged himself in his basement). Bart uses the astrology machine to see what the post-2013 future holds for Lisa and Milhouse: they have a nowhere marriage, Lisa thinks about taking up poetry class at the community college and Milhouse sells all his bone marrow just to pay the electric bill (which still is not enough). Even though Jenda wants to have sex with Bart, Bart refuses and leaves to help his sister. Jenda understands the sacrifice, but promises Bart that if he helps Lisa, she would not be with him in 2013.

Lisa and Milhouse watch the city at night. He asks her if they can kiss. Lisa agrees to kiss him, but before their lips can touch each other, Bart shows up in Homer's hover-car to stop Lisa from destroying her life. He grabs Lisa and puts her in the car, leaving Milhouse behind. Bart tells Lisa that he will not be going to Yale, and that Lisa deserves the scholarship. After she reminds him that this decision has cost him his relationship with Jenda, he decides he wants a girl who loves him for himself (which happens the day before Lisa dies at the age of 83). The episode ends with Homer and Marge getting back together and living in the undersea house, but Bart decides to see in the time machine Cletus, who in the future is the Vice President of the United States.

Cultural References

*The couch gag is a parody of Transformers.
*The sanitation workers' spaceship is a parody of the ship in "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial".
*Professor Frink refers to astrology as the "Tampa Bay Devil Rays of Sciences", meaning it is regarded as a poor entity in its field circa 2005.
*Professor Frink's astrology machine looks, sounds and works like a TiVo.
*The song playing when Bart and Homer take a ride in Homer's hovercar is Donald Fagen's "I.G.Y (What a Beautiful World)".
*The songs playing at Bart and Lisa's prom and graduation party are Take on Me By A-ha and True by Spandau Ballet respectively.
*The episode's title is a reference to Futurama, another show created by Matt Groening. One of the main characters from the show, Bender makes a brief appearance in the episode.