Futurama: How does it end?

Warning, spoilers. The following article outlines the main plot points of “Futurama” as well as its ending.

Futurama never stops! Set to make a big comeback in 2023, Matt Groening’s animated sci-fi sitcom has all the cult appeal – despite its hiatus-riddled run.

Philip J., a professional slacker. Fry’s adventures, cryogenically preserved for 1,000 years and then sent into the future, won a generation of enthusiasts who followed the hero when he debuted in an interplanetary delivery company, along with Leela and the robot Bender.

One of the 60 greatest television cartoons of all time according to TV Guide, Futurama has received critical acclaim throughout its run, and as a result has won 9 Annie Awards out of 17 nominations and 6 Emmy Awards out of 12 nominations. The series was also nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award 4 times, winning the award 2 times.

Created in 1999, the show was first canceled by Fox in 2003, before returning in 2007 as 4 movies, feature films that would be split into 16 episodes and then broadcast on Comedy Central in 2008-2009, representing the series’ 5th season. series.

In 2009, the show returned for 2 more seasons, before the second (and still not final) farewell to the screen in September 2013. Episode 10×13 is called “En Attendant…” (“Meanwhile” VO) and is the last show. The date of which we summarize the plot here.

Back to square one. The finale picks up where the series began, with the Planet Express crew’s first delivery: the moon. When the trio have just landed, Bender (voiced by John DiMaggio) is so excited that he goes to Luna Park.

Inside the bubble, Fry (voiced by Billy West) and Lila (voiced by Kate Sagal) encounter the Craterface mascot, who makes bubble animals: Fry buys a part from Lila in his likeness.

The crew then board the “Mecha-Hexadecapus”, a roller coaster that Bender crashes while vomiting nuts and bolts (because he kept doing the wheels and eating 2 corn dogs before boarding). Indeed, one part ends with the carousel’s gears screeching, sending Lela—the “Boogaloo” plushie she’s holding and the balloon—flying through the park’s protective glass bubble and thus into space.

While he is missing, Fry admits to Bender that he always thought they would grow old together. The Moon Patrol finally declares him dead: all they find is his stuffed animals, which they brought back with them.

Fry starts to cry, but suddenly Lila comes out of the plush: she was sheltered there as she gasped for air in her bubble doublet. Later, at their apartment, Fry confesses to Bender that after what he felt when he thought she was dead, he decided to propose to Lela.

The next day, back at the Planet Express building, Professor Farnsworth (also voiced by Billy West) presents his latest invention: the “Time Button”. Thanks to the latter, he can send the entire world into the past for 10 seconds.

Only the user(s) of the button or those hiding in the “temporary shelter” it invented can remember what happened.

As the crew enters the asylum to investigate it, Dr. Zoidberg (still voiced by Billy West) arrives to boast that he got a $10 bill that someone dropped while getting into a taxi. Professor Farnsworth then takes the ticket before using the button and everyone cheers to Zoidberg’s disappointment when 10 seconds later he can’t find the money in his pocket.

Leela then asks if she can use the button to go back as far as she wants by pressing it a few times. Farnsworth tells him it’s impossible because the button takes exactly 10 seconds to charge.

Meanwhile, Fry asks if he can use the button to make the moment last forever. The professor is insulted and declares that the button should only be used for scientific purposes… He presses it again to relive the moment Zoidberg can’t find his ticket.

Fry steals the button so he and Bender can steal the diamond from the store without the owner knowing. It aims to create an engagement ring the size of a golf ball.

He then prepares a marriage proposal at Elzar’s Fine Cuisine. Unfortunately, at the restaurant, Fry presents the ring to Leela in a giant foam… which ends up biting and ripping off Leela’s hands. Fry panics and uses the button to avoid it.

Finally, he invites her to meet him at the top of the Vampire State Building at 6:30 PM if she agrees to marry him. If he does not come, she will conclude that he is refusing. His plan is to use the button to make the sunset last as long as he and Lela want.

But he is heartbroken when his watch says 19:02, and he still hasn’t arrived. Then he decides to jump off the roof, considering that he cannot live without it.

But as he falls, he sees Leela approaching and notices that the clock in the building reads 6:25: his clock continues to function normally with every push of the button, while the time is delayed.

As he falls, Firi tries to undo the jump, but since he falls for more than 10 seconds, he can never get back to where he was before he jumped. He is then forced to press the button continuously to keep from dying.

Later, Professor Farnsworth notices that the device has been stolen and invites everyone to enter his time vault. With the button constantly used, the world will find itself in a constant time loop. He fears that the latter is damaged.

Additionally, anyone leaving the shelter could be destroyed if the device was used again in less than 10 seconds, as the machine would not know where to send that person back.

Obviously, Bender condemns Fry. Unfortunately, they cannot leave the shelter without causing a double paradox. Their past self will be trapped in a noose, and their present self will be crushed in the stream of time “like a human onion.” The professor even demonstrates this by showing a $10 bill that evaporates when the button is pressed continuously.

The group then descends towards the Vampire State Building, which has a shelter, stopping every 10 seconds. As they arrive, Farnsworth accidentally distracts Fry, causing him to lose his button and crash to the ground: he dies on impact. However, Leela uses the button to undo his death, but she does by chance The professor will disappear from the shelter without his knowledge. He still prefers to sacrifice her to save Fry.

After several loops, realizing they need an exit strategy, Bender waits for the right moment to save Fry’s life with his airbag.

But as Fry spins around and everyone is cheering, he accidentally steps on the button and breaks it, causing time to freeze for everyone but Fry and Leela – literally making the moment “last forever,” as Fry put it.

Fry and Leela discover that they can still interact with objects to some extent—for example, they can eat—and with living things as if they were inanimate objects. Then they arrange their wedding in the cathedral of St. Koch, the pope of the cosmos in silence and without movement, in front of all their friends, at a break.

They then explore planet Earth for decades on their honeymoon, frozen in time that allows them to cross oceans. A mysterious glow haunts them from time to time, but other than that, they are very happy in their stationary world.

The already elderly return to the rooftop garden of the Vampire State Building to drink the champagne that Janos the Vampire (voiced by David Herman) has poured into their glasses before the weather sets in.

Fry even reads the toast he was ready for when he proposed, again suggesting that the moment last forever. Reflecting on their years together in frozen time, Lila assures Fry that she’s had a wonderful life, telling him that she’s “never been alone, not for a minute.”

Then all of a sudden there’s a glow and it turns into a tunnel from which emerges… the professor! He was not killed, but instead sent into an orthogonal timeline that runs perpendicular to Fry and Leela. Thus, he dug tunnels for decades, searching for the button every minute “from yesterday to tomorrow”.

Fry eventually reveals that he’s been carrying around pieces of a broken button for years, trying to fix the button before he got angry and broke it again. Farnsworth then quickly repairs the device and replaces it so he can reset everything.

However, the professor explains that this will take them back to when he invented the time button and leave them with no memory of the events that happened.

Even though they loved growing old together, Fry asks Lila if she wants to “take one more ride” with him. He gets to say “yes, I do”: they share one last kiss and the teacher pushes the button. The end of Futurama.