Futurama often found unique ways to indulge popular sci-fi concepts into the animated comedy series, even once touching on the idea of multiverses. But instead of leaving the door open to other possible adventures following the crew's first encounter with the multiverse, the series finalized that idea quickly.
Let's breakdown what makes the Futurama version of a multiverse so unique, and how it gives the Planet Express crew power over their entire universe.
Futurama indulged in many classic sci-fi tropes but was frequently resistant to specific concepts such as time-travel or reality-hopping. Although both of these events occurred on the show, it was made clear that time-travel had the potential to cause cracks within the universe. Reality-hopping also initially proved impossible, with Futurama only really establishing a single parallel reality that could be seen at the edge of the galaxy. In Season 3's "I Dated A Robot," the Planet Express crew visited this line and gazed upon their parallel universe counterparts, which were revealed to hail from a western-themed universe. Although Fry initially believed there were infinite parallel realities, Professor Farnsworth was quick to correct him and explain there was only one universe truly parallel to their own.
The cast got the chance to further explore the multiverse in Season 4's "The Farnsworth Parabox." While conducting an experiment, Professor Farnsworth created a mysterious box whose contents were hinted to be radically dangerous. It turned out that the box more or less operated as a portal to another such box, created simultaneously in another reality and contained their reality. In the Futurama multiverse, multiple versions of Farnsworth effectively box each reality in the multiverse -- tying it directly to another universe. It was not just a portal to another reality but fully held the other universe. In this case, Leela ended up in the reality that came to be known as Universe 1 -- a world very similar to her home reality but where every flip of a coin was reversed.
This minor change resulted in a series of differences between the realities -- stemming from the minor, such as Bender's coloring, to the major, like in Universe 1, Leela gave Fry a shot and formed a romance with him years earlier than she would in the core-Futurama timeline. Initially believing the inhabits of the other universe to be evil, the Universe 1 Planet Express crew captured their doppelgangers from the main world, referred to as the Universe A. Although they settled their differences, both universes were almost destroyed when Universe A Hermes almost destroyed the box containing Universe 1. To reach their home reality in time to save countless realities, the two versions of the Planet Express crew had to venture through other boxes into other realities.
However, the strangest turn in this storyline came at the episode's conclusion after everyone returned to their homeworlds. The two versions of Farnsworth then simultaneously pulled their boxes into each other's reality. This closed the gate to the other universe that existed because of the box, which means that the entirety of Universe A is now within a box owned by the Planet Express crew. With it, the main cast of Futurama technically became some of the most powerful beings in their universe, with the ability to cause chaos and even break the universe now literally in the palms of their hands. It's one of the weirdest and wildest versions of a multiverse in recent fiction -- while still finding a way to close it off after one memorable encounter.
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