Summary

Futuramaseason 12 just parodied a real-life event that turned out to be a disaster, but the series is 7 years too late. Despite taking place in the 31st century,Futuramais full of references to pop culture and current events, with thePlanet Express crewgetting into all kinds of situations that contain commentary on modern 21st-century life. However,Hulu’sFuturamarevival has attempted to lean into this even further with season 12, with this recentFuturamaepisode being centered around a reference to one of the most well-known events of the 2010s.

Futuramaseason 12, episode 5 is the Leela-centric episodethat fans have been clamoring for, with it focusing on Leela feeling bad for the fact that her only friend outside of the Planet Express guys is a chatbot. She realizes that this is a problem when the Planet Express guys leave town for a music festival, causing her to try and put together a female friend group. TheFuturamagirls get into a series of wacky situations, but theFuturamaguys have a mess of their own, dealing with a parody of a real-life disaster from 2017.

Futurama cast in front of the title card

Futurama’s Inferno Festival Is A Parody Of 2017’s Fyre Festival

The Real-Life Festival Disaster

At the beginning ofFuturamaseason 12, episode 5, Fry, Bender, Hermes, and the rest of the gang head off to a heavily advertised music festival known as Inferno Festival after seeing a commercial for it. While Inferno Festival promises top-tier bands, gourmet food, and a tropical setting, The gang quickly realizes that things are too good to be true upon arriving at the music festival. The bands are shoddy, the conditions are poor, and the gourmet food turns out to just be bologna sandwiches, leading to disappointment from every character.

This disastrous music festival is obviously a parody of a similar situation that happened in real life: 2017’s Fyre Festival.Fyre Festival is famously one of the most hyped music festivals of all time, but according to many attendees, it all ended in disappointment. All kinds of problems related to food, housing, and security became apparent upon attendees arriving at Fyre Fest, and many of the advertised music acts didn’t even show up. These problems led to Fyre Festival becoming one of the most notorious events in music festival history, something that Inferno Fest is making fun of.

Zapp Brannigan and Richard Nixon’s head in Futurama

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Futurama’s Fyre Festival Parody Continues One Of The Hulu Revival’s Biggest Problems

The Stories Aren’t Timely Anymore

WhileFuturama’s Fyre Festival parody has some good jokes, it is just way too late for the show to be tackling this topic.Fyre Festival jokes were done to death around the time that the event actually happened, and now seven years later, it just isn’t all that funny anymore. There are plenty of other more timely storylines that could have led to the events of the episode unfolding, but choosing a Fyre Festival parody just makesFuturamaseason 12 seem more dated than it already did.

This has been a consistent problem with Hulu’sFuturamarevival, with many of its storylines being behind the times. For example,Futuramaseason 12’s NFT episodefelt incredibly dated, with it telling a story that shows likeSouth Parkalready told several years ago. This lack of timeliness undoubtedly has to do with the lengthy development time thatFuturamaundergoes, but it is still a problem.Futuramaneeds to step away from these attempts at timely stories, as they are almost never actually timely.

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Hulu’s Fyre Festival Futurama Storyline Connects To One Of The Streaming Service’s Most Well-Known Movies

Hulu Made A Documentary About The Same Topic

It is a bit interesting thatFuturamais doing a Fyre Festival parody now, as it secretly connects to one of Hulu’s most well-known movies.TheFuturamarevival has been made by Hulu, and the two seasons that the streaming service has produced have been full of in-jokes regarding Hulu. Thus, it isn’t a stretch to say thatFuturama’s Inferno Festival could remind viewers of the Hulu documentaryFYRE FRAUD.

FYRE FRAUDis a 2019 documentary released by Huluthat gives an in-depth look at the Fyre Festival disaster, exploring the events of the festival as well as some of the figures behind it.FYRE FRAUDwas a major critical hit upon its release, with it remaining one of the most well-known Hulu original documentaries.FYRE FRAUDhelped popularize the notoriety of the Fyre Festival disaster even more, andFuturamaseason 12 is continuing Hulu’s involvement with the festival’s aftermath.

Futurama

Cast

Futurama is an animated science fiction series that follows Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy from late-20th-century New York City. He is accidentally cryogenically frozen for a thousand years and becomes an employee at Planet Express, a delivery service in the retro-futuristic 31st century.