I Really Hope This Futurama Season 12 Episode Title Means Revisiting My Favorite Storyline From 21 Years Ago

Summary

  • Futurama
    season 12 may revisit the multiverse concept from a past episode, adding a fresh twist to the show’s history and humor.
  • The episode title “One is Silicon and the Other Gold” hints at a possible transformation for Bender, tying back to a previous storyline.
  • Embracing multiversal storytelling in
    Futurama
    season 12 would align with current trends in entertainment.



When I saw the Futurama season 12 episode titles, my eye was drawn to one in particular, and it immediately made me think of my favorite episode and made me hope that it’s going to be revisited in the coming run. Futurama has made use of almost every sci-fi trope there is, but there’s one that it has barely touched upon. Hopefully, if I’m right, an upcoming installment will rectify that issue while also giving me a blast from the past. I’ve been waiting for the show to return since Futurama season 11’s ending, and with any luck, it’ll be worth the wait.

With Futurama season 12’s release date now revealed as July 29, speculation surrounding the next run of episodes can begin in earnest. The Futurama season 12 trailer reveals many exciting new locations for the Planet Express crew to visit, but there’s nothing to stop Hulu from bringing back characters and plots from the show’s storied history. I have several theories that I’ve formulated by looking at both the trailer and the episode titles, but one of my hypotheses gets me far more excited than the others.


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I Think “One Is Silicon And The Other Gold” Is A reference to “The Farnsworth Parabox”

The golden Bender from Futurama season 5 could be coming back

A golden Bender hugging the main Bender in Futurama

Futurama season 12, episode 5, “One is Silicon and the Other Gold,” may seem like a strangely encoded title to some fans of the show, but it immediately brought to mind my favorite episode. The title is a play on a line of dialogue from Futurama season 5, episode 10, “The Farnsworth Parabox.” The multiverse episode has the main members of the Futurama cast meeting various versions of themselves, but spending more time in one alternate reality than others. When the show’s main Bender bids farewell to his golden counterpart, the duo share a poetic farewell.


“It’s like I always say: make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.”

The delivery is hilariously earnest considering the character(s) uttering their emotional goodbye(s), and it always stuck in my mind. While the line is a reference to an old folk song adapted from a 19th-century Welsh poet named Joseph Parry, Futurama season 12 could be eating its own tail with a nod to its past. If so, the “One is Silicon and the Other Gold” could mean a return to the multiverse, or at the very least, a comeback from the golden Bender from “The Farnsworth Parabox.”

Futurama
‘s numbering system for its seasons and episodes can be interpreted in different ways. This article uses the system on Hulu.


Futurama Season 12, Episode 4 Could Also Tie In Another Past Bender Story

“Anthology of Interest, Part II” could also be revisited

The decision to drop “silver” from the title and replace it with “silicon” makes me think that something will happen to Bender to account for the word being swapped out. One of my most salient theories is that Bender will become an organic, silicon-based lifeform rather than a robot. If so, it weirdly wouldn’t be the first time Futurama has transformed Bender into a living being. Futurama season 4, episode 3, “Anthology of Interest, Part II,” included a short story called “I, Meatbag,” that showed what would happen if Bender became human.

Silicon-based life may seem a bit too complex to include in an animated sitcom, but the
Futurama
writers often base their stories on real-life scientific concepts.


Interestingly, the events of “I, Meatbag” and the episode at large aren’t technically canon. The characters merely watch Bender’s hypothetical human existence on Professor Farnsworth’s “What-If Machine.” So, if Bender were to transform into a silicon-based lifeform, it could have a greater impact on the larger Futurama universe. That being said, the What-If Machine is made of gold. Therefore, my theory about “One is Silicon and the Other Gold” being about Bender’s transformation could also tie into Farnsworth’s invention.

Why Futurama Revisiting Its Multiverse Is A Great Idea

Alternate realities are currently being used in several movies and TV shows

Leela emerging from a box and looking at robot versions of Farnsworth, Fry, and Hermes in Futurama


I love Futurama‘s sense of humor, and I love multiverse stories, so “The Farnsworth Parabox” is the perfect combination for me. In addition, the show has revisited other sci-fi tropes like time travel, robots, and space travel time and time again, and yet the multiverse has been used incredibly sparingly. So, addressing the multiverse concept in Futurama would be a brilliant way to honor the show’s history while also essentially keeping things fresh.

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There’s also the matter of multiverse stories being very popular at the moment. As well as the MCU being in the middle of a huge multiverse saga, other standalone stories like Apple TV+’s Dark Matter make full use of traveling between different versions of the same world as the narrative unfolds. So, in a way, it could be argued that “The Farnsworth Parabox” was ahead of its time. That being said, multiverse stories predate the episode by a long way, but that doesn’t mean Futurama season 12 shouldn’t embrace the trope once again.

Hulu’s Futurama Season 12 Release Schedule

Episode Number

Title

Release Date (2024)

1

The One Amigo

July 29

2

Quids Game

August 5

3

The Temp

August 12

4

Beauty and the Bug

August 19

5

One is Silicon and the Other Gold

August 26

6

Attack of the Clothes

September 2

7

Planet Espresso

September 9

8

Cuteness Overlord

September 16

9

The Futurama Mystery Liberry

September 23

10

Otherwise

September 30


Futurama Season 11 Poster

Futurama

Futurama follows the exploits of Philip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy from 1999 who is cryogenically frozen for 1000 years. Waking up in the year 3000, Fry befriends a cyclops named Leela and a roguish robot named Bender, and the three find employment with Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery service. Their work takes them to all corners of the universe, exploring space and the future as imagined by Matt Groening and the creators of The Simpsons.

Cast
Katey Sagal , Billy West , Lauren Tom , Maurice LaMarche , David Herman , Tress MacNeille , John DiMaggio , Phil LaMarr

Release Date
March 28, 1999

Seasons
11

Showrunner
Matt Groening