CROSSOVER OF THE WEEK

'THE SIMPSONS' & 'FUTURAMA'

The Future is fluid, ever-changing. This is why those prophecies of Nostradamus and St. Malachy retained their believability over the centuries. They were so couched in mystical, ambiguous symbolism that they could be interpreted to mean anything. Had those prophecies been nailed down to be something specific, the jig would be up.

Once somebody is made aware of a specific future, that future will change because of that knowledge. Either efforts would be undertaken to change it, or to ensure that it comes to pass. And that would send off ripples in the time-stream.

That's why the appearance of Bender Bending Rodriguez of 'Futurama' in last Sunday's episode of 'The Simpsons' can't be considered as actually having occurred.

Of course, mainly this is because it hasn 't happened yet - he appeared in a vision broadcast by Professor Frink on a machine that supposedly showed the future. By showing that future to Bart and Lisa Simpson, Frink caused it to be invalid, because both Bart and Lisa were determined to change the outcome.

During that vision of the future, Homer and Bart were driving along in the very first hovercar and they phased through the "Quantum Tunnel" - right through the side of the mountain as if it was a scene straight out of "Buckaroo Banzai". When they popped out the other side, they were joined by the robot Bender in the front seat... but only for a few seconds as Homer tossed him out onto the roadway to become so much scrap metal.

Ordinarily ths might be a problem for ol' Bender, as far as what his own future held 1000 years from now, but like I said, that future was null and void as soon as the characters involved became aware of it.

Still and all, even if it was a scene that would never happen once we saw it happen (ow! My head!), it was just great to be able to see Bender again in prime time and not relegated to the time loop of repeats on Adult Swim. And as such, this crossover between 'The Simpsons' and 'Futurama' (which also included a giant, aged "Blinky" the three-eyed fish) is the Crossover of the Week.

And who knows? Perhaps "eight years from Tuesday" it will once again be the Crossover of the Week!

If you've got complaints about that, you know what you can do (especially if you're a fan of 'Futurama').....
BITE MY SHINY METAL ASS!

BCnU!
Tele-Toby