Why The Simpsons' Time-Travel Storylines Doesn't Break The Show's Rules

The following contains spoilers for The Simpsons' special episode, "The Past And The Furious," which is now streaming on Disney+The Simpsons' latest Disney+ special introduces time-travel to Springfield but in a way that doesn't break the show's grounded elements. The Simpsons has been on the air for thirty-six seasons, with plenty of bizarre twists and turns along the way. The show's sliding timeline has allowed the characters to embody several different eras, all while indulging in a loose set of physical limits and constraints. The Simpsons has even embraced a fully meta approach to comedy in some episodes, drawing full attention to the fictional nature of the show.

Despite this, thirty-six seasons of The Simpsons still largely tries to keep the world in a relatively realistic time and place. The characters are grounded by certain elements that keep Springfield from feeling too absurd to relate to. "The Past And The Furious" initially seems to upend that, with the Disney+ special introducing time-travel into its plotline about Lisa and Mr. Burns. However, one minor but important detail about the episode allows the episode to fully embrace sci-fi without breaking the show's primary canon, all while carrying on an exciting modern trend about the show.

The Simpsons Introduces (Non-Canon) Time Travel

"The Past And The Furious" Gives Lisa A Plotline With A Young Monty Burns

"The Past And The Furious" embraces some overtly sci-fi elements but gets away without breaking the central continuity by setting the episode in an alternate reality. It's established early on in "The Past And The Furious" that the Springfield featured in the episode is similar to the primary version of the setting. However, the town is far more industrialized, with Lisa's efforts to preserve the town's remaining sources of natural plant-life thwarted. The citizens are also depicted as being a bit harsher then in the main continuity, such as Marge taking "gummies" she usually avoids in canon.

Lisa looks horrified dressed in a 1920s dress in The Simpsons season 36 The Past and the Furious

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This divergence point turns out to be Lisa's mind being sent back in time. Occupying the body of her ancestor Edith during the 1920s, Lisa encounters a young Monty Burns and attempts to convince him to change the future for the better. However, all of her efforts backfire. The fact that the episode is overtly non-canon keeps the time-travel from needing to be explained in future episodes. This allows the special to keep the focus on the unexpected friendship that forms between Monty and "Edith." This non-canon approach keeps the overt sci-fi from impacting the rest of the show.

The Isn't The First Time The Simpsons Has Gone Full Sci-Fi

Other Episodes Of The Simpsons Took The Family Off-Planet

Lisa dressed as a 1920s nightclub singer in The Simpsons season 36 The Past and the Furious-1

The Simpsons being an animated property means that it isn't constrained by the same limitations that live-action productions have to adhere by. By embracing a loose sense of reality, the show has developed an elastic timeline and ability to change tone episode by episode. Other previous episodes have openly embraced sci-fi tropes even while being considered a part of the main show. Characters like Professor Frink are particularly useful for this, as they're able to introduce wild inventions for the sake of an episode plotline, similar to his role helping Lisa in "The Past and the Furious."

This allows these major swings to be treated as minor diversions in the show instead of technological marvels that change the world at large.

Previous episodes like season 19's "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" revealed that memory-affecting technology can exist in Springfield, while the family were actually brought to space by Kang and Kodos in season 26's "The Man Who Came to Be Dinner," which explained away the ensuing revelations by erasing the memories of the family afterward. These beats are notably not addressed in subsequent episodes, similar to many of Frink's amazing intentions. This allows these major swings to be treated as minor diversions in the show instead of technological marvels that change the world at large.

The Simpsons Is Increasingly Embracing Different Universes

The Simpsons Has Embraced Non-Canon Timelines

The plot and moral to the Springfield of "The Past And The Furious" required a slightly different version of Springfield then the one in the show's primary canon. Instead of trying to force that change and forgetting about it, it's nice to see The Simpsons set the episode in a clearly different world. This experimentation is something The Simpsons has proven increasingly comfortable with in the past decade. While non-canon anthology episodes have been a part of the show ever since season 2's "Treehouse of Horror," full episodes set in different timelines have allowed the show to experiment in exciting ways.

While season 32's riff on ancient Rome in I, Carumbus" was tangentially tied to the show's canon, episodes like Season 29's medieval fantasy setting in "The Serfsons," season 33's prestige drama satire "A Serious Flanders," season 34's horror parody "Not It," and season 36's fake-out finale "Bart's Birthday" all benefited from being entirely stand-alone stories set in other realities. They can tweak character relationships in exciting ways, exploring the importance of the show's most important dynamics from a fresh perspective. It's a clever way for The Simpsons to remain experimental in their storytelling.