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The Simpsons’ Biggest Sci-Fi Mistake Still Makes No Sense After 12 Years

Sarah Parker September 5, 2026

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As a network television institution that has been on the air for nearly 40 years, The Simpsons has more than earned its reputation as one of television’s greatest all-time sitcoms. There have been episodes that aren’t especially good (I still contend “Moe’s Bar Rag” is the worst), even entire seasons, but few shows could possibly maintain a perfect track record across that much television. Still, one storyline stands out as a rare instance where The Simpsons doesn’t simply miss the mark — it completely botches what should have been one of the show’s most reliable formats. That episode is Season 25’s “Days of Future Future.”

‘The Simpsons’ “Days of Future Future” Starts by Killing Homer Over and Over Again

Marge (Julie Kavner) wakes up to find pizza boxes all over the living room, and, despite hoping that it was a bear and not Homer (Dan Castellaneta)… it’s Homer, sprawled out on top of the kitchen table in nothing but his tighty-whities. She implores Homer to take his health more seriously, which he vows to do, only to succumb to a fatal heart attack. Homer’s funeral is interrupted by Jonathan Frink Jr. (Hank Azaria), who announces he’s made a clone of Homer, a simpler subject to experiment with than his original plan to use a sheep. An overjoyed Marge pleads with Homer to take this second chance seriously, which lasts for mere moments after he eats all the potato salad, prompting a second funeral. Each successive Homer clone succeeds in dying in idiotic ways: by toaster electrocution, pulling the plug on himself after hearing he can’t have solid food for two weeks, and falling off a pile of dead clones while reaching for something on a high shelf, among others.

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spanclass =” cw-question-text”>You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do?
spanclass =” cw-question-sub”>The first instinct is often the truest one.

pAPull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it.
labelclass =” cw-option-btn cw-opt -1b”For =” cw -q1b”>BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don’t keep you alive.
labelclass =” cw-option-btn cw-opt -1c”For =” cw -q1c”>CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who’s pulling the strings.
labelclass =” cw-option-btn cw-opt -1d”For =” cw -q1d”>DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it.
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spanclass =” cw-question-text”>In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely?
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labelclass =” cw-option-btn cw-opt -2b”For =” cw -q2b”>BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it.
labelclass =” cw-option-btn cw-opt -2c”For =” qw -q2c”>CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity.
label-class =’qw-option-btn qw-opt -2d’>DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on.
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span-class =’qw-question-text’>What kind of threat keeps you up at night?
span-class =’qw-question-sub’>Fear is useful data — if you’re honest about what you’re actually afraid of.

pAThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant.
label-class =’qw-option-btn qw-opt -3b’>BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left.
label-class =’qw-option-btn qw-opt -3c’>CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you’re a problem, you’re already out of time.
label-class =’qw-option-btn qw-opt -3d’>DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn’t even know I was playing.
label-class =’qw-option-btn qw-opt -3e’>EThe Empire tightening its grip until there’s nowhere left to run.

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span-class =’qw-question-text’>How do you deal with authority you don’t trust?
span-class =’qw-question-sub’>Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything.

pASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it.
label-class =’qw-option-btn qw-opt -4b’>BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better.
label-class =’qw-option-btn qw-opt -4c’>CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy.
label-class =’qw-option-btn qw-opt -4d’>DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can’t beat a system you refuse to understand.
label-class =’qw-option-btn qw-opt -4e’>EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen.

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span-class =’qw-question-text’>Which environment could you actually endure long-term?
span-class =’qw-question-sub’>Survival isn’t just tactical — it’s physical, psychological, and very much about where you are.

pAUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters.
label-class =’qw-option-btn qw-opt -5b’>BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest.
label-class =’qw-option-btn qw-opt -5c’>CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions.
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Thirty years later, the Simpsons mourn the death of yet another Homer clone, only this time Frink is unable to create any more, with Homer having used up all his clones. He does, however, have Homer’s memory on a flash drive, which he plugs into a TV screen. The TV screen lights up, and there’s Homer, a face on the screen with his voice coming through the speakers. Back at the house, Marge asks Milhouse (Pamela Hayden), now married to Lisa (Yeardley Smith), how he is, to which he replies that he and Lisa have nothing to talk about.

Lisa interjects, reminding Milhouse that during their last conversation a month ago, she told him about her time devoted to charity work for the undead. Marge, having left the room, visits with Homer, who asks her to reboot the screen yet again. Tired of repeatedly rebooting,Marge ejects the flash drive and gives it to Bart (Nancy Cartwright), who brings him back to his home, an abandoned classroom at Springfield Elementary. Bart could certainly use his advice given he still has feelings for his ex-wife Jenda (Amy Poehler), stirred up after sending their two sons to her home via a teleporting door; only Homer’s frozen up again.