The Simpsons' canon contains several kinds of episodes deemed special for their structure: the ones that show past clips, the “Treehouse of Horror” series, the flashback episodes, and the installments that peer into the future. Though several seem to operate on the same timeline, they generally tend to contradict each other and cannot be counted as canon. Still, they can be very charming hypotheticals to consider for one ofthe most beloved sitcom families in TV history.
But beware: they’re not all good. They tend to over-rely on lazy predictions of the future, or try and shove as many characters into the episode as possible to show what their futures hold, however irrelevant. Such petty details often distract the viewer more than absorb them, while thin plot lines and pacing issues aren’t uncommon. It’s worth mentioning that the vast majority of these episodes were written after the series' Golden Age, so viewers shouldn’t expect the cream of the crop. “Bart to the Future” and “Future Drama,” for instance, are so weak that they don’t belong on a top ten list of anything positive. With those out of the way, a couple of the entries below don’t exclusively take place in the future. Instead,the bestSimpsonsepisodes that jump ahead in time use the bizarre setting to their advantage. They understand the characters are the heart of the story (and humor) no matter what year it is, showcase a similar level of ingenuity used in episodes of the present, and (at least somewhat) successfully explore emotional narratives that the typicalSimpsonsplot cannot reach.
The Simpsons
10"Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie"
Season 4, Episode 6 (1992)
The final few minutes of this Season 4 episode are so much better than some of the full-length future episodes that it deserves a place on the list. In “Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie,” Bart goes so long without a proper punishment that Homer finally puts his foot down when the boy goes too far. While everyone else gets to watch the ultra-violent Itchy and Scratchy Movie as many times as they wish, Bart is forbidden from seeing it even once. Without discipline, this child cannot reach his potential.
The move clearly pays off, as he eventually becomes Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Finally having shown he’s learned his lesson, Bart goes to see the movie with his father at the end of the episode. It’s a surprisingly touching scene, showing a much more mature Bart amusingly wearing his justice robe to a theater. The ticket-taker is still there, Soylent Green is sold at the concession stand, and Itchy gets an engineering degree just so he can run over Scratchy with a train.This lovely glimpse into the future would surely inspire the full-length episodes to come.
9"It’s a Blunderful Life"
Season 35, Episode 7 (2023)
For some reason, Disney+ has this episode labeled “It’s a Blunderful Night.” However, this Season 35 installment is actually called “It’s a Blunderful Life,” and it’s told from 60 years in the future. Thanksgiving dinner is now prepared with a 3-D printer, and Lisa tells the family why they light a candle every year: the story of when Homer was wrongfully blamed for a massive power outage. Though the episode primarily takes place in the present, using the future as a framing device works well enough to merit a spot on this list.
It may not be one ofThe Simpsons' best holiday specials, butit’s funny when the show transitions from the present to the future to show that Bart thinks faux-turkey still tastes terrible. Other good moments include Comic-Book Guy tweeting his negative opinion of the newMatrixmovie in a very old-fashioned way, Flanders asking to move next door at a ridiculous time, and Mr. Burns having extremely thin wrists. It goes to show that this series still has some life in it.
8"When Nelson Met Lisa"
Season 34, Episode 9 (2022)
Season 34’s “When Nelson Met Lisa” doesn’t even have an introduction to show the audience how they’re looking into the future, but at least that sets it apart from the rest. Taking the structure ofWhen Harry Met Sally, this episode skips ahead to several years in the future between sections. Lisa is practicing her valedictorian speech first, and Nelson is living on a clock tower. There’s a nice moment when he and Lisa use his catchphrase, making Professor Frink believe he hears a certain bird.
The story doesn’t always work, but Homer’s confusion about his role as narrator is a playful touch. Is he dead? Who knows. This episode follows a pretty predictable path, but a glimpse at future-Ralph happily stating that “The church is eating me” while stuck under a seat is a nice surprise. It could have been better, but at least it has a happy ending for the couple.
7"Mother and Child Reunion"
Season 32, Episode 20 (2021)
In “Mother and Child Reunion,” prolific directorWerner Herzoguses tarot cards to predict the future. This leads to a cool transition in which he arranges the cards to show the future Simpson house. When Lisa gets into every college she applies to, she rejects them all—not wanting to do what everyone expects of her. This doesn’t really make sense, based on how it’s presented and our knowledge of Lisa in general. Likewise, Marge’s frustration at this doesn’t quite seem right for her character either.
Lisa winds up opening an after-school program that, unsurprisingly, becomes a huge success. She then becomes president of the United States, which makes it all the more puzzling why Marge is still angry.Along with poor pacing, this episode doesn’t have the impact it’s shooting for. However, it’s stillfunny when Homer saysthat “all jobs suck. That’s why you get paid to do them!” The mom-translator is great, too, and the ending is wholesome enough.
6"Days of Future Future"
Season 25, Episode 18 (2014)
“Please let it be a bear that did this” proves a pretty funny line from Marge at the beginning of this episode. After Homer dies by falling down the stairs, a good montage shows all of his clones dying over the course of thirty years. As a sequel to the superior “Holidays of Future Passed,” “Days of Future Future” has the same backstories for the characters. Viewers don’t have to watch the predecessor (or any related storylines) to enjoy this one, though.
This entry includes aJurassic Worldparody, a four-eyed fish, zombies, and Grandpa having a difficult time in a self-driving car. It’s also a treat to watch a zombie bite Milhouse, and better still to watch Lisa hesitate to cure him. He’s more interesting now that he has the ability to beat up criminals on the street (using a police officer as a weapon). Bart’s story with Jenda is weak and the ending is annoying, but it’s definitely stronger than some of the others, overall.
5"Ei8ht" from “Treehouse of Horror XXXIV”
Season 35, Episode 5, Segment 2 (2023)
Though it’s far fromthe best Treehouse of Horror episodeas a whole, “Ei8ht” is still a pretty good segment. It uniquely begins with a clip from an episode that aired thirty seasons prior: “Cape Feare.” Except the ending is very different, and it’s told from Lisa’s point of view. After a traumatic murder, the show jumps ahead by thirty years. Lisa is now a well-respected criminal psychologist, explaining that she caught the east-side strangler on the west side of town.
Lisa is called in to investigate a string of murders so awful that not even she can get into the serial killer’s head. So she seeks help from the now-imprisoned Sideshow Bob. A reference to Hannibal Lecter’s penchant for anagrams leads to a trip to the amusingly named “Ana Gram’s Spooky Abandoned Slaughterhouse.” With a twist that echoes that of another classic horror movie,this story’s alternative universe is interesting enough to keep the viewer’s attention.
4"Mr. Lisa’s Opus"
Season 29, Episode 8 (2017)
This is Lisa’s less-focused version of “Barthood,” beginning when she’s one year old and ending at the start of college. The narrative structure is disorderly, as Lisa uses a college paper to tell the story at first but then narrates from some other time in the second half. Still, it’s funny when Homer thanks Lisa for getting him out of work when most parents would be mad. It’s also great when Homer’s exercise bike keeps telling him he’s going to die.
Homer delivers another good laugh when he misspells “twelfth” twice on Lisa’s fourteenth birthday cake. Meanwhile, Ralph is still in second grade, making for one of the funnier uses of future-Ralph (almost every future episode has one).Some jokes don’t land at all, some plot points don’t ring true, and Lisa doesn’t get much of an arc, but the ending is nice—making for a decent effort to portray the future in the series' (much) later years.
3"Barthood"
Season 27, Episode 9 (2015)
The ambitious “Barthood” is divided into several pivotal points of Bart’s upbringing, from when he was much younger than he is in the typical episode to early adulthood. The viewer is meant to sympathize with Bart and his troubling behavior because Homer isn’t a good father, and the examples provided are pretty compelling. The man is so lazy that he’s unwilling to go after his son because he’s walking “kinda fast,” which is a very sad and hilarious moment that reminds the viewer of the series' Golden Age.
“Barthood” digs deep into how emotionally neglected Bart feels by his family. This is surely something Lisa feels, too, but this episode focuses on how inferior he feels to her as well. With a good pace, a sensitive guitar-theme, and a peacefully hilarious final conversation that mirrors the opening scene,this goes down as one ofthe bestSimpsonsparody episodes(ofBoyhood, in this case) and among the strongest episodes of this century.
2"Lisa’s Wedding"
Season 6, Episode 19 (1995)
In the first fullSimpsonsfuture episode, a fortune-teller is so good at seeing the present that Lisa trusts her with unveiling the future. In it, she sees herself meet a guy named Hugh: a man with such similar interests as her that he first gets on Lisa’s nerves for taking things out that she wanted, too. They’re both vegetarians (predicting the following season’s “Lisa the Vegetarian”) and they both loveJim Carrey, books, and environmentalism.
Season 6’s “Lisa’s Wedding” foretells phones with video. They also depict an adult who fails to understand how it works, which is one ofthe bestSimpsonspredictions that came true. It’s hilarious that Marge attains a court order that prevents Homer from attending his daughter’s wedding, and it’s unexpected yet great when Marge tells Lisa that “Milhouse doesn’t count.“There is a surprisingly touching moment between Homer and Lisa near the end, showing just how emotionally strongThe Simpsonscan be even when it’s not one ofLisa’s greatest episodes.
1"Holidays of Future Passed”
Season 23, Episode 9 (2011)
Originally intended as the series finale in case the show wasn’t picked up for another season, “Holidays of Future Passed” shows a lot of interesting things going on in future Springfield. To name a few: aliens, teleportation devices, mind-reading, the ability to put a man on the sun, hooking up to laptops as if on heroin, and b-mail. What makes this episode so good, however, is its ability to show the Simpson family’s dysfunction, affection, and complexity in relatable, believable, and comical ways.
Finally, all three kids are coming home for Christmas, as well as the grandkids. One of the best scenes is when Lisa and Bart talk in the old treehouse.Maggie takes a while getting back to Springfield, and her futuristic odyssey makes it one of her best storylines in the series. A few of the particularly funny moments include Homer’s hobby that helped him kick drinking and the mention of Homer’s law. With plenty of fun details, well-written lines, and strong story arcs, this would have made a satisfying end to the legendary sitcom.
