I was pretty skeptical when I heard that the new episode was going to take place in the future. But we already know what happens! Lisa becomes president, and Bart is her no-good, slacker hang-on. AND it was what is widely regarded as "the worst Simpsons episode ever." 

 

(Then again, that was eleven years ago. Gulp.)

 

Setting another episode in the future must have been a tall order, but the creators really outdid themselves. I love the wonderfully realized touches, the layers and layers of awesome. Like the way that Bart's life in his rented schoolroom includes grinding his coffee beans in the pencil sharpener and using his old desk as a beer cooler. Or the way that the painting behind the family couch changes from the familiar sailboat to a high-tech yacht, which is later replaced with a picture of a space ship. This is a future where Michigan is "still under Sharia law," Homer reads a kid's book called The Hardy Borgs, and the streets of London are populated by triffids and Daleks.