The Sci-Fi Time Travel Series Everyone Is Binging On Hulu
Time travel is one of the most popular storytelling devices in the modern age of filmmaking. Back to the Future, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Avengers: Endgame, and even a little movie called Looper all found enormous success over the years, by shifting protagonists backwards or forwards in time. But in some cases, it's not the hero who travels in time, but someone else: for instance, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) didn't travel to the future in The Terminator, but instead, the future came to her — in the form of an Arnold Scharzenegger-shaped robot meant to kill her.
There's a similar narrative thread running through a certain Seth Rogen-produced show on Hulu — which is right now gaining a lot of eyes — and that's Future Man. The series combines elements of The Terminator with another, lesser known eighties classic, The Last Starfighter, crafting a story that involves a gamer whose high score qualifies him to become a fighter pilot in an intergalactic future war.
Yes, you read that right: In Future Man, that gamer — Josh Futterman, played by Josh Hutcherson, from The Hunger Games – beats the seemingly unbeatable game Biotic Wars, only to discover that the game is based on a very real, dystopian future that he must now save in real life.
A cast worth traveling in time (with terrible results) for
Future Man has a pretty great pedigree behind it. In addition to Seth Rogen executive producing and guest starring, as well as Josh Hutcherson leading, there is a ton of fantastic talent involved. Most notably, the first season surrounds the poor life choices of a scientist named Doctor Elias Kronish, played by none other than legendary sci-fi and voice actor Keith David (They Live, Gargoyles). Meanwhile, the actors playing Josh's parents are none other than Ed Begley Jr. (The Accidental Tourist, Best in Show) and the late, great Glenne Headly (who famously out hustles the hustlers in the Frank Oz classic Dirty Rotten Scoundrels).
Without giving too much of the story away, Future Man cribs from more than just The Terminator and The Last Starfighter. Very notably, it also borrows from Back to the Future, what with our heroes traveling backwards in time, even making some direct references to the Michael J. Fox classic. Of course, in this case, they attempt to repair a mistake which will inevitably cause the end of the world with hilarious (and terrible) results.
Future Man wrapped up its run of three seasons on Hulu in 2020. It is a half-hour comedy, making it very easy to binge-watch. So if you're looking for the sort of time hijinks story Seth Rogen would make, well, Future Man is probably the show for you.