7 Insane Reasons Steve Urkel Built Fuller House!
The nostalgia program secretly takes place in a world of wonder and technologies beyond comprehension. This was all thanks to the contributions and innovations of one, Steven Q. Urkel. Fans of both shows will surely remember....
1. Fuller House is the Future of Tanners AND Urkels
In 2016 Netflix revived Full House into FULLER House for two seasons and now a THIRD has been announced!
The original Full House was not an isolated half-hour sitcom but existed in a shared universe of other programs. It included Step by Step, Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Boy Meets World, and most significantly Family Matters. At any given time (or ratings lull) characters guest starred on other shows to rousing ovations and "whoooos" from canned studio audiences.
By far the most frequent cross over guest star was none other than the 90's quintessential nerd and lovable stalker, Steve Urkel! Steve appeared on Full House in the 1991 episode entitled "Stephanie Gets Framed" in season four.
In this episode Urkel stayed with a relative in San Francisco who just happened to be best friends with Stephanie Tanner. Jesse tried to teach him to walk with style and Steve even gave Stephanie a bit of encouragement at a school dance by doing the 90's non-hit "The Urkel"
Years passed and the characters never crossed over again. That being said, 2016 Fuller House is still very much the future of Family Matters and Steve Urkel.
It was a throwaway line in season 2 of Fuller House that revealed whatever happened to the nerd of the 90s. This can be inferred from an in-universe perspective when we consider....
2. DJ's Ex Revealed Urkel's Future:
Netflix orders Fuller House writers to shoehorn references to 90's culture at least every few lines. The characters must live in a version of 2016 that considers the decade as "Time's Golden Industrialized Future!"
This is why they cannot stop talking about the era! They mention many trinkets from the bygone days such as cassette, tapes, New Kids on the Block, "Mom" jeans, Urkel Dolls, and....
Wait, what was that last one again?
Pull up your Netflix account and find season 2 of Fuller House, episode 12, "Nutcrackers."
As in every episode, Steve Hale is visiting his old girlfriend and lifelong object of affection, DJ Tanner-Fuller. With him is his new girlfriend CJ (yes, people get paid to come up with this.)
Steve chimes in the conversation between his two flames and says: "It's just not the same with my Urkel doll in the manger."
Oh, Mylanta what did he just say?
In the 2016 Fuller House timeline, Steve Hale would only have an Urkel doll from the 90s if it was modeled after a famous Urkel from their alternate, and more advanced, timeline.
Which, if you suffered through the second Harriet and Steve's multiple inventions on the later Family Matters seasons, you already know....
3. Steve Urkel was an International Hero in 1998
Urkel's final invention on the show's run was an artificial gravity generator for NASA. It was wildly successful. That means in 1998 Urkel revolutionized space travel and exploration with technology far ahead of our timeline's 1998 which just produced the Matthew Broderick Godzilla reboot while eagerly awaiting the Star Wars Prequels.
It is certainly possible another Urkel was the basis for Steve Hale's doll. That being said it would make make perfect sense that NASA or a toy company produced a plastic play-toy of the astronaut hero. His invention made national headlines that meant stardom for Urkel and he saved himself from floating out in space forever.
* Nevertheless, Urkel's people still turned down all requests to appear on "Wake up San Francisco" even when Danny swore Steve was a friend of the family! See below!
That 1998 Space Trip for Urkel was a watershed moment in this timeline's history and all of the Urkel inventions that were once rejected for insanity probably went into immediate mass production along with Steve Urkel's doll!
Which would mean Fuller House is a show set in a timeline where....
4. Urkel's Inventions Changed the World by 2016
Urkel's inventions prior to the 1998 space trip included: vanishing daughters, possessed dummies, teleportation devices, time travel, shrinking machines, and artificial intelligence capable of human love.
By 2016 on Fuller House, however, those innovations are as commonplace as the automobile, personal computer, and virtual reality porn. There's no need for the show to dwell on them but their influence can be detected.
For instance, the first episode finds Danny, Jesse, and Joey with separate lives, addresses, and mortgage payments. But even with busy schedules and great distances apart it is no problem whatsoever for the original cast to stop by the house every 2-3 episodes.
The frequent visits also occur without forewarning through phones or text. For her Thanksgiving bash, DJ is shocked when Joey, Jesse, and Danny all arrive with extended families (minus Danny's second wife, see below).
Then in the New Year's episode of Season 2, a clueless DJ has no idea when her boyfriend Matt will return from India even though she mentions swapping racy, but fully-clothed, pictures with him wirelessly. She waits by the door like an impeccably dressed lost puppy ready to fling herself at the next person who barges in the unlocked door "Gibbler style".
If Matt was heavily delayed he would have been able to get a message to DJ. All the long-distance pop-ins with no warning really make no conventional sense. Unless....
* Everyone is traveling to and from the Tanner House by use of Steve's Urk-Pad transporter!
The Urk-Pad was introduced in a later episode when Steve found a way to try to kill Carl in a different country. He sent the Big Guy to Paris in his bathrobe on a miraculous teleportation device he meant to use to teleport cheese.
Steve Urkel's first testing of a transporter was so flawless it must have revolutionized travel. Everywhere you look, the Tanners, Gladstones, and Katsopolis clan to return to the beloved house as if nothing ever changed except how well some of them aged.
Which is also no coincidence because....
5. Urkel's Transformation Chamber kept Jesse and Becky Hot
The longstanding appeal and great hair of Fuller House's "it" couple Jesse and Becky could be explained by graceful aging and fortunes spent on salon quality products. Others in the cast still look incredible and Michelle manages to pull off looking invisible.
But it is undeniable on Fuller House that some in the family look better as they get older. This is not because of spas or beauty salons but highly advanced gene therapy made possible by:
Urkel's Boss sauce and the TRANSFORMATION CHAMBER invented in 1993!
This invention inspired more episodes in which the transformation chamber altered Steve's DNA to turn into the smooth Stefan Urquelle and many other personas best forgotten.
* For the famous Urkel of 2016 it is probably best the semi-racist transformation he made to Bruce Lee to beat up gang members with the help of children doesn't resurface somewhere on the Internet!
While some of the incarnations are forgettable the transformation chamber was never a secret in the Fuller House timeline. It was revealed to the world when Steve and the Winslows traveled to the Disney Land expo in 1995 to have his findings in genetic research peer reviewed by Mickey and Donald.
By 2016 the flashy machine could have cured all genetic-based diseases, psychological disorders, depression, and more.
For the Fuller House crew it would be a luxury rejuvenation product to keep looking great on a cellular level so Uncle Jesse will never stop "watching the hair" (Even if he does not regain the mullet.)
However, not everyone in the Tanner family can afford it, which leads to the sad conclusion that:
6. Fuller House 2017: Danny is Tanner Alone Again
Steve Urkel's success may lead to the dissolution of Danny Tanner's second marriage. His attractive new wife is so out of his league that she must be frequenting the Transformation Chamber. Meanwhile, the former bachelor of the month visits his family again and again without their new step-mom. Many blended families have issues with money and new spouses and the Tanners are no exception:
In San Francisco 2016 the chamber is readily available for use and silent pouring but the costs must be exorbitant. This is why the Tanners who just can't afford a trip to the porta potty age so poorly:
Kimmy and Stephanie both claim to have jobs but never seem to work. Steph in particular is too broke to buy coffee. Both of the women are attractive but it's DJ Tanner, a former "ugly duckling, that looks like she just stepped off a runway when we see her again in 2016!
This is because DJ is now a doctor and co-owner of a successful vet clinic. Her business partner and boyfriend, the Urk-Pad traveling, Matt also looks like a tall soccer player/Abercrombie model and inspires Internet authors who watched too much television as a kid to do a few push-ups now and again.
Then there's Jesse and Becky. They afford it because they are certainly the wealthiest of the Full House clan. For one they have the fewest number of children*. Becky's longstanding nationally syndicated program and Jesse's royalties from the Rippers keep the Boss sauce flowing from syndication and Japanese royalties for years.
Yet Danny, still the cleanest dad around, looks much worse for wear by 2016. The reason could be because he can no longer afford the hefty prices for the both of them but his new wife Teri demands the treatments.
In the first episode of Fuller House the Tanner family home is for sale. This is devastating to the girls and probably the reason we never see Michelle again. Teri was thrilled to put it on the market and now we can speculate it was literally to protect her image. When Danny was single and not supporting an entire household he could afford the treatments and hooked up with Teri as a result.
She thought she landed a rich celebrity but it turned out Danny was just the second fiddle to Becky on "Wake Up USA". In the season 2 episode Girl Talk, the producers of "Wake Up USA" even demand Danny pick a random audience member to be his co-host when Becky cannot be found for an hour.
Teri can't go back to looking like she did before. That is why the house sale MUST relieve the financial strain of Transformation Chamber payments!
But as soon as Teri was out of sight Danny immediately took the house off the market and tells his daughters to move in for as long as they want. He even lets Kimmy Gibbler live there full time for free despite knowing what her foot odor would do to resale values.
This is where the shocker of Fuller House will prove not to be the resurgence of the TGIF timeline but the introduction of the Tanner's greatest villain: second wife Teri Tanner!
7. Fuller House Season 3: Revenge of Teri Tanner-Urkel!
Season 3 will find Teri still blindsided by Danny's betrayal with no money for chamber visits. The temporary nature of Boss sauce quickly wears off as Danny's second wife must plan her next move:
Teri returns in season 3 after leaving Danny and is now engaged to a man who could give her access to the chamber forever:
Steve Urkel himself!
That season Steve Urkel would triumphantly return and tell the Tanners he never forgot how they treated him. Bitter from his own split with Laura he will take the house in Teri's divorce settlement.
Feel free to comment and speculate over what happens next:
* Will DJ and her crew manage to regain their home from the most powerful man in the world?
* Could a reunification with Laura return Teri to Tinder?
* Or will Michelle finally return with a plan for all of them to steal Steve's time machine and go back to the 80s to save their birth mother from dying in the first place?
(Netflix have your people call my people!)
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