Family Matters

Family Matters

Release Date:  1/31/1997
Country of Release: 
Length: 
MPAA: 
Medium:  Video
Genre:  COM DRA FAM
Release Message:  Carl (Reginald VelJohnson) uses Urkel time machine to go back to the 70s, and leaves an envelope to his past self noting which stocks to invest in. After they return to the normal timeline, Carl finds out he's a billionaire.
Description:  When Steve transports Carl back in time, Carl learns a valuable lesson about priorities. As Harriette, Eddie, Laura and Steve are about to enjoy a nice meal, Carl ruins it with his constant complaining about money. Harriette orders him to lighten up and ask one of his brothers to help him out. Carl refuses and Urkel invents a time machine to go back to the 70s when he and Harriette bought the house. Against Steve's wishes in leaving the past timeline alone, Carl leaves an envelope to his past self on which stocks to market. Urkel runs down the stairs warning him they have to leave because the Marshalls are returning. Carl's worried that it'll take too much time, but Steve invented a home device to get them back fast. After they return to the normal timeline, Carl finds out he's a billionaire from the nice couple who now lives there. Urkel's upset with him for being greedy in altering the timeline after he revealed that he left a list of stocks to market in the past. He's excited to see his new loft with Steve and is happy about being worth $247 billion dollars. However, Carl's happiness in being the richest man in the world, came with a hefty price: he hasn't hugged Estelle in years, causing her to turn to his brothers, Walter, Darryl, Frank and Calvin. Harriette wants a divorce from him because she wanted children and he was too busy in wanting to be the rich man that she felt ignored. Eddie, Laura, Judy (she still exists to the fans of FM) and 3J doesn't exist. Urkel's upset and Carl realizes what he did was wrong. They travel back to the 70s where things were. He takes the stocks away from the blueberry basket that Mrs. Marshall left behind and is ready to go home. However, Steve's nuclear batteries on his time machine died on him and therefore he needs to recharge it. Carl comes up with a quick solution for his dilemma. Remembering that when he and Harriette bought the house, there was a lot of extension cords, aluminum foils and peanut butter. Steve uses the extension cords to recharge the nuclear batteries on his time machine, while Carl had a peanut butter sandwich. They fixed the timeline and things are back to normal. Carl learns that despite a few debts here and there, he is the richest man in the world because of his family. He apologizes for his complaining about money and vows to never complain again.