On the season finale of Futurama (which also marked the 150th episode of the series), Farnsworth unveiled a simulation of the whole universe. Despite the massive amount of energy required, Bender grew fond of his tiny fellow A.I., and made the Professor swear not to unplug them, or to let the digital Planet Express crew find out the truth about their existence – a promise easier made than kept.
1. Thank Zombie Jesus
This season’s been all over the place, and the premise made me worry that this was going to be like the COVID EXPLOVID episode, sacrificing compelling storytelling for belated topical jokes. I can’t stand the question of “What if the world is a computer simulation?,” it really betrays a privileged worldview, and it had already torpedoed what was a good final season for Peter Capaldi on Doctor Who. Thankfully, it turned out to be nothing as hoary as the crew uncovering if the universe was a cartoon or not, taking the initial premise of Farnsworth’s simulation in an unexpectedly poignant direction, to remind us: why would it matter if the universe was digital? There are still real issues at hand to deal with.
2. Bender Truly Has a Heart
This was first and foremost Bender’s episode, with him realizing (rather hilariously, after it was pointed out for what was apparently the first time ever) that he’s an artificial intelligence like the tiny Planet Express crew. It’s always profound to see the rude, selfish robot develop a softer side (ala “Godfellas,” where he similarly developed an affection for the tiny civilization that evolved on his body), and it was no different here, with both funny (making Farnsworth swear his oath in a strip club) and emotional (deciding to sacrifice himself to enter the simulation) pay offs. I knew it wasn’t going to be the end of Bender (another season is in the works), but I’ll be damned if I wasn’t gasping at his selflessness, and the abruptness with which he said goodbye to his closest friends (and Zoidberg.)*
* No wonder Robot Santa thought it’d be so easy to blackmail Bender after the events of the Xmas episode.
3. Toilet Humor That’s Funny
I won’t lie, the running gag about Farnsworth coming up with his best ideas on the toilet was pretty funny, as crude as it was; I laughed pretty hard the minute I heard the flushing sound, followed by “Eureka!” as he came up to the solution that solved everything at the end. I guess it was a clever classical reference (the toilet being a substitute for Archimedes’s bathtub), and the whole notion of using the sewer as a power source for the Simputron was just weird enough to make you wonder if it could actually work. (Good heavens, it’s actually been tried! “Let’s rarely speak of this again” indeed.)
4. Vocal Fry, Redux
It was striking how much heavy lifting Farnsworth and Amy did with the exposition in this episode, the latter really reminding us that she has a physics degree for once. It seems like a concession to Billy West, who is 71, and probably much more comfortable voicing the Professor than Fry now. That said, Fry (or at least his simulated counterpart) takes the mic during the episode’s big thesis moment, where he declares he doesn’t really care if he’s real or not (or as Hermes puts it, “I feel, therefore I am.”) I’ve noticed a few fans comment Fry’s taken a backseat after the season premiere, but it makes sense, seeing as he realized there he doesn’t need to do anything significant anymore: he’s happy to be content with what he has, which was the whole point here.
5. They’ll Always be Real to Me
Farnsworth’s realization he could stop the simulation from crashing by making it run much more slowly, with its inhabitants none the wiser, reminded me of something C.S. Lewis stated (on radio and in Mere Christianity), when asked about how God has time to hear every prayer. He said:
Continued belowSuppose I am writing a novel. I write ‘Mary laid down her work; next moment came a knock at the door!’ For Mary, who has to live in the imaginary time of my story, there is no interval between putting down the work and hearing the knock. But I, who am Mary’s maker, do not live in that imaginary time at all. Between writing the first half of that sentence and the second, I might sit down for three hours and think steadily about Mary. I could think about Mary as if she were the only character in the book and for as long as I pleased, and the hours I spent in doing so would not appear in Mary’s time (the time inside the story) at all.
In a less overt way, this episode was still a meta story about these characters being animated, fictional ones, and how they’re still meaningful even if they don’t age like real people. I imagine everyone’s had a moment they’ve realized their childhood favorites don’t age realistically, that can adversely affect how you relate to them, or even your love for them. (Heck, it happened to me just last week, when TheRealJims posted a video on how current Simpsons continuity means Homer is only seven years older than me!)
Point is, even though Futurama‘s cast have only aged 13 years in the past 23 years, they’ve given us many funny, profound and emotional stories; they may not be real, but as long as they keep coming back with gems like this, they’ll always ring true to me. And the best thing is, whether it’s a week, a year, ten years, or seconds away on TV or a book, they’ll always be there waiting for me.
Bonus Thoughts:
– Apologies for the deep cut Star Trek: Voyager reference, but Bender is the show’s Harry Kim now right? Will be interesting to see how much his memories differ after this.
– I imagine Simulated Leela’s comment about wanting to confirm that she’s not living in a simulation, but not wanting to learn she is in one, is a feeling one of the writers have had about the existence of God and the afterlife.
– Similarly, if I had to guess, the 3-pixel style used initially for the simulation was inspired by one of the writers’ kids (or the writers themselves) playing Minecraft.
– If I were capable, I would absolutely elaborate on how this episode was one enormous example of the Droste effect in action; it was certainly trippy going back and forth between both versions of the 31st century though.
– Teehee, Space Italy.
What a season it’s been, hopefully we won’t have to wait too long until the next one. Anyway, that’s enough sappiness for now, you can all go back to arguing about your least favorite episodes this year. Until then, peace out y’all!
