Professor Farnsworth creates a simulation of the universe and Bender gets protective of it. Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the simulated universe begin to wonder if they themselves are in a simulation.
Tropes in this universe:
- Ambiguous Situation: Is the show universe a simulation as well? Farnsworth and Amy have a conversation about this, where she points out that the technical compromises in Farnsworth's programming operate similarly to the laws of physics of their own universe, such as the speed of light and quantum mechanics. Additionally, after Bender decides to go into the simulation universe, he seemingly reboots, suggesting that the Bender from a possible upper universe may have been sent down to their one, but the show doesn't give a definitive answer to any of these questions.
- And the Rest: Simulated Zoidberg gets to be simply "the rest" whilst the others are referenced by name.Simulated Zoidberg: Hooray! I'm an unnamed member of the group!
- Bittersweet Ending: Bender taking a "one-way trip" into the simulated universe to tell its inhabitants the truth turns out to be All for Nothing, as they think it doesn't matter if their lives are really simulated or not, but it does resolve his existential crisis. Meanwhile back in the show's "real" universe, Bender seemingly reboots and gets the Professor to keep the simulated universe alive by underclocking its program.
- Book Ends: Both the first and last episodes of Season 8 have different types of metacommentary as an underlying theme. The first episode has several gags about Futurama's cancellation and revival, this episode is fueled by gags about existential mortality and the nature of being. As such, the episode goes on to discuss the Planet Express crew going into quantum mechanics and the possibility of them living in a simulation, something the show doesn't outright deny or confirm in-universe either way.
- Bottle Episode: Downplayed. The episode is primarily dialogue driven and multiple realities are depicted as the main characters in the same room. There are no guest stars, and there's only one big CG sequence with the Planet Express ship travelling through space, and the Magnetic Star explosion only happens at the very end. However, there are brief scenes set at a robot strip club, and the crew leaves Planet Express by tunnelling under briefly.
- Continuity Nod:
- Amongst the events being briefly glimpsed in the simulation universe is that of Fry deciding to watch every TV show ever and the crew taking a delivery to the King of Space.
- A piece of the Land Titanic and an albino humping worm can be seen whilst the crew is drilling into the Earth for power.
- Cry into Chest: Bender does this to the simulated Fry after hearing his argument that their lives, "real" or not, have meaning.
- Diving Save: Bender dives at the Professor to stop him from unplugging the simulation, while letting out a Big "NO!". After an unreasonably long time with Bender screaming all the while, in which the Professor concludes he's too weak to do so and gives up, Bender finally tackles him. Bender then explains that he actually missed on the first attempt and tried again, never breaking his scream.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Simulated-Fry, despite his usual status as The Ditz, makes the valid point that it doesn't really matter whether their lives are a simulation or not because the laws of the universe are beyond their control, and what really matters is that they make the best of it. He also makes an accurate Phlebotinum Analogy about making the universe glitch out.
- Faceplanting into Food: Bender drops onto a plate of spaghetti face-first as he reboots back into the show universe.
- G-Rated Sex: The simulated Leela and Fry fall on the ground together, which seemingly progresses to Leela climbing on top of Fry and the two making out. This isn't very revealing to those outside the simulation as they're composed of three pixels each.Bender: They're goin' at it like two packs of gum!
- Genius Ditz: Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Amy has a Ph.D. in applied physics. This episode is a good reminder.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Bender takes a "one-way trip" into the simulation because he wants to be the one to break it to the simulated versions of his friends that they aren't real before they can find out for themselves. It's All for Nothing, too, since he decides that it's not such a bad situation after all and allows them to make the discovery on their own. It's implied that the Bender a Recursive Reality level above the show's universe likewise sacrificed himself so that he could tell the Professor how to fix the simulation.
- Identical Twin ID Tag: The simulated characters glow once they've had their resolution increased, so the viewer can tell them apart.
- Kissing Discretion Shot: The final scene depicts the simulated Fry and Leela leaning in for a kiss as their universe slows to a crawl from the Professor underclocking it. The episode ends moments before their lips actually touch.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: After Farnsworth creates a simulation of the universe whose inhabitants are unaware of their own artificiality, the main characters naturally spend a lot of time wondering if their universe is real. Farnsworth's admitted tendency to cut corners while "creating an entire universe from scratch" also allows for some Self-Deprecation with regard to the absurdist sci-fi conventions of the show.
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: Bender tearfully says goodbye to his friends and co-workers, as well as the sewage-stained floor tiles, before nonchalantly saying goodbye to Zoidberg.Zoidberg: (solemnly) How will I go on without you?
- Other Me Annoys Me: Overlapping with I Hate Past Me, when Simulation-Fry decides to binge-watch every TV show ever (a callback to the first episode of the season), real Fry calls him dumb.
- Phlebotinum Analogy: Simulated-Fry compares making the universe glitch out by collapsing a magnetar to playing a videogame on a system not good enough to handle it.
- Reality-Breaking Paradox: The Simulated Planet Express crew try to invoke one, by forcing an incredibly complex cosmic event (such as the collapse of a magnetic star) to happen in order to overtax the computer running the simulation. If the universe was real, it would work flawlessly, and if it isn't, the simulation would glitch out. They succeed just as the Professor underclocks the CPU, causing time for them to slow to a crawl just as the universe begins to glitch.
- Recursive Reality: Farnsworth creates a simulation of the universe, whose version of Farnsworth then goes on to create another simulation within. This isn't getting into the implication that the show universe is in of itself a simulation run by a universe above them.
- Shell Game: Bender spontaneously starts one after Farnsworth says his simulation has trouble telling where certain objects are. Farnsworth compares this game to the simulation, saying that the simulation would consider the ball to be in both cups until it's revealed, with the camera showing the ball inside both cups until the cups were lifted. Amy compares this to quantum mechanics, and this was what won Farnsworth over to the idea that the universe might also be a simulation.
- Shout-Out: Farnsworth says that they're looking at a Godzilla-sized electric bill from the simulation running.
- Shown Their Work: The episode's plot is based on an actual scientific hypothesis that the universe is a simulation with the laws of physics being a CPU.
- Space "X": One of the first things we see the simulated crew doing is making a trip to "Space Italy". Amy questions Farnworth for this.Amy: Space Italy?
Farnsworth: I know, it's an embarrassingly lazy name. But when you're creating an entire universe from scratch, you can't make up a believable name for everything. Sometimes, you just have to go with "Space Italy" or "the Robot Planet", or "Dr. Zoidberg".
Zoidberg: Preposterous. - Take That!:
- This exchange when Hermes calls out Farnsworth for contradicting his earlier claim that the universe is not a simulation:Farnsworth: New evidence was presented and I changed my mind. I'm a scientist, not a—
Bender: Idiot?
Farnsworth: Politician. - The Professor says that the simulated Magnetic Star will glitch out "like a big flaming ball of Microsoft Word".
- This exchange when Hermes calls out Farnsworth for contradicting his earlier claim that the universe is not a simulation:
- Title Drop: When Farnsworth proposes that Bender upload his consciousness to the simulation and allow it to inhabit the simulated Bender, Bender asks what will happen to the simulated Bender's consciousness and learns that it will get downgraded to the simulation within the simulation. When he inquires after that Bender, Farnsworth simply replies, "It's Benders all the way down
." - Tragic Robot: Bender suffers an existential crisis upon realizing that, being an artificial intelligence, he's no more "real" than the creatures in the simulation.
- Truth in Television: Farnsworth changes his mind when presented with new evidence about the universe being a simulation. Hermes tries to call him out on this, but Farnsworth points out that he's supposed to change his mind as a scientist.
- Writers Suck: When it's pointed out that Space Italy is a very lazy name for a sci-fi destination, Farnsworth says that Worldbuilding can be hard and not everything has to be exotic and well-developed.
- Year Inside, Hour Outside: Thanks to Bender telling the Professor to underclock the simulation to save it, a second that passes for the simulated universe amounts to years or even centuries in the show universe.
