"But always, the shade of blue was the same."
The brilliant, reclusive artist Zima, known for his spectacular murals featuring his distinctive shade of blue, is about to introduce his final work. Based on a short story of the same name by Alastair Reynolds.
Kevin Michael Richardson voices Zima, and Emma Thornett voices Claire.
Tropes:
- Aimlessly Seeking Happiness: The eponymous robot-turned-human-turned-cyborg has been seeking universal truth through art for over a century, creating progressively bigger and more spectacular murals and augmenting his body beyond the human norm in pursuit of enlightenment. However, he has finally learned that what he really wanted all along was happiness, which he hasn't known since he was just a pool-cleaning robot. As such, Zima's last artwork features him diving into a replica of the pool he used to clean, switching off his higher brain functions, shedding his upgrades, and reverting to the menial machine he started out as — which then begins cleaning the pool again, retaining just enough intelligence to take pleasure in the knowledge of a job well done.
- An Aesop: The big existential questions do not matter so much as the simple things in life.
- Ambiguous Robots: Zima was verifiably a human painter who underwent extensive cybernetic modifications in order to withstand any environment, no matter how inhospitable. Zima was also originally a pool-cleaning robot, heavily modified to the point where it eventually gained sentience — and indeed, when he disassembles himself at the end, the original pool-cleaning robot emerges, and there is nothing organic about the debris he leaves behind. Zima has clear memories of both lives, but when and how those two entities combined is not explained, only left up to the viewer to decide. It is also possible that the human origin was a lie.
- …And That Little Girl Was Me: Zima tells the protagonist the story of a pool cleaning robot before revealing that he's the robot in question.Zima: They added things, made modifications here and there and with every iteration, it became more alive. Became more... me.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: One of the changes in Zima's body when he became a cyborg is enabling him to breath in deep space in a clothless form.
- Bittersweet Ending:
- Zima reverts himself back to his first incarnation, a pool cleaner. He does not possess the complex thinking and personality he once did, but can still feel the joy of knowing he did a good job cleaning the pool.
- In one of the orders for the original volume of LDR, this episode becomes one for that section. In contrast to the scenes of gore, nudity, or violence that most previous episodes featured, you get a calm but rather melancholic story.
- Book Ends: The short begins and ends with the full screen the shade of Zima Blue. In the opening shot, Claire's boat travels from the left edge to the center, through the middle of the frame. The final shot has Zima, back as a pool bot, moving from the center to the left edge, in a reversal of the opening shot.
- Color Motif: Zima Blue is a reference to a color Zima cited constantly in his paintings. Also, every one of his works of art would feature some sort of zima blue square or rectangle. Borders on In-Universe Faux Symbolism in that while the artistic community was astonished at the works wondering its deeper purpose; to Zima it was simply the color and shape of the tiles in the pool he was cleaning; that for all of his advancements, improvements, fame, and luxury, he just wanted to go back to the simple joys of life as a pool-cleaning bot.
- Death of Personality: A voluntary example; in the end, Zima sheds his upgrades, shuts down his higher brain functions and reverts back to a simple cleaning robot, leaving himself with just enough sapience to feel the satisfaction of a job well done.
- Fantastic Nirvana: The eponymous cyborg artist has been pursuing his own form of Nirvana through a mixture of increasingly ambitious artworks and deep space meditation, trying to find the hidden truth of the universe that can set him free. After a hundred years, his search for truth ends with his final artwork: having started out as a simple pool-cleaning robot that grew beyond its program, he rebuilds the swimming pool, dives in, disconnects all his modifications and shuts down his higher brain functions, becoming a pool robot once more. In the process, he retains just enough intelligence to achieve pleasure in the knowledge of a job well-done, returning to a state of simple bliss as he resumes cleaning the pool.
- Full-Conversion Cyborg: Zima Blue has been cybernetically augmented so thoroughly that his few remaining organic components are hidden inside the polymer shell that's replaced his skin. It turns out that those were merely rumors as Zima was formerly a pool cleaner that was upgraded more and more and became a Ridiculously Human Robot.
- Grow Beyond Their Programming: Zima was once a simple pool cleaning bot, whose creator used it as a testbed for new upgrades until she died. Zima was passed around and continuously upgraded until it gained sentience.
- High-Tech Hexagons: In his flashback, Zima's robotic skin is revealed to be made up of tiny hegaxon shapes.
- Home Sweet Home: After having spent a lifetime creating works of art, exploring the cosmos and accomplishing so much; all Zima asked for was to return to being a pool cleaning bot. Zima knew and found his place in the world at large and was tired of being away from his world.
- Humble Goal: After producing countless pieces of art and transcending its original purpose, Zima finally found what he wanted in life... to be a simple pool cleaning bot yet retaining enough sentience to recognize and appreciate its job well done. To that end, his final piece is to have his original pool moved to his new home then jettison his upgrades while swimming in it.
- In the Future, We Still Have Roombas: Zima started as a Roomba-like cleaning bot, as he was upgraded to perform a wider variety of tasks his chassis gradually became more anthropomorphic.
- Lighter and Softer: A lighter piece of work compared to other entries in the series, completely devoid of the series' trademark violence, swearing, and sexual content.
- No Antagonist: Zima's creator was a woman who was fascinated with Zima and wondered (perhaps as a testament to her own curiosity) how far her own ability in robotics combined with her imagination could improve upon Zima. Zima bears no ill will against her.
- Posthuman Nudism: The eponymous Reclusive Artist has modified his body to the point of being effectively immortal, being capable of marching through molten magma unharmed, striding barefoot through snowy wastelands, and meditating in deep space without a spacesuit — all feats being accomplished completely naked. When a lone journalist is allowed to see him, he greets her nude (and apparently without genitals), the better to emphasize his glossy-black artificial skin. However, it also turns out that he's not merely posthuman, but postrobot as well: he was originally a simple pool-cleaning robot before he was gradually remade as a human being by successive generations of owners.
- Reclusive Artist: In-Universe, Zima is a prolific artist who is also a known recluse. He allows Claire to profile him because he is about to introduce his final work.
- Serial Escalation: Once Zima introduced his signature blue square to his murals he slowly expanded it, literally, eventually making pieces that were entirely blue squares, bigger and bigger. It came to the point of casting a giant blue reflection on a planet off of its rings as one of his later works.
- The Singularity: Zima started his life as a pool-cleaning roomba, became a genius Mad Artist android with the body of a Greek god, and then opted to be a pool-cleaning robot again because he basically got bored of pondering life's big existential questions. At least he retains a bit of sapience, enough to appreciate he's doing a good job cleaning those tiles.
- Symbolic Serene Submersion: The blue-tiled swimming pool represents the fulfilment and happiness that had eluded Zima Blue ever since he gained human intelligence. For his final work, he calmly submerges himself in the reconstructed pool, then sheds his humanoid body and sapience and returns to the simple, menial pleasure of cleaning the pool.Zima Blue: My search for truth is finished at last... I'm going home.
- Thick-Line Animation: Thick, dark lines, bold colors, and exaggerated shapes to complement the Raygun Gothic aesthetic.
