Finding the Classic Futurama Recipe: Breakdown of Season 11 Finale "All The Way Down"

[@PapaLuge]

This episode felt like PEAK Futurama, A really intersting scientific concept explored through the lens of existential philosophy and character

[@TabalugaDragon]

One of the original show's creators worked on it, so it's not surprising.

[@bennett420]

I was starting to get worried we weren't gonna get one like this

[@PapaLuge]

@@bennett420 I saw David's name and it was enough to get me hyped but thankfully he delivered 😎

[@WilliamBrowning]

I concur... it's been fun watching new Futurama with all y'all chumps and chumpettes!

[@bennett420]

Truly, fun on a bun, on youtube

[@Lefurmage104]

And now the screen is the low res one from the simulated universe dude I love how much effort you put in your videos

[@bennett420]

I appreciate it! Funny story, I found some weird continuity problem in this season because I was pulling screens from each episode. I'm gonna look into it and see if it's worth unpacking in the season recap.

[@Lefurmage104]

@@bennett420 I don’t know if this is what you mean but the pixelated fry in all the way down does a parody of the shot in the first episode where fry says “fry philip j I” (something like that) and for some reason it’s reversed in the pixelated version

[@bennett420]

@Lefurmage104 huh, didn't even notice that. I was talking about the wall the TV is mounted on. In some episodes, the TV is mounted next to exposed brick, but after episodes 5 or 6, the brick is gone, and it's just orange. If someone wanted to get all obsessed with whether we're watching a prime or simulated universe this season, I'd start there

[@Lefurmage104]

@@bennett420 dang never noticed that

[@user-yi7zj3lv5t]

after the anthology i was worried about this episode but as you say, this feels like proper futurama, and is much better than the anthology

[@bennett420]

I'm worried I loved this episode because the anthology episode put my expectations lower than Hermes can limbo

[@drvinylscratch1936]

This episode made the rest of the revival feel like a check list of missed topics that would be a single episode in a 10-20 ep season across 10 years condensed into 10eps

[@Solid_Hank]

The theme of recursion you bring up is really interesting! Another episode that has recursion is Meanwhile, where Fry asks "wanna go around again?" and they do loop back. I'm trying to think of some of their perfect episodes that don't have recursion or episodes that do that aren't so great.

[@bennett420]

The more I thought about it, the more I saw it throughout. This show can really get into a groove when it's folding in on itself

[@tibby7709]

I was pinning for someone talking about the new season, and finding this was EXACTLY what I needed. Thanks so much for this, I'll literally watching anything else you make fr

[@sonowbrand7824]

Dude you deserve more subscribers

[@bennett420]

I can only hope the mighty algorithm smiles upon me. But seriously thanks, I always appreciate these kinds of comments. I can't control my reach, just the quality of the video.

[@chaoslord8918]

At around 1:30, I knew you were going to make the reference at 3:55.

[@theletterm1787]

Please keep making videos!

[@bennett420]

Definitely more to come, just have to figure out what now that the season is over lol

[@theletterm1787]

@@bennett420 well there's like a hundred other futurama episodes you can talk about, assuming you wanna stick to that.

[@bennett420]

@theletterm1787 just doing a rewatch channel from Ep 1 definitely crossed my mind lol

[@sneckie]

The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings is my favorite episode of Futurama no matter how many times I see it. All The Way Down is also pretty good but I think overall this season didn't live up to the first few. It's more in line with the Comedy Central seasons I think.

[@bellahexdanna3220]

Over all I agree with you but there were a few things I didn't necessarily agree with. I'm happy you made these they were relatively entertaining.

[@UHFStation1]

Sounds right to me.

[@thecatking1856]

Not gonna lie, i wish there was a long video of you just talking about the good episode and why and how

[@AnAverageGoblin]

"futurama" episodes have this manic comedic and emotional energy to them

[@marcellusfitzgerald-2627]

I hope he does some vids for season 12 also

[@brunocoolgamers]

this episode while not as good as the late philp j fry i think has a simalar effect on me where i am glad that the show got brought back just so this episode could had been made even as someone who enjoyed a bunch of the other episode (exceptions being the covid and anthology episodes) i have to say this one is in a hole other level when copared to the others probably a top 20 maybe even top 15 episode of futurama overall

[@JoelFeila]

I would have called the starting universe 0, everything simulation gets a larger integer whole the universe running level 0 is -1, and so on up the ladder. Either way this leaves open the question how many episode this season have been in 0 or did they all take place in -1.

[@bennett420]

That's definitely the right way to label things if you want to take the concept seriously

[@eatatjoes6751]

This also softens the blow of the previous episode somewhat because it's in another universe.

[@bennett420]

Gotta imagine all the anthology episodes were simulations. Not because I have evidence, but because it makes me feel better lmao

[@christophermartin240]

Its kind of strange you didnt even mention this episode being a commentary/explanation on the much lower quality episodes contained in this season.

[@bennett420]

Oh, that's an interesting interpretation. I never considered that because if the creators knew they put together a bunch of trash I'd hope they'd just write better episodes instead of ending a disappointing season with an excuse. I think they genuinely thought they were putting out good episodes, hence the Fry in court scene in "The Impossible Stream". I think they were ultimately wrong, but I figured they were in denial lol.

[@christophermartin240]

@@bennett420 So it's less that the writers intentionally wrote a bad show intentionally and more that no matter what they did it would be perceived that way. Each successive layer is another simulation. Its another lowering of the resolution on whats happening. And the simulations are just doing what the crew did during the course of the entire season. So the planet express crew represents the audience watching the new season. They are consciously aware of the degradation as they get further from the original source. So every reboot is further and further from the source: easier and easier to scrutinize. And that scrutiny is tended to be acceptable, no matter how it stands on its own merits. But they learn to accept the show for what it is, even of its not "real." Even if it's not the original. Because they feel it, so they are. And maybe that's why the season opens with so much on the nose self aware humor, something sooooo uncharacteristic of the show when done to that degree. Or the blatant mishandling of Hermes and Labarbaras relationship. Or the lowest quality anthology yet of the already abysmal quality set of episodes in the series. Nibbler. The fact that for no explainable reason Zoidberg wants revenge against the people he has spent the entire series vying for their affection: including a man who he took a lifelong oath to protect. It's all so far removed from the original source. Dare I say: flanderized. I'm not saying the season was good, it was terrible. But futurama has always stuck every landing absolutely flawlessly. And this episode finally gives us a reason for it to have been so self aware and unfamiliar. And it nails it with heart. I still struggle on if I think the uphill battle to get to it was worth it. But that episode is perfect.

[@BadGuy0027]

😄nice

[@usp40]

I didn’t really care for this episode of futurama in the greater picture I loved this season. I wish they had a bender centric episode this season like others or even a Hermes or zoidberg episode. Can’t wait for the following ten episodes they have planned for us and glad to of found your channel keep up the great content.

[@bennett420]

This season felt like it was lacking Bender in general. I'm wondering if they kept his parts small because John DiMagio signed on later than everyone else. I'm eagerly awaiting the announcement of the dates for the next 10

[@kaboomkp]

My thoughts on the new season before watching finale, I’ll come back after:I feel like this season was mid asf, it brought back the characters for no reason and just made a bunch of modern references for no reason other than “huh here’s futhramas take on COVID???”. Idk if anyone else feels the same but COVID was not a good time overall and I hate when shows are forced to remind me of it, especially years after the outbreak started

[@bennett420]

The modern references are kinda jarring, but I've noticed that Futurama has always kinda done current event stuff, but they used to be a little more tactful in their execution. My video about the BitCoin episode goes into it a bit. Totally agree about Covid, but I'm not surprised they tried to tackle it. It's the most global event of our time, people are going to want to comment on it. That said, Futurama never did a 9/11 episode and they were on air, and the show took place in [N]NYC, so maybe you're right and a comedy show should leave some things be and stick to more light hearted topics lol

[@AdamFerrari64]

This episode is PEAK Futurama, but it REALLY messes with the feel of the lore. The entire Nibbler plot seems pointless now

[@AdamFerrari64]

Forgive me I’m too high to figure out the lore now 😂

[@TabalugaDragon]

I actually didn't get at first how Bender "returned" to his body at first, I thought it's just a plot contrivance(because obviously he's one of main characters so he had to come back) and a plot hole that left a bad taste in my mouth. It took an explanation from a KZbin review that showed that he is actually a Bender from the universe up. Which kinda disappointed me(not strongly, but still), because that means all these 20+ years we've been watching a universe that wasn't even the original one in Futuama universe itself. Not only that, now the original Bender we've spent all these years with is gone forever, kind of even dead in a way, this new guy is another Bender from another universe. That kinda doesn't feel right. Even more so than when main characters travelled in the forward time machine only to see the exact copy of their own universe, and remaining only the three original main characters. Meaning that Fry and the professor are the only ones left from the classic show. And only the Professor if we consider that Fry actually died and was made a clone of with stem cells in Rebirth episode, because even his brain didn't survive that crash. I know the question "does it really matter" is meant to cover it, but it doesn't fully for me. Especially with Bender not being the same anymore. That Bender had a different life and other experiences, and now "our" Bender is in a universe down and we most likely will never see him again. Another aspect of the new episode that I found weird is how the professor had to slow down the computer so much that it's thousands of time slower than it was to preserve power. But if the creators base that on real world computers, you don't have to slow a computer down by that much to conserve huge amounts of power. The higher a CPU\GPU is clocked, the less efficient it becomes. You don't lose half the speed if you, say, cut the power by half. Or maybe the professor is just so greedy on his electricity bills that he wanted it to consume as little power as possible, lol. Anyway, thanks for the review!

[@williamdorsey7180]

I’d say that a lot of the bender stuff is based on assumption. The way that the simulation works isn’t fully explained so who’s to say that the universe above the current one didn’t play out the exact same way and that differences only occurred when the simulations became self aware. We see differences in the pixelated realities but perhaps when they are fully formed the universes mirror each other? There’s just too many questions to say definitively. Also I understand being upset that the characters are no longer the original ones we have followed but I’d argue that they are. Another way of looking at it is that they are the same characters in the ways that really matter.

[@TabalugaDragon]

@@williamdorsey7180 well, the problem is *we don't know* whether Bender from the universe up had the same life or not. Like you said, the pixelated Futurama world characters had different lives at first. They were mostly the same, but not the same as our, original characters. Meaning it could be the same for Bender. Imagine other characters recalling something and telling Bender about, only for him not remembering it because it never happened to him. So again, our Bender is essentially dead and we'll be watching another one from now on.

[@TabalugaDragon]

@@JamStan1978 nope, because it implied Bender's consciousness from the world up entered the original Bender's body, which means there is another Futurama world above there, not our, real one. At least one, there could be many more.

[@bennett420]

Definitely part of why I didn't really get into it that much, I don't think the theory is very interesting, so much as it's just convoluted, masquerading as interesting. Sim Theory basically boils down to statistically, you're in a simulation, and they're playing with that in the end. I understand your issue with a "different" Bender. I don't think the differences would be substantial, though. The simulation is built to represent that world's Bender in the simulation, so while the exact moment to moment timelines will be different, the overall character of each simulated Bender would be fundamentally unchanged. We, of course, can't be sure of any of this, which is why I find it exhausting. For the CPU thing, I think the implication is those chips are actually making the simulation that they are actually in run better. When Bender says he can save the simulation, he's referring to the one he's currently in (I labeled that '1') as well as the one below (I labeled that 'A') but in reality he's referring to all of them because they're an interconnected chain of absurdity.

[@youforgotthelinkinthedescr6798]

To be fair you have to have a very high IQ to understand futurama