Post Length Warning! I’ve become a little hooked on OpenAI’s ChatGTP. It’s a text-based response AI, which converses with you but can also be asked to create things. Like magic, it’s able to conjure up stuff you ask for. So I’ve asked it a lot: “Write an episode of Cheers where Norm is a zombie”, “Explain particle physics to a four year old”, “Tell a story like Three Billy Goats Gruff only the goats are successful women and the troll is an incel”, and so on. You can even ask it “Create a program in python to draw a Mandlebrot set” and it’ll do it. Usually.
Anyway, I thought I’d ask it to create:
An episode of The Simpsons where they realise they are only a cartoon
The episode begins with the Simpsons sitting on the couch, watching TV as usual. Homer is munching on a donut and Bart is playing a video game. Suddenly, the TV screen starts to flicker and the picture goes fuzzy. The family looks at each other in confusion.
Marge: What’s going on?
Homer: I don’t know, but I think we’re in trouble.
Bart: Yeah, this doesn’t look good.
Suddenly, the screen goes completely black and the sound of static fills the room. The family looks at each other in fear.
Marge: Oh no! What’s happening?
Homer: I don’t know, but I think we’re in big trouble.
Suddenly, the screen comes back on and the family sees a strange, cartoonish version of themselves on the TV. They are all drawn in a different style and they look confused and scared.
Marge: (pointing at the TV) Look! That’s us!
Homer: (staring in shock) But…but that’s impossible! We’re not cartoons!
Bart: Yeah, we’re real people!
The family looks at each other in confusion and fear. They start to realize that they are only characters in a TV show.
Marge: Oh my God, we’re not real! We’re just cartoons!
Homer: (stunned) This can’t be happening! We have to find a way out of here!
Bart: (frantic) Yeah, we have to escape before they cancel our show!
The family jumps up from the couch and starts to run around the house, looking for a way to escape their cartoon world. They try to open doors and windows, but they are all locked. They try to break through walls and floors, but they are too strong.
Marge: (desperate) We have to find a way out of here! We can’t be stuck in this cartoon forever!
Homer: (frantic) I know, I know! We have to find a way to escape the writers and the animators!
Bart: (excited) Yeah, maybe we can find a way to break the fourth wall!
The family continues to search for a way out, but they are trapped in their cartoon world. They start to panic and despair, realizing that they are doomed to be characters in a TV show for the rest of their lives.
Marge: (crying) We’re never going to get out of here! We’re going to be stuck in this cartoon forever!
Homer: (angry) No, we can’t give up! We have to find a way to escape!
Bart: (determined) Yeah, we have to keep fighting! We can’t let them control us forever!
The episode ends with the family still searching for a way out of their cartoon world, determined to escape their fate as characters in a TV show.
All silly and stuff, right? Right. But then I thought, what if there was an episode of The Simpsons where Bart never existed? Find out on the next page!
