Fox’s immortal animated show The Simpsons always had a knack for predicting future technology, so it’s only fitting that as a tribute to its 600th episode, it uses some modern technology of its own.
The creators of the show along with the Google Spotlight Stories team have co-developed “the first ever VR couch gag” dubbed Planet of the Couches.
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The short, which is a complete virtual reality environment fit with 360-degree interactive vistas and audio cues, is directed by David Silverman — the man at the helm of nearly 200 The Simpsons episodes.
And of course, the short boasts everything you should expect from The Simpsons‘ humour-wise, from sentient butt furniture, to Moe’s prehistoric tavern and a slew of self-referential giggles.
Planet of the Couches is The Simpsons’ ‘first ever VR couch gag’
In an even cuter touch, all landmarks within the production itself seem to feature their own audio cues (glancing at a partly-submerged Lard Lad is accompanied by dramatic trumpets, for instance). But hey, that’s all I can really reveal without giving the entire story away.
Although the short should run on most modern devices, your device will be required to play nice with Google’s Spotlight Stories app, which houses a slew of other virtual reality videos, like Justin Lin’s Help.
Google Spotlight Stories can be downloaded on Android here. As for The Simpsons, the short can be downloaded within the app itself.
