What-If Machine

What-If Machine
Inventor	Professor Farnsworth
First appearance	"Anthology of Interest I" (2ACV16)
Current status	In storage

The What-If Machine is a machine made out of gold that displays scenarios. These scenarios are given in the form of "what if" questions. The questions only have to make sense in context. At the end of "Twice Told Tales of Interest", the What-If machine (being used as a poker buddy by Bender) self destructed, because of a self-destruct chip Bender used when turning it into a robot thinking it was an Empathy Chip. However, Professor Farnsworth implied that the machine would be fixed in a year. Every time Farnsworth activates the machine, he uses a different button, lever, knob, or switch.

Scenarios

• "Anthology of Interest I" (2ACV16)
  
  • Professor Farnsworth asks, "What if I invented the Fing-Longer?"
    • Bender asks, "What if I was 500-feet tall?"
    • Leela asks, "What would happen if I was a little more impulsive?"
    • Fry asks, "What if I never fell into that freezer-doodle and came to the future-jiggy?" The Professor clarifies this as "What would happen if Fry never came to the future?"
• "Anthology of Interest II" (3ACV18)
  
  • Professor Farnsworth asks (for Bender), "What if Bender were human?"
  • Professor Farnsworth asks (for Fry), "What if life were more like a video game?" (Fry asked the question in a non 'What If' state, then just said "What if that thing I said?".)
  • Leela asks, "What if I found my true home?" (the scenario that followed wasn't actually shown by the What-If Machine, but it is not revealed what the Machine said.)
• "New Year's Rockin' Evil"
  • |Bender asks, "What would happen if I went back in time to 1999?"
• "Twice Told Tales of Interest"
  • Fry asks "What if it was Xmas every day?"
  • Bender asks "What if we skip Leela's question?"
  • Fry asks "What if life were like a sitcom?"
• "The Read Menace!"
  • Marge Simpson asks "What if you [Homer] actually tried to help us?"
  • Homer Simpson asks "What if Flanders was a monkey?"
  • Lisa Simpson asks "What if we knew how to stop the fictional characters?"
• "Anthology of Interest II"
  • Bender asks, "What if I ruled the world?" and "What if I hit it [the What-If Machine] with a hammer?"
  • Hermes asks, "What if the world was perfectly organised?"
  • Fry asks, "What if there was a machine that could grant wishes and I wished for a what-if machine that showed what it would be like if I asked it "What if Leela fell in love with me?""
  • Amy asks, "What if we were all poor stinking lobsters for just a minute?"
  • Leela asks, "What if I had a normal childhood?"
  • Lrrr asks, "What if Omicronians took over Earth?"
• "Follow the Reader"
  • Professor Farnsworth and Ethan "Bubblegum" Tate asked "What if Nixon watched the TV news?"

Similar Machines

Machines that are similar to the What if machine are:

• The "Who Ask?" machine which tells who should ask the next question. (3ACV18)
• The "Hows About?" machine (US#024)
• The "What's the Deal With?" machine (US#024)
• The "Who the Hell Wants to Know?" machine (US#024)

Additional Info

Trivia

• The idea of a "What If" machine is taken from Isaac Asimov's short story "What If—".

Appearances

• "Anthology of Interest I" (2ACV16)
  
• "Anthology of Interest II" (3ACV18)
  
• "New Year's Rockin' Evil" (US#007)
  
• "Twice Told Tales of Interest" (US#024)
  
• "Anthology of Interest II" (US#045)
  
• "Follow the Reader" (US#046)
  
• "What the What if?" (US#074)
  
• "The Read Menace!" (US#X04)