Simulated Dead People is a web original sci-fi anthology miniseries written and directed by Adam Butcher, known for Internet Story and Catastrophe Crow. Its 4 episodes were released weekly on YouTube
from January 16th to January 27th of 2016.
Ouija Simulations offers its customers a service that allows subscribers to have their bodies and minds digitally scanned and have a copy of them uploaded to the corporation's servers. The scanners are to be installed by the subjects bedside, so a new copy of the individual is created and overrides the last one everytime they go to sleep. In the event of the subjects death, their latest scanned copy becomes a light based simulation that can be activated in one of Ouija Simulation's visiting rooms, allowing them to interact with their still living loved ones (as long as they're on the subjects list).
The episodes all last about 5 minutes and take place entirely within a visiting room, with their plots consisting of dialogue between the simulations and their visitors that usually builds up to an emotional climax at the end. Though the episode storylines are standalone, they casually cross-reference each other during conversation.
Simulated Dead People contains examples of the following tropes:
- 20 Minutes into the Future: Besides the technology necessary for the simulations to work, the show's setting seems to be pretty much same as the real world in the mid 2010's (when the show was released).
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Simulated dead people. That's the show's premise.
- Five Stages of Grief: Grief is the recurring theme of the show and its characters all seem to be in different stages of it.
- Denial: In episode 2, Clare is shown to be in denial about her father's death and using his simulation as an unhealthy coping mechanism.
- Bargaining: In episode 3, Patterson literally tries to make a deal with Jane so that he can "get out of the simulation" (even though that is impossible).
- Acceptance: In episode 1, Ben — even tough he seems a bit upset with not having a physical body — and both of his parents seem to be over the fact that he is dead. That also seems to be the case for Ruth, in episode 4, in relation to her own death.
