At the beginning of the Season 9 Seinfeld episode “The Dealership,” Jerry and George get into an interesting discussion about why there aren’t any flying cars. The reason we still haven’t seen them, George suggests, is that the government is too touchy about people being in the air. “And what about the floating cities?” Jerry wonders, after which George one-ups him by asking, “And the underwater bubble cities?” “It’s like we’re living in the ‘50s here,” Jerry says in conclusion.
This exchange might not seem like much to the average Seinfeld viewer, but to fans of the BioShock video game series, the fantastical cities that Jerry and George bring up in the clip above are sure to make more than a few ears perk up. For those who don’t know, the first BioShock game, released in 2007, takes place in an underwater city called Rapture. Its 2013 sequel, BioShock Infinite, on the other hand, has a completely different setting: the floating city of Columbia, suspended in the sky by quantum levitation. We know what you’re thinking: Seinfeld didn’t invent these types of cities; this is a bit of a stretch… yada, yada, yada.
Trust us, it goes deeper than that. Remember “The Caddy,” from Season 7 of Seinfeld? To refresh your memory, that’s the episode where Stan the Caddy, as the character becomes known, helps Kramer improve his golf game and eventually starts offering him advice in other areas of his life as well. In case you missed this one, here’s a highlight reel to get you acquainted with Stan:
How’s this for an interesting twist: the actor who played Stan the Caddy (Armin Shimerman) also provided the voice of Andrew Ryan in the original BioShock, the main antagonist who built the city of Rapture. When the player catches up to Ryan later in the story, he’s found practicing his golf game in his office. Spoiler alert: the scene ends with Ryan getting bludgeoned to death with his own golf club. Coincidence? We’ll let you decide…
The post The Strange ‘Seinfeld’ Connection Hidden Inside ‘BioShock’ appeared first on VICE.
