| Futurama episode | |
| "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles" | |
 The crew reverted back to younger ages |
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| Episode no. | 63 |
|---|---|
| Prod. code | 4ACV09 |
| Airdate | March 30, 2003 |
| Writer(s) | Jeff Westbrook |
| Director | Bret Haaland |
| Opening subtitle | Now Interactive! Joystick controls Fry's left ear |
| Opening cartoon | Unknown |
| Season 4 January 2002 – August 2003 |
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| List of all Futurama episodes... | |
"Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles" is the ninth episode of the fourth production season of Futurama. It first aired on March 30, 2003 as the seventh episode of the fifth broadcast season. The episode was directed by Bret Haaland and written by Jeff Westbrook.
Contents |
Plot
Professor Farnsworth is chasing his escaped gargoyle, Pazuzu. After a short time he forgets the search and goes to Florida to have a discounted dinner. Annoyed with the Professor's crankiness, the Planet Express employees take the 161-year-old to an age-reducing spa, where he is given a massage, then bathed in blistering hot tar. An accident causes the entire crew to fall into the tar pit, reverting them to a younger age (53 years old for Prof. Farnsworth, and roughly 14 for the rest of the crew). Leela decides to live with her parents so that she can have a new chance at the normal teenage life she never had. A teenage Fry and Leela begin dating while Amy is the subject of jokes back on Mars due to her childhood obesity. The Professor searches for a way to undo the de-aging effects. It seems that time-altering chronitons have become stuck to their DNA and Bender's "RNA" (the R standing for robo).
Unfortunately his plan backfires, and the crew (except Leela, who wants to remain a teenager and does not participate) begin to grow progressively younger. In order to stop this process, they search out the mythical Fountain of Aging. When the crew get caught in the current, Leela jumps in to save them, which ends her chance at being a teenager again. The Professor remains stuck in the fountain but is saved by his lost gargoyle, Pazuzu. The Professor is delighted to find that he's become even older than he was before while Amy and Leela claim to be a little younger. In gratitude the Professor frees Pazuzu, and the episode ends revealing it has all been a story the gargoyle, now returned to France and nested on Notre Dame, has been telling his hatchling about how he gained his freedom.
Continuity
- Chronitons were the particles that caused the time skips in "Time Keeps on Slippin'".
- Zoidberg was shown as a child in "A Taste Of Freedom", and he was the same as he is now, looking nothing like the larval stages he went through in this episode. Furthermore, in "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?" Zoidberg states that he "hung out as a larva" in a puddle and was bullied by a hermit crab. None of the forms shown are that small, but before having turned into a coral structure Zoidberg could as well have been a coral polyp, which are indeed very tiny creatures.
- Bender was shown to have been assembled as an adult in a Mexican factory in the episode "Bendless Love" and so should not have any younger forms. The DVD commentary tries to handwave this by implying that Bender had younger forms while going through the assembly machine. However, this may be explained by the fact that robots do have prototype versions, as prototype robots were shown in "Crimes of the Hot".
- Pazuzu speaks French, even though in the episodes "A Clone of My Own" and "The Route of All Evil", French has been declared a dead language, though it could be explained that since Pazuzu and his child are gargoyles, they could be speaking French because they've been around since the days when French was considered a live language and haven't adapted to the modern day.
- When the Professor shows the cafeteria clerk a discount coupon that is good for a lifetime, he is informed that his lifetime, and thus his coupon, is expired. This is due to him having escaped the Near Death Star in "A Clone of My Own," where people are taken when they reach 160, the age that is considered to be when they are too old to live. This may also be an indirect reference to the film Logan's Run, where anyone over the age of 30 is considered too old and euthanized.
- When Amy goes back to her parents' place as a child, her mother complains that now she'll never have any grandchildren. However, in "Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch", Amy does, in a way, have kids, even though it was actually Leela's genetic material.
- The Eiffel Tower is still floating, as seen in the episode "Space Pilot 3000".
- El Chupanibre is sitting beside the movie theatre in the sewer race scene, without any obstruction. It is said in "I Second That Emotion" that El Chupanibre is a sworn enemy of the mutants. Seeing as approximately four years have passed (confirmed in Bend Her, so it may be less), it is possible that the two have overcome their differences.
- Bender declares in the episode "Roswell That Ends Well" that seat belts "cost more lives than they save," and ends up flying through the ship window when they crash. This episode reflects that he has in part learned his lesson; while Fry and Leela cover themselves in seat belts when the Professor drives, Bender nails himself to one of the walls for protection, though he doesn't use seatbelts.
- In this episode, there are devices that can calculate anyone's age to the nearest decimal, making the plot point in "A Clone of My Own" where the Professor lies about his age pointless, considering that it's implied in this episode that he has an age calculating device.
- Pazuzu makes a cameo appearance in the Futurama movie The Beast With a Billion Backs where he grants the Professor's wish that he and Wernstrom were free from the Fulcrom County Prism. As he helps them escape, Pazuzu says "You have one wish left, Professor".
Reception
This episode, along with "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" has been called one of the great moments of the fourth season.[1]
Cultural references
- The space station the Professor inadvertently destroys is a parody of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's namesake station. The producers explained on the DVD commentary this did not mean they disliked Deep Space Nine; they thought it was one of the best Star Trek series, especially when "Worf got there".[2]
- The DVD commentary for the episode features voice actor Maurice LaMarche making a reference to "Toben's Spirit Guide" whilst reprising his portrayal of Egon Spengler from the animated series The Real Ghostbusters for a joke during the closing minutes.
- Professor Farnsworth mentions the tooth fairy in this episode, commenting on how he's the head of the FBI in the 30th century. The line originally referred to Bigfoot but it was changed to the tooth fairy after it was revealed in "Spanish Fry" that Bigfoot was a primitive living in the woods.[2]
References
External links
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