Mars University

"Mars University" is the eleventh episode of Futurama and of the first production season, and the second of the second broadcast season. It aired 3 October, 1999 on FOX. Farnsworth has a laboratory experiment, which he needs to develop in his lab at Mars University. Meanwhile, Fry also enrols at the university to be a drop-out, and Bender teaches the Fratbots how to be cool again.

Act I: "Is it dangerous?"
The Prof. Farnsworth tells the crew they'll be delivering a package for himself, to his office at Mars University (MU). When Fry asks if it's safe, Farnsworth insists it is. Then the crate starts shaking and something inside growls, and Farnsworth loads a tranquilizer gun and shoots whatever is inside.

Act II: "Are you here to fumigate the moosehead?"
When the crew arrives on Mars Fry says back in the 20th century there were no idea there was an university in the planet, but according to the professor it became a livable place when the university was founded. They tour the campus and see the Wong Library (with the largest collection of literature in two discs) and the Epsilon Rho Rho frat house, where Bender went to college. He finds out three nerd robots live there now. Fry decides to enroll classes so he can drop out and get the respect he deserves. The members, a bunch of serious nerdbots, beg Bender to teach them to be cool. He agrees, and takes them on a panty raid. In the process they wreck the servants quarters of another frat, Snooty House.

Act III: "My roommate is a monkey?"
Fry gets to his room, and learns his roommate is a monkey. It turns out the monkey, Guenter, was in the crate they were delivering. By wearing Farnsworth's latest invention, the Electronium Hat, Guenter recieves heightened intelligence. Guenter immediately starts to show Fry up in everything, from 20th century history, to picking up girls. Then, after his parents humiliate him at Parent Night, Fry and Leela catch Guenter sitting in the dark eating bananas. He confesses he is unhappy, and Fry suggests he go back to the jungle. The next day, durring a test in 20th Century History, Guenter snaps, takes off his hat, and runs away. Meanwhile, Bender and the ERR fratbots get into more trouble, earning the wrath of Dean Vernon.

Act IV: "I spent months slaving over a hot monkey brain!"
While Bender leads Robot House in the big fraternity raft regatta, Leela, Fry, and the Professor go into the jungle to find Guenter. While they try to get Guenter to wear the hat, Bender's raft races by. The resulting splash washes them into the river. Bender's team wins the race, but now it's up to Guenter to save Farnsworth, Fry, and Leela from falling over the waterfall. He succeeds, but ends up falling himself, crushing the hat in the process. With the damaged hat working at only half-capacity, Guenter decides he is happy, and transfers to Business school. Because of their victory in the Regatta, Dean Vernon is forced to lead a parade in ERR's honor.

Character Future Captions
At the end of the episode, they run a musical montage. It features freeze-frames of several characters with subtitles telling their futures (a reference to the end of "Animal House", among other films), to the tune of "Shout".
 * Fry: Fry Dropped Out Successfully And Returned To His Dead-End Delivery Job
 * Guenter: Guenter Got His MBA And Became President Of The Fox Network
 * Fatbot: Fatbot Caught A Computer Virus In Tijuana And Had To Be Rebooted
 * Leela: Leela Went On a Date With Dean Vernon, But He Never Called Again
 * Bender: His Job Done, Bender Stole Everything Of Value From Robot House And Ran Off

Trivia

 * This is the first episode with alternate opening music. The others are "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on Television", "Spanish Fry" and "Into the Wild Green Yonder Part 1".
 * This is one of only two episodes in which Dr. Zoidberg didn't appear, the other being "Space Pilot 3000".
 * This episode was named #21 on IGN's list of Top 25 Futurama Episodes.
 * This episode was named #3 on TV.com's list of Top 10 Futurama Episodes.

Allusions

 * The plotline involving Bender and Robot House is a spoof of the movie "Animal House."
 * Guenter's line "You like bananas? I got her number. How do you like them bananas?" is a reference to the movie "Good Will Hunting".
 * 20th Century Lecturer was based on former U.S. vice president,, in addition, Amy Wong also comments, "boring! Let's hear about Walter Mondale already!"  However, in some dubbed versions, Walter Mondale was replaced by.

Goofs

 * Leela's Wristlojackimator disappears in the shot after she whispers her plan to Fry and the professor.
 * The Greek letter is represented as "Ρ", but on the Robot House, it is represented as "ERR", while it ought to be "ΕΡΡ".  However, the  has no letter that looks similar to the Latin "R".

Quotes

 * Prof. Farnsworth: All he handed in was a paper smeared with feces. He tied with Fry.
 * Prof. Farnsworth: ...And so by process of elimination we can determine that the electron tastes like grape-ade.
 * Prof. Farnsworth: Why? Why!? Why didn't I break his leg?!!
 * Oily: (Playing chess) Mate in 143 moves. Fatbot: No, poo! You win again!
 * 20th Century Professor: What device invented in the 20th century allowed people to view broadcast programs in their own homes? Fry: Oh! I know this. Whaddya call it... Light Brite! (Is electrocuted)

Characters

 * Debut: 20th Century Lecturer
 * Amy
 * Bender
 * Debut: Carnival Ride Operator
 * Debut: Chet
 * Debut: Chrissy
 * Debut: Dean Vernon
 * Debut: Dorm Girls
 * Debut: The Fratbots: Gearshift, Oily, and Fatbot.
 * Fry
 * Debut: Guenter
 * Debut: Guenter's Parents
 * Turanga Leela
 * Leo and Inez Wong
 * Debut: Meidermeyer
 * Prof. Farnsworth

Episode Credits

 * Writer
 * J. Stewart Burns
 * Director
 * Bret Haaland
 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Tress MacNeille
 * Dave Herman
 * Lauren Tom