Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles

Production Number: 4ACV09

Title Caption: NOW INTERACTIVE! JOYSTICK CONTROLS FRY'S LEFT EAR

First Aired: March 30, 2003

Act I: We've talked it over and everybody thinks you're too old
Professor Farnsworth is hunting the gargoyle Pazuzu that has escaped from his laboratory. He is acting extremely geriartric, driving extremely slow and being very forgetful. He even forgets what he set out to do initially and parks the ship in a Florida diner, where his nuclear-powered teeth cause mayhem. The crew decide that the Professor is too old and bring him to the The Bubbling Geezer spa where he is to be youthisized. After several treatments bring no change, the Professor is bathed in age-reducing tar. Bender overdoes the pumping of the whirlpool function of the tar pit and everyone gets covered in tar. The Professor, previously at a biological age of 161, is now at 53 again, everyone else has reverted to teen age (Fry is 14). Zoidberg even reverts to a larval, codfish-like form.

Act II: Shut up and go live with your parents!
While the Professor tries to restore their normal ages, the crew have to adjust to their teenage selves - mostly by acting very childishly. Leela choses to go live with her parents, to experience the childhood she never had. Her parents agree to this, even as Leela asks them to be really strict so she can get the whole teen experience. Amy's parents are not amused, though - they will have to wait longer for a grandchild. Fry and Leela go out on a date and win a sewer race against Moose and Mandy, but end up damaging the Martin Luther Thing Jr. High School. Meanwhile, the Professor has thougt of a way to restore their correct ages - a genetically engeneered oil eating bacterium that should eat away the tar still stuck to their DNA (in Bender's case, his RNA). Leela refuses the treatment, as she wants to go on living out her teen age with her parents. The rest of the crew enter the Bacterial Spew Chamber for controlled infection with the bacteria. The plan, however, backfires - the tar is gone, but the chronatons within it are now roaming free inside the crew's system, making them younger by the minute. The Professor is now 35 years old, and Amy is only 8. They all now face a fate worse than death: pre-life, then death.

Act III: The Fountain of Aging
While the Professor is desperately thinking of a way to stop the youthing process, Leela (who is still a teen as she didn't take the treatment) takes care of the crew that is now around four or five years old at her parent's home. While reading them a story, she stumbles on a story about the Fountain of Aging. She informs the Professor, who thinks that it may really exist. The whole crew flies to an extremely old solar system, where they locate the Fountain. The crew, except the Professor, have now reverted to their embryonal stage, except for Bender - all what is left of him is a CD with Bending Robot Blueprints. A sibling from Zoidberg (his brother Norman) falls into the Fountain, gets caught in its eddy and eventually dies. The Professor, now around three years old, enters the Fountain with the others, where everyone ages quickly. However, the current is too strong and the Professor loses his grip, they all get drawn into the center of the fountain. Leela jumps in after them, tied to a safety rope, and manages to retrieve everyone, now at about their correct ages again - except the Professor, who is drawn right into the center of the fountain. He is saved, however, by Pazuzu, who earns his freedom that way and lives on Notre Dame in Paris afterwards with his son.

Trivia

 * The book Leela reads the stories from is "A Child's Garden of Space Legends".
 * Leela is carrying a backpack with a "Curious Pussycat" logo on it.
 * The poster behind Leela in her bedroom is from the "mu-teen" magazine, it shows "Tentacle Chachi" and "Four-Legged Chachi".
 * The stories from the book include "Snow-White Dwarf and the Seven Red Dwarfs", "Charlotte's Tholian Web" and "The Fountain of Aging".

Quotes

 * Professor: 53? Oh no, now I'll need a fake ID to rent ultraporn!
 * Leela: I know, everyone pretend a goblin ate your tongues, and I'll read you a story.
 * Professor: Still, they called the tooth fairy a legend, and now he's head of the FBI!
 * Bender: When I grow up, I wanna be a steam shovel!
 * Professor: With my last breath, I curse Zoidberg!

Outside References

 * The title of the episode is a spoof of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", a popular animated TV series.
 * The oil eating bacteria is based on Namco's Pac-man.

Characters

 * Fry
 * Leela
 * Bender
 * Professor Farnsworth
 * Hermes
 * Zoidberg
 * Amy
 * LaBarbara Conrad
 * Dwight Conrad
 * Leo Wong
 * Inez Wong
 * Turanga Morris
 * Turanga Munda
 * Dwayne
 * El Chupanibre
 * Debut: Pazuzu
 * Debut: Heather
 * Debut: Moose
 * Debut: Mandy

Episode Credits

 * Jeff Westbrook
 * Director
 * Bret Haaland
 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Phil LaMarr
 * Lauren Tom
 * Dave Herman
 * Tress MacNeille
 * DVD Commentary
 * Matt Groening
 * David X. Cohen
 * Rich Moore
 * Jeff Westbrook
 * Bret Haaland
 * John DiMaggio
 * Maurice LaMarche