The Duh-Vinci Code

"The Duh-Vinci Code" is the ninety-third episode of Futurama, the fifth of the sixth production season and the seventh broadcast season. It aired 15 July, 2010 on Comedy Central. After Fry and the Professor discover a sketch by Leonardo da Vinci, the crew races to Rome to discover his big secret.

Act I: "All my life I've been inspired by great minds"
Fry is trying his luck in Who Dares To Be A Millionaire?, a game show hosted by Morbo. He fails the first question, and gets "thrown out". Later, the crew is all gathered by the conference table discussing Fry's (lack of) intelligence. Hermes and the Professor accuse Fry of being dumb, while Amy and Leela stand up for him. The Professor then thinks he was too harsh on Fry, so he takes him to the lab to explain why he finds him so repugnant. Farnsworth tells Fry about the great minds that have inspired him all his life, such as Leonardo da Vinci, his personal role model. He shows "the dumb monkey" his most precious possessions, among which we find an Achilles' heel, some of Leonardo's creations, and his beard. Fry soon discovers a hidden drawing in the beard, a drawing of Da Vinci's fabled lost invention. He offers himself to help the Professor figure out what it was for, but all he gets in return is a teasing laugh.

In front of the Planet Express building, Philip is busy with sad thoughts, and gets hit by a hover car. Two weeks later, he returns from the hospital, while the Professor is trying to deduce the function of the mysterious device. Bender walks in with the original version of, which reveals a clue after a High-Powered X-Ray is fired at it. It seems that was actually a robot... The crew then races to Future-Rome to unearth what became History's greatest mystery.

Act II: "My God - Robot St. James is a zombie!"
In Rome, the crew finds St. James' grave in the catacombs, but the robot inside explains he is not St. James but Animatronio, a robot built by Leonardo da Vinci to be his artist model. It is revealed that he was left to guard da Vinci's big secret and await his Shadow Society of Intellectuals. But when he realises the crew is not part of the Society, he refuses to tell them anymore, and dies before Leela can force him.

Even though Animitronio is dead, the Professor himself manages to deduce where the next clue is, and the crew travels to the Trevi Fountain that is guarded by a giant octopus. After Bender kills it in a battle and find a giant nickle featuring in its deep, the crew continues through a sewerhole, though secretely followed by a cloaked man.

Coming out in the Pantheon, they discover a statue of the Vitruvian Man and a giant coin slot. When putting in Bender's nickle, the man moves and reveals da Vinci's secret workshop. As they observe the inventions, the cloaked man shows up, revealed to be Animitronio, and attacks them, but is knocked down by Bender and once again feigns death. The Professor and Fry sits down in da Vinci's nonfunctional flying machine and a mechanic starts. The Professor realises that it doesn't work in air because it's not supposed to - it's a space ship. The flying machine blasts off with Fry and the Professor in it.



Act III: "In truth, I am what you call a 'space alien'"
After a month of flight in space, the flying machine lands on an Earth-like planet. There they meet Leonardo da Vinci who explains that he is actually an alien - from Planet Vinci, and visited Earth centuries ago. The aliens of the planet are incredibly smart, Leonardo being below average and for that reason leaving for Earth to feel intelligent, and returning when he was annoyed with being surrounded by unintelligent people. Leonardo explains that he used to enjoy himself by inventing, but that he since he lost the plans for his masterpiece, the Macchina Magnifica, can't find solace even in that. Fry shows the sketch for the lost invention they found, and it is revealed it is the one.

Fry and Leonardo find friendship, both being the stupidest of their planet, and build the Macchina Magnifica together. Meanwhile, the Professor finds trouble, feeling inferior and stupid when attending mathematical lectures on the planet. Finally the day comes for the big reveal of da Vinci's brilliant invention, and he shows off... a doomsday device! His plan is to have his revenge and exterminate everyone who has ever made him feel inferior. Though Fry protests, having been told it was an ice cream machine, the Professor too joins Leonardo, as long as they kill his math teacher first.

The doomsday device kills a few, but Fry manages to stop the device by falling inside it, jamming the gears. In a last attempt, Leonardo pulls a lever for a final attack, but the machine malfunctions and a cog falls on Leonardo, presumably killing him. Fry and Professor go back to the flying machine and travel back home.

Reception
In its original American broadcast, "The Duh-Vinci Code" was viewed by an estimated 2.204 million people, a rise of nearly 200 000 since "Proposition Infinity".

Trivia

 * It is revealed that Dr. John A. Zoidberg is a doctor in art history. He may also be a doctor of medicine but may have been trained on Decapod 10, which would explain quite a few things.
 * The Roman Numerals on the tomb do indeed equal 1. The equation is 2^11 - (23 x 89), which can be simplified to 2048 - 2047.
 * Niccolò Machiavelli, an Italian writer who is considered one of the main founders of modern political science, faked his own death. Animatronio does it twice in this episode. Like Leonardo da Vinci, Machiavelli is considered a good example of the.

Allusions

 * The title and premise of the episode is a parody of the Dan Brown novel later turned motion picture The Da Vinci Code.
 * Morbo's quiz show Who Dares To Be A Millionaire? is a reference to the 20th century quiz show.
 * In the comics, Morbo hosted a similar show entitled "Who's Dying to Be a Gazillionaire?" in an issue of the same name. Fry was a contestant on that show as well, however instead of being eliminated on the first question he won and was then disqualified.
 * Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth calls his greatest influences inventor, astronomer and mathematician  (as well as Braino).
 * Fry asks Leela to join the "Mile deep club", a reference to, which is "joined" by having sex in an airplane.
 * The Biff character is a reference to from .
 * The scene where Fry falls into the doomsday device is a reference to the Charlie Chaplin film,.

Goofs

 * When Bender, Leela, and Fry are talking to Animitronio in The Chamber, Bender's door isn't outlined.
 * There are many obvious problems with da Vinci's spacecraft. It could not have been launched into space by the cannon, as the force would not be sufficient.  If the force of the cannon was strong enough, the spacecraft would have been destroyed, seeing as it was made of wood. Once in space, the fins and the turning headpiece appear to be propelling the ship by displacing air, although there is no air in space.
 * There couldn't possibly be enough food, water and oxygen on the ship to last Fry and the Professor for a month.
 * Although they may have gone into hibernative naptosis during the journey.

Characters

 * Amy
 * Debut: Animatronio
 * Bender
 * Debut: Biff
 * Bolt Rolands
 * Debut: Braino
 * Fry
 * Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth
 * Hermes
 * Leela
 * Debut: Leonardo da Vinci
 * Morbo
 * Space Pope
 * Zoidberg