Leela and the Genestalk

After a rare condition causes Leela to grow tentacles, she stumbles upon a secret genetic-engineering facility.

Act I: "There were still so many things I wanted to let go of."
While riding a mechanical buggalo at Tex 1138's, Leela finds that she is breaking out in suction cups. Dr. Tenderman explains that due to a genetic condition, her body has begun a process called squidification, in which her limbs "will be gradually transformed into a slithering mass of tentacles." There is no cure, and a very expensive surgery can only delay the symptoms for a few months. In spite of these drawbacks, the crew send Fry to sell the company ship to pay for the operation. At the market, a con artist buys the ship for two gigantic, magic beans that are supposedly a miracle cure for Leela's ailment. Back at headquarters, Farnsworth is so angry that he knocks the beans out of Fry's hands, causing them to fly out the window. The beans fall onto fertile soil and grow in a few hours into a beanstalk that reaches the clouds. Leela realizes that she doesn't want to share her misery with her friends, and decides to cut off contact with them and live in the sewer. As she opens the manhole leading to the sewer, she notices the new beanstalk and decides to "take the beanstalk less traveled."

Act II: "It's some kind of de-luxe apartment in the sky."
At the top of the beanstalk, Leela finds a flying grounds occupied by colorful flying  and a unicorn that eats them. She is suddenly captured by Mom's three sons and taken to Mom, who explains that the castle is her genetic engineering facility, where she conducts experiments such as creating gigantic beanstalks for feeding the hungry. In spite of the arguably philanthropic nature of Mom's experiments, Leela is offended, considering the experiments to be crimes.

After three weeks go by, everyone realizes that they don't know Leela's whereabouts. Fry and Bender, after both being hit in the head by Leela's boots, which have fallen from the sky, fly together to Mom's facility to rescue Leela. To Fry's horror, Leela's entire body except her face has been transformed into the mass of tentacles that Dr. Tenderman predicted.

Act III: "Don't report them missing till after we max out their credit cards."
While trying to escape from the, Fry, Leela, and Bender encounter a giant, bound to an operating table connected to medical machinery. Believing that he is suffering Mom's genetic experiments, Leela frees the giant, who then chases the escapees until they flee down the drain of the giant's bathroom sink. Strangely, the drain carries the three back to the bridge of the facility, where Leela confronts Mom. In order to put a stop to the experiments, Leela causes the facility to fly out of control. As it nears the ground, it passes close by the Planet Express headquarters, to which Fry, Leela, and Bender jump to safety.

Later, Mom drops by to thank Leela for helping her to "engineer the perfect bean." Leela is still horrified by genetic engineering in principle; Mom attempts to sway her by re-introducing her to the giant, whom she has cured of hereditary gigantism and reduced to a normal-sized man. Leela is still not impressed, but quickly changes her mind when Mom announces that she can cure Leela herself.

The episode ends with Fry and a cured Leela walking hand-in-hand through New New York City, which has been transformed into a jungle of giant beanstalks.

Production
On 5, 2013, released a preview clip for the tenth broadcast season, which contained footage from the episode.

By 1 August, Comedy Central had released a two-minute preview clip featuring Fry sell the Planet Express ship to pay for an operation for Leela.

On 6 August, it was revealed that the characters Finn and Jake, from the animated TV series , would appear in the episode.

Trivia

 * Amy's mother, who was featured in the first promotional picture, was replaced with a random man for the episode. It's possible that the scene originally took place at the Wong Ranch.
 * The name of the from "The Tip of the Zoidberg" is revealed to be Dr Tenderman.
 * It is revealed that Leela occasionally lays an egg.
 * In "Fry and Leela's Big Fling", Leela stated that her arm bracelet could only be removed via cutting off her arm. She takes it off without difficulty while packing her things.
 * In "Yo Leela Leela", Leela tells the Cookieville orphans about a one-eyed princess who lived in a magical, one-room castle. "Yo Leela Leela" was also written by Eric Horsted.
 * John DiMaggio, the voice of Bender, provides the voice of Jake in Adventure Time.
 * Squid Leela is featured in the cover art for Volume 8. An image of Leela riding the mechanical buggalo is used on the episode menu, along with a piece of from the episode.
 * In "Mars University", the Professor calls genetic engineering "preposterous science-fiction mumbo-jumbo".

Allusions

 * The episode's title is a reference to the folk story "".
 * Many scenes reference fairytales.
 * The concept of "fake" wild west, reveled when a bar owner calls a command center, when mechanical Buggalo breaks down, is a reference to a 1973 SF movie .
 * The name "Tex 1138's" is a reference to the 1971 film , directed by Star Wars creator.
 * The way Leela uses her tentacles to swing her way up the beanstalk is reminiscent of the way swings amongst New York's buildings.
 * Leela's phrase "dee-luxe apartment in the sky" is a reference to the theme song of the sitcom.
 * The concept of a castle in the clouds may be a reference to the 1986 film . The concept of a flying castle may be a reference to the and 2004.
 * Momsanto is a parody of the agricultural-biotechnology Monsanto.
 * Leela letting her "hair" down so that Fry and Bender can climb up the tower is a reference to the German fairy tale "". Burt Ward also says "holy Rapunzel, Manbat".
 * Adam West and Burt Ward's appearance at the window for a cameo during the vertical wall climb is a parody of the running gag in Batman where Batman and Robin would scale a wall with their bat-ropes and encounter a special celebrity looking out the window.
 * Burt Ward tells Adam West that there is a duo there to rescue them, and West asks how dynamic they are. This is a reference to the term "", used to refer to Batman and Robin.
 * After Fry and Bender find Leela in Momsanto, Bender offers to "bend the door open" to get them out. Fry tells Bender that he can't bend a wooden door, but Bender does it anyways. This is likely a reference to the gag from the show Doctor Who, which has 's  accessory be able to affect anything but wood.
 * When Bender runs into Finn and Jake, Jake asks Bender what time it is, alluding to Adventure Time.
 * In the closing scene, the camera pans out to reveal a street becoming overgrown with vines. We see a traffic light with a red stop hand, but instead of a normal hand it is the for "live long and prosper", from the Star Trek series.

Continuity

 * The crew wears the same clothes that their parallel counterparts from the cowboy universe wear, in "I Dated a Robot".
 * The professor refers to the ship as Bessie. He named it Bessie in "2-D Blacktop".
 * The salesman that Fry sells the ship to mentions the common cold. The common cold was previously mentioned in "Cold Warriors".
 * Leela's seven-eighths blernsball jersey, from "A Leela of Her Own", can be seen in her locker. The chicken hat that Fry gave her, in "Fun on a Bun", is also there.
 * The Hyper-Chicken previously said "I say, I say", mimicking ', in "Free Will Hunting" (also the ninth episode of its broadcast season).

Goofs

 * After Leela is declared the winner, two of the same man can be seen clapping.
 * When Fry insists that the crew must find a way to pay for Leela's operation, Hermes is seen in front of a fence where there is no place to stand. He is seen behind the fence a couple seconds later.
 * Leela reveals that her wristlojackimator belongs to her, since she used it at the cryogenics lab (although it could belong to the lab given the circumstances when she quit), however when leaving Planet Express she places it in her locker.
 * Before Leela climbs the beanstalk, she has four tentacles on each side of her neck, but after she climbs the beanstalk she only has three.
 * In this episode, Leela is strictly against genetic engineering, but in previous episodes she seemed to be okay with it.
 * She may have changed her mind.
 * In the scene where Hermes explains his plan to get his missing coworkers' money from their credit cards, the chairs' disposal changes when Fry, Bender and Leela arrive. Hermes' chair between Zoidberg and Amy disappears and a new empty chair appears next to the professor. Moments later, that same chair disappears.

Characters

 * Debut: Adam West's head
 * Amy
 * Auctioneer
 * Debut: Bean salesman
 * Bender
 * Debut: Burt Ward's head
 * Debut: Carlos
 * Crack addict
 * Professor Farnsworth
 * Debut: Finn and Jake
 * Fry
 * Debut: Fry's cousin
 * God
 * Hermes
 * Hyper-Chicken
 * Hypnotoad
 * Igner
 * Inez (in promotional picture only)
 * Larry
 * Leela
 * Debut: Little Drunk Sheila
 * Mom
 * Morris
 * Munda
 * Debut: Sewer mailman
 * Debut: Stan
 * Dr Tenderman
 * Debut: Tex 1138's employee
 * Debut: Texan scientists
 * Underwater-house salesman
 * Walt
 * Zoidberg

Places

 * Debut: Momsanto
 * New New York sewers
 * Debut: Parts 'n' Crafts
 * Planet Express conference room
 * Planet Express hangar
 * Planet Express headquarters
 * Planet Express locker room
 * Taco Bellevue Hospital
 * Debut: Tex 1138's
 * Texas
 * Turanga house

Miscellaneous

 * Blob
 * Buggalo
 * Fry-Leela relationship
 * Neptunian
 * Debut: Pinupork
 * Tube Transport System
 * Wristlojackimator