Planet Express crew decide to make Professor younger by placing him in a tar pit that purports to take years off everyone, only turning everyone into teenagers – except Leela who refuses the treatment.
Fry participates in a sewer race with Moose and Mandy, winning; however, his voice cracks into childish tones, making him look like a five-year-old.
Plot
Futurama episodes rarely return us to an earlier era of the show, yet this one does just that – going all the way back to season one! Although this can lead to confusion and lack of continuity issues, it also creates a very enjoyable viewing experience.
After several years in cryogenic preservation, Fry awakens to find his world has changed drastically; it’s now the 31st century and everyone seems younger and childlike due to a mysterious energy field that reverses aging processes, effectively turning Earth into one giant puddle.
To combat this, Professor Replicus devises an oil-eating bacteria intended to slow the process, only for it backfires and hasten its reverse. As a result, Planet Express crew has become de-aged so much they look like children or teenagers. Leela who refused the anti-aging bacteria becomes their babysitter while reading them stories of Fountain of Youth and Aging.
The crew attempts to return to their original ages by swapping consciousnesses with each other, however this doesn’t work for Amy and the Professor; Amy remains hungry while her skinny body can no longer accommodate a hearty meal; The Professor pines away for his younger days of adventure; in order to transition back into them more smoothly he and Bender use an invention which only works between bodies with similar physical traits.
At the conclusion of each episode, viewers see an image of the 20th Century Fox logo transformed to 30th Century Fox – an industry joke as no one knew if or when the studio would change names as they entered a new century. That the show remains so beloved over its initial production company is testament to its quality.
Characters
The crew are exposed to a substance which causes them to act like teenagers again, prompting the Professor to work hard in order to get them back to their regular ages despite some immature behaviors among his crewmembers.
Inez still wishes she could have grandchildren from Amy (despite already having one in Kif), and becomes increasingly disgruntled when Amy acts like an angry teen. Fry and Leela appear to be romantically involved yet unable to communicate their feelings; nevertheless they have great fun racing against Moose and Mandy in the sewers while causing damage at Martin Luther Thing Jr High School.
Professor Z realizes that his pupils’ rapid aging is due to time-altering chronotons stuck in their DNA and Bender’s “RNA.” In an attempt to reverse it, he creates a bacterium to rid themselves of this condition but it actually has the opposite effect; they continue getting younger.
The Professor becomes concerned that his teenaged antics will cause him to age prematurely, prompting Leela to move back in with her parents so she can have the childhood she always yearned for. Meanwhile, Fry and Leela struggle with being unable to express their feelings for each other as frequently and having trouble in school due to being considered teenaged antics by teachers.
Once they reached the Fountain of Youth – just a pool of tar – all members dipped their bodies in and experienced an instant transformation back to their original ages. However, as revealed later by scientists studying water samples taken from this fountain’s fountain itself with magical properties. Unfortunately for them though, its magical powers only last about an hour, after which time most planet’s populations returned to their normal age range again. Unfortunately for this episode ratings-wise it proved disappointing with only a 5.1/8 average rating from Nielsen Primetime Metered Market ratings against more reruns of The Simpsons and King of the Hill respectively.
Theme
Reboots of long-running television series can be tricky affairs to keep the quality high. Many shows that reboot from scratch start from a lower standard than expected; thus causing their quality to decrease as they attempt to find ways to remain entertaining again. Futurama has managed to stay one step ahead by maintaining high standards throughout.
This show is both funny and captivating, featuring complex characters with endless potential. There is an assortment of laugh out loud comical plot lines as well as emotional ones; although this show might not appeal to everyone it is surely worth viewing!
At its premiere, this show was an instantaneous hit. Its distinct concept made it stand out amongst other cartoons of its time; similarly, The Simpsons-like show boasts its own distinct style – such as featuring an irresponsible pizza boy cryogenically frozen and then awakening in 2999 to find himself living alongside aliens, robots, and suicide booths – the main character being an innocent pizza boy who becomes trapped within this strange new universe filled with aliens, robots, and suicide booths – making him very relatable as an iconic TV icon in both TV history and real-life! Nominated for multiple awards during its initial run including nomination for best animated show and Best New Cartoon Series awards nominations!
In its second season, the show became more serious while still managing to maintain some humor. There were also emotional scenes and some truly memorable characters.
In this episode, the crew of Planet Express are exposed to a substance which reverses their aging, sending them back to their teenage years and giving us plenty of laughs along the way. Any Futurama fan should make time to watch this episode!
The final season is something of a mixed bag; while some episodes are very good, others can be rather dull and the plot can sometimes become confusing; characters are not as developed as they had been in prior seasons; overall this season is good but not exceptional.
This season’s quality was significantly diminished because the writers struggled to come up with material for writing. Instead of making their usual jokes that worked in previous seasons, these ones didn’t work anymore and so the writers tried making more politically correct jokes, which didn’t work either.
Conclusion
Futurama is known for its playful use of numbers and especially puns. These range from simple sight gags (Route 66 is rebranded as 666 while 7-Eleven reinvents as 711!) to jokes only mathematicians can understand.
In this episode of Planet Express, Amy, Professor and Amy visit a clinic that can make people look younger by covering them in tar. They take advantage of this opportunity and revert to their younger selves; but soon realize their new bodies don’t suit them; for example Professor misses his bigger body while Amy would rather have thinner frame. Luckily they can switch minds with another person to switch back.
Futurama’s fourth season was truly remarkable, and this episode stands out among the rest for being fantastic and thoughtful all at the same time. The plot was well-paced and characters’ interactions hilarious; also an amazing example of how Futurama can address serious topics through laughter.
However, this episode does have some downsides. First and foremost is its failure to make an impressionful first impression, mostly because its plot lacks surprise or twists; secondly it lacks major character deaths or significant shifts in status quo that might mark other episodes more strongly; finally this episode doesn’t contain any major character deaths or major changes that alter its status quo – something usually only found rarely among Futurama episodes; thus this one stands out.