"Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles" is the ninth episode in the fourth

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

of the American animated television series ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company and later revived by Comedy Central, and then Hulu. The series follows Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1 ...

'', and the 63rd episode of the series overall. It first aired on the

Fox network Fox Broadcasting Company, LLC (commonly known as Fox; stylized in all caps) is an American commercial broadcast television network serving as the flagship property of Fox Corporation and operated through Fox Entertainment. Fox is based at Fo ...

in the United States on March 30, 2003. The episode was directed by

Bret Haaland Bret John Haaland (born August 10, 1964) is an American animator, storyboard artist, director, and producer. Awards and nominations Won Daytime Emmy Award, Emmy Award Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Animated Program, Outstanding Ch ...

and written by

Jeff Westbrook Jeff Westbrook is a Screenwriting, TV writer best known for his work on ''The Simpsons'' and ''Futurama'', for which he is a three-time winner of the WGA Award. Education and pre-TV Prior to becoming a TV writer, Westbrook was a successful algor ...

. In the episode, the Planet Express crew take

Professor Farnsworth Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, commonly referred to in-show as either Professor Farnsworth or simply Professor, is a fictional character in the American animated television series ''Futurama''. The mad scientist proprietor of the Planet Express ...

to a clinic to make him younger though the use of

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black b ...

. A freak accident occurs and the entire crew are covered in the tar, thus reverting them to their younger selves. They seek to reverse the effect and return to their proper ages.

Plot

is chasing his escaped

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...

Pazuzu In ancient Mesopotamian religion, Pazuzu () is a demonic deity who was well known to the Babylonians and Assyrians throughout the first millennium BCE. He is shown with "a rather canine face with abnormally bulging eyes, a scaly body, a snake-h ...

, but soon forgets the search and goes to Florida to have a discounted early dinner. Annoyed with the Professor's crankiness, the Planet Express employees take the 161-year-old to an age-reducing spa, where he is given a massage, then bathed in blistering hot

. An accident causes the entire crew to fall into the tar pit, reverting the Professor to his mid-fifties and everyone else to teenagers. Leela departs to live with her parents in the sewers so that she can have a new chance at the normal teenage life she never had. A teenage Fry and Leela begin dating while Amy is the subject of jokes back on Mars due to her

childhood obesity Childhood obesity is a condition where excess adipose tissue, body fat negatively affects a child's health or well-being. As methods to determine body fat directly are difficult, the diagnosis of obesity is often based on Body mass index, BMI. ...

. The Professor searches for a way to undo the de-aging effects by removing time-altering

chroniton A chronon is a proposed quantum of time, that is, a discrete and indivisible "unit" of time as part of a hypothesis that proposes that time is not continuous. In simple language, a chronon is the smallest, discrete, non-decomposable unit of time. ...

s that have become stuck to their

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

. However, his plan backfires and causes everyone (except for Leela, who refused the treatment) to start growing even younger. Leela sneaks out of her house after being grounded to help the others find the mythical Fountain of Aging. The fountain's current proves too strong for the young crew, so Leela jumps in to save them, giving up her chance at being a teenager again. She pulls everyone except the Professor to safety, but Pazuzu returns to save him. Everyone has returned to their original ages, and the Professor is delighted to find that he is actually a few years older than before and sets Pazuzu free to thank him. The episode ends with a jump to a later time in which Pazuzu finishes telling the story to his child as they perch on the roof of the

Notre-Dame Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris ( ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, France. It ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Cultural references

* The space station the Professor inadvertently destroys is a parody of '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''s namesake station. The producers explained on the DVD commentary this did not mean they disliked ''Deep Space Nine''; they thought it was one of the best ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'' series.

Reception

This episode, along with "

Where No Fan Has Gone Before "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" is the eleventh episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series ''Futurama'', and the 65th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on A ...

" has been called one of the great moments of the fourth season. Zack Handlen of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'' gave the episode an A−.

References

External links

* Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles at

The Infosphere ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

. * {{Futurama episodes, 4 Futurama season 4 episodes 2003 American television episodes