2.2 "Mars University"
(Tagline: "transmitido en Martian en SAP") – – – no, I have no idea what it means either.
Professor Farnsworth has, for once,
received a delivery. But it's for his office at Mars University, so off they all go. Mars, of course, is where Amy's parents live ––– well, to be fair, they are reputed to own half of Mars. Not short of a credit or two! Bender looks up a chapter of his old robot fraternity house, Epsilon Rho Rho (ERR, geddit?) but is disappointed to find that they are not the rabble rousing, troublemaking, girl robot chasing crew he used to be involved with, and at their urging he resolves to show them what real college life should be like, and how to be cool. Seems his name is somewhat legendary at Mars University.
When the others ridicule Fry's status as a college dropout ––– "Everybody knows 20th-century colleges were basically just expensive daycare centres" says the professor ––– he resolves to enroll in Mars University, and dropout all over again, doing it properly this time. However, Farnsworth is not at all happy when Fry decides to enroll in his class. "Please, Fry," he says, "I don't know how to teach: I'm a professor!" Meanwhile, Bender leads the uncool robots on a panty raid, but it all goes terribly wrong when the ladder falls and destroys the servants quarters of rival Snooty House, who are not at all happy. Nor indeed is Fry, when he finds out that his roommate is a super intelligent monkey, called Gunther, part of one of the professor's experiments, and in fact exactly what was in the crate that was delivered to them at the Planet Express offices, necessitating this trip.
The professor tells Fry that Gunther's intelligence comes from the hat that he wears, which apparently harnesses the power of sunspots: Fry doesn't care, he doesn't like the monkey and the feeling is reciprocated. Things do not go all the monkey's way though, as during the parents' reception, held to welcome the parents of the students presumably, Farnsworth reveals that he has brought Gunther's parents ––– in a cage ––– to see him. These monkeys do not wear hats, and are not super intelligent. Fry lets them out when nobody is looking and they do what monkeys do, completely embarrassing Gunther, who runs off.
Finding him back the dormitory, Fry and Leela propose the idea that he might be happier off back in the jungle. Gunther though does not want to let the professor down. Still, back in class his attention is diverted as he looks out the window towards the jungle. The call of the wild proves too strong and Gunther reverts to his natural state, throwing down the hat which has made him intelligent and jumping through the window, escaping into the jungle.They decide to pursue him and offer him the choice: does he want to be human (wear the hat) or an animal (not wear the hat)?
Meanwhile, Bender and his college robots enter the annual regatta, and despite being sabotaged by the Dean at the start of the race, they manage to win it. However, in doing so, they accidentally knock Fry, the professor and Leela into the water, where they are swept up by the rapids and right to the edge of the cliff. Still trying to decide between the hat and the banana (human or animal), Gunther eventually goes for the hat, which allows him to realise what is happening and save the trio. Unfortunately, in saving them, Gunther dooms himself and falls to the bottom of the rapids. However, when they reach the bottom, expecting to see nothing but a mangled corpse, Gunther is alive and well. As in so many Simpsons episodes, this one ends with a big party: possibly quite appropriate for a college themed story.
QUOTES
Farnsworth: "Back then, Mars was a desolate wasteland, something like Utah."
Fatbot: "I heard you once drank a whole keg, ran across University campus, and jammed 58 humans into a telephone box."
Bender: "Yeah, well… A lot of them were children…"
Fry: "Hey cheer up: not everybody turns out like their parents. Look at me ––– my folks were honest hard-working people."
Farnsworth: "Oh dear! I always feared he might run off. Why, why, why didn't I break his legs?"
Fry: "Wow! The jungles on Mars look just like the jungles on Earth!"
Farnsworth (laughing): "Jungles? On Earth?"
Farnsworth: "Oh that poor sweet monkey. Well, let's go gather up: no sense in letting him go to waste!" (Licking his lips)
Sign of the times
On the gates of Mars University is the legend "Knowledge brings fear".
Simpsons references
Well, not so much a reference, but there is a Bart and Homer doll in a vending machine, as Fry reminisces about his past. Interestingly, they're done in the old-style, as the original Simpsons were drawn.
A ROBOT CALLED BENDER
Like many Futurama episodes, this one, although not particularly Bender-centric, does feature our favourite robot quite a bit. In a way, his exploits at the college are a subplot of the main story. It's clear that he has become something of a legend on campus ––– as you probably would have expected ––– but it is interesting that even robots have to go to college. Bender went to bending college not surprisingly. Also we are introduced here to three other robots, only one of which will feature in any sort of significant way after this; that one is Fatbot. Bender is, as ever, shown to be a bad influence, particularly on the younger robots. But then, we knew that already, didn't we?
My God! It's filled with .... robots!
Robots populate Futurama; they not only do menial tasks, they also run corporations, train as doctors, and indeed run -–– and completely comprise in its entirety ––– the Mafia. But we learn more about robots with each episode, and here we see interesting parallels with frat college students. When the robots, led by Bender, go on a panty raid, although they see a lot of nubile young females in the dormitory, doing the sort of things nubile young females do, they are more interested in a computer one of the girls is using. When the computer crashes and the girl removes the case from it, the four robots outside the window are almost overcome with robotic lust. We see that robots can be nerds too: as two of them sit down to a game of chess, with all the pieces in place, one says to the other "Checkmate in 148 moves!" The other robot sulks, seeing he has been beaten. No pieces have been moved, nor will they be.
Other notes
We previously met Amy's parents in the last episode, when they were taking a voyage of the starship
Titanic, and met up with Amy and the rest of the crew. We've already been told that they "own half of Mars", and here we see them put their vast fortunes into operation in support of their daughter. The Dean of the University tells them that he was glad to be able to admit Amy, thanks to their generous donation. When they ask how much to have her pass all of her courses, he winks and asks them how much you got? We know that Amy is not exactly intelligent ––– she may be pretty, quite streetwise, but nobody would accuse her of being brilliant ––– so her parents are obviously buying her education, and her qualifications for later life.
The Wongs believe money can buy everything, and anything, even if necessary, a husband for their daughter. It would also appear that Amy is unaware of this; she doesn't like her parents interfering in her life ––– what young girl does? ––– and would probably be scandalised to know that, no matter how badly she does in her studies, she will be given straight A's.