A bored Truman is watching a black-and-white movie, when an ad for a science kit comes on TV. He wants one, then that night, he roleplays being Dr. Frankenstein. The next morning, he is impatient for the chemistry set to arrive, and imagines using it to create a formula intent on thickening his oatmeal but accidentally making a monster that he needs to fight off.
After school, Truman declines an invitation to Helen's house to wait for the science kit to arrive, but he gets letters instead, so he does visit her. He wonders how he can be patient, and Helen suggests distracting himself. Truman then imagines making his first invention — a teleporter, so that the mail can be delivered instantly. Skits barks, and Helen wonders if it's at the mailman, so Truman runs up to the mailman and the dogs follow. The mailman then hands Truman the chemistry set, to his delight.
He shows Helen and Martha, but is disappointed to find that all that's there is a vial of iron powder and a magnet. Helen tries cheering him up by showing him "experiments" she can do with random objects, like making baking soda react to vinegar and inflate a balloon, and playing with static electricity and another balloon, but he's unimpressed since he feels he wants to try something new.
Later, Truman notices his digital clock glitching out when it was near the magnet, and wonders if the magnet caused it somehow. Then, upon noticing that his oatmeal was thicker when it cooked for longer, decides to have it cooked for different times over the week and see if it affects the consistency. He then determines that his ideal time is six minutes and fifty-three seconds and happily tells the Lorraines.
This episode provides examples of
- Acting Out a Daydream: After imagining fighting a giant oatmeal monster, Truman starts stabbing his real oatmeal with his spoon yelling, "Take that!".
- Anthropomorphic Food: Truman imagines accidentally causing his oatmeal to become sentient.
- Artistic License:
- "Theory" is used to mean "hypothesis".
- The magnet and vial of iron filings come with a lab coat and safety goggles, despite there being no need to wear PPE when handling iron; iron is sometimes even in our food. Lampshaded when Truman points out that he doesn't really need his goggles and takes them off.
- Black and Nerdy: In addition to Truman, the boy in the ad who's enthused about getting a chemistry set is black.
- Comically Missing the Point: When impatient about his science kit not arriving, Truman complains about the mail being "full of mail".
- Creating Life Is Unforeseen: Truman imagines accidentally making an oatmeal monster when trying to thicken his oatmeal.
- Dissonant Serenity: Zigzagged in Truman's imagination sequence with the oatmeal monster. He's scared when he first sees it, but then he goes to take a note, but then he runs away screaming... only to stop and serenely talk with it... but then he screams and runs again.
- Double-Meaning Title: This episode's title refers to Truman being mad, as in disgruntled at the science kit not arriving and him being a mad (as in insane) scientist.
- Eating Machine: In the movie Truman watches, a robot pig eats a clipboard.
- Evil Laugh:
- In Truman's movie, the robot builder laughs evilly.
- Truman laughs maniacally when imagining himself as a scientist.
- Parodied when he then does an evil laugh after finding out his ideal oatmeal cooking time, which isn't evil at all, and the Lorraines are confused as to why he's laughing.
- Fantasy Sequence:
- After complaining of watery oatmeal, Truman imagines himself as a scientist dropping some formula into his oatmeal and causing it to come alive.
- Later, he imagines building a teleporter.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: Truman says that everyone knows that magnetism works through paper, but Martha reveals she didn't know it.
- Labcoat of Science and Medicine:
- In the ad for the chemistry set, the boy and girl are seen in labcoats.
- Truman gets his own lab coat with his chemistry set.
- Loud Gulp: The oatmeal monster gulps when reading Truman's notes.
- Mad Hatter: Downplayed. Truman is not actually insane, but he self-identifies as a "mad scientist" at the end.
- Mailman vs. Dog: Discussed when Truman becomes worried at the idea of Skits barking at the mailman.
- Misapplied Phlebotinum: Truman imagines making a teleporter... so the mail will never take a long time to arrive.
- Oh, Crap!: Zigzagged in Truman's daydream. When he sees the oatmeal monster, he first nervously says, "This wasn't part of my theory!", but then he nonchalantly goes to write a note. However, when the monster snatches his clipboard, he runs away screaming.
- Shout-Out: In his room, Truman pretends to be Dr. Frankenstein, laughing evilly and yelling, "It's alive!".
- Technicolor Science:
- A boy in the chemistry set ad cures colds by pouring a green liquid into a pink liquid.
- In Truman's imagination, the liquid that turns his oatmeal into a monster is aquamarine.
- Teleportation: Discussed when Truman wants to invent a teleporter as his first invention.
- Time Machine: Discussed when Truman, not wanting to go to school until after his chemistry set arrives, wants to wait until the mailman comes, build a time machine, and then use that to get to school on time.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Truman is revealed to be afraid of the dark, since he asks for a nightlight.
