diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index a64d38507d2..071ca7cbed8 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ before_install:
   # Prime the cache. We currently manually keep this synced.
   - docker pull quay.io/openai/gym:test
   # - docker build -f test.dockerfile -t quay.io/openai/gym:test .
+  # ^^^ commented out by joschu 2017/9/3
+  # build command fails due to apt issue "The following packages have unmet dependencies:"
+install: "" # so travis doesn't do pip install requirements.txt
 script:
   # In a pull request, there are no secrets, and hence no MuJoCo:
   # https://docs.travis-ci.com/user/pull-requests#Security-Restrictions-when-testing-Pull-Requests.