Funeral in "The Sting"

[on:]

Does anyone else find it odd that the funeral is held at a cemetery, and instead of burying fry, they eject him into space?  Shouldn't he have been buried by his nephew, Philip J. Fry, as the legendary namesake uncle?

The coffin ejection reminds me of the Star Trek burials, lol.

(of course, this is part of Leela's comatose dreams, but the scene was made to convince the viewer he was dead...)

[Reply #1 on:]

dont wory, i to have pondered over that question

[Reply #2 on:]

Most likely that was Fry's wish, to be burried in space. And since the church had pre-installed machinery for such an occasion he's not the first one either.

[Reply #3 on:]

I think everyone was convinced somehow the first time around... even though a logical little voice in the back of your head told you otherwise.

I bitchslapped that little voice in the commerical break and cried like a little girl. Logic my ass!

[Reply #4 on:]

We don't know that the cemetary offers that service, especially since it was probably used by the Church of Trek...however, I think it's pretty reasonable to assume that Fry

wanted a Trekkie funeral, and had told Leela about the process.  Her grief-addled, comatose mind simply brought it up.

What I want to know is why Chester A. Arthur's head was at the funeral.  I see two possibilities:

• Leela associates Fry with Presidents' heads, because the first time she ever saved his ass was in that section of the Head Museum.  Her subconscious picked Chester A. Arthur at random.
• She subconsciously remembers bits of TDTESS: "Aww, Chester A. Arthur fall down."

[Reply #5 on:]

They sound like plausible reasons, but why Chester A. Arthur? Did the writers just want to drive us mad wondering why?

[Reply #6 on:]

The orbiting cemitary is only for the rich or famose.  Because Fry is neather, he couldn't be buried there.

[Reply #7 on:]

 

Originally posted by kiffan:
The orbiting cemitary is only for the rich or famose.  Because Fry is neather, he couldn't be buried there.

Well, Fry was most definitely famous at this point... he was extremely rich at one point, he is the namesake of the first Mars astronaut, he was emperor of planet, etc etc.

I'd go with the Trekkie-style funeral, but we can't see those facilities at Orbiting Meadows in any previous episode.  We'll chalk it up to a holdover from Church of Trek and Fry's wishes.

Glad to see I'm not the only one who found that odd... (I found it rather funny)

[Reply #8 on:]

This nephew was in the world hero section so that is why he is not here.  May that is how people are buried in general in the future.  Besides Chester A. Arthur head we have every girl Fry went out with including the inanimate radiator.  Even the one night stand from the Hip Joint and an Amazonian. 

[Reply #9 on:]

 

Originally posted by Local Jerseyan:
They sound like plausible reasons, but why Chester A. Arthur? Did the writers just want to drive us mad wondering why?

Chester A. Arthur's head was involved when Fry tried to re-educate the world in "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid." Chester A. Arthur fall down...

 

Originally posted by kiffan:
The orbiting cemitary is only for the rich or famose.  Because Fry is neather, he couldn't be buried there.

Fry is a world hero, lest we forget.  He was responsible for saving the world twice, (A Big Piece of Garbage, Day the Earth Stood Stupid," ), not mention all the times he's been around people who influenced the world (Farnsworth, Leela, Dr. Zoidberg etc).  I think Fry would be considered a world hero, and should be treated as such.

[Reply #10 on:]

 

Originally posted by Evil Abe:
This nephew was in the world hero section so that is why he is not here. May that is how people are buried in general in the future. Besides Chester A. Arthur head we have every girl Fry went out with including the inanimate radiator. Even the one night stand from the Hip Joint and an Amazonian.

I agree. Why should Fry be in the world hero's section? He probably wanted to be ejected into space after death anyway. I mean he likes space, so why not?

[Reply #11 on:]

 

Originally posted by evan
I think Fry would be considered a world hero, and should be treated as such.

Fry saved the world a few times...I can't think of all of them, but for your examples:
In ABPOG, it is inferred (ridiculously) that the garbage ball would only smash NNY.  Thus, only a local hero, and NNYers are ingrates anyway.
In TDTESS, nobody remembers.  That's part of the point.

Remember though, Leela is dreaming the funeral.  She probably just heard Fry mention that he wanted to be buried that way, in the same way Fry somehow knew Bender's favorite way to die.  And I'm sure Fry wanted to be buried that way, Trekkie that he is.

[Reply #12 on:]

Leela considers Fry a hero, because he gave his life for her. That is why the funeral takes place in the Orbiting Meadows graveyard. He was ejected into space because of what everybody above me has said about Star Trek.

[Reply #13 on:]

answer: it was a dream.

[Reply #14 on:]

Ohh, thanks for clearing that up Zerstorer.

The whole funeral's pretty in depth for a dream, isn't it? Also a great chance to bring back Guenter, the Amazon woman, the radiator, and (ugh) Michelle. Washington should've been there too in that case, as he was also used as a prop in The Day Earth Stood Stupid too.

[Reply #15 on:]

 

Originally posted by Local Jerseyan
The whole funeral's pretty in depth for a dream, isn't it?

That's why Leela's my favorite character: she's got one hell of an interesting subconscious (see also AOI2.)  And Chester A. Arthur was there instead of Washington because he was funnier and more arbitrary.  Also, Leela wasn't around for Fry's "review" where he used GW, but was for "Aww, Chester A. Arthur fall down."

[Reply #16 on:]

Let's go with dream... All the other answers are right, but the truth of the matter is, we all have vivid unconcious experiences and whether or not you have any other preconception, your entire mind can create a whole world around you. 

A good example of this would be to go to sleep in front of the tv, you get some weird dreams, like say an alternate story to one of the Indiana Jones movies... 

[Reply #17 on:]

The special edition version!

Were the Nazis digitally replaced by Ewoks?

[Reply #18 on:]

 

Originally posted by Nerd-o-rama:
The special edition version!

Were the Nazis digitally replaced by Ewoks?

I'd think more Borg and less Ewok,:P

[Reply #19 on:]

 

Originally posted by Zerstorer:
Does anyone else find it odd that the funeral is held at a cemetery, and instead of burying fry, they eject him into space?  Shouldn't he have been buried by his nephew, Philip J. Fry, as the legendary namesake uncle?

The whole funeral is symbolic on one level or another. They ejected him because Fry's lifelong dream was to reach space one day, so in death his friends consigned his body to travel through space forever.

Also, this explains the other oddity of the Funeral; Fry gets 'buried' in his normal clothes, not a suit. That's because Leela (and the rest of them) want to remember him the way they knew him life.

 

The coffin ejection reminds me of the Star Trek burials, lol.

could it be a homage? Nahhh.

 

of course, this is part of Leela's comatose dreams, but the scene was made to convince the viewer he was dead...)

As i've said before, nobody who ever saw a TV show in their life got fooled into thinking Fry was really dead. "Major character seems to be dead, but ultimately turns up alive" is as much a TV cliche as "Major events all turn out to be a dream", after all. Star Trek itself did an episode based on this premise.

In a minor note, Leela's later "is Fry alive in some other dimension or something?" is a reference to this Ep (where apparently dead Kirk really had been transported to another dimension).

Plus, part of the dream thing is that the signs all is not what it seems keep getting more and more obvious and harder to ignore as the plot progresses - starting with plausible, but unusual, things like an out of the ordinary burial.

[Reply #20 on:]

 

Originally posted by passerby:
 As i've said before, nobody who ever saw a TV show in their life got fooled into thinking Fry was really dead. "Major character seems to be dead, but ultimately turns up alive" is as much a TV cliche as "Major events all turn out to be a dream", after all. Star Trek itself did an episode based on this premise.

Yeah, but don't tell me that you didn't smack that little voice in the back of your head, like Local Jerseyan did.  That voice may be the nagging doubt, but you gotta wonder, is Fry really dead?  My dad thought it was the last episode when he saw it.  Unfortunately, it was spoiled for me, and I knew how it ended beforehand.   

I didn't find the manner of Fry's burial odd at all.  For one, they wouldn't have been able to homage Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odessey.  Besides, it's the manner in which Fry would want to be buried, as many of the others have stated.

Edited, because one should always call others by their correct name (sorry, L. Jerseyan!)

[Reply #21 on:]

 

Originally posted by passerby
As i've said before, nobody who ever saw a TV show in their life got fooled into thinking Fry was really dead. "Major character seems to be dead, but ultimately turns up alive" is as much a TV cliche as "Major events all turn out to be a dream", after all. Star Trek itself did an episode based on this premise.

True.  The writers, however, did not underestimate their viewers.  In addition to making Fry apparently dead, they really muddied the waters on possible explanations, especially with the "Royal Jelly" red herring.  Of course, it turns out the most common-sense (and hackneyed) explanation is the right one, but it did keep me guessing, even though I was positive he wasn't dead.

 

Me, as the credits were going
Oh yeah, poison goes through the tip of the stinger.  Man, am I a dumbass.

[Reply #22 on:]

 

Originally posted by Zoidberg227:
  Yeah, but don't tell me that you didn't smack that little voice in the back of your head, like Local Jerseyan did.

 That voice may be the nagging doubt, but you gotta wonder, is Fry really dead?  My dad thought it was the last episode when he saw it.  Unfortunately, it was spoiled for me, and I knew how it ended beforehand.     

No need to. They played it so straight and so well it was like he really was dead, for seven minutes anyway. Disbelief has never been easier to suspend. In truth, I think that bit is even more important than most people think it is, because really it's a seven minute tribute to Fry, and it shows just how much he means to the people that know him, and even though they hit the reset button at the end, the revelations that happened change things permanently.

My condolences about finding out the ending too soon. The internet aint always a gift. But Nerd-o-rama is right, too. They made accepting Fry as dead so plausible, you couldn't see what was coming, even when it was in front of your face.

The Sting could so easily be made into a final episode. If nothing else it would have a sense of being final about it. 

[Reply #23 on:]

Lenord Nemor and the rest of the orinal star trek cast should have ben at the funarel

[Reply #24 on:]

Yeah.Why were'nt Lenord nemoy or the rest of the cast of star trek there?Did anyone notice them there in the background or something?

[Reply #25 on:]

I had to take note of this new tradition of shooting people into space, just because they must have run out of room to bury people on Earth. All that wasted space we could be building homeless shelters on...

[Reply #26 on:]

Bit off topic but did anyone happen to catch, or does somebody know the name of the song scruffy is playing with bagpipes in the funeral?

[Reply #27 on:]

I read somewhere that someone said it was "Walking on Sunshine" but I'm not sure.

[Reply #28 on:]

Yes, it was Walking on Sunshine.

[Reply #29 on:]

The Walking on Sunshine?

[Reply #30 on:]

Yep. Go have a listen. It's all:


"Do do dodo do do... Do do!"

[Reply #31 on:]

Darn it sounds all different with bagpipes, well thank you JDB and SlackJawedMoron for your help. 

[Reply #32 on:]

this HAS to be off topic..but....

i got walking on sunshine by "me first and the gimmie gimmies"..... all i do is think of fry..
though don't forget they could do ANYTHING in that episode...because it WAS only a dream...

[Reply #33 on:]

Hey!As long as i'm drunk I can do anything too!

[Reply #34 on:]

Well, concerning that the whole thing was in Leela's currently warped mind, it wouldn't really need to be a feasable funeral.  After all, everything else, for the most part, that Leela dreamed was pretty FUBAR...

[Reply #35 on:]

i think most if not all of Leela's dreams in this episode are influnced by fry constantly sitting next to her and trying to wake her up by talking to her.
that's also why when she dreams she's dreaming (after eating the space bee's honey) he keeps saying : "I want you to wake up!".

so, probably also her dream of his funeral is somehow influenced by Fry's monologue, in other words representing rather Fry's personality than Leela's.

[Reply #36 on:]

It could be how Fry wanted his funeral to be, and Leela's dreams were influenced by that.  I seriously doubt so many non PE people would come to Fry's funeral, especially people who didn't really like Fry (Morgan Proctor, Guenter, etc).

[Reply #37 on:]

What confuses me is: The pastor said that he didn't know Philip but then as he's talking about the tremendous(sp?) amount of pain he went through, he calls him Fry. Wouldn't only those familiar with Fry (either by a one time meeting or other involvement) call him "Fry"?  Or am I being crazy, paranoid and annoying? Or any combination of the three?

[Reply #38 on:]

Wasn't the pastor the dude Fry went to go see in Godfellas? Maybe he knew him by that.

[Reply #39 on:]

 

Originally posted by Pataloca:
What confuses me is: The pastor said that he didn't know Philip but then as he's talking about the tremendous(sp?) amount of pain he went through, he calls him Fry. Wouldn't only those familiar with Fry (either by a one time meeting or other involvement) call him "Fry"?    Or am I being crazy, paranoid and annoying? Or any combination of the three?

Funerals aren't dry run, no rehearsal events for a Priest. They take time to set up and the eulogy is carefully written to use language directed to the mourners. So they use the name he went by commonly in life. QED.