Philip J. Fry

Philip J. Fry (often referred to only by his last name, Fry) is the main protagonist and character of Futurama. In the future, Fry is the executive delivery boy of Planet Express, which his nephew/grandson owns. Before being employed by Planet Express in the year 3000 he had worked for Panucci's Pizza during the late 20th century. On New Year's Eve 1999 he was cryogenically frozen by accident while on delivery. The cryo-tube timer was set at 1000 years; hence Fry woke to the last moments of the year 2999.

Personality and abilities
Philip J. Fry shares the curse of one of Matt Groening's other main characters, The Simpsons' Homer J. Simpson, namely: that of being stupid and lazy. They also share the mysterious middle 'J'-initial. This is where the similarities stop, however. The character of Fry is largely an attempt by the show's creators to make the connection between the 20th century and the 31st century a lot easier for the viewers. Often, Fry will be faced with differences in the future, which he then relates to things in his time. As a result, he frequently has to defend the actions of the 20th and 21st century.

Although he is stupid, Fry does occasionally come up with brilliant schemes to save the day, an ability which possibly comes from his intense love of Star Trek. Fry, rivaled only by the energy being of Melllvar, has the largest encyclopaedic knowledge of Star Trek in the future. Another example of Fry's occasional brilliance was during the Brain Spawn attack on Earth. With the rest of the crew stupefied, Fry was able to save Earth by exploiting the Brainspawn's weaknesses. Strangely enough, Fry's stupidity appears to be his greatest strength as he the only known person in the universe who lacks a Delta brainwave and therefore is immune to the Brainspawn's stupification fields. Ken, a Nibblonian, has noted he possesses a "superior yet inferior" mind. He lacks the Delta brainwave because he is actually his own grandfather. He also has the heart of a robot.

From the same root, he is immune to telepathy, and the brain slugs.

Fry is also usually quick to make very rash decisions, such as traveling back to the year 2000 (Bender's Big Score) or stowing away on Zapp Brannigan's ship to leave the universe after being upset about Colleen (The Beast with a Billion Backs).

Despite being lazy, Fry's heart is in the right place, and when the situation calls for it, he will rise up to formulate a plan to save his friends, though because of his lack of intelligence he rarely came up with any good plans. Fry cares about his friends, and in spite of Bender's awful treatment of him at times, he is still willing to risk his life to save him.

Fry loves video games, and as such, he is usually shown to be very good at them, although not all games. Due to that, he is also shown to be a crackshot, and usually mans the ships weapons, when they are under attack.

Savantism
Several instances throughout the series have suggested an abnormal mind tied to savantism, synesthesia, and autism:
 * Shown in "All the Presidents' Heads", he is a compulsive counter.
 * In "Roswell that Ends Well" and "The Why of Fry", he is a colour-gustatory synesthete.
 * Throughout the series, he shows great intelligence countered by an inability to properly express it as such.
 * He is capable of incredible musical creativity, but lacks the physical means to express it. ("The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings")

Early years


Philip J. Fry was born in 1974, in the Brooklyn Pre-Med Hospital in Old New York, a native of Flatbush, Brooklyn. Fry is the second son of honest hard working Americans, whose surnames imply English and German ancestry.

During his formative years, Fry endured a great sibling rivalry with his older brother, Yancy. Yancy constantly stole his ideas and, shortly after Fry was born, even wanted his younger brother's name. Fry also spent of a lot of time playing video games and watching Star Trek. He was never admitted to public school because his parents felt it would be a waste of taxpayer's money.

Fry never made a success of himself, and during his twenties (or late teenage years) he got a job at Panucci's Pizza as a pizza delivery boy. While working for Mr. Panucci, he met up with Michelle and they began a relationship. On a delivery in 1997, he meets up with Seymour Asses, a dog he names after the addressee of the prank caller who ordered the delivery. Seymour becomes his best friend.



Cryogenically Frozen - for a Thousand Years
On the fateful night of New Year's Eve, 1999, Fry is sent on another prank delivery to I. C. Wiener. When he arrives at the destination, Applied Cryogenics, he realizes that it is a prank, but since he won't make it back to Panucci's before midnight, he decides to celebrate the New Year where he is. Then, while leaning his chair too far backwards, he falls into a cryogenics tube, which closes and freezes him for a thousand years.

On New Year's Eve, 2999, the tube's timer finishes and Fry wakes up again. He is not at all sad about leaving his old life behind, and actually happy and relieved that it is all now behind him. He meets Leela who is employed by the Cryogenics Labs to assign unfrozen people to jobs. She tells Fry that he has only one living relative: Professor Farnsworth. Leela then tells Fry that the job that has been assigned to him is that of Delivery Boy. Faced with a return to the life of drudgery he knew in 1999, Fry flees. While running around New New York, he enters a suicide booth (having mistaken it for a phone booth) and tries to contact his nephew.

Fry meets a robot named Bender in the Suicide Booth and, after narrowly avoiding death, they grab a drink together. After a couple of beers, Bender decides to leave to re-attempt suicide, but Fry convinces him to stay by saying that he has always wanted a robot for a friend (or at least ever since he was six). Leela is still on his trail, though, after being forced by her boss, Ipgee, to pursue Fry and force him to accept the career chip.

Leela follows Fry and Bender into the Head Museum and the ruins of Old New York, before finally catching up with them. To Fry's surprise, though, she decides to quit her job instead of forcing the job of delivery boy on him. Fry suggests they go to his nephew, Professor Farnsworth, to see if he can help. After confirming that he and Fry are related, the Professor decides to hire them as a replacement for his old crew.



Planet Express Delivery Boy, First Class
Fry is hired on at his nephew's company as a delivery boy. Faced with the ability to travel around space, Fry is pleased with his new position. At first Fry lives in the Planet Express building, but after an apartment hunt he ends up living in Bender's closet. Fry immediately develops an interest in Leela but, to his dismay, the feelings are not mutual.

His work at Planet Express sees him thrown into several absurd adventures: he is briefly in a relationship with Amy Wong, and while the company's bureaucrat, Hermes Conrad, is away, he has an affair with the company's replacement bureaucrat, Morgan Proctor. Neither lasts very long, but when he almost destroys the Planet Express building and Hermes fires him (along with Bender and Leela) he gets Leela's former job by accident and finds his old girlfriend, Michelle, unfrozen. She does not enjoy life in the future, and asks him to come with her to the year 4000. After they wake up and realise that they are actually just in Los Angeles two days later, she dumps him in favour of Pauly Shore.

At a truck stop Fry eats a bad egg sandwich and gets infected with parasites. The worms give him a complete tune up, and he becomes stronger, smarter, and is capable of impressing Leela with the Holophonor. He almost sleeps with her, but Fry fears that Leela is falling in love with the worms rather than himself, so he decides to get rid of them. And he appears to be right: she immediately asks him to leave.

The most important person in the universe
While the Planet Express crew are watching a supernova about to explode, Fry puts some metal into a microwave in the ship, which causes them to be thrown back in time to 1947 and they manage to crash land in Roswell, New Mexico. During this trip he kills his (supposed) grandfather and meets his grandmother, but after a night with her it becomes obvious that he is his own grandfather.

At some point the Brain Spawn attack Earth and make all humans stupid. Fry is immune to the attack as he lacks the Delta brain wave (A genetic abnormality which was caused by him becoming his own grandfather). The Nibblonians work with Leela to get the message to Fry, who confronts the Big Brain in the New New York Public Library. Fry defeats the Big Brain, but when everyone is back to normal, no one has any memory of his actions and just think he is crazy.

The Nibblonians call for his help again when the Brain Spawn are found to be collecting all information in the universe and plan to to destroy it when their task is complete. The Nibblonians explain that due to his "past-nastification" he lacks the Delta brain wave, and is invisible to the Brain Spawn as long as he avoids prolonged thinking. It is revealed to him inside the Infosphere that it was Nibbler who made him fall into the tube and come to the future in the first place. Fry is sent back to 1999 by the Brain Spawn to stop Nibbler from freezing him, but Nibbler persuades Fry to allow himself to be frozen to save Leela's life, as no one would be able to stop the Brain Spawn from destroying the universe in the future.



A deal with the devil
During the events with his coworkers, he became a super hero, met the cast of Star Trek, wound up in a parallel universe where he and Leela had gotten married and gets his nose cut off.

But his passion and number one thing he always wanted still remains unexplored. He thinks back to when had the worms, and when he could play the Holophonor to impress Leela. Bender suggests that he should make a deal with the Robot Devil, and in an (to the Robot Devil at least) appalling ironic outcome, he gets the Robot Devil's hands. He can play the Holophonor now, and he becomes a famous musician, performing many classical numbers.

Hedonism Bot hires him to write an opera, Fry decides to write it about Leela. And after the first act of the opera, it is already deemed best opera of all time. But meanwhile the Robot Devil is plotting against Fry to get his hands back, because the Robot Devil is getting tired of Fry's hands. And so in the final act, the Robot Devil interrupts the opera and demands his hands back. Fry refuses, and the Robot Devil explains that if so, he will marry Leela for which she has signed (unknowingly for her though). Fry realises that this ultimatum only has one solution, to let Leela go and give up the Robot Devil's hands. And since he cannot play any more, the opera is credited as the worst ever.



The secret to time travel
Planet Express' delivery license is revoked by the Box Network, forcing the Professor to terminate his employees. But by the time the Professor gets around to telling them (two years later), their license is restored after a change in management at the Box Network- they are back in business. Fry becomes a centre of attention when Alien Scammers (led by Nudar) take over the Planet Express and find the machine language time code on Fry's butt. Using the code, a virus-infected Bender is ordered back in time to steal all of Earth's valuables from the past. But Fry is more upset that Lars Fillmore is getting a chance with Leela.

The scammers feel it best to be rid of the time code once they finally become anxious that the universe will be destroyed. Utilising a mirror, Fry manages to read the code off his butt and escapes back to 1 January, 2000. Here he attempts to get some food from Mr. Panucci, but since he has no money from that era he cannot, except the pizza he delivered to I. C. Wiener, it is here he decides to travel back an hour when the pizza was warm. His time paradox duplicate refuses to do the same thing and walks off. But Fry himself manages to end up inside the same tube he was originally frozen in. When his frozen self wakes up, he closes the tube after him and leaves the timer for 7.95 years to wake up again appropriate to when he had left.

Luckily for him, Lars Fillmore calls off the wedding, and while he is unable to get Leela's attention, at least he and she won't be dating any more. And after having Hermes and Bender save the Earth, he decides on New Year's Eve of 3007, that Lars and Leela belong together. But here it is revealed that Lars is the exact same time paradox duplicate he left at Applied Cryogenics.

Pope of new religion
After a brief relationship with Colleen, he left through the anomaly and met Yivo, they developed a relationship and Yivo took control of everyone in Universe Gamma (this universe) through tentacles in their necks. The brainwashed people joined Yivo's religion, with Fry as their new pope. Eventually they found out that the tentacles in their necks were "genticles" and that Yivo was mating with them. The religion was immediately abandoned. He was brought to live on Yivo, but was taken back by the Damned Army.

The bearer of the Die of Power
Fry took part in Planet Express' Attack on Mombil "Mine" and was taken to Cornwood by Bender's imagination. Once there, he became Frydo, and was given the duty of carrying the Die of Power and destroying it in the Geysers of Gygax. He was eventually corrupted by it's power and fought Momon as a dragon. Momon won, and Cornwood was destroyed.

Saving the universe... again
In 3009, Fry was needed by the Legion of Mad Fellows to help defeat the final Dark One and stop it from wiping out all life in the entire universe. Because he lacked the Delta Brainwave, his mind could not be read, and due to an accident he could temporarily read minds. With all of creation on his shoulders, he found the Dark One by chance after believing himself to be it. However, the Dark One was only a small leech, the Violet Dwarf Star became the final Encyclopod, which gave the once extinct plants and animals to the universe and easily destroyed the last Dark One, whom Zoidberg then ate. The whole Planet Express crew flew into a wormhole, after Fry and Leela expressed their true love for each other and kissed.

Reborn
After emerging from the Panama Wormhole, the Planet Express crew crashed just outside the company headquarters and was killed in the explosion. Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, however, did not die, as he was using a safety sphere to protect his whole body. The Professor rebirthed his crew with the Birthing Machine. In the next few weeks, Fry helped save Earth from the V-GINY, became one of the most popular Twitcher users ever after buying Mom's eyePhone, and assisted in the passing of Proposition ∞, which legalized robosexual marriage in New New York. Philip also went to Planet Vinci with his nephew to uncover Leonardo da Vinci's shocking secret, participated in the 3010 Sith Invasion reenactment and forward-time-travelled through three different universes. In August, he witnessed the Thubanian Invasion of Earth, went to the Robo-Planetoid wherein Robots were capable of both Creation and Evolution and changed minds with Dr. John A. Zoidberg and Sweet Clyde. In September, Fry became one of the Mutant leaders of the Devolution Revolution (although he was, in fact, not mutated but was in actuality lodged in the mouth of the mutated Mr. Astor, which finally granted the sewer people their freedom with equal rights, as well as access to the surface of the city and celebrated his 100th delivery along with the rest of the Planet Express crew members. During that year, his relationship with Leela progressed largely.

Family
Fry's family tree is a bit convoluted, due in part to the reuse of common names, but mostly because Fry went back in time and became his own grandfather.
 * Professor Farnsworth, Fry's many-times-great-nephew and at the same time many-times-grandson.
 * Cubert Farnsworth, Hubert Farnsworth's clone.
 * Yancy Fry, Jr., Fry's older brother and grandson.
 * Philip J. Fry, Fry's Nephew (and great grandson), named in Fry's memory.
 * Yancy and Mrs. Fry, parents (Yancy is also technically Fry's son, and is also his own grandfather)
 * Enos Fry, assumed paternal grandfather, actually unrelated.
 * Seymour, his dog in the 20th century.
 * Turanga Leela, ex-wife and on-again off-again girlfriend.
 * Mildred Fry, paternal grandmother.
 * Mr and Mrs. Gleisner, maternal grandparents.
 * Igner, many-times great nephew and many-times grandson.
 * Lars Fillmore, time paradox duplicate.
 * Yivo, ex-spouse.
 * Mr. Peppy, former pet
 * Unnamed guinea pig, former pet (6ACV24)

Age
Fry was frozen at age 25 for 1000 years making him 1025. Then 4 years later at age 1029 chronologically, was youthisized to age 14, reverse-aged to near unbirth, then re-aged, supposedly to his correct biological age, 29, in the fountain of aging. 4 years later at age 33 he went back in time and was frozen yet again for 1007.95 years making him 2040 but still biologically only 33. Based on Leela's speculation there is a chance after the fountain of aging he is less than 30: the professor never scans them with his age detector. After the events of the fourth movie he is about 2041 years old. His biological age may have reset entirely in "Rebirth" as, unlike the others, he was reduced to only a lump of flesh and his hair before being reborn. After the events of "The Late Philip J. Fry", Fry may potentially be over 20 duodecillion(short scale) years old, having travelled through the entirety of the universe twice with Bender and Professor Farnsworth, however this has only aged him biologically only a few minutes older than he should be relative to the inhabitants of the new universe.

Lars Fillmore
In Bender's Big Score, he has a duplicate that lives in Old New York with Leelu and everyone from Fry's old, 20th-century life. He was thought to be killed by an explosion caused by an obedience virus controlled Bender, but it actually burns off his hair and damages his voice box, turning him into Lars Fillmore.

Relationships



 * Leela (see Fry-Leela relationship for more info)
 * Colleen
 * 21st Century Girl
 * Morgan Proctor
 * Michelle
 * Ornik (snu-snued by)
 * Petunia
 * Amy (see Fry-Amy relationship for more info)
 * Radiator
 * Yivo
 * Mildred Fry
 * Umbriel



Alternate appearances
This list is incomplete.
 * 1ACV01: Fry is seen for the first time.
 * 1ACV05: Fry dresses up as a robot in an attempt to fool the inhabitants of Chapek 9.
 * 1ACV07: Fry drinks the current emperor of Trisol, Bont, but Bont is still alive inside of Fry, and can be seen glowing inside of Fry's stomach.
 * 2ACV07: After a hovercar accident, Fry's head is sewn on to Amy's body by Dr. Zoidberg.
 * 2ACV09: Fry is seen inside the internet.
 * 3ACV04: Fry is seen as a teenager, and more of his 21st Century life before he got frozen is shown.
 * 3ACV18: Fry appears in the "Anthology of Interest II" segment, Wizzin', as the Scarecrow in a 'Wizard of Oz' parody.
 * 4ACV04: Fry gains super powers and becomes a member of the New Justice Team; Captain Yesterday.
 * 4ACV09: Many younger versions of Fry are seen.
 * 4ACV15: Universe 1, 25, 31 and 1729 versions of Fry are seen.
 *  4ACV17: Fry's nose is taken by aliens as an aphrodisiac.
 * BBS: A time paradox version of Fry, Lars Fillmore, dates and almost marries Leela, but due to the Time Sphere's Doom Field, he is killed.
 * TBWABB: Fry becomes the Pope of Yivo's Religion, and is used to make everyone on Earth accept the tentacle.
 * BG: The Cornwood version of Fry, Frydo, is seen in Bender's fantasy.
 * ITWGY: Fry gets a piece of jewellery lodged into his head, giving him the ability to read minds.
 * 6ACV12: Fry is believed to have mutated by Lake Mutagenic, but really just stepped into the mouth of Mr. Astor.
 * 6ACV18: Fry is infected with many diseases such as 'Simpsons Jaundice', 'Garfield Syndrome', 'Muppet Gangrene' and an unnamed disease that makes him look like a Smurf.
 * 6ACV20: Fry temporarily becomes a woman.
 * 6ACV24: Fry is seen as a teenager again, and more of his life in the 21st Century is explored.
 * 6ACV26: Fry is portrayed in style.

Production
The character of Fry was intended as the viewer's representation in the future, with the future being presented to the audience through Fry's eyes. Fry was originally intended to have a Pocket Pal with him to explain the future for him, though that idea was scrapped with the future being described through the events the occurred around him. Fry's jacket is based on 's outfit in .

The story of his brother, Yancy Fry, was not an original idea from the beginning of the series, but at the same time, they avoided specifying Fry's siblings in the early episodes, to leave space for additional stories. In the original storyboard to the pilot, Fry mentions having a sister, but this was abandoned in the final episode.

Name
Fry was originally set to be named Curtis, but was renamed Philip to honour Phil Hartman, a voice actor who had played several roles on The Simpsons over the years. Hartman was originally set to play Zapp Brannigan on Futurama, but passed away unexpectedly only shortly before Futurama's beginning. Within the show, Fry was named Philip by his father after Phillips screwdrivers.

The middle initial J. is used in many of Matt Groening's characters, including Homer J. Simpson, Bartholomew J. Simpson and Mona J. Simpson, and is a tribute to, the co-creator of Bullwinkle J. Moose. The trend is also followed by Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, and his clone, Cubert J. Farnsworth. It is never revealed what their middle names are (except for Homer, where he eventually finds out that his middle name is "Jay").

He is not to be confused with Philip J. Fry of Hovering Squid World 97A, his nephew/great-grandson Philip J. Fry (named after him), and his time paradox duplicate who later identified himself as "Lars Fillmore."

Trivia

 * Probably the greatest Star Trek fan still alive, with the possible exception of Melllvar.
 * Tried to make out with a radiator once. And succeeded.
 * Used to drink 100 cans of cola a week back in school, right until his third heart attack.
 * Probably sterilized by the F-Ray, if only temporarily. Speculation leads us to believe that when Fry was infected with worms, he was unsterilized. Also, later in the series, he managed to impregnate his grandmother, confirming his ability to have children.
 * Addicted to Slurm.
 * Usually is the first character to declare something as "dead", although he has no medical experience.
 * Once ate a big heaping bowl of salt.
 * Is a slob.
 * Briefly achieved a higher state of existence after consuming 100 cups of coffee.
 * Temporarily became convinced he was a robot as a survival mechanism after being admitted to a robot insane asylum.
 * Used to find "edible mushrooms" on his bathmat.
 * Tried to swap his lungs for gills, and would have succeeded were it not for Leela stopping him.
 * Great at video games, but bad at most other things.
 * Possesses creative musical talent, but lacks the ability to physically express it.
 * Once possessed a lucky seven leaf clover.
 * Very impulsive, he has been known to eat food off his head, dance the hustle for days on end, and place his head in craters, to name a few.
 * Dropout of Mars University and Coney Island Community College.
 * Loves anchovies.
 * The pin number for his Big Apple Bank account is 1077 (the price of a cheese pizza and a large Soda at Panucci's Pizza).
 * Destroyed the Hubble Telescope in an epic space battle.
 * Cannot swim, or at least not in Slurm, or in Royal Jelly (as far as he knows).
 * Has no problems in dealing with robots and aliens, may even be a xenophile.
 * Was almost snu-snued to death.
 * Became his own grandfather after inadvertently getting his original one killed in a 1947 atomic bomb test.
 * Was once the Planet Express Ship Captain, but was extremely incompetent.
 * Has stupid fingers, which prevents him from playing the Holophonor properly without outside help.
 * Has had his right arm, leg, head, hands and nose removed (In his hands case, twice.)
 * Was briefly employed at Applied Cryogenics, New New York Police Department and the Head Museum.
 * Very occasionally has flashes of profound insight, but instantly reverts to his usual self and forgets whatever it was he thought of.
 * His favorite song is "Walking on Sunshine" by, though he can only sing the first line of the chorus.
 * His cellphone/telephone's ringtone is also this tune.
 * He, along with Leela and Bender, appears in all episodes of the series.
 * Had nose stolen by gray, big headed, human poachers.
 * Almost had his "wing dang doodle" cut off.
 * Is the Most Important Person in the Universe. This may also be true of his parallel self in the Parallel Cowboy Universe.
 * According to the events of "Sideshow Fry", Fry has an outie belly button, but in every other episode that his stomach is seen, he doesn't have this.
 * Since comics are not cannon, this is a non-issue.
 * His stool type is P-negative. His social security number is 03280810.
 * Became Frydo in Bender's Game.
 * Along with Farnsworth, his facial hair is brown despite his hair being red.
 * Holds the title of "Universe's #4307697 Delivery Boy", according to his mug, as seen in "The Cryonic Woman".
 * May be able to eat pizza with his feet, though since this was only mentioned in the Spanish dub, it cannot be considered canon.
 * Has the ability to eat 5.1 pounds of cotton candy which makes his blood good on pancakes
 * In a running gag in "The Duh-Vinci Code", he believes that the tool used to hammer a nail is another nail.
 * Though he has used a hammer to hammer a nail before
 * Has apparently eaten rocks.
 * Wrote the Delivery-Boy Man comic.
 * Has twice suffered from Synesthesia. Once while being hit by radiation and once after Nibbler  wiped his memory.
 * His synesthesia may be part of his total mental condition (including his lack of the Delta brain wave and idiot savantism).
 * There are three people named "Philip J. Fry" besides him: His nephew Philip J. Fry II, Phillip J. Fry from Hovering Squid World 97A and Lars Fillmore, formerly known as Fry's time paradox duplicate (BBS)
 * Usually survives despite being decapitated and having holes blown through his body.
 * In a non-canon segment, he claims to have.
 * His full name is revealed in the "Space Pilot 3000", incorrectly spelt with two Ls, but he is first called "Philip" aloud by Amy in "The Problem with Popplers".
 * It is possible that he is an as he said, "What's with the seventeen dungbeetles?" after being hit by a holographic branch with exactly seventeen holographic dungbeetles in "All the Presidents' Heads".

Appearances
While Fry appears in every episode/film/comic, these categories may be of interest:


 * A plots focusing on Fry
 * B plots focusing on Fry