Fun on a Bun

"Fun on a Bun" is the one hundred and twenty-second episode of Futurama, the eighth of the seventh production season and the ninth broadcast season. Fry is the victim of a horrific sausage-making accident.

Act I: "Ach du freakin' lieber!"
The Professor decides that the crew should relax from work and suggests that they go to Oktoberfest. Fry arrives at the event with excitement but discovers that it has developed into a sophisticated event over the years, attended by the most renowned and calling for the most proper behavior. Fry, upset at the changes, refuses to behave and yells, gets drunk, and chicken dances on the table. Bender wants to enter the Sausage Contest, but Elzar points out that not just any type of meat will be enough and that he needs to be more creative. Bender is determined to find something extraordinary. Meanwhile, Leela is so outraged and embarrassed by Fry's behavior that she breaks up with him.

Act II: "I broke up with my boyfriend and then I ate him!"
Fry and Bender cry together; Fry because Leela left him and at the disappointment of future Oktoberfest, and Bender because everyone has fancier sausage meat than him. They view a historical projection, explaining that Oktoberfest is held in the Neander Valley, where Neanderthals and mammoths lived. Bender decides to use mammoth meat for his sausage entry, using its rarity as an advantage. Bender and Fry take the ship out looking for a preserved mammoth, which they proceed to excavate and grind with the help of a giant sausage maker. While Fry helps Bender, he is caught by the machine and sucked in. Unaware of what has happened, Bender returns to the contest with his Mammothwurst, which is well received. Leela samples one and is horrified to discover trace amounts of Fry's hair and clothing pulverized in the meat. Back at Planet Express, the crew hold a funeral for Fry. Overcome with guilt, Leela has all of her memories of Fry severed from her working memory. The crew tries to be careful not to trigger any memories of Fry in Leela. Unbeknownst to the crew, Fry is actually still alive, frozen over in a glacier deep in the Neander Valley.

Act III: "I guess it's just you and me, chicken hat!"
Fry, in fact, survived Bender's sausage machine--but not before the grinder tore off some of his hair and all of his clothing, explaining the remains found in Bender's sausage. He hits his head and falls into the mammoth hole, where he develops a swollen forehead, loses his short-term memory and is trapped in the solidifying ice. Fry is rescued a week later by Neanderthals, who identify him as a kindred Neanderthal by his enlarged browbone. Leela and Fry both struggle with their feelings as they see certain objects that spark memories of each other, though neither one can explain why. Fry discovers that Neanderthals were driven away to live in the valley by Homo sapiens, who viewed themselves as biological superiors and refused to interbreed and coexist with them. An angry Fry decides to lead a charge of Neanderthals against humans on the "outside" to take back what is theirs. The charge wreaks havoc on Oktoberfest; Zapp Brannigan fails to use technology against them, Bender strategically steals awards from his contest peers, and Leela levels her own attack against the Neanderthal leader Fry, whom she cannot recognize, from the Planet Express ship. Fry and Leela fight each other hand to hand but they observe one another more closely ("Orange?"/"Purple?") and, as Leela's memories are rekindled and Fry's swollen brow returns to normal, they kiss and reconcile. Seeing this union between a Neanderthal and a Sapien, the Neanderthal chief halts the attack, the war concludes with love and peace, and the two species celebrate together that night, restoring Oktoberfest to the loud and drunken glory of Fry's day. Leela admits that his version of the event is far more appealing, and invites Fry to chicken dance with her as he had done earlier to her embarrassment. Fry replies, "Just this once, I'll let you embarass me." The episode ends with Leela proudly doing the chicken dance in front of Fry on top of the table, in the midst of everyone else celebrating.

Production
In 2011, a few revelations concerning the episode were made. On 15 November, Futurama assistant director Aimee Steinberger revealed that "[the production team was] done with [the episode]", calling it "[her] most time intensive grueling ep ever", and that the animatic would be screened "on the FOX lot [on the next day]". On the next day, after leaving the screening, she revealed that "Everyone [had] liked it" and, after watching the animatic, Futurama writer Eric Rogers revealed that it "might be [the best episode of the ninth broadcast season]", calling it "EPIC".

In 2012, more revelations concerning the episode were made. On 29 February, CGEF revealed the episode's title, its writer to be Dan Vebber and its director to be Stephen Sandoval. On 20 April, Steinberger revealed that she "[had seen] fully animated color acts 2 and 3 back from Korea on [her 7ACV08 the previous day]" and that she "still [thought it was] a really great show" and Rogers jokingly asked her if "[she had been] expecting it to be worse". On the next day, she, in reply to him, revealed that "[it had been] demanding a lot" and that "[she thought that] when [it was] done [it would] be nice" and he, in reply to her, revealed that "[it was] a monster, for sure, but [that Rough Draft] always [delivered]" and that "[it would] be awesome as always". By 8 June, had revealed the episode's plot and air date.

In June, Countdown to Futurama began releasing promotional material for the episode. It has so far released seven items: a design of the cover of Unfrozen Dude Magazine on 13 June, a design of a Neanderthal chief on 14 June, part of the storyboard set in a sausage contest showing Bender angry about winning third place and Zapp as a judge on 15 June, a design of a Neanderthal version of Fry on 16 June, a promotional picture showing a drunk Fry on 17 June, a video clip featuring Bender and a drunken Fry, wearing a chicken over his head, searching for woolly mammoth with an elephant detector on 18 June and a promotional picture of a group of Neanderthals charging with woolly mammoth on 19 June. The seventh Countdown to Futurama podcast revealed more information about the episode, including elements of its plot.

On 12 July, following the broadcast of the episode "Zapp Dingbat", the public were given the opportunity to participate in a live chat with the Futurama cast and crew. Several clips of "Fun on a Bun" were shown during the live stream.

Reception
On 3 May 2012, Aimee Steinberger revealed that she had "watched the finalish color, full animation for [the episode] at the FOX lot [on that day]", that "it really did turn out nice" and that she was "Really proud of [it]" and Eric Rogers called it the "2013 Emmy nominee", "Epic fun" and "awesome".

Trivia

 * This episode is among the Futurama media featuring its title within the story.
 * This episode was first broadcast the same day Futurama Comics issue Lost Our Leela was released, both stories feature Leela losing memories.
 * Polka/rock band recorded two songs to be used in the Oktoberfest scenes during this episode, as well as a cover of the . The band have also appeared in Matt Groening's other show The Simpsons, in the episode "Co-Dependent's Day". Groening is a long-time fan of the band.

Allusions

 * The episode's title is a reference to Bender's catchphrase "fun on the bun". At Hot Dog Fry's funeral, Bender declares it a "tragedy on a bun".
 * Bender putting a giant set of ribs in front of Zapp Brannigan is a reference to the closing credits of the.
 * Leela's memories of Fry are erased in Annie's Forgettery, this could be an allusion to the film.
 * The region of the Valley corresponds with the modern german "Bundesland" of, which was indeed the home of the Neanderthal species.
 * The "double dip" might be a reference to a Seinfeld episode where George Costenza is disgusted for the same reason as Leela.
 * The History machine refers to the Woolly Mammoths as Snuffleupagus which is a recurring character in Sesame Street.
 * The Messanger Raven could be a reference to Game of Thrones, where Ravens are used to carry messages tied to their legs.
 * When Hermes first sees a mammoth, he refers to them as "Hairy Elephantes" which is an allusion to American singer/songwriter.
 * Hermes' endless screaming at the giant sloth as everyone else runs away in the battle of Oktoberfest could possibly be a reference to a scene in, where a security guard screams and stands in the path of a slow steamroller (and is subsequently run over and killed) after others have long fled from it. Thankfully, Hermes and the sloth have a happier outcome.

Continuity

 * Zapp tells Leela that "this time I'm the one criticizing the sausage."
 * When Leela regains all her memories of Fry, scenes of them together are shown from "Space Pilot 3000", "The Series Has Landed", "Fear of a Bot Planet", "My Three Suns", "A Flight to Remember", "Leela's Homeworld", "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles", "The Sting", "The Farnsworth Parabox", "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", "Bender's Game", "Into the Wild Green Yonder", "The Late Philip J. Fry", "The Prisoner of Benda", "The Mutants Are Revolting" and "Overclockwise".
 * Planet Express makes a delivery to McPluto after Leela has her memory erased. McPluto was first mentioned in "The Problem with Popplers" as a competitor of (and sole planet without) the Fishy Joe's fast food chain.
 * Planet Express makes a delivery to McPluto after Leela has her memory erased. McPluto was first mentioned in "The Problem with Popplers" as a competitor of (and sole planet without) the Fishy Joe's fast food chain.

Goofs

 * The Neanderthals already speak English when they find Fry.
 * It is possible they learned English while trying to get to the outside world, or they learned it in their attempt to befriend Homo Sapiens.
 * Ground sloths and saber-tooth cats were only found in the Americas, thus Neanderthals would have never interacted with them. Furthermore, the Neanderthals would have froze over before these species went extinct
 * During the invasion, the ship is seen firing, but in previous episodes a gunner (Fry) was in place. The gunner position itself is unnecessary if Leela can control the ships guns all from her console.
 * It is most likely that the ship has a targeting system via Leela's console, but a manual gunner position is available to take the strain off of the captain so he/she can concentrate on flying.
 * Or she had an unseen person in the gunner's spot.
 * Although the map of Germany and the location of the famous Neanderthal are quite accurate, the Oktoberfest is actually held in Munich, in the southeast. The glaciers of the Alps nearby would have made a good place for finding prehistoric mammoths and people, since for example Ötzi the Iceman was found there.
 * The history booth specifies that Oktoberfest has been held in the Neander Valley for "hundreds of years," implying that it had been held somewhere else earlier.
 * Bender says that the mammoth will have been aged for 30,000 years -- but freezing meat does not age it.
 * The Neanderthals are shown having a catapult, but the catapult wasn't invented till about three thousand years ago, long after the Neanderthals were trapped.
 * They may have invented it themselves, possibly by Fry's guidance.
 * None of the people tasting beer would have been able to taste it accurately. Beer has to be swallowed in order for all of the flavours to be detected by the pallet.

Characters

 * Amy
 * Debut: Beethoven
 * Bender
 * Debut: Countess von Luftballon
 * Elzar
 * Farnsworth
 * Fry
 * Debut: Grundy
 * Hermes
 * Kif
 * Leela
 * Debut: Neanderthal chief
 * Ron Whitey
 * Scruffy
 * Zapp
 * Zoidberg