A Pharaoh to Remember

"A Pharaoh to Remember" is the forty-ninth episode of Futurama, the seventeenth of the third production season and the seventh of the fourth broadcast season. It aired 10 March, 2002 on FOX. Bender is getting desperate for being remembered when he's gone, and a trip to Osiris 4, where he becomes Pharaoh seems to be just the satisfaction he needs.

Act I: Fame is mine
Bender is outraged when he robs a swimming pool, an act which should land him on the nightly TV news, but no one realizes it was him, with witnesses mistakenly calling the criminal human. He then makes a variety of attempts to become famous, only to be ignored or ridiculed by witnesses.

Act II: This is the worst funeral ever
He heads to work, depressed, where the rest of the Planet Express crew try to cheer him up by throwing him a funeral to show how he'll be remembered. He is highly disappointed by the group's efforts and becomes angered by their idiocy. This is especially true with Dr. Zoidberg, who sings Danny Boy, only to be hit in the head with Bender's martini glass. After the disappointing funeral, Bender storms off, outraged that no one will remember him when he dies. The next day,the crew has to deliver a giant sandstone block to the planet Osiris 4. After the block is signed for, they are taken as slaves of the Pharaoh Hermenthotip.

Act III: Quit giving the slave drivers pointers
On the boat to the work site, Bender admires the Pharaohs' tombs and realizes that everyone would remember him if he could have a funeral like them. He begins to give the slave drivers pointers on how to make slaves work harder and faster to get the job done sooner. Hermenthotip comes and is about to free the slaves but is crushed by his statue's nose and killed. Bender is upset by the death, but changes the wall of prophecy to make it look like he is supposed to be the Pharaoh's successor. After a short ceremony to determine the new Pharaoh, Bender is chosen, despite his crude drawing on the wall of prophecy.

Act IV: Crawl pigs
Bender becomes a crueler pharaoh than Hermenthotip, and makes the slaves work hard to build a much larger statue (1 Billion cubits tall) of him so he will be remembered for all eternity. Bender is unhappy with the statue because it is so big, people will probably remember the statue instead of him. He demands to have it torn down so that the slaves can start over and build a smaller statue. The slave drivers have had enough of Bender's orders and attack him, tying him up like a mummy and throwing him in his tomb, announcing that he suddenly died. He requests his loyal servants to be entombed with him, and Fry and Leela are thrown in as well.

Act V: Let's blow this tomb
Bender’s tomb turns out to have an working casino in it, along with an eternity's worth of liquor. Fry and Leela try some pomegranate schnapps and determine it is 100% alcohol. Leela wants to use the explosive alcohol to blow the tomb open and escape, but Bender refuses to allow her. Leela and Fry pretend to forget who Bender is, and he then reluctantly agrees. Moving all the liquor to one wall, Leela uses Bender's wrappings as a makeshift fuse and blow the tomb open. The explosion causes the rest of the statue to fall apart, saddening Bender. Leela tells him that he will still be remembered as a tyrannical ruler, even though there is no monument left. As they return home, Bender mentions that he will try to take over Earth next.

Trivia

 * The non-human people of Osiris 4 are based on various Egyptian gods.
 * Fry says, "call it a hunch, but I have a bad feeling about this!". This is a well known line in Star Wars.

Quotes

 * [Bender throws a bouquet and it lands in the Professor's lap] Amy: I know whose funeral we'll be attending next. Professor: (blushing) Oh, stop.
 * High Priest: Great Wall of Prophecy, reveal to us God's will that we may blindly obey. Priests: Free us from thought and responsibility. High Priest: We shall read things off you. Priests: Then do them. High Priest: Your words guide us. Priests: We're dumb.
 * Farnsworth: News, everyone! Today you're going to Osiris 4 to deliver this enormous sandstone block. [He points to a block the size of the ship sitting next to them] Fry: I thought something looked different in here.

Goofs

 * The Pharaoh's aide mention that they travelled to Egypt many years ago, but if that is true, how could they have learnt of space travel from them?
 * One such answer could be that the Egyptians visited them first, and taught them space travel, so they could visit the Egyptians.

Alien Language Sightings
Time: 14:30

Location: On the Wall of Prophecy

Language: AL1

Translation: Rock on! Eddie Rosas

Characters

 * Amy
 * Australian Guy
 * Bender
 * Fry
 * Hermes
 * Leela
 * Linda
 * Morbo
 * Debut: Pharaoh Hermenthotip
 * Prof. Farnsworth
 * Sal
 * Scruffy
 * Zoidberg
 * Preacherbot

Episode Credits

 * Writer
 * Ron Weiner
 * Director
 * Mark Ervin
 * Voice Actors
 * Billy West
 * Katey Sagal
 * John DiMaggio
 * Tress MacNeille
 * Maurice LaMarche
 * David Herman
 * Phil LaMarr
 * Lauren Tom
 * DVD Commentary
 * Matt Groening
 * David X. Cohen
 * Rich Moore
 * Ron Weiner
 * John DiMaggio
 * Billy West