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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_krsrpavpct1qzdec8.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[Music/SimpleMinds Don't you forget about me...]]]]
''[[CouchGag Broadcast Simultaneously One Year In The Future]]''
During his youth, Fry found a seven-leaf clover which brought him luck. In the 31st century, Fry has a string of bad luck which induces him to reclaim it.
!!Tropes
* ArcSymbol: ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' soundtrack, if only because of one certain song...
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: For all their fighting and bickering, Yancy loved and missed his little brother. He even named his son after Philip.
* BaitAndSwitch:
** When we are shown Fry's old house in Old New York, it's thoroughly wrecked, with the roof having caved in, and even Bender laments that the house has seen better days and that Father Time had took a bat to it. We then cut to the past, [[RagnarokProofing where it looks exactly the same.]]
** For most of the episode we're shown flashbacks of Yancy's jealousy of Fry, as he steals his ideas and repeatedly tries to take his seven-leaf clover, up to his discovery of the clover's hiding spot sometime after Fry was frozen, [[RedHerring leading both Fry and the audience to believe Yancy took it a step further and stole Fry's name.]] The final flashback shows that Yancy decided not to use the clover at all, but instead passed it down to his first-born son, Philip.
*** Likewise, when Yancy was poking through Fry's belongings for something to play at his wedding reception, he stumbles across a drawing Fry had made at age 20, depicting himself as an astronaut ... which Yancy proceeds to tuck into his suit discreetly. It's revealed in the last flashback that he took that drawing [[TragicKeepsake for himself]].
* {{Bookends}}: The first and last flashback involve a Yancy Fry and an unnamed woman giving birth to a Philip J. Fry.
* CheatersNeverProsper: Averted, as Bender gets away with rigging one of the horse races,
* ChekhovsGag: When listing off the names of family members who've taken the name Yancy, Yancy Fry Senior names his grandfather, and great-grandfather, but specifically does ''not'' note his own father.
* TheChewToy: Fry's search for the clover is inspired after a bad day at the races, wherein all his picks lose, his last dollar gets blown onto a power line, and in trying to retrieve it, Fry is electrocuted twice, falls into a trashcan, and gets crud dumped on him.
* TheConstant: Spoofed with Fry's childhood home. In the 31st Century it looks suitably run down ("Boy, Father Time sure took a bat to this place", according to Bender), but a flashback to the 20th Century shows it in the exact same state of disrepair.
* CuttingTheKnot: While Bender had to use vibrational frequencies to pop open the record vault[[note]]and even then, given how violently the house was shaking and the fact Bender fell apart shortly after, it's clear it wasn't ''that'' good of a method[[/note]], all Yancy had to do was roll up some Doh-Doh and use a lighter.
* DeadGuyJunior: Yancy names his son after Fry some years after Fry's disappearance and presumed death.
* DeadPersonImpersonation: Fry thinks his brother Yancy took his name and led the life he should have led, when in fact it was actually Yancy's ''son'', named in Fry's honor.
* FlashbackBPlot: The episode has Fry track down his lucky seven-leaf clover from when he was a child, while also flashing back to his life growing up with his brother Yancy who he suspects stole his clover and identity.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** The album Fry chose to hide the seven-leaf clover was the soundtrack for ''Film/TheBreakfastClub''. For those who don't know, one of the most well-known songs off of the soundtrack is "[[Music/SimpleMinds Don't You (Forget About Me)]]"...
** Upon discovering the seven-leaf clover after it falls out of ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' album, the look on Yancy's face [[TragicKeepsake is one of sadness]]. Not something you'd expect from the guy who supposedly stole Fry's life, right?
* GoodLuckCharm: Exaggerated with Fry's [[FourLeafClover seven-leaf clover]] - its new owner made a fortune off of an oil well he discovered inside the mansion he won in a lottery, then proceeded to score a string of number one hits and became the first man on Mars.
* GoodLuckGesture: Fry crosses his fingers intensely when he hopes to win money in the horse race.
* GraveRobbing: Angry that his brother Yancy apparently stole his clover and his name, Fry decides to rob his grave, and gets Leela and Bender to come along.
-->'''Bender:''' I'll grab my kit!
* GreenEyedMonster: Yancy was motivated by an intense jealousy of Fry, starting from the fact Fry got the relatively "normal" name Philip when he was born. Throughout their childhood Yancy frequently copied Fry to the point that Fry finally told Yancy "Get your own life and live it!" After Fry disappeared, it's implied Yancy finally got over this and deeply regretted how he treated his brother.
* InstantlyProvenWrong:
** Fry pulls out his last dollar and remarks, "This one I'm holding on to!" It then flies out of his hand.
** Starting down a sewer to find his old clover, Fry remarks that his bad luck will finally be over. He then falls down the sewer.
* LegacyCharacter: It turns out that the Philip J. Fry of fame is actually Yancy's son, named after his missing uncle.
* LookBothWays: [[TemptingFate Fry decides that he can jaywalk in the abandoned ruins of Old New York.]] He gets trampled by a giant lizard.
* MatchCut: Young Yancy throwing the rocket from Fry's crib out the window transitions to a similar shot of the Planet Express rocket flying through space.
* MyGreatestFailure: It's not outright said, but it's clear in the last flashback that Yancy ''really'' regrets how his relationship with Fry was before he disappeared.
-->'''Yancy:''' ''(to his newly born son)'' Son, I'm naming you Philip J. Fry in honor of my little brother... ''(sadly)'' who I miss every day. I love you, Philip. ''(sniff)'' And I always will.
* OutGivingBirthBackInTwoMinutes: The ScreamingBirth is {{subverted}} when Fry's mother turns out to be screaming at the sports game on the radio.
* PaperDestructionOfAnger: Fry angrily tears his ticket when his horse doesn't win the race and he loses the bet.
* PokeThePoodle: At the abandoned ruins of old New York City, Fry decides to do all the things he always wanted to do. Like shout "Howard Stern is overrated!" in the middle of Times Square, unhook the receiver of a public telephone, and jaywalk.
-->'''Bender:''' [[SarcasmMode New York is so burned.]]
* RagnarokProofing: Somehow, Fry's house managed to survive into the 31st century ''intact''... [[ParodiedTrope despite being wrecked]].
* RealPlaceBackground: If you can believe it, the Fry home is an [[https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/516-Rugby-Rd_Brooklyn_NY_11226_M34868-06663#photo18 actual]] house in Brooklyn, where writer Eric Kaplan once lived.
* RedHerring: Throughout the flashbacks, its implied that Yancy stole Philip's seven-leaf clover and name out of jealousy after Philip got frozen, from him first wanting to be called Philip to stealing a newborn Philip's rocket toy proclaiming it to be his, to a flashback involving him stealing Fry's entire dance routine. It's only in the last flashback that we learn that the astronaut Philip J. Fry was in fact the son of Yancy, who named him out of regret with how his relationship with Fry was before he disappeared.
* RememberTheNewGuy:
** Scruffy is introduced here as a member of the Planet Express crew, and Fry's closest confidant. But Fry still didn't tell him where he hid the clover. In this instance, the trope is being PlayedForLaughs.
** Fry just happens to share a name with the first man on Mars, and apparently no-one ever felt this worth commenting upon. Possibly [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Hermes' remark about Fry's nephew being "''that''" Philip J. Fry.
** This is the first time we've actually seen or heard of Yancy, Fry's older brother.
* TheReveal: The last flashback. Yancy did not steal Fry's name and his fate, but he named his son after him to carry on his spirit.
* ShatterpointTap: Bender tries to open the Ronco record vault by vibrating to a certain frequency. The vibrations are strong enough to shake the house and dislodge Bender's head, but it's the head hitting the vault as it falls that causes it to open.
* ShoutOut:
** Among the clutter on the shelf above Fry's safe is a [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart Simpson]] doll.
** Before breaking ground on his nephew's grave, Fry angrily mutters "[[ComicBook/FantasticFour It's cloverin' time]]."
** The beatboxer in Fry's breakdancing group is named "[[Music/TheNotoriousBIG Noticeably F.A.T.]]".
* SiblingRivalry: Fry had this with his older brother Yancy, who was always taking Fry's ideas for his own.
* SkewedPriorities: Fry's mom seemed a little fixated on a football game she was listening too while ''giving birth'' at the hospital. (Slightly justified, seeing as she was being sedated with morphine.)
* StealthPun: As he tries to recover his dollar bill from the power line, Fry starts saying "I'll get you back, or my name isn't Philip J. ...", then he gets electrocuted -- or ''fried'', if you will.
* StPatricksDayEpisode: Fry has a string of bad luck which induces him to reclaim a lucky seven-leaf clover from his youth. Although St. Patrick's Day is neither mentioned nor referenced, this episode originally aired on March 11, 2001, almost a week before St. Patrick's Day.
* TakeThat:
** One of the things Fry does in Old New York is shout "Creator/HowardStern is overrated!"[[note]] Creator/BillyWest, Fry's voice actor, was a regular on Stern's radio show.[[/note]]
** When Fry doesn't find the clover inside the record vault, Leela suggests that maybe it disintegrated over time. Fry notes that the records in the vault held up... except, Bender adds, for "Sports" by Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews.[[note]]Depending on who you ask, though, [[Literature/AmericanPsycho that was the album where they really came into their own, commercially and artistically]].[[/note]]
** Yancy plans to use ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' soundtrack to clear the room after his wedding reception.
* TooDumbToLive: Fry tries to recover his dollar from a power line... with a metal rake.
* TragicKeepsake: As we see in the last flashback, not only did Yancy keep the seven-leaf clover (before passing it on to his son), but he ''also'' kept Fry's rocketship drawing.
* TrashLanding: While attempting to retrieve his dollar, Fry falls headfirst into a garbage can, and then has a bucket of slop dumped on him.
* VirtualAssistantBlunder: Professor Farnsworth's computer overhears the cast's conversation and helpfully [[CoincidentalBroadcast pulls up a plot-relevant documentary]], but also does two irrelevant actions:
-->'''Professor Farnsworth:''' Shut up, friends. My Internet browser heard us saying the word "Fry" and it found a movie about Philip J. Fry for us. It also opened my calendar to Friday and ordered me some French fries.
* WhamLine: "Here lies Philip J. Fry, named after his uncle, to carry on his spirit," revealing that the one who goes by Philip J. Fry isn't Yancy himself, but his son.
----
[[caption-width-right:350:[[Music/SimpleMinds Don't you forget about me...]]]]
''[[CouchGag Broadcast Simultaneously One Year In The Future]]''
During his youth, Fry found a seven-leaf clover which brought him luck. In the 31st century, Fry has a string of bad luck which induces him to reclaim it.
!!Tropes
* ArcSymbol: ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' soundtrack, if only because of one certain song...
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: For all their fighting and bickering, Yancy loved and missed his little brother. He even named his son after Philip.
* BaitAndSwitch:
** When we are shown Fry's old house in Old New York, it's thoroughly wrecked, with the roof having caved in, and even Bender laments that the house has seen better days and that Father Time had took a bat to it. We then cut to the past, [[RagnarokProofing where it looks exactly the same.]]
** For most of the episode we're shown flashbacks of Yancy's jealousy of Fry, as he steals his ideas and repeatedly tries to take his seven-leaf clover, up to his discovery of the clover's hiding spot sometime after Fry was frozen, [[RedHerring leading both Fry and the audience to believe Yancy took it a step further and stole Fry's name.]] The final flashback shows that Yancy decided not to use the clover at all, but instead passed it down to his first-born son, Philip.
*** Likewise, when Yancy was poking through Fry's belongings for something to play at his wedding reception, he stumbles across a drawing Fry had made at age 20, depicting himself as an astronaut ... which Yancy proceeds to tuck into his suit discreetly. It's revealed in the last flashback that he took that drawing [[TragicKeepsake for himself]].
* {{Bookends}}: The first and last flashback involve a Yancy Fry and an unnamed woman giving birth to a Philip J. Fry.
* CheatersNeverProsper: Averted, as Bender gets away with rigging one of the horse races,
* ChekhovsGag: When listing off the names of family members who've taken the name Yancy, Yancy Fry Senior names his grandfather, and great-grandfather, but specifically does ''not'' note his own father.
* TheChewToy: Fry's search for the clover is inspired after a bad day at the races, wherein all his picks lose, his last dollar gets blown onto a power line, and in trying to retrieve it, Fry is electrocuted twice, falls into a trashcan, and gets crud dumped on him.
* TheConstant: Spoofed with Fry's childhood home. In the 31st Century it looks suitably run down ("Boy, Father Time sure took a bat to this place", according to Bender), but a flashback to the 20th Century shows it in the exact same state of disrepair.
* CuttingTheKnot: While Bender had to use vibrational frequencies to pop open the record vault[[note]]and even then, given how violently the house was shaking and the fact Bender fell apart shortly after, it's clear it wasn't ''that'' good of a method[[/note]], all Yancy had to do was roll up some Doh-Doh and use a lighter.
* DeadGuyJunior: Yancy names his son after Fry some years after Fry's disappearance and presumed death.
* DeadPersonImpersonation: Fry thinks his brother Yancy took his name and led the life he should have led, when in fact it was actually Yancy's ''son'', named in Fry's honor.
* FlashbackBPlot: The episode has Fry track down his lucky seven-leaf clover from when he was a child, while also flashing back to his life growing up with his brother Yancy who he suspects stole his clover and identity.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** The album Fry chose to hide the seven-leaf clover was the soundtrack for ''Film/TheBreakfastClub''. For those who don't know, one of the most well-known songs off of the soundtrack is "[[Music/SimpleMinds Don't You (Forget About Me)]]"...
** Upon discovering the seven-leaf clover after it falls out of ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' album, the look on Yancy's face [[TragicKeepsake is one of sadness]]. Not something you'd expect from the guy who supposedly stole Fry's life, right?
* GoodLuckCharm: Exaggerated with Fry's [[FourLeafClover seven-leaf clover]] - its new owner made a fortune off of an oil well he discovered inside the mansion he won in a lottery, then proceeded to score a string of number one hits and became the first man on Mars.
* GoodLuckGesture: Fry crosses his fingers intensely when he hopes to win money in the horse race.
* GraveRobbing: Angry that his brother Yancy apparently stole his clover and his name, Fry decides to rob his grave, and gets Leela and Bender to come along.
-->'''Bender:''' I'll grab my kit!
* GreenEyedMonster: Yancy was motivated by an intense jealousy of Fry, starting from the fact Fry got the relatively "normal" name Philip when he was born. Throughout their childhood Yancy frequently copied Fry to the point that Fry finally told Yancy "Get your own life and live it!" After Fry disappeared, it's implied Yancy finally got over this and deeply regretted how he treated his brother.
* InstantlyProvenWrong:
** Fry pulls out his last dollar and remarks, "This one I'm holding on to!" It then flies out of his hand.
** Starting down a sewer to find his old clover, Fry remarks that his bad luck will finally be over. He then falls down the sewer.
* LegacyCharacter: It turns out that the Philip J. Fry of fame is actually Yancy's son, named after his missing uncle.
* LookBothWays: [[TemptingFate Fry decides that he can jaywalk in the abandoned ruins of Old New York.]] He gets trampled by a giant lizard.
* MatchCut: Young Yancy throwing the rocket from Fry's crib out the window transitions to a similar shot of the Planet Express rocket flying through space.
* MyGreatestFailure: It's not outright said, but it's clear in the last flashback that Yancy ''really'' regrets how his relationship with Fry was before he disappeared.
-->'''Yancy:''' ''(to his newly born son)'' Son, I'm naming you Philip J. Fry in honor of my little brother... ''(sadly)'' who I miss every day. I love you, Philip. ''(sniff)'' And I always will.
* OutGivingBirthBackInTwoMinutes: The ScreamingBirth is {{subverted}} when Fry's mother turns out to be screaming at the sports game on the radio.
* PaperDestructionOfAnger: Fry angrily tears his ticket when his horse doesn't win the race and he loses the bet.
* PokeThePoodle: At the abandoned ruins of old New York City, Fry decides to do all the things he always wanted to do. Like shout "Howard Stern is overrated!" in the middle of Times Square, unhook the receiver of a public telephone, and jaywalk.
-->'''Bender:''' [[SarcasmMode New York is so burned.]]
* RagnarokProofing: Somehow, Fry's house managed to survive into the 31st century ''intact''... [[ParodiedTrope despite being wrecked]].
* RealPlaceBackground: If you can believe it, the Fry home is an [[https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/516-Rugby-Rd_Brooklyn_NY_11226_M34868-06663#photo18 actual]] house in Brooklyn, where writer Eric Kaplan once lived.
* RedHerring: Throughout the flashbacks, its implied that Yancy stole Philip's seven-leaf clover and name out of jealousy after Philip got frozen, from him first wanting to be called Philip to stealing a newborn Philip's rocket toy proclaiming it to be his, to a flashback involving him stealing Fry's entire dance routine. It's only in the last flashback that we learn that the astronaut Philip J. Fry was in fact the son of Yancy, who named him out of regret with how his relationship with Fry was before he disappeared.
* RememberTheNewGuy:
** Scruffy is introduced here as a member of the Planet Express crew, and Fry's closest confidant. But Fry still didn't tell him where he hid the clover. In this instance, the trope is being PlayedForLaughs.
** Fry just happens to share a name with the first man on Mars, and apparently no-one ever felt this worth commenting upon. Possibly [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Hermes' remark about Fry's nephew being "''that''" Philip J. Fry.
** This is the first time we've actually seen or heard of Yancy, Fry's older brother.
* TheReveal: The last flashback. Yancy did not steal Fry's name and his fate, but he named his son after him to carry on his spirit.
* ShatterpointTap: Bender tries to open the Ronco record vault by vibrating to a certain frequency. The vibrations are strong enough to shake the house and dislodge Bender's head, but it's the head hitting the vault as it falls that causes it to open.
* ShoutOut:
** Among the clutter on the shelf above Fry's safe is a [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart Simpson]] doll.
** Before breaking ground on his nephew's grave, Fry angrily mutters "[[ComicBook/FantasticFour It's cloverin' time]]."
** The beatboxer in Fry's breakdancing group is named "[[Music/TheNotoriousBIG Noticeably F.A.T.]]".
* SiblingRivalry: Fry had this with his older brother Yancy, who was always taking Fry's ideas for his own.
* SkewedPriorities: Fry's mom seemed a little fixated on a football game she was listening too while ''giving birth'' at the hospital. (Slightly justified, seeing as she was being sedated with morphine.)
* StealthPun: As he tries to recover his dollar bill from the power line, Fry starts saying "I'll get you back, or my name isn't Philip J. ...", then he gets electrocuted -- or ''fried'', if you will.
* StPatricksDayEpisode: Fry has a string of bad luck which induces him to reclaim a lucky seven-leaf clover from his youth. Although St. Patrick's Day is neither mentioned nor referenced, this episode originally aired on March 11, 2001, almost a week before St. Patrick's Day.
* TakeThat:
** One of the things Fry does in Old New York is shout "Creator/HowardStern is overrated!"[[note]] Creator/BillyWest, Fry's voice actor, was a regular on Stern's radio show.[[/note]]
** When Fry doesn't find the clover inside the record vault, Leela suggests that maybe it disintegrated over time. Fry notes that the records in the vault held up... except, Bender adds, for "Sports" by Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews.[[note]]Depending on who you ask, though, [[Literature/AmericanPsycho that was the album where they really came into their own, commercially and artistically]].[[/note]]
** Yancy plans to use ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' soundtrack to clear the room after his wedding reception.
* TooDumbToLive: Fry tries to recover his dollar from a power line... with a metal rake.
* TragicKeepsake: As we see in the last flashback, not only did Yancy keep the seven-leaf clover (before passing it on to his son), but he ''also'' kept Fry's rocketship drawing.
* TrashLanding: While attempting to retrieve his dollar, Fry falls headfirst into a garbage can, and then has a bucket of slop dumped on him.
* VirtualAssistantBlunder: Professor Farnsworth's computer overhears the cast's conversation and helpfully [[CoincidentalBroadcast pulls up a plot-relevant documentary]], but also does two irrelevant actions:
-->'''Professor Farnsworth:''' Shut up, friends. My Internet browser heard us saying the word "Fry" and it found a movie about Philip J. Fry for us. It also opened my calendar to Friday and ordered me some French fries.
* WhamLine: "Here lies Philip J. Fry, named after his uncle, to carry on his spirit," revealing that the one who goes by Philip J. Fry isn't Yancy himself, but his son.
----
to:
[[caption-width-right:350:[[Music/SimpleMinds Don't you forget about me...]]]]
''[[CouchGag Broadcast Simultaneously One Year In The Future]]''
During his youth, Fry found a seven-leaf clover which brought him luck. In the 31st century, Fry has a string of bad luck which induces him to reclaim it.
!!Tropes
* ArcSymbol: ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' soundtrack, if only because of one certain song...
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: For all their fighting and bickering, Yancy loved and missed his little brother. He even named his son after Philip.
* BaitAndSwitch:
** When we are shown Fry's old house in Old New York, it's thoroughly wrecked, with the roof having caved in, and even Bender laments that the house has seen better days and that Father Time had took a bat to it. We then cut to the past, [[RagnarokProofing where it looks exactly the same.]]
** For most of the episode we're shown flashbacks of Yancy's jealousy of Fry, as he steals his ideas and repeatedly tries to take his seven-leaf clover, up to his discovery of the clover's hiding spot sometime after Fry was frozen, [[RedHerring leading both Fry and the audience to believe Yancy took it a step further and stole Fry's name.]] The final flashback shows that Yancy decided not to use the clover at all, but instead passed it down to his first-born son, Philip.
*** Likewise, when Yancy was poking through Fry's belongings for something to play at his wedding reception, he stumbles across a drawing Fry had made at age 20, depicting himself as an astronaut ... which Yancy proceeds to tuck into his suit discreetly. It's revealed in the last flashback that he took that drawing [[TragicKeepsake for himself]].
* {{Bookends}}: The first and last flashback involve a Yancy Fry and an unnamed woman giving birth to a Philip J. Fry.
* CheatersNeverProsper: Averted, as Bender gets away with rigging one of the horse races,
* ChekhovsGag: When listing off the names of family members who've taken the name Yancy, Yancy Fry Senior names his grandfather, and great-grandfather, but specifically does ''not'' note his own father.
* TheChewToy: Fry's search for the clover is inspired after a bad day at the races, wherein all his picks lose, his last dollar gets blown onto a power line, and in trying to retrieve it, Fry is electrocuted twice, falls into a trashcan, and gets crud dumped on him.
* TheConstant: Spoofed with Fry's childhood home. In the 31st Century it looks suitably run down ("Boy, Father Time sure took a bat to this place", according to Bender), but a flashback to the 20th Century shows it in the exact same state of disrepair.
* CuttingTheKnot: While Bender had to use vibrational frequencies to pop open the record vault[[note]]and even then, given how violently the house was shaking and the fact Bender fell apart shortly after, it's clear it wasn't ''that'' good of a method[[/note]], all Yancy had to do was roll up some Doh-Doh and use a lighter.
* DeadGuyJunior: Yancy names his son after Fry some years after Fry's disappearance and presumed death.
* DeadPersonImpersonation: Fry thinks his brother Yancy took his name and led the life he should have led, when in fact it was actually Yancy's ''son'', named in Fry's honor.
* FlashbackBPlot: The episode has Fry track down his lucky seven-leaf clover from when he was a child, while also flashing back to his life growing up with his brother Yancy who he suspects stole his clover and identity.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** The album Fry chose to hide the seven-leaf clover was the soundtrack for ''Film/TheBreakfastClub''. For those who don't know, one of the most well-known songs off of the soundtrack is "[[Music/SimpleMinds Don't You (Forget About Me)]]"...
** Upon discovering the seven-leaf clover after it falls out of ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' album, the look on Yancy's face [[TragicKeepsake is one of sadness]]. Not something you'd expect from the guy who supposedly stole Fry's life, right?
* GoodLuckCharm: Exaggerated with Fry's [[FourLeafClover seven-leaf clover]] - its new owner made a fortune off of an oil well he discovered inside the mansion he won in a lottery, then proceeded to score a string of number one hits and became the first man on Mars.
* GoodLuckGesture: Fry crosses his fingers intensely when he hopes to win money in the horse race.
* GraveRobbing: Angry that his brother Yancy apparently stole his clover and his name, Fry decides to rob his grave, and gets Leela and Bender to come along.
-->'''Bender:''' I'll grab my kit!
* GreenEyedMonster: Yancy was motivated by an intense jealousy of Fry, starting from the fact Fry got the relatively "normal" name Philip when he was born. Throughout their childhood Yancy frequently copied Fry to the point that Fry finally told Yancy "Get your own life and live it!" After Fry disappeared, it's implied Yancy finally got over this and deeply regretted how he treated his brother.
* InstantlyProvenWrong:
** Fry pulls out his last dollar and remarks, "This one I'm holding on to!" It then flies out of his hand.
** Starting down a sewer to find his old clover, Fry remarks that his bad luck will finally be over. He then falls down the sewer.
* LegacyCharacter: It turns out that the Philip J. Fry of fame is actually Yancy's son, named after his missing uncle.
* LookBothWays: [[TemptingFate Fry decides that he can jaywalk in the abandoned ruins of Old New York.]] He gets trampled by a giant lizard.
* MatchCut: Young Yancy throwing the rocket from Fry's crib out the window transitions to a similar shot of the Planet Express rocket flying through space.
* MyGreatestFailure: It's not outright said, but it's clear in the last flashback that Yancy ''really'' regrets how his relationship with Fry was before he disappeared.
-->'''Yancy:''' ''(to his newly born son)'' Son, I'm naming you Philip J. Fry in honor of my little brother... ''(sadly)'' who I miss every day. I love you, Philip. ''(sniff)'' And I always will.
* OutGivingBirthBackInTwoMinutes: The ScreamingBirth is {{subverted}} when Fry's mother turns out to be screaming at the sports game on the radio.
* PaperDestructionOfAnger: Fry angrily tears his ticket when his horse doesn't win the race and he loses the bet.
* PokeThePoodle: At the abandoned ruins of old New York City, Fry decides to do all the things he always wanted to do. Like shout "Howard Stern is overrated!" in the middle of Times Square, unhook the receiver of a public telephone, and jaywalk.
-->'''Bender:''' [[SarcasmMode New York is so burned.]]
* RagnarokProofing: Somehow, Fry's house managed to survive into the 31st century ''intact''... [[ParodiedTrope despite being wrecked]].
* RealPlaceBackground: If you can believe it, the Fry home is an [[https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/516-Rugby-Rd_Brooklyn_NY_11226_M34868-06663#photo18 actual]] house in Brooklyn, where writer Eric Kaplan once lived.
* RedHerring: Throughout the flashbacks, its implied that Yancy stole Philip's seven-leaf clover and name out of jealousy after Philip got frozen, from him first wanting to be called Philip to stealing a newborn Philip's rocket toy proclaiming it to be his, to a flashback involving him stealing Fry's entire dance routine. It's only in the last flashback that we learn that the astronaut Philip J. Fry was in fact the son of Yancy, who named him out of regret with how his relationship with Fry was before he disappeared.
* RememberTheNewGuy:
** Scruffy is introduced here as a member of the Planet Express crew, and Fry's closest confidant. But Fry still didn't tell him where he hid the clover. In this instance, the trope is being PlayedForLaughs.
** Fry just happens to share a name with the first man on Mars, and apparently no-one ever felt this worth commenting upon. Possibly [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Hermes' remark about Fry's nephew being "''that''" Philip J. Fry.
** This is the first time we've actually seen or heard of Yancy, Fry's older brother.
* TheReveal: The last flashback. Yancy did not steal Fry's name and his fate, but he named his son after him to carry on his spirit.
* ShatterpointTap: Bender tries to open the Ronco record vault by vibrating to a certain frequency. The vibrations are strong enough to shake the house and dislodge Bender's head, but it's the head hitting the vault as it falls that causes it to open.
* ShoutOut:
** Among the clutter on the shelf above Fry's safe is a [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Bart Simpson]] doll.
** Before breaking ground on his nephew's grave, Fry angrily mutters "[[ComicBook/FantasticFour It's cloverin' time]]."
** The beatboxer in Fry's breakdancing group is named "[[Music/TheNotoriousBIG Noticeably F.A.T.]]".
* SiblingRivalry: Fry had this with his older brother Yancy, who was always taking Fry's ideas for his own.
* SkewedPriorities: Fry's mom seemed a little fixated on a football game she was listening too while ''giving birth'' at the hospital. (Slightly justified, seeing as she was being sedated with morphine.)
* StealthPun: As he tries to recover his dollar bill from the power line, Fry starts saying "I'll get you back, or my name isn't Philip J. ...", then he gets electrocuted -- or ''fried'', if you will.
* StPatricksDayEpisode: Fry has a string of bad luck which induces him to reclaim a lucky seven-leaf clover from his youth. Although St. Patrick's Day is neither mentioned nor referenced, this episode originally aired on March 11, 2001, almost a week before St. Patrick's Day.
* TakeThat:
** One of the things Fry does in Old New York is shout "Creator/HowardStern is overrated!"[[note]] Creator/BillyWest, Fry's voice actor, was a regular on Stern's radio show.[[/note]]
** When Fry doesn't find the clover inside the record vault, Leela suggests that maybe it disintegrated over time. Fry notes that the records in the vault held up... except, Bender adds, for "Sports" by Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews.[[note]]Depending on who you ask, though, [[Literature/AmericanPsycho that was the album where they really came into their own, commercially and artistically]].[[/note]]
** Yancy plans to use ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' soundtrack to clear the room after his wedding reception.
* TooDumbToLive: Fry tries to recover his dollar from a power line... with a metal rake.
* TragicKeepsake: As we see in the last flashback, not only did Yancy keep the seven-leaf clover (before passing it on to his son), but he ''also'' kept Fry's rocketship drawing.
* TrashLanding: While attempting to retrieve his dollar, Fry falls headfirst into a garbage can, and then has a bucket of slop dumped on him.
* VirtualAssistantBlunder: Professor Farnsworth's computer overhears the cast's conversation and helpfully [[CoincidentalBroadcast pulls up a plot-relevant documentary]], but also does two irrelevant actions:
-->'''Professor Farnsworth:''' Shut up, friends. My Internet browser heard us saying the word "Fry" and it found a movie about Philip J. Fry for us. It also opened my calendar to Friday and ordered me some French fries.
* WhamLine: "Here lies Philip J. Fry, named after his uncle, to carry on his spirit," revealing that the one who goes by Philip J. Fry isn't Yancy himself, but his son.
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Changed line(s) 13 (click to see context) from:
** When we are shown Fry's old house in Old New York, it's thoroughly wrecked, with the roof having caved in, and even Bender lamenting that the house has seen better days and that Father Time had took a bat to it. We then cut to the past, [[RagnarokProofing where it looks exactly the same.]]
to:
** When we are shown Fry's old house in Old New York, it's thoroughly wrecked, with the roof having caved in, and even Bender lamenting laments that the house has seen better days and that Father Time had took a bat to it. We then cut to the past, [[RagnarokProofing where it looks exactly the same.]]
