I would think that the technology for cryo freezing people would have been newish by 1999, so there probably aren’t too many people from before then who woke up in 3000. There may have been a few people who froze and unfroze around the same time, so he may not be THE oldest, but I think that he’s the oldest person in the series
When fry went to a self help group for people who were frozen, there was a caveman lamenting seeing his wife in the British museum. Presumably the caveman is older than Fry.
Same episode, but Steve Castle (the 80s business guy) said he froze himself in the 1980s until there was a cure for boneitis
As a side note, how’d you know that 80’s business guys name was Steve Castle? I feel like he was only ever referred to as “that guy”?
Yeah, his name isn’t mentioned in the episode, but he was named in the script
His name, as mentioned on the audio commentary and listed in the script, is Steve Castle, but he is only ever called “That Guy” in the episode.
I looked up his name for the comment, i wasn’t sure what his name was and at the time didn’t realize it was as obscure as it is.
I presume we aren’t counting the people who are heads in jars? Even if they have shiny new bodies?
John Adams was in the hall of presidents, and has Nixon beat by more than a few years.
https://www.oldest.org/people/founding-fathers-of-the-united-states/
Your list is oldest at time of death (IRL), not earliest born. Ben Franklin is the earliest born on that list, and also the earliest born head in a jar according to the Infosphere and Fandom wikis.
If forward time travel counts, then yes by a large margin.
I totally forgot about that. That would make him the oldest person in the universe, no?
I think they are referring to when they took the long way to go back in time, by going forward and looping around.
There were Neanderthals in the episode “Fun on a Bun” but I don’t recall if their bodies were frozen for eons or if they just lived as an isolated society for ages. Nevertheless, boneitis 80’s guy would still be older than Fry.
I also think that age should also be measured relative to the character’s perspective (or at least the perspective of their body). In essence, cryo freeze for 1000 years = 1000 years of aging, but accelerating 1000 years of time in a matter of 5 minutes from the traveller’s perspective = 5 minutes of age.
So when you’re frozen you don’t age. So when Fry goes into the freezer doodle at 25, he also exits at age 25.
For example when Fry, Farnsworth & Bender time travel and loop back around, we wouldn’t give them a negative age. If they spend a year time traveling, we would add a year to their age.
So I think we need to consider the oldest as someone with the most years doing something. However since time travel is involved it’s time spend doing things that they then remember.
So Bender, ignoring for a moment he is a robot, being stuck in Roswell would make him quite old since he remembers it all.
Now let’s talk about Fry specifically. In the season 7 finale, “Meanwhile” Fry plays with the time button, gaining new knowledge every time he pushes the button. Eventually Fry jumps off a building, resetting time once he sees Leela. Fry falls for a long time, but we don’t know how long he falls. Time stops, Fry & Leela live a life, but Farnsworth resets time back to when time first stopped. BUT that means Fry still remembers jumping off the building and ALL the times he pushed the button. As a quick throwaway joke when we resume season 8 we learn 10 years have passed. That means Fry remembers pushing the button to reset time FOR 10 YEARS.
So while Fry may not be the oldest, he is at least 10 years older in terms of memory, which I think is interesting to think about.
