c co ui Se aitVolume 78 in the series, Popular Culture and Philosophy ®, edited by George A. Reisch ‘To order books from Open Court, call toll-free 1-800-815-2280, or visit our website at www.opencourtbooks.com. Open Court Publishing Company is a division of Carus Publishing Company, dba ePals Media. Copyright © 2013 by Carus Publishing Company, dba ePals Media First printing 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, me- chanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Open Court Publishing Company, 70 East Lake Street, Suite 800, Chicago, Illinois 60601. Printed and bound in the United States of America. ISBN: 978-0-8126-9833-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 201394649522 Hegel and the Phenomenology of Futurama JAMES J. MIcIC Welcome to the world of tomorrow! —Tenny, “Space Pilot 3000” Futurama as a series is obsessed with the theme of time. The foundation of the series is based upon the implicit rela- tionship between identity and time. The phrase Fry first en- counters when he awakes from his thousand-year slumber— “Welcome to the world of tomorrow. . . . Come, your destiny awaits”—is emblematic of this fact, in that it makes the as- sumption that Fry is who he once was and still is that per- son. Take note, however, that for Fry those thousand years aren't experienced at all, to him they are completely blank. Themes regarding the relationship between the passage of time and the role consciousness plays in time’s passing are Presented throughout the series. In one of my favorite scenes to date, Fry nonchalantly rescues the attendees of an art ex- hibition from a fire about to engulf them all (“Three Hundred Big Boys,” Season Four). Fry achieves his cool and calm com- Posure as a result of consuming one hundred cups of coffee, Which is just enough to endow him with superhuman abili- ties, thus enabling him to quickly escort everyone out of the building unharmed. ’s most interesting about this scene isn’t Fry's super- Speed, but the two perspectives of events with which we're 239