Futurama and Philosophy Read online

  Futurama and Philosophy

  Popular Culture and Philosophy® Series Editor: George A. Reisch

  VOLUME 1 Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing (2000)

  VOLUME 2 The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’oh! of Homer (2001)

  VOLUME 3 The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real (2002)

  VOLUME 4 Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale (2003)

  VOLUME 5 The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All (2003)

  VOLUME 9 Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts (2004)

  VOLUME 12 Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine (2005)

  VOLUME 13 Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way (2005)

  VOLUME 19 Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think! (2006)

  VOLUME 25 The Beatles and Philosophy: Nothing You Can Think that Can’t Be Thunk (2006)

  VOLUME 26 South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating (2007)

  VOLUME 30 Pink Floyd and Philosophy: Careful with that Axiom, Eugene! (2007)

  VOLUME 33 Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: Mission Accomplished or Mission Frakked Up? (2008)

  VOLUME 35 Star Trek and Philosophy: The Wrath of Kant (2008)

  VOLUME 36 The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy: I Link Therefore I Am (2008)

  VOLUME 38 Radiohead and Philosophy: Fitter Happier More Deductive (2009)

  VOLUME 39 Jimmy Buffett and Philosophy: The Porpoise Driven Life (2009) Edited by Erin McKenna and Scott L. Pratt

  VOLUME 41 Stephen Colbert and Philosophy: I Am Philosophy (And So Can You!) (2009) Edited by Aaron Allen Schiller

  VOLUME 42 Supervillains and Philosophy: Sometimes, Evil Is Its Own Reward (2009) Edited by Ben Dyer

  VOLUME 43 The Golden Compass and Philosophy: God Bites the Dust (2009) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison

  VOLUME 44 Led Zeppelin and Philosophy: All Will Be Revealed (2009) Edited by Scott Calef

  VOLUME 45 World of Warcraft and Philosophy: Wrath of the Philosopher King (2009) Edited by Luke Cuddy and John Nordlinger

  Volume 46 Mr. Monk and Philosophy: The Curious Case of the Defective Detective (2010) Edited by D.E. Wittkower

  Volume 47 Anime and Philosophy: Wide Eyed Wonder (2010) Edited by Josef Steiff and Tristan D. Tamplin

  VOLUME 48 The Red Sox and Philosophy: Green Monster Meditations (2010) Edited by Michael Macomber

  VOLUME 49 Zombies, Vampires, and Philosophy: New Life for the Undead (2010) Edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad

  VOLUME 50 Facebook and Philosophy: What’s on Your Mind? (2010) Edited by D.E. Wittkower

  VOLUME 51 Soccer and Philosophy: Beautiful Thoughts on the Beautiful Game (2010) Edited by Ted Richards

  VOLUME 52 Manga and Philosophy: Fullmetal Metaphysician (2010) Edited by Josef Steiff and Adam Barkman

  VOLUME 53 Martial Arts and Philosophy: Beating and Nothingness (2010) Edited by Graham Priest and Damon Young

  VOLUME 54 The Onion and Philosophy: Fake News Story True, Alleges Indignant Area Professor (2010) Edited by Sharon M. Kaye

  VOLUME 55 Doctor Who and Philosophy: Bigger on the Inside (2010) Edited by Courtland Lewis and Paula Smithka

  VOLUME 56 Dune and Philosophy: Weirding Way of the Mentat (2011) Edited by Jeffery Nicholas

  VOLUME 57 Rush and Philosophy: Heart and Mind United (2011) Edited by Jim Berti and Durrell Bowman

  VOLUME 58 Dexter and Philosophy: Mind over Spatter (2011) Edited by Richard Greene, George A. Reisch, and Rachel Robison-Greene

  VOLUME 59 Halo and Philosophy: Intellect Evolved (2011) Edited by Luke Cuddy

  VOLUME 60 SpongeBob SquarePants and Philosophy: Soaking Up Secrets Under the Sea! (2011) Edited by Joseph J. Foy

  VOLUME 61 Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy: The Footprints of a Gigantic Mind (2011) Edited by Josef Steiff

  VOLUME 62 Inception and Philosophy: Ideas to Die For (2011) Edited by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein

  VOLUME 63 Philip K. Dick and Philosophy: Do Androids Have Kindred Spirits? (2011) Edited by D.E. Wittkower

  VOLUME 64 The Rolling Stones and Philosophy: It’s Just a Thought Away (2012) Edited by Luke Dick and George A. Reisch

  VOLUME 65 Chuck Klosterman and Philosophy: The Real and the Cereal (2012) Edited by Seth Vannatta

  VOLUME 66 Neil Gaiman and Philosophy: Gods Gone Wild! (2012) Edited by Tracy L. Bealer, Rachel Luria, and Wayne Yuen

  VOLUME 67 Breaking Bad and Philosophy: Badder Living through Chemistry (2012) Edited by David R. Koepsell and Robert Arp

  VOLUME 68 The Walking Dead and Philosophy: Zombie Apocalypse Now (2012) Edited by Wayne Yuen

  VOLUME 69 Curb Your Enthusiasm and Philosophy: Awaken the Social Assassin Within (2012) Edited by Mark Ralkowski

  VOLUME 70 Dungeons and Dragons and Philosophy: Raiding the Temple of Wisdom (2012) Edited by Jon Cogburn and Mark Silcox

  VOLUME 71 The Catcher in the Rye and Philosophy: A Book for Bastards, Morons, and Madmen (2012) Edited by Keith Dromm and Heather Salter

  VOLUME 72 Jeopardy! and Philosophy: What Is Knowledge in the Form of a Question? (2012) Edited by Shaun P. Young

  VOLUME 73 The Wire and Philosophy: This America, Man (2013) Edited by David Bzdak, Joanna Crosby, and Seth Vannatta

  VOLUME 74 Planet of the Apes and Philosophy: Great Apes Think Alike (2013) Edited by John Huss

  VOLUME 75 Psych and Philosophy: Some Dark Juju-Magumbo (2013) Edited by Robert Arp

  VOLUME 76 The Good Wife and Philosophy: Temptations of Saint Alicia (2013) Edited by Kimberly Baltzer-Jaray and Robert Arp

  VOLUME 77 Boardwalk Empire and Philosophy: Bootleg This Book (2013) Edited by Richard Greene and Rachel Robison-Greene

  VOLUME 78 Futurama and Philosophy: Bite My Shiny Metal Axiom (2013) Edited by Courtland Lewis and Shaun P. Young

  VOLUME 79 Frankenstein and Philosophy: The Shocking Truth (2013) Edited by Nicolas Michaud

  VOLUME 80 Ender’s Game and Philosophy: Genocide Is Child’s Play (2013) Edited by D.E. Wittkower and Lucinda Rush

  IN PREPARATION:

  How I Met Your Mother and Philosophy (2014) Edited by Lorenzo von Matterhorn

  Jurassic Park and Philosophy: The Truth Is Terrifying (2014) Edited by Nicolas Michaud

  The Devil and Philosophy (2014) Edited by Robert Arp

  Justified and Philosophy (2014) Edited by Rod Carveth

  Leonard Cohen and Philosophy (2014) Edited by Jason Holt

  Homeland and Philosophy (2014) Edited by Robert Arp

  Adventure Time and Philosophy (2015) Edited by Nicolas Michaud

  For full details of all Popular Culture and Philosophy® books, visit www.opencourtbooks.com.

  Popular Culture and Philosophy®

  Futurama and

  Philosophy

  Bite My Shiny Metal Axiom

  Edited by

  COURTLAND LEWIS

  and

  SHAUN P. YOUNG

  OPEN COURT

  Chicago

  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, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior wr
itten permission of the publisher, Open Court Publishing Company, 70 East Lake Street, Suite 800, Chicago, Illinois 60601.

  ISBN: 978-0-8126-9840-4

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2013946495

  Contents

  Onwards and Upwards . . . to the Futurama!

  COURTLAND LEWIS AND SHAUN P. YOUNG

  This Week on All My Circuits . . .

  1.Zoidberg’s Freedom Lesson

  JOSEPH J. FOY AND TIMOTHY M. DALE

  2.Slurm, Worms, and Jacking On

  SHAUN P. YOUNG

  3.Futurama and the Economy of Trash

  JASON BUCHANAN

  4.Zapp Brannigan’s Big Book of War

  DANIEL P. MALLOY

  The Scary Door of Self and Existence

  5.Sexlexia and Other Sexy Learning Disabilities

  JERRY PIVEN

  6.Good Old Bender!

  RYAN JENKINS

  7.We’re Gathered to Remember

  COURTLAND LEWIS

  8.Can There Be a Fate Worse than Death?

  HEATHER SALAZAR

  9.Fry’s Brain Thing

  CHARLENE ELSBY

  Aliens, Robots, and Mutants . . . Oh My!

  10. Moral and Immoral Robots

  CURTIS D. VON GUNTEN

  11. Pop a Poppler?

  GREG AHRENHOERSTER AND JOSEPH J. FOY

  12. Kiss My Shiny Metal Autonomy

  DEBORAH PLESS

  Good News Everyone, It’s Time

  13. On Becoming Your Own Grandfather

  DAN BURKETT

  14. Room for God in Futurama?

  JOHN M. DEPOE

  15. On Bendered Knees

  NICHOLAS A. OSCHMAN

  16. Go Upgrade Yourself

  DAMIEN PATRICK WILLIAMS

  17. A Billion Years Late for Dinner

  KARL LADEROUTE

  Morbo Demands More Futurama

  18. The Evil that Brains Do

  JOSHUA MILLS-KNUTSEN

  19. Queer Eye for the Robot Kind

  BRIAN ONISHI

  20. Mutate! Mutate! Mutate!

  JAMES REITTER

  21. Fry, Windmills Don’t Work that Way!!

  TRAVIS TAFT

  22. Hegel and the Phenomenology of Futurama

  JAMES J. MICIC

  23. It’s Only Sane to Hide the Body in Your Mattress

  RUSSELL HAMER

  Futurama Episodes, Writers, and Voice Actors

  The Twenty-First-Century Planet Express Crew

  Index

  Onwards and Upwards . . . to the Futurama!

  COURTLAND LEWIS AND SHAUN P. YOUNG

  IN THE BEGINNING, thus spake Fry: “Space, it seems to go on and on forever, but then you get to the end and a gorilla starts throwing barrels at you . . . and that’s how you play the game.”

  These were the first words spoken on March 28th, 1999 during Futurama’s premiere episode “Space Pilot 3000,” and they’re our first glimpse into the mind of Fry and the nature of Futurama. Was Fry’s comment that of a “stinky loser” who can’t even win at “Monkey Fracas Jr.,” or was it the musing of a wise man?

  There’s a good possibility if you’re reading this book you think Fry was saying something (potentially) deeply profound. Maybe he was trying to get us to see that life is filled with ups and downs. Some events seem to last forever, while others seem all-too-brief, and that on our life’s journey there’ll be challenges and obstacles that’ll attempt to prevent us from being happy. Or, maybe he was merely trying to say that when someone calls you a booger blaster, you should blast a booger so hard that. . . . If only there was some way we could know what Fry was trying to tell us. GOOD NEWS EVERYBODY! There’s a book that explains what Fry meant, and you’re holding it in your hands right now!

  Futurama and Philosophy is dedicated to examining the wisdom of Fry and Futurama, and to be a part of this book is as exciting as the chance to live in the year 3000, have alien and mutant friends, save the world, make love to a radiator, become emperor of a planet, meet the original crew of Star Trek, save the Fourth Doctor, outwit the Robot Devil . . . circuit overload; please insert girder. . . .

  Sorry about that! What were we saying? Oh yeah! We were talking about how great Futurama is, and how exciting it is to have our own twenty-first-century Planet Express crew of enquiring minds with the ability to shed some present-day light on Futurama’s lessons about ethics, time travel, science, culture, society, human existence, freedom, and responsibility. Professor Farnsworth would be proud (but likely prouder if it included a doomsday device—or, at least the schematics for one).

  The truth is Matt Groening and David X. Cohen created a program that was much more than your typical cartoon. In fact, they created the gold standard of high-quality TV. The quality of Futurama has been recognized both by its fans and its peers. It has won five Emmys, seven Annie Awards, and two Writers Guild of America Awards, as well as receiving two Environmental Media Awards. With crisp 3-D animation and challenging storylines that engage issues in philosophy, mathematics, physics, normalcy, and the environment, Futurama has forever changed the public’s perception of what’s possible with a TV cartoon. Following in the footsteps of other great sci-fi and animated shows, Futurama invites viewers to let down their guard and be swept up in the meaning and mystery of everyday life, whether you spend your time delivering pizzas, making doomsday devices, or cleaning “terlets.”

  What draws so many fans to Futurama? Perhaps it’s because it’s a simple story of a young man who gets caught up in a series of events beyond his control, and through luck and determination, ends up living a fascinating and extremely silly life with a whole host of friends, lovers, and crazy knife wielding robots—“Stand back, I gotta practice my stabbing!”

  Stories like Fry’s are the hallmark of most great literature. Just think about the tales of Moses, Gilgamesh, Odysseus, Don Quixote, and Frodo, and see how each one provides a story of a flawed individual called on to rise above his inadequacies and to become a hero of his people. Fry, with his Shasta and Rush mix-tape, is our twenty-first-century hero, whether we’re comfortable with it or not. One of the charms of Futurama is that it takes the normal and mundane and presents them as new and strange. For the authors of this book, it’s that backdrop that provides a rich source for examining and challenging our understanding of life and meaning.

  Luckily for viewers, Futurama is as resilient as Fry’s buffoonery and Bender’s in-your-face attitude. Though it was once “another classic science fiction show canceled before its time,” fans helped resurrect it, and so there’s nothing preventing it from being resurrected again, and again, until this universe ends and a new one begins. Perhaps Zapp Brannigan’s Big Book of War can offer some useful guidance on how to provoke a change of heart among the brainless drones at Box Network—we could always send wave after wave of fans at them, until the show is permanently placed in production. Alternatively, we can all seek out a local cryogenics lab and have ourselves frozen, with the hope that when we are unfrozen, the Planet Express crew’s license will be permanently reinstated. In short, Futurama is here to stay, whether it’s on TV, DVDs, Blu-ray, comics, or in a philosophy book.

  This Week on All My Circuits . . .

  1

  Zoidberg’s Freedom Lesson

  JOSEPH J. FOY AND TIMOTHY M. DALE

  Happy Freedom Day, everyone! It’s a fabulous, crab-ulous day to celebrate being able to do anything you want, and to splick with the consequences. It’s a day to enjoy parades, dance on tables, toss food off your balcony, watch fireworks, and strip down for some nude hot-tubbing, which is probably the only thing you needed to hear about Freedom Day. There’s nothing crazy about it. It’s just Freedom Day (brought to you by Shankman’s Rubbing Compound). Freedom, freedom, freedom, oy!

  Now That’s a Grand Old Flag!

  In the Season Four episode “A Taste of Freedom,” after celebrating Freedom Day at Planet Express, the crew decides to join thousands of others in attending a Freedom
Day parade and fireworks display narrated by none other than President of Earth, Richard Milhouse Nixon’s Head. In the rocket’s red glare of Charleston Chew–shaped explosions, Nixon’s head describes the freedoms of Earth being so widespread it is “sickening.” The people of Earth have the freedom to choose which hand their sex-monitoring chip is implanted, and between paying their taxes or spending a weekend with the Pain Monster. (See you April 15th, folks!)

  It’s during this celebration that Old Freebie, the flag of Earth, is revealed to an awe-inspired crowd. Old Freebie is a symbol of Earth’s freedom, and an emblem of the political community that unites the citizens of Earth under a common identity. Old Freebie, in the words of President Nixon’s Head, reminds us that “in our darkest hour we can stand erect, with proud, upthrust bosoms!” (Anyone who laughs is a communist!) However, when Nixon casts a “shifty glance” toward the flag, he and the crowd discover it’s gone; the last remnants disappearing down the hungry, tentacle mouth of Dr. John Zoidberg. Zoidberg proudly professes his guilt:

  Yes, fellow patriots, I ate your flag. And I did it with pride. For to express oneself with doing a thing is the very essence of Freedom Day! Bless this planet and all its wonderful people!

  The people are understandably upset when Zoidberg destroys that venerated symbol of Earth, as his actions have struck an apparent blow to the symbolic representation of the community and all it signifies. He sought to express his personal sentiments in a way he saw befitting the day, but to everyone else assembled his actions were offensive and reprehensible. In response to Zoidberg’s ingesting of the flag, Nixon’s head calls for the crowd to “kill the traitor.” As Zoidberg scuttles away, the assembled masses quickly become an angry mob moving to “stop that red menace.”

  For those of us not lucky enough to be frozen until we’re welcomed to the world of tomorrow, the tensions between Zoidberg’s expression of individual freedom and the popular sentiments of the larger, democratic community are all-too-familiar. While it’s often the case that principles of personal liberty are presented as synonymous with democracy, the reality is that the two are often at odds. For example, while Farnsworth may desire to have the personal right to possess a doomsday device (such as in Season Three’s “Time Keeps on Slippin’”), there may be popular calls for regulation, restriction, or even a complete ban of such weapons.