Futurama Returns in Futurama: Bender's Big Score
Written: Feb 04 '08 (Updated Sep 03 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Brings back the highly entertaining show. Interesting story.
Cons: Nothing for me.
The Bottom Line: Futurama: Bender's Big Score is a great movie for fans of Futurama.
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| dragonfire88's Full Review: Futurama the Movie: Bender's Big Score |
Matt Groening created a futuristic animated show called Futurama after his first how, The Simpsons, became very popular. I watched Futurama when it was on and really enjoyed the show. Unfortunately, FOX bounced the show around on the schedule and ultimately ended up cancelling the show. Since that happened, I have picked up the four DVD sets and have watched the reruns on Cartoon Network. I was very happy when I found out that a new straight to DVD movie was being released. I just watched Futurama: Bender's Big Score and really enjoyed it.
Two years after Planet Express had their delivery license pulled, the decision was reversed and the company was back in business. The crew’s first job was to make a delivery to a nude beach. While there, they encountered aliens who ultimately used spam e-mail to scam them and ended up in control of Planet Express. The scammer aliens discovered the secret of time travel and used Bender to go back in time to steal priceless historic items. While all of that was going on, Fry had to deal with the jealousy he was feeling when Leela met Lars and started dating him.
Futurama: Bender’s Big Score was actually made up of four twenty-two minute episodes that will eventually air on Comedy Central. The episodes fit together very well and the writers successfully blended several plots and sub-plots together. If I hadn’t already read that the movie was made up of four episodes, I never would have realized. A wonderful job was done blending the different stories together into one longer story that was fairly complicated. I really wasn’t liking how one thing was happening, but then there was a twist that made me happier with the situation. Things were resolved by the end of the movie with their still being a late development that served as a cliff hanger. I’m already anxious to get the next DVD movie even though I have no idea when it will be released.
Futurama: Bender’s Big Score contained the same type of humor that the animated series had. Sometimes it was a bit twisted or sarcastic, but it all worked very well throughout the movie. The first few minutes were extremely funny with how the writers took some jabs at FOX for cancelling the show. The way the aliens scammed the Planet Express employees was very humorous and also somewhat realistic since many people have received some similar scam emails about winning some contest or being the next of kin of some rich person in another country. I thought that all of the characters did things that added humor. Some of the jokes were a bit off color in nature which may offend some viewers. Anyone that has watched the animated show would be use to that since it frequently happened on the show as well. The movie continued to trend of poking fun at science fiction in general. There were bits that were similar to Independence Day and Star Wars. Much of that was connected to what happened after the scammer aliens learned the secret of time travel.
There were several little things that turned up in Futurama: Bender’s Big Score that tied back in to things that happened during the animated series. I loved that there were so many references back to the show since that really helped to connect the show and this movie. I also liked that the movie took the time to acknowledge that there hadn’t been any new material created for two years. There were things that tied all the way back into when Fry was originally frozen. Those sort of things did make me wonder if the writers had these story elements plotted out back when FOX cancelled the show or if they were developed only after Comedy Central made the deal to order new episodes.
Throughout most of the seasons of Futurama, there were hints about a relationship between Fry and Leela that never really went anywhere. It was made very clear that Fry loved Leela while she kept dismissing him, mainly because she felt he was too immature. Futurama: Bender’s Big Score also took time to deal with their relationship. Things were quickly made more complicated when Leela and Lars met and started to date. Fry was very jealous and resented that Lars just showed up and swept Leela off her feet. I was pleasantly surprised with how this situation worked out. There weren’t any sex scenes, but there were a few sexual remarks. The bare backsides of several characters were shown, and not just when they were at the nude beach. There really wasn’t anything in the movie that hadn’t been in the animated show. Parents may want to check out the movie before letting their kids watch it.
Leela, Fry, and Bender had the most to do in Futurama: Bender’s Big Score. I was sort of expecting that since those three tended to be the main players in the animated show as well. Bender was still sarcastic much of the time and he didn’t seem as upset by what the scammer aliens did as the rest of them, though there was an extenuating circumstance for that. Fry was struggling to accept that Leela was dating someone else and that did cause Fry to do something. The Professor, Hermes, Amy, and Dr. Zoidberg were all around, though they didn’t receive as much attention, much like tended to happen in the animated show. Nibbler, Leela’s alien pet, ended up with something important to do as well. The same group of voice actors returned to voice their characters.
The scammer aliens were new for this movie. They kept coming up with new ways to scam people and really weren’t nice at all. Lars was the other new character added that played a significant part in what was going on. He fell for Leela when they first met and did treat her very well. Some other more minor character from the show also turned up a few times as well. Zapp Brannigan and Kif were only briefly shown. It would have been nice if those two had been around more. Hermes wife LaBarbara and their son were in a few scenes without playing large parts in what was going on. Scruffy, a janitor at Planet Express who showed up in a few episodes of the shows made an appearance as well. Robot Santa and Kwanzabot were joined by the Chanukah Zombie and Al Gore also returned as well.
Voice Talent
Coolio - Kwanzabot
John Di Maggio - Bender/Barbados Slim/Robot Santa/Elzar/Mr. Panucci/Sal/Additional Voices
Al Gore - Himself
Mark Hamil - Chanukah Zombie
David Herman - Nudar/Scruffy/Turanga Morris/Additional Voices
Maurice LaMarche - Kif/Morbo/Narrator/Shlump/Hedonismbot/Donbot/Clamps/Additional Voices
Phil LaMarr - Hermes Conrad/Bubblegum Tate/Additional Voices
Dawn Lewis - LaBarbara Conrad
Tress MacNeille - Linda the Newsanchor/Dr. Cahill/Dr. Shlivinowitz/Turanga Munda/Additional Voices
Katey Sagal - Turanga Leela
Sarah Silverman - Michelle
Lauren Tom - Amy Wong/Additional Voices
Frank Welker - Nibbler/Fleb/Seymour/Additional Voices
Billy West - Philip J. Fry/Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth/Dr. Zoidberg/Zapp Brannigan/God Entity/President Nixon’s Head/Lars/Additional Voices
Dwayne Carey-Hill - Director
DVD Information
Futurama: Bender’s Big Score was released on November 27, 2007. The movie was never released to theaters, so it wasn’t rated. I found my copy for $14.99 in January since I waited to see if I might receive it for Christmas before buying it. My copy has the widescreen version of the movie. I’m not sure if there is also a full screen version. The DVD contains several special features. There is a commentary with several people involved with the movie, including some of the voice talent.
There is a live comic book reading by the cast, an episode of a show from Futurama featuring Hypnotoad, deleted storyboard scenes, an animated promo for An Inconvenient Truth featuring Al Gore and Bender, a math lecture connected to the show, 3D models, the original first draft of the script, design sketches for new characters, and an original five minute promo that aired at Comic-Con. Bite My Shiny Metal X, the math lecture, was actually very interesting. An actual math professor was talking about different mathematical properties that have turned up in episodes of the show and this movie. Different people involved with the making of the show, including Matt Groening, also took part in the lecture.
Futurama: Bender’s Big Score was a very entertaining movie that brought Futurama back. The plot and characters were fleshed out and things were well resolved by the end. I’m already looking forward to getting the next Futurama DVD movie.
Futurama Reviews
Futurama - Volume 1 ~ Futurama - Volume 2 ~ Futurama - Volume 3 ~ Futurama - Volume 4 ~ Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs ~ Futurama: Bender's Game ~ Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder ~
Simpsons Reviews
The Simpsons - The Complete First Season ~ The Simpsons - The Complete Second Season ~ The Simpsons - The Complete Third Season ~ The Simpsons - The Complete Fourth Season ~ The Simpsons - Season 5 ~ The Simpsons - Season 6 ~ The Simpsons - Season 7 ~ The Simpsons - Season 8 ~The Simpsons - Season 9 ~ The Simpsons - Season 10 ~ The Simpsons - Season 11 ~ The Simpsons - Season 12 ~ The Simpsons Movie ~
Recommended:
Yes
Viewing Format: DVD
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