Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Part 4 of 4. Last time on Futurama.... We looked at the infusion of more emotion into the stories. In this episode we will look at continuity. But first a little overview.

Yes, unfortunately this is the final season of the show (or was for a number of years). It actually aired for 5 "seasons," but since we're going by production seasons this fourth installment is all that's left in the original run of the series. I expected it to go out on more of a flourish making this set a mild disappointment. What makes up for that, though, is the continued use of emotional range and the tying in of numerous episodes.

The continuity throughout the series changes to match the joke, or, at the very least, requires a vivid imagination to make the conflictions explainable. In one episode someone may point out that Bender has no sense of taste while later on he thinks anchovies taste awful. That might be explainable with some sci-fi development, but the show never gets into it. In one episode Bender lives in a tiny, bare room while in another it's large enough to hold a lot of things pleasing to a young pilferer. We are told the first PE crew was killed by a Space Wasp, but that later becomes bees. Bender's composition of elements varies. If you add together all the times he's said "I'm x% of such and such metal" it equals to well over 100%. At one time his young self looks like his current self while at another time he looks like a kid robot.

The kid robot is also a great example of tossing reality for the sake of a joke. Since he's not organic he wouldn't grow from one stage to the next like a human, but doing that for an episode where everyone is getting younger adds more comedy than having him stay the same. So there's a good bit of jumping around, as you can see.

There is also a continuity of events, however, that ties a little more closely together. For instance, Leela's relationship with Zapp, Amy's with Kif, and Fry's with Amy pop up from time to time rather than them acting like they never happened (Fry reminiscing about Amy spoils his date with Leela in one episode). Even though in past episodes Amy is sometimes hung up on Kif while sometimes acting like she's still playing the field, their relationship solidifies a lot this season. Fry likewise has been interested in Leela fr quite some time, but that intensifies and ends up being key in the closure of the series.

There are at least 3 major references to large numbers of robots seen in previous episodes. One is just names, one is just a handful of references including Roberto and Fatbot, and one contains the majority of the robots seen throughout the entire series including Preacherbot, Fender, Masked Unit, Chain Smoker, and numerous others. It was fun to see so many of them this close to the end.

Several explanations are offered this season. I'm glad they were able to get this stuff in before the end. The concept of a smizmar is explained since it had been introduced as kind of a 3rd sex. We see the secret of Leela's origins which plays into several episodes. It isn't just referred to, it's a major part of at least 3 otherwise unrelated stories.

"The Why of Fry" brings a lot more together than any other episode. First, it's the sequel to "The Day The Earth Stood Stupid" so it expands the Nibblonians vs. the Brains story. Second, it explains Fry's uniqueness from other beings by referencing "Roswell That Ends Well." And third, it adds a conspiracy element in Fry's coming to the future going back to the pilot. "Jurassic Bark," also referencing the pilot, gives a clue to this conspiracy tying itself in to this episode as well. This one episode especially, but the whole season in general, gives the series the feel of an overall design rather than a bunch of various stories connected only by the premise.

A couple of things I had hoped to see this season were another Christmas episode and another "Anthology of Interest." That's one reason I didn't like this one as much as season 3. They had built up that expectation then dropped the ideas. Another thing is the lack of guest stars. I guess they spent their budget to get the Star Trek cast on at the same time, but there are only a few other episodes with guests.

There's really not a whole lot of closure to the series, but there is enough of a lead for you to use your imagination. What do you think happens? I had speclated in the original version of this review, but upon editing it to fix some format errors I removed those thoughts since the series has been picked up again.  For a while this was the end, but no longer.

I hated to see it end and was initially very excited to see it continue after being away for so long, however elements of the continuing show have pretty much killed my interest in the series as a whole.  I used to watch these DVD's frequntly and have barely touched them in the months following the new episodes.

Content:
I didn't notice as much bad language this time although there's still some in most if not all episodes. I didn't notice as much nudity either. Farnsworth and Amy show their backsides in different episodes, Amy and a couple of the guys give half-moons, and Zapp give a long, disgusting look at his naked body. There does seem to be more of the right-on-the-verge-of-nudity and skimpy clothing shots, though. There are also shots of Fry and Zapp's butts on a couple of the DVD interfaces. There's some violence, but it's mostly silly and bloodless. "Spanish Fry" is the only one that stands out as far as sexual jokes.

DVD:
The original packaging design had the standard clamshell cases in a box which was very cool and featured a lot of original artwork. It has been repackaged at least once since then and is also available in the Bender's head set.

The interfaces are fun and original. One thing I miss from set 3 is the individual episode descriptions that play on the interfaces. 4 gives us some comical audio, but it's random lines rather than anything specific to the episode.

The visuals of the interfaces feature different characters looking through binoculars at the PE HQ. The menu selections are written on things like a chalkboard or a refrigerator.

Video quality is great and audio is a nice 2.0 Surround.

Extras:
Extras! We love extras! The Play All feature is here again much to my delight.
Most of the extras are galleries. The most extensive one is the 3D models. This gallery has 11 animated wireframes and turnarounds with commentary. Many of them are too brief, but they're all interesting.

Last go around we learned how to draw Fry and Leela. This time it's Bender and Farnsworth. The backgrounds of them are not as comical as last time, though.

There's a great new characters gallery showing off many of the new robots and people with perfect clarity.

The character pencil tests are 9 simple black and white animations showing off scenes and characters. Some of them are hard to see.

Captions Not Used is more of the little opening caption ideas that they scrapped. We saw the same feature (with different captions) hidden last season. This time go to "Spanish Fry" on D4 and hit left until the image changes then hit enter. Like last time this is formatted like a slideshow. It offers no capabilities of skipping ahead which is annoying since it takes so long to go through them. If you don't watch them all at once you'll never get to the end.

Every episode has a commentary which includes producers, writers, directors, and actors. They can be slow and dry or informative and entertaining. The majority of them are actually pretty good especially when Billy, John, and Maurice get into character. Animaniacs fans will want to listen to "The Why of Fry" if no other one.

There are other extras that relate to specific episodes including numerous deleted scenes and hidden table reads. Since I'm writing descriptions for each episode I'll list the rest of the extras with the episodes they belong to.

Episodes:
Speaking of episodes we get 21 this time at roughly 22 minutes each.  Chapter divisions are mostly logical and handy.

1) Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch: Kif gets pregnant, but the identity of the mother is in doubt. No matter who the genetic parent is Kif sees Amy is his one and only, but she's not sure she's ready for such a responsibility. She must come to grips with herself and decide what is more important, her freedom from major responsibility or her relationship with Kif.

It has a bunch of short deleted scenes that are very funny. It also has the complete storyboard. That is interesting to see the conceptual art but most of the text is hard to read.

2) Leela's Homeworld: Leela uncovers evidence that she is being stalked by people who know the fate of her parents. She is determined to discover the truth, but she may not be ready for what she learns. It has a touching ending.

This one has a few mildly funny deleted scenes.

3) Love And Rocket: The ship gets an upgrade to a female personality. Bender courts her then gets bored. It's not good to be in a ship in the middle of space and take away its will to exist. PE Ship sets her sights on compressing her and Bender together by flying them into a quasar. It will take a team effort to stop her, but she has disabled the oxygen and gravity - bad news for Fry and Leela. Fry proves he is willing to put his life on the line for Leela as he searches for a way to make her fall in love with him.

Sigourney Weaver guest stars and Lucy Liu makes a cameo.
This one has a deleted scene with a mildly funny joke and an international clip which has 4 language tracks including English.

4) Less Than Hero: Fry and Leela find an ointment that endows them with super powers for a short while. They decide to form the New Justice Team along with Bender. When the Zookeeper discovers their true identities, he uses that to blackmail them into doing his bidding. It could have used a more exciting, triumphant, heroic ending.

This one includes a deleted scene that the commentators also mention.

5) A Taste Of Freedom: Freedom Day is a time when Earthicans do whatever they want without fear of consequence. Zoidberg is especially appreciative of that concept and displays it by eating Earth's flag at a planet-wide ceremony. So much for no consequences; he is put on trial and found guilty. In retribution his race attacks and conquers Earth. Zoidberg wants Earthicans to appreciate their freedom so he takes it away for the purpose of teaching them a lesson. His superiors, though, take it too far so he joins with Earth to fight for freedom once again.

Phil Hendrie guest stars.
This one has the wig scene mentioned in the commentary with some partial nudity plus one lame joke.

6) Bender Should Not Be Allowed On TV: Bender manages to weasel his way onto "All My Circuits" as Calculon's son. He does anything but follow the script, but his high energy dancing, smoking, and drinking increases ratings so the network puts up with him. Dwight and Cubert love him and begin emulating his habits so their dads form a protest group. When the boys take the last big step to thievery it's Bender they rob. This sets him off to the point that he joins the protest group himself. They march on the studio lot, but the network execs will have their rating-winning performance if they have to get it a gunpoint.

10) Jurassic Bark: Fry discovers his petrified dog in a museum. He had met Seymour on a pizza delivery, and they were fast friends. Now he wants his friend back since the Professor has the ability to clone. Bender is jealous, though, he wants to be the center of Fry's affections so he tries to sabotage the cloning process. That's when he realizes how much the dog really means to Fry. The ending is perhaps the most tear-jerking of any episode.

It has a second commentary by several of the directors. It's informative, but they all try to talk at once several times.

11) Crimes Of The Hot: Global warming is beginning to cause serious problems with the heat index. The world's top scientists gather to find a new solution to the problem when Farnsworth reveals a shocking revelation. It's the emissions from the robots that is causing the warming. President Nixon sets in motion a plan to deactivate all robots including Bender. It's up to Farnsworth to find a solution and save all the robots.

Al Gore makes a cameo.
It has a funny but stupid deleted scene.

12) Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles: The PE staff determines that Farnsworth is too old. They take him to a youth spa. Bender's over zealousness results in them all being covered in youth tar. They are all reverted to their younger selves. In an effort to correct the problem Farnsworth makes it worse; now they're getting continuously younger which will not stop until they no longer exist. The mythological fountain of aging seems to be their only hope, but it's a dangerous swim to take.

This one has some weak deleted scenes with different voices for the girls.

13) The Why Of Fry: The brains have set out to learn everything there is to know about the universe at which point they will destroy all other life. Nibbler takes Fry into space and explains why he is the only person that can defeat the brains. The brains reveal the truth about the night Fry fell into the cryogenic chamber; it wasn't an accident. They offer Fry a chance to keep that from happening so he will stay in his own time, but there may be one thing in his future life that will make him not want to do that.

This one has a pretty funny deleted scene.

14) Where No Fan Has Gone Before: Fry can't accept the fact that Star Trek is outlawed. He takes Leonard Nimoy on a quest to find the other cast members and episode tapes. The crew discovers a strange world where an energy being named Melllvar has kidnapped Shatner and the others for a non-stop Star Trek convention. When he sees the heroism of the PE crew, he pits the two groups against each other in a battle to the death. They beat the crap out of each other for a while before deciding that a team effort will be the only escape from this prison planet.

Jonathan Frakes has a cameo. William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Walter Koenig, George Takei, and Nichelle Nichols guest star.
This one has a deleted scene with a weak line from Zapp.
At the episode menu highlight Home then move right. When the picture changes, press enter. This takes you to some video clips of Comic Con. Writer Goodman talks about the Star Trek cast, and John talks about Bender's voice. It's very funny.

15) The Sting: The crew goes to a space hive to collect honey. This was the same mission that killed the last 2 PE crews. As one of the bees comes after Leela, Fry sacrifices himself to save her. Leela feels responsible for his death and has a hard time coping. She dreams of Fry which makes her think that maybe he's alive in some form trying to communicate with her.

This one has a few odd deleted scenes.

16) Bend Her: Bender is so desperate to win an Olympic event he's willing to enter the female competitions. He has Farnsworth perform a temporary sex change operation. He has every intention of going back to his original form, but the glitz and glamour of being a highly decorated athlete gets to him. He pushes it to the limit of having Calculon propose to him. When he sees the true depths of Calculon's emotions, he can't bear hurting the misguided fool. Now it will take the entire crew making a soap opera to get Bender out of this with Calculon keeping his dignity intact.

This one has a few interesting deleted scenes.

17) Obsoletely Fabulous: Momcorp has unveiled its newest release, a new model robot that makes previous models obsolete. Bender takes this blow to his greatness hard and reluctantly goes to get an upgrade that makes him compatible with the new model. He decides that his hatred of the other is greater than his need for the upgrade so he escapes to sea. He finds himself on an island of obsolete robots where he learns to appreciate the absence of technology. When he realizes he himself is the most advanced technology around, he has a downgrade to a steam-powered, wooden model. He wants to take this concept of simplicity to his friends by destroying their technology, but things don't go as planned.

This one has a few good deleted scenes. It also has an animatic which is a lot like watching the episode as a coloring book.

18) The Farnsworth Parabox: Farnsworth creates a box containing another universe. There exists another PE staff there, versions of the originals with only a few small differences. As they get to know each other they suddenly realize that Hermes, left alone in the first universe, is about to destroy the box with them in it. They have to get back to stop him but the Zoidbergs have run off with the box.

This one has a couple of short deleted scenes.

19) 300 Big Boys: Nixon gives $300 to each citizen. Everyone blows their cash in different ways: Hermes buys a toy for Dwight, Fry spends it all on coffee, Bender buys a burglar's kit to heist an insanely expensive cigar, Kif buys Amy a special watch which gets eaten by a whale so Leela, who has bought a pass to swim with that whale, hatches a plan to get the animal to vomit up the timepiece. Zoidberg searches desperately for what makes rich people happy and discovers that 1) stuff they like is overrated 2) $300 doesn't actually make him rich, and 3) helping someone in need is more fulfilling than eating caviar or buying bad silk tapestries.

Roseanne Barr makes a cameo.
This one has a couple of odd deleted scenes.

20) Spanish Fry: Fry is abducted by aliens and his nose taken. Human noses are considered an aphrodisiac. The crew is surprised to learn who has taken his nose, and when the culprit finds out the nose is not the human reproductive organ he decides he wants to remove another part of Fry's anatomy.

This one has a few neat deleted scenes.

21) The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings: Fry is desperate to make Leela fall for him. Holophoner lessons are getting him nowhere so he makes a deal with the robot Devil. Fry will get a set of robot hands that will allow him to play masterfully without having to spend years practicing. The Devil is up to tricks, though, trapping Leela in an unfair contract. Fry must choose to keep his new abilities endowed by these hands or give them up to save Leela and risk her not wanting him because he can't make beautiful music anymore. The series ends with a hint of what their future might be.
The last portion is done as a musical number.

Dan Castellaneta guest stars.
This one has a few good deleted scenes.
On the menu move up until the Devil's hands appear then press enter. This activates the table read for this episode. It's audio only which is not as fun as having video with it, but it's still entertaining.

Final Thoughts:
That's it. That's all the Futurama there will ever be... in the original run, that is. It's been a crazy, fun ride. I guess if I were ranking the seasons in order of preference this season would be second because of the emotional range and storytelling in some of the episodes. Even though I like the interface on season 3 better, and I'm disappointed by the lack of an Anthology of Interest, I still think this set deserves a 5* rating. There is a lot of creativity, a good bit of effort, and some attention to the fans given in this set that lift it above the average release.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older