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Even though it won’t be posted until much later, I actually finished this review two weeks after the DVD game out. I know, I really impress myself, too.
The Main Characters
I decided to revamp this a little, since I had 6 reviews where the main characters said the same exact thing. The nucleus of the show contains four main characters. First and foremost is Fry, a transport from the 20th century who now lives in the 31st century and has all the common sense of an idiot. He’s joined by Leela, a one-eyed mutant who is the captain of Planet Express, the delivery company they work for. She has quite the attitude as well. Rounding out the crew of the ship is Bender, a bending robot who likes alcohol and course language. The owner of Planet Express is Professor Farnsworth, a noted scientist well into his second century of life and as absent-minded as they come. The peripheral characters include Amy Wong (you female free spirit), Hermes Conrad (he is the government worker of the company), and Dr. Zoidberg, a crustacean doctor who knows nothing about being a doctor.
The Setting
New York City in the year 3000.
The Film (1:27:21)
There’s a really groovy Yellow Submarine opening once the ship flies into the cartoon, with the Futurama logo sounding like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. That makes this worth the price of admission alone. So we start with some bums making fun of the Planet Express ship, them entering a demolition derby to prove their ship does not suck (against the orders of Farnsworth who doesn’t want them to waste dark matter during a dark matter shortage, and discussing this while all of them shower together), winning, and having the ship destroyed. Farnsworth makes Leela wear a collar that shocks her every time she gets angry. Meanwhile, Bender can’t play the Dungeons and Dragons game since he has no imagination. Once he does start imagining, he gets obsessed with the game and starts acting out in real life! Sort of like World of Warcraft!! It get so bad that he’s institutionalized. So Farnsworth tells of another story where he worked for Mom and invented dark matter and some bitterness towards that. He searches for an anti-backwards crystal to cripple Mom’s dark matter empire and finds it as the dice the young’uns used for D&D! So Farnsworth and the rest go to Mom’s hidden cavern where their dark matter is produced and are shocked that it’s actually a prison for Nibbler and his Niblonians, forced to make dark matter. So Farnsworth tries to destroy the dark matter crystal while Bender is being lobotomized and all of a sudden the world is different. Fry and Leela have entered a D&D world run by Bender. This leads to some funny jokes (is that a hobbit? No it’s a hobo and a rabbit making a hobbit) but really doubles as the whole Mom vs. Planet Express story but told in a fantasy setting full of LOTR and D&D jokes, including Fry becoming a Gollum like character.
Movie Review
I was disappointed after “Beast With A Billion Backs,” as the story folded in on itself and was too segmented for my liking. This was much better in terms of Futurama and is a little different than the original series. It had more of the pop culture sequences we see in TV shows like Family Guy, and writing a whole feature like this around a simple concept (Futurama in a LOTR type world) could have been very bad but the writers did an amazing job of making an actual story around that idea that not only made sense but provided a great deal of humour. Futurama is something a lot of other cartoons are not. It has its fair share of stupid humor but the writers are actually brilliant (most with PHD’s!) and the smart humor here for those who get it make it even more enjoyable. This is everything a Futurama fan could ask for; solid writing, great characterization, and something different from our characters. This was funny from the Yellow Submarine opening right up to the very end.
DVD Features
A) Extras
1) Audio Commentary
This was recorded by a whole mess of people: Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, Billy West, John DiMaggio, Tress MacNeille, Michael Rowe, Claudia Katz, and Dwayne Carey-Hill. This was almost exactly the same cast that recorded Beast. They mention that this was about the rising cost of gas, which at the time of recording was in the high fours, though as of right now is about $2.40 depending on where you live. They mention there are only 5 regular math polygons, well David does. This was a very fun commentary to listen to.
2) Storyboard Animatic – Act One (21:47)
This is the animatic (rough pencils) for act one of this feature (or the first episode when it airs on TV) and starts with the Yellow Submarine reference.
3) Futurama Genetics Lab
This is really fun. You get to choose two characters among a group of 7 (Fry, Leela, Zoidberg, Bender, Zorbo, Farnsworth, and Hypno-Toad) and merge them together to see what you get. For instance, Toad and Zoidberg give you Toadberg, Zorbo and Bender are Borbo. This is just fun.
4) D&D&F (7:03)
David X Cohen, Eric Kaplan, and Mike Rowe talk about D&D and being influenced by the game. David talks about a dungeon being drawn so they could play with a board. They show clips of old shows that have D&D scenes. They talk about David Gygax (creator of D&D) passing away before this was released and Bender’s Game being dedicated to his memory.
5) How to Draw Futurama in 83 Easy Steps (7:52)
Derek Thompson shows us how to draw Zoidberg, Rich Moore shows us to draw Leela but only calls in Crystal Chesny-Thompson (wife of Derek) to draw her. Finally, Dwayne Carey-Hill shows us how to draw Bender. This was a fun segment.
6) 3D Models with Animator Discussion (5:03)
This is the same as the other extras of this kind, just the animator’s talking about 3D models.
7) Deleted Scene (1:03)
This is called, “Cup or Nozzle,” and it sees Farnsworth looking for the anti-backwards crystal device and its in his clone’s pants as he’s getting a milkshake straight from the nozzle. Funny, but it didn’t add anything to the movie.
8) Blooperama 2 (1:50)
These are your voice outtakes. They actually weren’t too funny.
9) Bender’s Anti-Piracy Warning (1:12)
Bender tells us that downloading is illegal.
10) Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (1:13)
This is a preview for the fourth (and final?) Futurama straight to DVD film. It seems that people die here, though not too much else is mentioned of the plot.
B) Audio/Video
This is in Widescreen 1.78:1 and I have never seen the show look better. The colors are bright, vibrant, and the animation is just perfect. The audio is in 5.1 Dolby Surround and it is what you’d expect from the original TV series.
C) Liner Notes / Packaging
This is not in the standard DVD case but in a shiny holofoil type slipcase that houses a fold-open DVD case where the DVD is slid into an opening and not snapped in. You get some cool postcards, too. Cool packaging.
D) Easter Eggs
1) David X. Cohen’s Dodecahedron Collection! (0:53)
This is about as fun as you could imagine dodecahedron’s could be. He does have a natural form of dodecahedron which was actually cool. Go to the third page of extras and highlight “Deleted Scene.” Press right to highlight the skull and crossbones then hit enter.
2) Billy West (1:24)
This is Billy West at his best. Go to the third page of extras and highlight “Main Menu.” Press right to highlight the castle then hit enter.
Overall Review
The movie was a lot better than the first one and the extras were on par with things we’ve been getting from the Futurama discs. I would’ve liked a longer D&D featurette (since they did a 30-minute on Math on the first one) but the DVD served as a step up from the last one and as a result comes more highly recommended. It combines the funniest of sci-fi with the whole LOTR fantasy stuff. Really good DVD and any ‘Rama fan should have this in their collection.
Overall Rating
9.0
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
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