Futurama: Bender's Big Score

[Andrew]

The DVD's been out for a while but at a quick glance we haven't had a thread on it before and I watched it for the first time today, so I felt compelled to make a post about it.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, as it had a nice "epic" feel due the movie length plot while at the same time retaining the style and staying very true to the series, having greater success in that area than The Simpsons Movie (which as I mentioned elsewhere I still enjoyed). As with the later episodes in the original run, some new developments were woven into the existing continuity seamlessly; I particularly enjoyed one of Bender's rampages turning out to be the scene from the pilot where we see UFOs destroying the original New York out the window while Fry is frozen in the foreground. A great job all around with some very funny moments and a fine story. I'm looking forward to the other releases.

[Dan's Brain]

Is it out here?

[Andrew]

It hasn't been released in Region 4 but if you've got a multiregion DVD player it doesn't matter (I picked mine up a few years back when I started building up my NBA DVD collection). If you want the Region 4 release I've read that it's due out March 5th this year.

[Sauru]

i really enjoyed the movie also (bought it right away). i can only hope it leads to the series coming back full time. the fack the show is off of adult swim now could be bad news imo

[JaoSming]

well its off adult swim but comedy central picked it up. The new episodes are supposed to premiere on comedy central i think.

Futurama was then aired on Adult Swim on Cartoon Network, from 2003 to December 2007, when the network's contract expired. The series was revived in 2007 as four straight-to-DVD films that will be split into a sixteen-episode fifth season. Comedy Central has entered into an agreement with 20th Century Fox Television to syndicate the existing episodes and air the films as new episodes in an episodic format

From da wiki.


EDIT: About the movie, i also got it right when it came out and absolutely loved it.

[Sauru]

i still wont be happy til they are back to making shows for a actual season and not movies that will be broken down into shows

[BIG GREEN]

I liked how they spent the beginning basically talking about their cancellation....that was funny. The plot however was all over the fucking place. You have to already be a fan of the show to enjoy this...which i am.

...i look forward to the next two dvd movies.

[benji]

i still wont be happy til they are back to making shows for a actual season and not movies that will be broken down into shows

This way is better and causes fewer megadooms, and they're just making the case they are the best animated comedy in history.

The four "movies" are the four arcs that comprise the larger arc of this "season". The end of "Big Score" will not be discounted for the remainder of the films.

The show already has a series of major arcs throughout it's history (Fry's importance to history for example) and this is the realization of that full potential, as they had the opportunity to sit down and script out the entire thing beforehand.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go buy some Torgo's Executive Powder.

[Sauru]

lmao

[Andrew]

i really enjoyed the movie also (bought it right away). i can only hope it leads to the series coming back full time. the fack the show is off of adult swim now could be bad news imo

That's what I was hoping when I first heard about the movies but even if it only amounts to the four movies and the subsequent episodic format, I'd still find that more than satisfactory.

[Patr1ck]

It was better then the Simpsons Movie, imo. Can't wait to see the next installments.

[Sauru]

It was better then the Simpsons Movie, imo. Can't wait to see the next installments.

i enjoyed both movies but i agree it was better than the simpsons

[Andrew]

As much as I enjoyed it, if The Simpsons Movie had been made 10 or 11 years ago utilising one of the plots from around that time (perhaps the plot of "You Only Move Twice", which of course featured Albert Brooks as well) and using the tone and humour of that era, it would probably rate better with most longterm fans. In contrast, Futurama's cancellation after only a few seasons left the series with a lot more ground to cover.

That's not to say Futurama isn't a great series as it's one of my favourite shows and I hold it in high esteem, and Bender's Big Score was fantastic. But given that it was cut off in its prime, it has a better chance of being fresh compared The Simpsons with over 400 episodes. Mind you, so much the better for the next three movies.

[benji]

Well, I think Futurama is better than any five randomly selected seasons of the Simpsons.

Of course, I also think Futurama and King of the Hill are superior to The Simpsons and Family Guy. Which likely makes me a heretic.

(I don't buy into the "Without the Simpsons, there wouldn't be a Futurama, therefore Simpsons is better" argument. And no one else should, unless they also believe Joe Fulks is better than Michael Jordan.)

[Andrew]

I'd say it's better than any five randomly selected seasons of The Simpsons post Season 9 without question, but I'd still place some of the best seasons from the classic era above it or at the very least on par with Futurama.

[Sauru]

i love futurama and i would put it right behind the simpsons in my mind as best animated show. as for the family guy i have said it once and i will say it alot more, i dont really enjoy family guy that much. imo it has a few funny shows and even those shows are not good through the entire episode. worst thing that family guy does is they drag things on for way tooooooo long.

[Andrew]

Family Guy does its own brand of humour very well and I'd call myself a fan but it does rely too heavily on zinging celebrities and non-sequiturs that go on long after the joke has stopped being funny. I like King of the Hill as well, one of my favourite episodes being the one where they joined the volunteer fire department (mainly for the scene where Boomhauer is telling his side of the story and in his flashback, he's the only one speaking normally while everyone else mumbles semi-coherently) but Peggy Hill is a terribly irritating character.

[Jackal]

There's that one Southpark episode where they explain how Family Guy gets it's topics about shows.

After seeing that episode, watch a Family Guy episode. You won't believe how right Southpark is. They just randomly switch from one thing to the other. Totally randomly.

[Sauru]

Family Guy does its own brand of humour very well and I'd call myself a fan but it does rely too heavily on zinging celebrities and non-sequiturs that go on long after the joke has stopped being funny. I like King of the Hill as well, one of my favourite episodes being the one where they joined the volunteer fire department (mainly for the scene where Boomhauer is telling his side of the story and in his flashback, he's the only one speaking normally while everyone else mumbles semi-coherently) but Peggy Hill is a terribly irritating character.

peggy ruins that show for me. i actually like the show but i hate her character so much i cant stand to even watch it which is why i cant rank it high on my list of favs, even though besides that 1 character its a good show.

[adv1s5]

Just watched the movie. I thought the writers changed the humor noticeably, probably to appeal to more viewers. Still entertaining though. I am an avid fan of the series and I very much appreciated the shows' attempt to flesh out the characters' personalities, mostly in Fry and Leela. The movie did pick up more at the end of the movie, and like Andrew posted, did have scenes that were references from the episodes, like the Seymour scene where we find out how he was fossilized(?) to begin with. It did end nicely enough, and I will look out for the next three movies for sure.

I hope they have more of Farnsworth in the future. Funniest character on the show and the only reason why I use the word Bouldercrap.

[Andrew]

There's that one Southpark episode where they explain how Family Guy gets it's topics about shows.

After seeing that episode, watch a Family Guy episode. You won't believe how right Southpark is. They just randomly switch from one thing to the other. Totally randomly.

Yeah, they hit the nail on the head with that one. Furthermore, Family Guy can't really take a shot back since it would probably be in the form of a random cutaway, further proving South Park's point.

peggy ruins that show for me. i actually like the show but i hate her character so much i cant stand to even watch it which is why i cant rank it high on my list of favs, even though besides that 1 character its a good show.

Good to know I'm not the only one who thinks that. She's not as bad in the early episodes but when they made her a full blown egomaniac she just became annoying.

[benji]

Peggy was originally going to be the "smart, or level headed mom", but I think they properly made the change to where she thinks that is it, but clearly is not. She thinks she is all-knowing and worldy, but she is obviously to everyone else lesser than Hank, who chooses to suppress the world so it fits his view.

The series deserves far more cred than it gets. And as an aside, if more people got their politics from KOTH and South Park, and less from Family Guy and "A" Daily Show, we would be better off.

The Simpsons has some good shows, "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" and "22 Short Films About Springfield" come to mind. But I do not think Simpsons can compare with Futurama's best in "Jurassic Bark", "The Sting", "Godfellas", "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", "Time Keeps on Slippin'" and "The Luck of the Fryrish". Until "Eternal..." I could not (without stressing my brain) imagine Simpsons even pulling off anything like "...Bark", "...Sting" or "The Devil's Hands..." in terms of storytelling. "Bender's Big Score" showed a lot of of that care of the story itself.

I would love to see the Simpsons (and the continuing Futurama) be daring enough to end like "Time Keeps...", "...Bark" and "The Luck of...". Or "The Sting" without the part over the credits. Hell, the Simpsons should give us a story arc over the season and one that will matter, watch Curb, learn how to change your series entirely, while also refocusing it on why is good in the first place.

The fans probably don't want it. They want 22 minutes of gags and references. They don't want to end ambigously, sacrificing for the story. They want Family Guy and Dane Cook.

[shadowgrin]

Dane Cook

You really know how to piss of guy benji. I feel the urge to kill whenever I see or hear anything Dane Cook related.

[Andrew]

Peggy was originally going to be the "smart, or level headed mom", but I think they properly made the change to where she thinks that is it, but clearly is not. She thinks she is all-knowing and worldy, but she is obviously to everyone else lesser than Hank, who chooses to suppress the world so it fits his view.

It works sometimes but for the most part I find her character really grating. I liked the episode where she mistakenly kidnapped a girl in Mexico and was acquitted by unwittingly demonstrating how poor her Spanish is while she thought she was eloquently stating her case.

The Simpsons has some good shows, "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind" and "22 Short Films About Springfield" come to mind. But I do not think Simpsons can compare with Futurama's best in "Jurassic Bark", "The Sting", "Godfellas", "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings", "Time Keeps on Slippin'" and "The Luck of the Fryrish". Until "Eternal..." I could not (without stressing my brain) imagine Simpsons even pulling off anything like "...Bark", "...Sting" or "The Devil's Hands..." in terms of storytelling. "Bender's Big Score" showed a lot of of that care of the story itself.

I think you've got that strong storytelling ability in earlier episodes though. "Lisa's Substitute", "Bart Gets an F", "Mother Simpson", "Two Cars in every Garage and Three Eyes on every Fish" and "Mr Lisa Goes To Washington" were all episodes that told an engaging story without making it a gagfest, yet still had humour and in the case of the latter two some political satire/commentary as well.

[Sauru]

this makes me wonder, if you guys had to pick a top 10, or top 5, top 3, whatever, if you had to pick your top animated characters from the prime time shows, who would the be?