Cool News
Zapp!! Ahhhh-AHHHH!!! Our First Review of the Second FUTURAMA Movie: BEAST WITH A BILLION BACKS!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
I am – Hercules!!
Futurama Movie II: Beast With A Billion Backs
doesn’t hit DVD shelves until June 24, but we’ve already got a review!
Heed “Orwellseyes” as you would the HypnoToad:
Hey Hercules,
I had the good fortune to see "FUTURAMA: The Beast with a Billion Backs!" dvd movie. It comes out in a couple weeks but I was able to get a sneak-peak.
The story is pretty standard for Futurama. A crack in the universe, leading the people of earth to panic, as usual. The Planet Express crew ends up checking this fissure in space-time out, as usual. Bender ends up damaged and gets some cheering up from his hero, the robot soap star Calculon. Amy and Kiff get alien-married. It involves a swamp and mud and Kiff's weird-ass alien life cycle. The professor and his rival Dr. Wernstrum have their usual arguments. Fry has woman woes, his girlfriend (voiced by Brittany Murphy) has four other boyfriends. He tries to make it work by moving in, with all of them. It's too much for him and he ends up leaving her. He mopes around for a bit and ends up stowing away on a military ship captained by Zap Brannigan bound for the rip in reality. They're going to attack it.
Fry throws himself into the rift and ends up meeting Tobias Funke. Well, actually it's a huge mass of tentacles, named YIVO, voiced by David Cross, but the way he plays it kept reminding me of his "Arrested Development" character. Yivo enters our universe and covers earth in purple tentacles. Then Fry reappears, with a tentacle in his neck, preaching a gospel of love...love for YIVO.
The whole world gets taken over, save for Leela who eventually exposes YIVO. See, those tentacles are actually, "Genticals". Yep, Yivo is mating with the whole darn universe
Might sound like the end of the story but this is about the half-way point actually. The whole universe starts dating YIVO. In a really funny sequence pretty much every character to ever appear in Futurama is seem going to dinner, talking with and kissing one of the purple tentacles of YIVO.
Meanwhile, the robots have their own little storyline. Calculon inducts Bender into the "League of Robots" a secret society of robots who generally sit around, bitch about humans and drink. Perfect for Bender. This plot is basically there to give the robots, who don't get tentacle lovin', something to do. There are some clever moments here. Calculon and Bender become mortal foes over the tiniest possible slights and end up battled with "Planetary Annihilators" which are some of the funniest weapons I've seen on Futurama.
The movie has some serious flaws. The plot is wonky, even for Futurama. This is a show where a lead once drank the emperor of a planet, silliness is part and parcel. But the the final act, which involves Robot Hell, Robot Pirates and Heaven is just nonsense. Much like the first Futurama flick "Bender's Big Score" the creators dump alot of visual energy into the last third of the film and bypass characters and even their own crazy Futurama logic.
Another issue I had was how Fry and Leela have not even a second of chemistry. It's one of the long running plots of the series and here, nothing.
A number of the jokes just fall flat and die, everything on Kiff's home world is just bland and dull, but thankfully there are no musical numbers, something that nearly drove me mad in "Bender's Big Score". The Fry as tentacle pope and "heaven" gags try to take the piss out of religion a bit but don't have much follow-through. Zap Brannigan continues to make me miss Phil Hartman all these years later. To think how funny that character could have been.
You can almost see where they're going to slice this into individual episodes, which makes some of the pacing tor wards the middle a little awkward, but over all it flows nicely.
It's definitely not for people who aren't already big fans of the series. There's no real catch-up for the non-fan.
I'd say it's worth renting, though I wouldn't shell our lucre to buy it. One viewing is more than enough.
55% Off!!
The Funniest Cartoons Ever Forged!!
$29.49: Volumes One, Two and Four!!
From The Guy Who Wrote
The Making of Star Wars
And The Guy Who Wrote
Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays!!
I had the good fortune to see "FUTURAMA: The Beast with a Billion Backs!" dvd movie. It comes out in a couple weeks but I was able to get a sneak-peak.
The story is pretty standard for Futurama. A crack in the universe, leading the people of earth to panic, as usual. The Planet Express crew ends up checking this fissure in space-time out, as usual. Bender ends up damaged and gets some cheering up from his hero, the robot soap star Calculon. Amy and Kiff get alien-married. It involves a swamp and mud and Kiff's weird-ass alien life cycle. The professor and his rival Dr. Wernstrum have their usual arguments. Fry has woman woes, his girlfriend (voiced by Brittany Murphy) has four other boyfriends. He tries to make it work by moving in, with all of them. It's too much for him and he ends up leaving her. He mopes around for a bit and ends up stowing away on a military ship captained by Zap Brannigan bound for the rip in reality. They're going to attack it.
Fry throws himself into the rift and ends up meeting Tobias Funke. Well, actually it's a huge mass of tentacles, named YIVO, voiced by David Cross, but the way he plays it kept reminding me of his "Arrested Development" character. Yivo enters our universe and covers earth in purple tentacles. Then Fry reappears, with a tentacle in his neck, preaching a gospel of love...love for YIVO.
The whole world gets taken over, save for Leela who eventually exposes YIVO. See, those tentacles are actually, "Genticals". Yep, Yivo is mating with the whole darn universe
Might sound like the end of the story but this is about the half-way point actually. The whole universe starts dating YIVO. In a really funny sequence pretty much every character to ever appear in Futurama is seem going to dinner, talking with and kissing one of the purple tentacles of YIVO.
Meanwhile, the robots have their own little storyline. Calculon inducts Bender into the "League of Robots" a secret society of robots who generally sit around, bitch about humans and drink. Perfect for Bender. This plot is basically there to give the robots, who don't get tentacle lovin', something to do. There are some clever moments here. Calculon and Bender become mortal foes over the tiniest possible slights and end up battled with "Planetary Annihilators" which are some of the funniest weapons I've seen on Futurama.
The movie has some serious flaws. The plot is wonky, even for Futurama. This is a show where a lead once drank the emperor of a planet, silliness is part and parcel. But the the final act, which involves Robot Hell, Robot Pirates and Heaven is just nonsense. Much like the first Futurama flick "Bender's Big Score" the creators dump alot of visual energy into the last third of the film and bypass characters and even their own crazy Futurama logic.
Another issue I had was how Fry and Leela have not even a second of chemistry. It's one of the long running plots of the series and here, nothing.
A number of the jokes just fall flat and die, everything on Kiff's home world is just bland and dull, but thankfully there are no musical numbers, something that nearly drove me mad in "Bender's Big Score". The Fry as tentacle pope and "heaven" gags try to take the piss out of religion a bit but don't have much follow-through. Zap Brannigan continues to make me miss Phil Hartman all these years later. To think how funny that character could have been.
You can almost see where they're going to slice this into individual episodes, which makes some of the pacing tor wards the middle a little awkward, but over all it flows nicely.
It's definitely not for people who aren't already big fans of the series. There's no real catch-up for the non-fan.
I'd say it's worth renting, though I wouldn't shell our lucre to buy it. One viewing is more than enough.
-
+ Expand All
-
About on par with Bender's Big Score. I would rather they release 4 separate episodes on one DVD then stretching the story like they've been doing.
-
But who am I kidding? I'm still gonna buy it. Any new Futurama is a gift.
-
Not as bad as this review makes it out to be. I found it pretty funny and true to the series. Good point about the Leela/Fry chemistry. I still enjoyed it and can't wait for the next one! As for not buying it, Doing so will put future titles in Jeopardy. I will ABSOLUTELY support this film. Mediocre Futurama is better than NO Futurama!!!!!!
-
What you said but I've now decided to track it down online as well since it seems to be old news to you lot and I've a longer wait ahead of me till my DVD would arrive anyway since it won't be released in the UK for ages.
-
Definitely funnier than BBS. One or two nice gags in there.
-
Loves hard and fast!
-
Zapp Brannigan Likes Snoo-Snoo!!!!!
-
i wonder what the people who were dissapointed with the first one are gonna think of this, i love all futurama but i'd say the first one was better. cant wait for the next one.
-
How bout another season?
-
Fry and Leela have a happy ending in the final episode of the series, then make the jump to movies and their relationship is ignored.Sort of how the Deanna Troi/Worf romance dominated the final quarter of the final season of Star Trek the Next Generation and then was ignored when he joined the DS9 cast and never mentioned in the films.But seriously, if you can't enjoy something just because you know Phil Hartman could have done it better, than how can you ever enjoy making love to your wife? You know he would have been aces at that.
-
Was brought up in BBS. I wouldn't want every story to be centered around their relationship. I am glad they didn't dwell on it again in this film. I understand the reluctance to accept this as it has been a focus of a number of episodes, but in this case I think it worked. As for completely ignoring it in this film. Leela was obviously jealous of Fry's new found happiness with his new girlfriend. So it was touched on, just not central to the story.
-
..if it brings the series back. Favorite. Animated Series. Ever.
-
less character development and more humor; i know the story was written a while back but it was like they took all the criticism from benders big score and pandered to the haters needs. I too wish frye and leela's relationship wouldnt have backtracked from the last one but that is my only nitpick. If you didnt like this one then you just dont like futurama.
-
Bender was left out of the main story most of the movie and Fry was being a big pussy the whole time. It didn't have the touching Fry/Leela storyline. It didn't really feel like old Futurama at all, it was more like New Simpsons, just not as good as it used to be.
-
should have a grindhouse like double feature. I dont shell out movie ticket money very often (almost never) but i'd be at the first showing of that one.
-
Make more movies like this one, and the season'll get cancelled again.
Total Faggy Ass propaganda.
-if you enjoy characters completely out of character and miss that just molested by Uncle Lucas feeling, by all means... Bit Torrent it.
- L A M E -
...a soon to be Ex-Futurama fan.
-
uh, this sounds like the first one: all over the place and badly stitched together. what happened? different writers? they obviously lost something, was it some key writer or producer?
-
yeesh. the first one was funny but in a deeply hit-and-miss kinda way.
i never saw mediocre futurama before, why would i want to buy a DVD to see more of it? seriously, why trash a good thing?
-
this is all over the pirate sites. I'll wait for the dvd.
-
Still, the 20 minute format forced the writers to be much tighter. Those episodes were like mini movies - it was magic. But I thing Beast with a million backs is closer to Futurama's A-game. So many good lines. "Don't you want to be part of something bigger? Like a CRAZY GIANT MONSTER?" "I have five sweethearts, a good bottle of wine, and I just got promoted chief of police" Stephen Hawking shoots lasers from his eyes "I didn't know I can do that." Hell, I'll watch it again.
-
Just got around to watching BBS this past weekend. It was pretty good, thought flawed. I think Futurama definitely works better in small chunks. Looking forward to this one.
-
Give me a break. This show had - H A D - some of if not THE best writing on television. Do you think I want to post that it Sucked BALLS ?!
-U leave me breathless. N O T. -
with bender and son was the funniest thing ive seen in months
-
Jun 10, 2008 3:51:14 AM CDT
The reviewer pretty much hits the nail on the head here, sadly
by cash907
I was really excited to catch an advance screening this weekend, but the disappointment during and after was just bitter. I found myself surfing the web on my phone more then once during the show because some parts are just flat out boring. Some of you would argue that even poorly done Futurama is better then no Futurama, but to that I ask how many of you would take back ever watching the new Star Wars trilogy if you could?
Personally I liked Benders Big Score, but Beast just falls flat. It has some funny parts, but the Futurama spark just isn't in it. I'll rent it when it comes out because my girl is a fan too, but pretty certain its not one she'll want to buy afterward. Oh well, here's hoping movie 3 hits back on a high note. -
I'm a huge Futurama fan. I've seen every episode of the series 2-3 times, and I still find it fantastic. The first movie kind of shocked me by its mediocrity. So I lowered my expectations for the second ... which somehow managed to disappoint me yet again. I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate to think that it's over ... but if this movie is any indication, whatever Futurama had that made it so great ... they've lost it. "The Beast..." certainly wasn't the worst thing I've ever seen. There were a lot of weak smiles and occasional chuckles. There were also quite a lot of dead stretches where I wasn't smiling. By the end I was just waiting for it to be over. Maybe someday a bona fide season of episodes will get greenlit, and maybe that will help get the writers back on their A-game. I don't know. All I know is, I'm fairly well depressed right now. At least Venture Bros. is still going strong.
-
Maybe not as bad as Benders Big Score, but I've watched episodes of Futurama many times without ever getting bored. And these new ones just suck my left nut.
-
Really can't understand the hate it's getting. Yes it's certainly not futuramas A game but i think it has plenty of laughs and it feels a lot more like a traditional futurama episode. BBS left me pretty cold especially given how they screwed the pooch with the fry leela relationship but i think they're getting back on track. They still haven't got the fry/leela thing right but definitely a lot more laughs.
-
I've watched it a couple times already, and I think it's fantastic. A lot of really clever jokes, including a couple of their trademark obscure math gags. The animation is beautiful (waaaay better than some of Bender's Big Score, which seemed really rushed sometimes), and there are some big concepts to chew on. Sure, some the jokes fall flat, but what comedy hits the mark 100% of the time? It's definitely at least on par with the show (which is, admittedly, one of my favorites)Definitely give it a chance, especially if you missed Brannigan, Robot Devil, and/or Hedonism Bot... and Bender's first born.
-
Oh yeah! And do you REALLY want to constrain the writers into ANOTHER Fry wants Leela but she wont have him story? I know it seemed like they just glossed over their relationship (they did) but their relationship wasn't the point of the story. Fry moved on, got another girl, then the shit hit the fan. There was no time for Fry/Leela.
-
Doing Damage control Crow?
The animation's the same.
Futurama did hit the mark nearly 100% of the time, and clever writers know no constraints. LAZY WRITERS do, they resort to repeating material.
Fry/Lela's relationship is 50 percent of the show's fan base, and if that's the only flaw you found, you must be a fan of the Cranberries... ZOMBIE. -
The episodes became funnier after I saw them ten times each on Adult Swim. Kind of like Family Guy. So we don't really know if the movies are good yet, because they haven't been replayed late at night enough times yet. We may never know if they're any good if Comedy Central persists in showing them at 9 PM all the time.
-
This is a giant spoiler.
-
I think i´m gonna like this one too.
-
Rowsdower. THat is all
-
"Ever since man first left his cave, and met a stranger with a different language and a new way of looking at things, the human race has had a dream... To kill him so we don't have to learn his language or his new way of looking at things!"
-
Stowaway hatch: Unauthorized Access Only!
-
Funny, quotable, and cracked. The Bender B story was the weakest part but even that had some choice gags. Zoidberg's "Leela, go on without me" gag was the best.
-
more quotable than Big Score, and funnier too. Plot sucked, but I'd rather it be funny than try to make sense and be bland.
"Daddy! I knew you'd come back!" <- best part evar! -
My review: http://www.dvdinmypants.com/reviews/A-G/futurama_beast_billion_backs.php
-
ZAPP: [crossing legs] That's just a fungal infection...oh, you're talking to Kif.
-
"MY LEG FEELS BETTER!"
-
...thanks for keeping up with these reviews and schedules of what is coming out, I appreciate it. Any idea why Harry hasn't done a DVD New Release article for the past few weeks?
-
its a fucking cartoon. of course there are plot holes and ridiculous premises. its not fucking shakespear for christ's sake.
-
Maybe they ought to go back to half hour episodes. Bender's Big Score was pretty limp compared to TOS.
-
Way better than Bender's Big Score. Take your favorite high concept Futurama episode and extend it to feature length. It's like that. The two parallel stories are really one. I'm not even the biggest Futurama fan (although when it's good it's very good) and I liked it.
-
Way lesser than Bender's Big Score, though. It goes off the rails towards the last third, but there's still enough amusement. Just not brilliant. And based on the TV series, we greedily expect brilliant. Actually, I'm being generous; that last third is godawful. But the earlier bits are good. And there's not nearly enough of Fry being Fry; he virtually disappears for a long stretch.
-
wait, isn't this the Thundarr talkback?
-
I can't even imagine anyone else, even Hartman. Unfortunately, the long layoff from the last episode to these dvds has caused West to really lose the voice of Zap, he just doesn't sound right in the first movie. Hope he's worked on it.
-
No, forcing writers to add a Fry/Leela romantic angle AGAIN, even if it has nothing to do with the story, is constraining. If Fry and Leela got together, it would ruin the show. So, knowing that, how many times can you have Fry ask Leela out? It's time to move on. Also, yes, the animation is really, really nice in this. If you think it looks the same as the series, you're either blind, retarded, or you have never watched a cartoon before.
-
I think there is a great burden to make something funny for 90+ minutes, and in cartoon form it's a very rare thing. Even the Simpson's Movie had a few weak moments. But I thought this film suffered from a silly plot concept that could have been a hilarious 30 minute episode but dragged out over 90 failed. Do a 30 minute bit about the one-eyed-people popper, do 30 on Bender and the League of Robots and 30 on Fry's new girlfriend and Kip, but to mash them all up, just didn't work. I'll admit had I not gotten to see it for free I don't think I would have rented it.
-
I love that part.
-
Fanboys and their "anticipointment" (to quote Harry Shearer)... Stop expecting every geek thing to be completely, life-alteringly brilliant, and you won't get disappointed all the damn time! I personally loved Bender's Big Score (weak spots and all), and don't intend to ascribe to the "it was better before they brought it back" camp that seems to be forming. Typical though. Fans complain that the show was cancelled. Show comes back. Show isn't identical to what came before (and nor should it be). Fans go apeshit. The people who make these programs just can't win...
-
...but it's still Futurama! One slice of delicious cake is better than none!
BTW, why can't reviewers just admit that they're reviewing a bootleg they downloaded? This has been online since June 7. -
Jun 11, 2008 12:46:09 AM CDT
Phil and Martha Stewart he coulda been the analretentant chef
by groothewarrior
-
Jun 11, 2008 10:21:11 AM CDT
I've seen it. The story is so stupid. Even Zoidberg's jokes are
by darth bauer
So disappointing.
-
is he end of that.
-
But BENDER'S BIG SCORE,exempting the first 10 minutes, was a bitter disappointment (remember when you were a kid and you caught your first screening of JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS only to find out that Hercules was played an an amemic Brit actor named Nigel Green? Yeah, a disappointment on that scale. Never mind that the late Mr. Green was a wonderful actor). I heard an absurd rumor that the 60s comedy team of Marty Allen and Steve Rossi were writing the FUTURAMA movies. After viewing BENDER, the ludicrous gossip doesn't quite sound so subversive. I was hoping that BEAST would be a satire of campy AIP quickies (a la BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES, 1955)--something the series would have delivered with a pulp-ish hubris. But the movie spin-offs appear to be a very commercial compromise.
-
It didn't make me laugh out loud a lot, but I did have a smile on my face throughout.
-
It's not bad. I can see why the reviewer didn't like it. I thought Bender's Big Score was just OK, but it was better than no Futurama at all.
-
Was a disappointed, I chuckled a couple of times and didn't laugh out loud at all. The 2 movies are a big let down so far which is a shame as I think the series was great.
-
Ah well better than nothing.
-
I don't understand the online "disappointment" to the Futurama movies. I thought they were both good. And I watched the movies right after seeing S1-S4 for the first time. So this might be a case of unmeetable expectations
-
Why don't they just air this on Fox? Why do we need to shell out $20 bucks for an episode of a TV series... Grrrrrrrrrr.
hey futurama fans, check out this great new blog on blogspot. it's called thebitterproducer spread the word! -
Stop expecting everything to be life-alteringly brilliant? - Don't understand the disappointment? How was turning Fry into a dikkless queer a good thing? How was not even acknowledging pre-existing plot arcs good? Kiff gets reamed, Bender boots a bastard to hell, 'Twas a joyous feel good viewing experience. Just like watching Trek V. - no Fry/Leela, no watchee.
-
I've never seen so many dudes so worked up over an animated relationship. If a love story between fictional characters in a COMEDY is all you have, I'm truly sorry. Futurama is not a romantic comedy. Look, some of my favorite episodes involve Fry/Leela (Devil's Hands, Worms) but Jesus, guys. Really? You're pissed over THIS? Get a girlfriend, get a sense of humor, whatever needs to happen. If it turns out you talkbackers are, in fact, women, I'll stand corrected. (By the way, I understand if you legitimately didn't like this for whatever reason, I'm just kind of sick of the whole "Fry and Leela aren't exploring their relationship" thing. Does no one want to see something new?)
-
So, I waTCHed this, and the next day I could barely remember it. Though, that may have something to do with me watching Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, and Across 110th Street right after.
-
It's a fucking cartoon people, an absurd one at that. Fry and Leela never had any chemistry anyway. He was attracted to a hot chick who, luckily for him, was codependent enough to care for him. It ain't Desmond and Penny or anything that should have been taken seriously. You know what happened after the finale? Leela came to her senses and dumped his ass. I don't even need to see these movies to know that.
-
Shippers may feel scorned but BBS is addressed at the end of Beast... in the last five minutes... with a throwaway gag... in which Fry turns to Leela and she scolds him for forgetting about her five minutes after meeting Colleen... and Fry agrees.
-
All you haters can go fuckyourselves. Seriously I don't know why I keep coming here.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- Whitney Houston 1963 - 2012 -- 325 total posts 322 posts
- New JUDGE DREDD post production footage pops up -- 106 total posts 106 posts
- HANNA's Saoirse Ronan to boss around seven little people -- 63 total posts 60 posts
- Does ‘SNL’ Rhyme With ‘Deschanel’?? Learn Which SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Vet Hosts After Sexy Zooey!! -- 74 total posts 58 posts
- There's a STAR TREK video game that is going to lead into JJ's STAR TREK 2 apparently... -- 159 total posts 51 posts
- If the Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day drops her pen, pick it up, but don’t look at her legs or else it will be on your record. -- 47 total posts 41 posts
- AVENGERS enemy revealed as pink boardgame pieces... You might suffer some form of elation... SPOILERS!!! -- 161 total posts 34 posts
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 488 total posts 33 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 121 total posts 23 posts
- Here's The Red Band Trailer For Drafthouse Films' THE FP! -- 70 total posts 20 posts