Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs DVD Review
Futurama: Beast with a Billion Backs
Directed by: Peter Avanzino
Written by: Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, Michael Rowe
Starring: Billy West, Katey Sagal, John Di Maggio, Lauren Tom, David Cross, Brittany Murphy
The Simpsons has been called one of the most important TV shows ever made, and while I don’t necessarily disagree with that assessment, I do think that the show has long since overstayed its welcome. They’ve done all that they can possibly do with it at this point, and now it’s just a test of endurance to see how long people can continue to watch it for. On the other hand, Matt Groening’s comedy sci-fi series Futurama was cancelled prematurely, long before its creative spark had been fully exhausted.
I was overjoyed to hear that Futurama would be resurrected last year, because I felt like it hadn’t been given a chance to shine, and was constantly overshadowed by The Simpsons. It possessed a significantly smaller, but very dedicated fanbase, and now that niche markets are becoming more commercially viable, it makes so much sense for them to start releasing new episodes direct-to-DVD. However, I wasn’t too sure about the feature-length format that they had chosen. The first new movie that they released, Bender’s Big Score, felt mostly like a number of half-hour episodes strung together. It was understandable, since it was going to be split up to air on Comedy Central like that anyway, but it was a bit too disjointed and I think I would have just preferred separate episodes. The show’s humour and nerd-centric inside jokes remained intact, but something felt off, and I began to wonder if we really needed Futurama back in the first place.
I’m happy to say that the second direct-to-DVD Futurama movie, The Beast with a Billion Backs, is actually a bit of an improvement on Bender’s Big Score in my opinion. Although it does have a number of competing storylines, there is one major plot development that carries the majority of the film. It feels more like a movie, and the epic nature of the story actually made me think that this is something that wouldn’t have been out of place on the big screen.
After the events of Bender’s Big Score, an anomaly was created in space but it doesn’t seem to be harmful so people go about their daily lives. Fry has a new girlfriend named Colleen (voiced by Brittany Murphy), but when he finds out that she has 4 other boyfriends, he breaks up with her. Depressed, he sneaks onto Zapp Brannigan’s ship as he heads up a mission to attack the anomaly. Fry crosses over to the other side, and floats through space for a while, eventually meeting up with a tentacled creature named Yivo (David Cross). The creature merges with him and takes him back to Earth where he tries to spread his love to the rest of humanity, turning everyone into blissfully mindless hosts.
I really liked the main story, which has a classic sci-fi feel not unlike Invasion of the Body Snatchers or something similar, and also manages to lampoon religion. There is also a subplot involving Bender and a secret society, which was pretty funny, although not entirely necessary. Compared to Bender’s Big Score, there is more screen time for Fry and Zapp Brannigan, and very little Fry/Leela soap opera stuff, all of which make it stronger. Need I mention the plethora of hidden jokes and references that only mathematicians, scientists and sci-fi geeks will get?
Like all Futurama DVDs, it comes packed to the gills with extras as well, including another 30-minute episode created from 3D cut scenes that were made for the 2003 Xbox game. There are also storyboard animatics, deleted scenes, bloopers, and a featurette on the history of Deathball, not to mention a group audio commentary track. (No new episodes of Everybody Loves Hypnotoad unfortunately.)
I know there will be many that disagree with me, but I actually enjoyed The Beast with a Billion Backs more than Bender’s Big Score, and it reinvigorated my interest in Futurama again. The show still manages to be unpredictable despite the fact that there are now well-established characters and running jokes, and I think the main reason for that is the futuristic setting where anything goes. While this movie is not likely attract any new fans, that hardly seems to be an issue at this point. If you’ve been following the show up until now, I see no reason why you should stop! In other words you should go out and buy this DVD right now. (Love the tentacle.) — Sean
Comments (9)
Very good review, Sean, albeit a little short. Definately looking forward to it. The only thing I don’t understand is why “Kelsey Grammer to play Beast in X-Men 3″ is one of the related posts. Because “Beast” is in both headlines? I’m sure there are more deserving related links.
Posted by Matt on June 26th, 2008Thanks Matt. The Related Posts are auto-generated using keywords, so sometimes they come up with some wacky possibilities.
Posted by Sean on June 26th, 2008I liked em about the same.
Posted by Goon on June 26th, 2008@ “Bender’s Big Score, felt mostly like a number of half-hour episodes strung together”
Except at the end where they all came together in a big way. I liked Bender’s Big Score a lot. It captured what was best about the show as opposed to the Simpsons movie which just regurgitated the worst of the recent seasons.
I liked this new one too.
Posted by Rusty James on June 26th, 2008I liked The Beast With A Billion Backs, but not nearly as much as Bender’s Big Score. My favorite episodes of Futurama tend to be those involving a strong link to Fry’s past and/or a heartwarming story element. Examples would be Roswell That Ends Well, The Luck of the Fryrish, and The Day the Earth Stood Stupid. Bender’s Big Score felt much more like one of those episodes to me because of the strong focus on Fry’s love for Leela and all of the time traveling subplots referring to Fry’s initial trip to the future. The Beast With A Billion Backs felt more like any other episode of the show as it was more or less just a random story involving the characters we know with none of the focus on past events (outside of re-appearing guests and objects such as the Smell-o-scope or the Robot Devil). There is nothing wrong with this type of story be it in episodic or feature length form, but because it didn’t have the strong emotional impact or ties to the back story of the series that Bender’s Big Score had, I ended up liking The Beast With A Billion Backs less than it’s predecessor. It was still well worth my $25 though, especially with the inclusion of the patented Futurama cast & crew commentary which I look forward to just as much as, if not a little more than, the new movies/episodes themselves.
Posted by Rian on June 26th, 2008“Jurassic Bark” made me tear up, I was amazed at the depth and feeling a cartoon episode could produce. I avoid that episode because it is so sad to me.
“Once again, the conservative, sandwich-heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor”
-Dr. Zoidberg
Posted by Lord Dungbeetle on June 27th, 2008I thought Bender’s Big score was ok and I’ll certainly see this one after your recommendation. I actually like Futurama better than the Simpsons now (because it hasn’t had any terrible seasons or theatrical releases).
Posted by Ryan on June 27th, 2008Lord Dungbeetle,
Posted by Matt on June 27th, 2008I feel the same way. I thought I was the only one that teared up at the end of that episode where Seymore waits for Fry until he dies. I have seen that episode only once since initially tearing up… with the same results. Now I avoid the episode all together. Glad t know I’m not alone.
Jurassic Bark and Luck of the Fryrish both have that effect on me. Something Futurama has that The Simpsons hasn’t had for a decade or more is great writing.
Posted by Rian on June 27th, 2008Leave a Reply