Fry Has a New Adventure in Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs
Written: Jul 01 '08 (Updated Sep 03 '09)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Fun, entertaining movie. Likable returning characters.
Cons: Might be too weird for some viewers. Flimsy case.
The Bottom Line: Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs was another fun Futurama movie that is worth watching for fans of the show.
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| dragonfire88's Full Review: Futurama the Movie: The Beast with a Billion Backs |
FOX has developed a reputation for cancelling several good shows. With some of them, the shows were not really given a chance to develop and others did manage to stick around a few years despite being bounced all around the schedule. I loved Futurama and was not happy when FOX once again pulled the plug on a good show I liked. The show had high ratings once it started airing on Cartoon Network, which eventually led to Comedy Central picking up the show and ordering four direct to video/DVD movies be made. I just watched the second one, Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs.
There could be a few spoilers for Futurama: Bender's Big Score, the first of the Futurama movies, in this review for people who haven’t seen that movie yet. Futurama: The Beasts With a Billion Backs does stand alone well, but a few things won’t make as much sense if it is watched before the first movie.
A month after a rip opened in the universe, nothing had happened and most people weren’t worried or afraid anymore. Amy and Kif decided to take an important step in their relationship. Fry had started a relationship with Colleen, a woman he met right after the rip first appeared. Bender had gotten upset when Fry wasn’t spending as much time with him and started stalking Calculon, a robot actor. Bender was eventually able to join a secret society of robots.
Professor Farnsworth and Dr. Wernstrom decided to put aside their differences to work together to figure out what was going on with the rip. Fry was upset when things didn’t work out like he had hoped with Colleen and he headed off to explore the rip in the universe alone. He travelled to another universe where a planet sized tentacle alien, Yivo, took control of him. Yivo then made Fry the leader of a new religion to help take over the Earth.
When Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs began, it did give a very, very small recap of what had happened previously. All that was shown was the rip in the universe and then everything started happening. Nothing else that had happened Futurama: Bender’s Big Score was brought up or even referenced. I felt that there had been some progress made with one aspect that had carried into that movie from the series. All that progress was gone in this movie, which did disappoint me. I did still feel that this movie connected back with the series and the first movie. A few things did seem to be setting up things for the next movie as well though there wasn’t really any sort of cliff hanger like happened at the end of the first movie.
Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs used the same type of humor that was used throughout the series and the first movie. Certain things said or done for humor, usually by Bender, were more adult in nature which might bother some viewers. The movie poked a lot of fun at religion with what happened with Fry once he returned after meeting Yivo. Some viewers may not like the religious jokes, but I thought they worked very well with what was going on. There was also some silly humor used. At one point, when something bad was happening, an unknown superhero took one look at what was going on and took off to save himself. That made me laugh because it was the complete opposite of what superheroes usually do.
The plot for Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs was a little strange, even for Futurama, but it still managed to work. Everything connected to Yivo was very original and unique. The idea of an alien the size of a planet with tentacles that was basically trying to start a relationship with the entire universe was weird. I don’t know of any other movie or series that could have made that type of plot work. Some people, even though who have watched the series, may find the plot a tad too strange. There were also some subplots connected to Amy and Kif , Fry’s relationship with Colleen, and Bender getting ticked off and joining the secret robot society as well. Those did work well with the main plot.
Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs was created with animation. I know that at least some elements were created with computers. I’m not sure if there was any hand drawn animation used or not. The characters and settings had the same look as they had in the series and the first movie. Most of the movie featured bright, vibrant colors, but more subdued colors were also used in a few situations. The opening sequence from the cartoons was used again. This time, when the Planet Express ship hit the screen, it went into it and there was a sort black and white sequence that had the characters doing things that looked a bit like Steamboat Mickey.
Fry was dealing with feeling lonely once again, something he has had to try to deal with ever since he ended up 1000 years in the future. He started dating Colleen and he seemed happy for a while. He was even willing to accept the fact that she had other boyfriends for a while. His need for love made him vulnerable to Yivo. Amy and Kif were still together and actually went through with a marriage ceremony on Kif’s home world. That was different, but it was nice to see them happy together. The friendships were important, though the characters were taking each other for granted, which helped set up some of the situations that developed.
All of the characters from the series and the first movie returned for Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs. Some of them, like Leela, didn’t have as much to do as some of the others though which did disappoint me. Fry probably ended up with the most to do because of everything that happened with him and Yivo. There really wasn’t any new development for any of the characters. Some characters that had been more supporting characters in the series, like Zapp Brannigan and Kif, turned up.
Colleen and Yivo were the two main new characters. Colleen seemed like a nice enough girl, but she had very different ideas about relationships than Fry did. She seemed to always be looking to add more men to her life. Brittany Murphy did fine with the voice for the character. Yivo was a large, tentacle covered alien in the other universe. He had motives that weren’t clear at first. David Cross did a good job with the voice.
Main Voice Cast
David Cross - Yivo
John Di Maggio - Bender/Additional Voices
David Herman - Dr. Ogden Wernstrom/Additional Voices
Maurice LaMarche - Harold Zoid/Kif/Morbo/Calculon/Hedonismbot/
Phil LaMarr - Hermes Conrad
Tress MacNeille - Linda
Brittany Murphy - Colleen
Katey Sagal - Turanga Leela
Lauren Tom - Amy Wong/Inez Wong
Billy West - Philip J. Fry/Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth/Dr. Zoidberg/Zapp Brannigan/President Nixon’s Head/Leo Wong/Superhero
Peter Avanzino - Director
DVD Information
Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs was released on DVD on June 24, 2008. I believe it will be turning up on Comedy Central in a few months like what was planned with the first Futurama movie. The case is very flimsy and I’m worried that it won’t provide enough protection for the disc. I’ve already had the disc fall out and land on the floor when all I did was pick up the case. I hate the case, though there is something on it that indicates that it is carbon neutral. There are some interesting extras included as well. There is a commentary with the creators and many members of the cast that I haven’t listened to yet.
The Lost Adventure showed an adventure from a video game. Some of what was shown looked like clips of someone actually playing the game and other things looked more like cut scenes. The characters did look slightly different. A storyboard animatic for part of the movie was shown. I thought it was interesting to see the early sketches. There were a few deleted scenes, most of which were just slightly different versions of scenes that were in the movie. One of those was a different sequence for the opening in which Bender was annoyed that only one thing was mentioned in the recap. There were some 3-D models of a few things created for the movie that included showing early versions of the objects. There was a short bit showing David Cross, the voice of Yivo, recording some of his lines and talking about the character.
Blooperama: The Futurama Cast at “Work” showed clips of the main voice talent recording their lines, complete with some of the goofs. I really liked seeing the people behind the voices, though it was kind of strange to hear Bender’s voice coming out of a man instead of an animated robot. A Brief History of Deathball explained how one segment of the movie was developed and created. There was also a short preview of the next Futurama movie, Bender’s Game.
This review is part of elvisdo’s 2008 Funny Pages Write-Off because of the appearance of an unnamed superhero in one scene. It is also part of his 2008 Canadiania Write-off. Maurice LaMarche, one of the voice actors is from Ontario Canada.
Futurama Reviews
Futurama - Volume 1 ~ Futurama - Volume 2 ~ Futurama - Volume 3 ~ Futurama - Volume 4 ~ Futurama: Bender's Big Score ~ Futurama: Bender's Game ~ Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder ~
Simpsons Reviews
The Simpsons - The Complete First Season ~ The Simpsons - The Complete Second Season ~ The Simpsons - The Complete Third Season ~ The Simpsons - The Complete Fourth Season ~ The Simpsons - Season 5 ~ The Simpsons - Season 6 ~ The Simpsons - Season 7 ~ The Simpsons - Season 8 ~The Simpsons - Season 9 ~ The Simpsons - Season 10 ~ The Simpsons - Season 11 ~ The Simpsons - Season 12 ~ The Simpsons Movie ~
Recommended:
Yes
Viewing Format: DVD
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