Toon Zone Talkback - "Bender's Big Score" a Big Score for Fans

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Props to Fone Bone for his guest review! And don't forget to check out Ed Liu's review too: "Futurama: Bender's Big Score" Still a Winner for Casual Fans
 
Just watched it tonight. Great story, great animation, great DVD. Not only is this one of the the best animated films I've been looking forward to this year, it's easily one of the best DVDs I've seen this year. The story is well-rounded and filled some hilarious twists and paradoxes. There are also some incredible CG ship battles to more than fill the eye-candy quota of Futurama. Pretty much every extra I'd want is on this one disc and then some. The math lecture is filled with priceless humor and info and from the crew (including Matt drawing his worst version of Bender ever). The comic-con comic read is hilarious. The 3D turn-arounds are short, but still cool. And the full-length Hynotoad episode? Well, it's exactly what you think it is. In other words, brilliant.

Bottom line: Get this DVD as soon as it hits the streets.
 
Ugh...my birthday's in a week and a half or so, and I'm definitely getting this but...all these good reviews it's getting is making it harder for me to wait! I can't wait to watch it; I'm glad I know that Futurama's return is going to be a triumphant one.
 
Thanks Speedy Boris!

Things NOT in my review:

The disc comes in a cardboard sleeve because the release in carbon neutral so you might want to be extra careful with the disc. It doesn't bother me so much because I like the idea of environmentally friendly DVDs but I'm sure there are people out there that this will upset if they don't know about it beforehand.

Some minor spoilage:

Fry's dog Seymour DOES return.

Leela's new boyfriend is named Lars.

Everybody Loves Hypnotoad is something the late Andy Kaufman would have been proud of. It's the ultimate practical joke and garanteed to tick off more than one Futurama fan who can't appreciate it's brilliance.

The special features are all excellent especially the Terrifying Message From Al Gore promo.

The Movie gave me a strong Sixth Sense vibe at the end that just makes it more enjoyable upon rewatches.

I hope my review was okay! I've never been front-paged before! It's exciting!:D
 
Saw it today, and man was it great. The whole thing was extremely funny and touching at the same time. Also the twist at the end was unexpected. If all 4 DTV movies are this great, I can die a happy man.
 
Since it's getting such good feedback I'll give it a rent! I'm not as familiar with Futurama as I am with The Simpsons but I like what I've seen.

Is this an actual movie or a few episodes put together in movie form (aka the Family Guy 'movie')?
 
It is an actual movie. It can be broken down as four episodes (and will on Comedy Central) but it's meant to air as a movie. And unlike the Stewie movie, was made full out as a movie idea, not just desperatley trying to merge three episodes together to make it seem like it's a movie.

I saw the special and I have to say it was pretty great

Anything with Bender stealing ancient artificats and having to try and Kill Fry in the past is great, and the whole Lars subplot actually had a much much much more graitying conlcusion then I thought it would. The only real problem I had with the movie (besides Hermes getting jerked around a bit too much and some general Futurama/Simpsons/Family Guy/Animated Prime Time Show Pacing/story problems) was the whole way it ended. However if it is like Fone Bone said just a precursor to the second movie then I have to say that's a pretty good climax. I just didnt' think they'd have all four connected like that but if they do that is a pretty damn cool way to do it.

I may try and get the DVD for Christmas when it comes out as the extras do look enticing (and if the commentary is as good as it was for season 4 then it will be worth sitting through for sure). I also note it's good seeing something New Futurama done in four years. I think seeing endless repeats of the show kind of burned me on it but this defintley didn't.
 
Unfortunately, I guessed the truth about Lars before I saw the reveal; the third time they flashed back to Fry #2 I thought "Wait, is this leading somewhere? Hold on, Lars has a Billy West voice too! Oh no, I figured out the twist!"

Right after that was the wedding scene, though, which had a little intentional reveal where Lars is shocked to find out time clones are doomed. Maybe they wanted me to figure it out early? I'm still disappointed it wasn't covered up better. If it had, it would have been perfect.

They didn't need to use Billy West for both characters; if his voice had been smoke-damaged into a completely different voice, it still would have been believable. And I wouldn't have spoilt myself.

Another thing I'm sore about: this movie ruins "Jurassic Bark." Fry WAS there for the dog, or his time clone was, but the dog wouldn't know the difference. He lived right above Panucci's; the dog would have seen him every day. Now it's not so sad. Bah!
 
They do talk about this in the commentary, and said that were worried that it would be too obvious, but they were happy with what came out in the end. They did also say that this was one of a few hints they drop all along the way -- there are actually quite a few throwaway lines that take on a lot more meaning once you've seen the whole thing. If you picked up on all that, then you're a lot more observant than I am. I didn't figure out that twist until really close to the end. For that matter, I didn't even think there WAS a twist.

Lots of the voice actors voice multiple characters, too, so it's not always a giveaway to hear the same actor voicing two different characters.

-- Ed
 
As Ed Liu pointed out, a lot of characters have the same VA, espically on shows like Futurama where the main lead does at least about four other important parts. Personally Billy West Lars and Fry sound different enough I couldn't even really tell it was West besides it seeming somewhat familar. Then again I feel West has a lot more distinct voices then anyone else on the show. I mean David Herman did a good job on the nude scammer leader but there's at least 10 other Futurama voices he does that are very similar that you just know he did it. Haven't really felt that way for one of West's characters. Not to mention that they did have to scale the budgets of these down some then they had for when the show aired in episode format so I doubt they would of been able to hire a VA for Lars even if they wanted to unless they gave up one of the guest VAs. (Personally I thought Michelle could of had a couple more lines if they were going to bring back Sarah Silverman for the part but that's really all my complaints VA wise).

Also I didn't really see the twist coming because it just seemed like another one of those Futurama plot points of Leela liking someone else other then Fry and that guy getting dumped on at the end with Fry getting dumped on through the rest of the story. Like "The Why Of Fry". I mean they usually try for some sort of small other connection between Fry and Leela at the end but they really thought this one through, even more then other attempts. Though I would of liked a refrence to "The Devil Eyes Are Idle Playthings" since that was supposedley going to end the series with Fry and Leela being together but with the DTVs that changed so you know at least refrence how they would of ended it or sometihng



I noticed that too. I have to say that was probably the most clever temporal usage in this special (even if it was chock full of good temporal time travel ideas). I wonder if the second DTV will explain how the city got destroyed a second time in "Space Pilot 3000".



The movie itself comes out November 27th so it's actually going to come out on Video in a couple of days. I'd start looking for it Tuesday Morning Zorak at Wal-Mart or any other nearby DVD related stores.
 
I think they nicely sidestepped that with the whole idea of paradox free time travel even if that just made it even more confusing. For instance how could Bender steal the Mona Lisa when it was unfinished without changing history? Or for that matter why would Yancy name his kid Philip if Fry actually DIDN'T disappear? Why would Michelle say Fry disappeared when he didn't? I think these things happened in separate timelines and it was clever to do that. So in the universe we saw in Jurassic Bark Seymour DID actually die old and alone. The only thing that doesn't hang together with this idea is Bender's spaceship destroying the world as seen in the pilot. That seemed to use the time-travel rules set up in Roswell That Ends Well rather than the Paradox Free one set up in the movie.
 
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