Lame.

I’m a fan of Futurama, and wasn’t happy with Fox’s cancellation of the series. Although I didn’t like the 1st movie that Matt Groening’s team put out, Bender’s Big Score, I thought I should at least watch the rest of the direct-to-DVD movies. Futurama as an animated television series was smart, funny, and great in-jokes.

Uh, yeah, this next installment, The Beast with a Billion Backs, was pure and simple lame. I didn’t like the story. I didn’t like the jokes. As a matter of fact, I thought it was a waste of my time. I give it one star. Very disappointing.

Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008)

Yea, the Futurama cast is coming back!  I just read that negotiations continued, and the voice cast is returning. All five of us fans can rejoice. Read more here.

Rejoice, Futurama fans!

Futurama recast? Say it ain't so!

The news this week has it that salary negotiations for the voice actors on Futurama have broken down, and Comedy Central / Fox are recasting all the main actors.  Listen, I like Futurama a lot, but I’m not watching it without Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, or Tress MacNeil?  It’s not the same. Would you watch The Simpsons with different voices? No.

The network suits can bite my shiny metal ass.

Last month, I had blogged/rambled about how I loved Futurama, and missed it so.  However, the fact that I had never bothered to rent any of the Futurama movies underscored the little-known-fact that I’m an idiot.   So I immediately threw the Futurama movies onto the Netflix queue.  First up? Bender’s Big Score.

After everyone went to sleep, it was time for Joel’s movie night.  **WARNING: EXTREME IRONY ALERT** As I was about to pop in the DVD, I started browsing the channels.  I scanned the guide, and what is playing at that very moment on Comedy Central?  Believe it or not, it was Bender’s Big Score.  Oh yeah, that’s right, the same movie I waited all this time to watch, requested through Netflix, waited a week to watch, and had just popped into the DVD player, had started 13 mins ago on TV.  For free. Because Comedy Central will be premiering all of the Futurama movies in the next few weeks on TV. How did I miss that announcement?

Doh!

Well, whatever, I watched it on DVD anyway.  It was ok.  It was nice to see the cast and characters again, and the jokes were somewhat funny. I think the problem was that the story was a little sprawling, and the plot wasn’t all that cohesive.  Lots of things happening over 1 hour and 28 minutes, but it wasn’t the most interesting. Hmmmmm. I’m hoping the rest of the movies are better.  To save room on the Tivo, I’ll still rent the DVDs versus Tivo’ing them. The next movie is The Beast with a Billion Backs.

FYI, Comedy Central is premiering the latest Futurama movie, Into the Wild Green Yonder, on Sunday April 26th.

Futurama: Bender's Big Score (2007)

Futurama title screen

For those of you who are part of the unenlightened portion of our society, Futurama was/is a smart and funny animated show from Matt Groening and David X. Cohen.  One word: Hee-larious, and just as good as the Simpsons (Groening’s other creation.)  Futurama is much like Fox’s Family Guy — never given a chance, was cancelled, but the popularity picked up through DVD sales and when it was on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.

Futurama is no longer on the air, but Groening and Cohen have since released 4 straight-to-DVD Futurama films.  The latest movie, Into the Wild Green Yonder, was just released February 23rd 2009.  Gizmodo’s Jason Chen interviewed David X. Cohen on a variety of topics, including Futurama’s future.

Now for today’s irony, although I hold the show near and dear to my heart, I have never seen any of the Futurama films.  What’s wrong with me?  I guess I got to busy.  I’m adding them to my Netflix queue this afternoon. What a hypocritical oaf I am!