The jokes that hit were good, but the jokes that fell flat weren’t so good. It’s a decent rental if you’re a Futurama fan, but not the strongest of the four installments. As a matter of fact, looking back through my four reviews, I’m not a big fan of any of the four films. The first few seasons of the tv series were great, but the quality has certainly dropped overall.

Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (2009)

I am a big fan of the television series, but I have sadly not enjoyed the direct-to-DVD movies. The jokes have been lame, and the stories haven’t been exciting. I would go out on a limb and say that the films have been boring. Was it a lack of focus by the writers? I couldn’t tell you. Still, I respect the series enough to continue to slug through each film. Sadly, my reviews have found the films to be less than praise worthy.

In this film, the plot is standalone from the previous films. There is a plot about dark matter being overpriced fuel, and controlled by the evil Mom. For some reason, the writers used a series of fantasy themes, such as Dungeons & Dragons, and The Lord of the Rings, and quickly beat the jokes to a pulp. It was funny for a little while, but after a while, meh.

Yet another bad review of a Futurama movie. Sigh, this is getting annoying. I’d give up, but the new 6th season of Futurama has been almost as good as the early seasons in terms of quality. One more film to go – Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder.

Futurama: Bender's Game (2008)

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)

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.

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!