Futurama: Bender’s Big Score Review
After being cancelled by FOX back in 2003, many fans thought they wouldn’t see Futurama content again. Luckily, Comedy Central has now picked up the show, and has commissioned 16 episodes for next year. As a nice aside to the deal, it was suggested that they could create direct to DVD movies, and eventually it was decided that there would be four of these, which would be split into the 16 episodes to make Series 5.
The first movie in the series, Bender’s Big Score, is a delightful return to Futurama’s witty and fast-paced sci-fi comedy, which has been painfully missing for a long while. The film clocks in at a respectable 90 minute length, with some great extras in the form of a full episode of “Everybody Loves Hypnotoad” and “A Terrifying Message From Al Gore”.
The plot of the main feature sees the return of the Planet Express Crew after their firing by the “brainless morons” at the BOX Network, and quickly evolves into complicated paradoxical adventures in time, handled with some brilliant humour and one liners coupled with the bizarre melodrama of Earth being taken over by Scammer Aliens, which is funny enough in itself to make anyone laugh.
Furthermore, the creators of the show have let FOX know their feelings in-show, with them being the highlight of a running gag regarding the aforementioned BOX Network being ground up into a fine pink powder that has miraculous powers, entitled “Torgo’s Executive Powder”. This is used to alleviate pain, assist surgeries, provide seasoning, and feed heads in a jar, amongst other uses. With such a diverse range of applications, the powder makes numerous appearances.
Overall, Bender’s Big Score is a wonderful feature by itself, which is a return to form for the franchise and a precedent set for the other movies to follow in the coming year. While other cartoon franchises like The Simpsons and Family Guy are stagnating due to constantly pumping out episodes, the long break has really benefited Futurama. However, the DVD is lacking the all important visual quality due to the transfer of the content to the DVD. There is artifacting, blurring, and lack of colour in some scenes, which is rather disappointing for fans, and bewildering to people new to the franchise. Regardless, this is the best cartoon film of the year, beating The Simpsons Movie amongst others. At the time of writing, the DVD is only available in the US, with no release dates announced for the rest of the world.
