Futurama: Bender's Big Score

I know it's really just a few episodes stuck together and plopped out by Fox just like the Family Guy "movie" but Futurama's back so wheesht and just accept it as a great Xmas present. And there's another three to come!

See the excitement about this comes from the fact that when Futurama was on the air it trumped the four adjacent seasons of The Simpsons. The Simpsons has continued to nose dive since then but has remained popular leading to the movie version, a more in depth review coming with the release of the DVD I promise. Futurama suffered from not just being The Simpsons and so essentially flopped leading to cancellation before syndication ratings and the Family Guy resurgence led Fox to believe that it should be resurrected. The motivation was in no way about money of course (ahem) but who cares as Futurama's back for the time being.

It would be churlish to compare this to The Simpsons Movie, as I said at the top there, this isn't really a movie at all but four episodes of the same storyline stuck together. Of course this is a weakness of the film. it feels like four episodes with clear cliffhanger moments and changes in plotlines coming very quickly. As a result it's very much like me after Xmas dinner, bloated and fit to burst. There's so much going on, mainly thanks to a time travel plotline that's baffling in its intricacy, coupled with so many nods to previous episodes for the fans, that it's all a bit much to take in at first.

Of course all of those nods are very welcome as a fan. Many a little detail is explained and new perspectives are opened up much like they were in all of those Fry and the Nibblonian episodes. And the storyline is pretty damn good, the extra time gives it a chance to develop in a way that it couldn't have over twenty minutes. Plus every character you want is in there somewhere, in a way where they at least get something, unlike The Simpsons Movie. And most importantly, it's as funny as ever.

No matter the flaws, and the makers admit that they did struggle thanks to having never written a movie before in the DVD commentary, this is Futurama. On other words it's brilliant and will reward many viewings. It serves up everything you could want and any sense of disappointment really comes from the fact that Futurama served up such a high level of quality over its run that four years of expectation could never really be met. In time this will get the credit it deserves and it bodes well for the other movies. Any fears about a canceled show coming back brought on by the fact that Family Guy's been in the main shite since it came back can be put to rest.