Futurama: The Beast With A Billion Backs Talkback (Spoilers)

[The Irishman]

Well, this is the second act in a four act performance, so although we can't write the whole show off, I agree that the Beast With A Billion Backs was perhaps lacking some of the sharper wit and humour that I have come to expect from Futurama. Like some others have said, the main characters were a bit out of whack; allowing secondary characters to play a bit more. Now, one of the criticisms I've levelled at the Simpsons Movie is that we saw too much of the family and not enough of the townspeople. It appears that the balance has yet to be found. The plot itself was a bit plain, but I found it more coherent and logical than BBS, which at times was jumping about all over the place. Bender disappointed me the most though. He was nowhere near as funny or wicked as he normally is. Here's hoping the next movie is an improvement.

 

[ChokeyChicken]

I never like to resurrect old threads, but this one's only been dormant for a month, and I figure it'd be the best place to voice some of my slightly changed opinions about this movie (I'm still fighting my hardest not to type "episode", believe it or not).





This movie was rushed. That's all there is to it. Perhaps vowing to put out a new "Futurama" feature every six months was a mistake - these four films are going to be the be-all, end-all, absolute last word on "Futurama", the final four helpings to a fanbase who starved for four years, desperate for more of the brilliance they got from the original 72 episodes. The utmost care and consideration should be going into them to make them as strong as they can be. And The Beast With a Billion Backs was possibly the weakest effort that the writers have ever produced. It smacks of the same problems that plagued forgettable episodes like "The Cryonic Woman", "That's Lobstertainment", and "A Pharaoh to Remember" - characters do things not because they normally would, but because the writers need them to in order for the plot to work. "Futurama" is one of the most character-driven animated shows ever conceived, and when those characters are sacrificed on a weak storyline, it's extremely painful to watch.

Well we don't know for sure it's the final word from Futurama. David Cohen as said he'd like to do an actual Futurama movie for theaters, and other things in the future whether it be actual new episodes or anything like board games. Although in the unfortunate case that this is the final word then I have to agree with you here. Hopefully Bender's Game will be a step up.

 

[Rud]

He was nowhere near as funny or wicked as he normally is

He sold his son to the robot devil and then threw him into a pit of Lava!!!, i dont rtemember him being more wicked than that, even the robo devil thought so.

 

[The Irishman]

He sold his son to the robot devil and then threw him into a pit of Lava!!!, i dont rtemember him being more wicked than that, even the robo devil thought so.

Touche, although that scene seemed to be an isolated incident. I thought that over the course of the series, his schemes were of a similar caliber, but were more grandiose and devious in their nature.

 

[J. B. Warner]

Touche, although that scene seemed to be an isolated incident. I thought that over the course of the series, his schemes were of a similar caliber, but were more grandiose and devious in their nature.

Funny you should mention "isolated incident", since Bender's subplot seemed to be full of those that were much funnier than the whole. I couldn't even fully grasp his motivation to begin with - maybe if we'd actually seen the "League of Robots" TV show that Bender believed to be real, we'd be able to identify with it better. And Bender's emotions are all over the map throughout the film, leaping from confident to suicidal to enthusiastic to snooty to enraged to lonesome to uncaring to vengeful to loving in mere seconds. Even though it offered lots of good lines, Bender's entire story felt artificial and forced.

Wow, the more I look at this movie, the more it sucks. This is the type of laziness I'd expect from the "Family Guy" crew, not the math and physics majors of "Futurama".

 

[Space Cadet]

The movie is making its Comedy Central debut tonight. It started at 8 PM, but if you missed it due to watching FOX's animation lineup(or other stuff), it repeats tonight at 11 PM Eastern.

 

[Nel_Annette]

Thank god for repeats. I'll be watching Fox until the second showing.

 

[Kitschensyngk]

It's every Japanese cartoon schoolgirl's worst nightmare!!

 

[Space Cadet]

Thank god for repeats. I'll be watching Fox until the second showing.

It also repeats, Saturday, October 25th at 11:30 PM Eastern and Sunday, October 26th at 12:00 AM Eastern. Just throwing it out there.

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

Watching it on Comedy Central. This is really good so far.

 

[Rud]

oh my god, i love this scene with the first born son, EVEN THE DEVIL WAS WOWED by bender's cruelty.

 

[judyindisguise]

BBB has all the elements that bugs me about Futurama. With Futurama, the story is always more important than the characters, and the characters are bent, folded and twisted to fit the story no matter what. Thus, when the characters are thrust into wildly improbable situations (not that there's anything fundamentally wrong with that, this being a cartoon and all), we, the viewers, have no reference point from which to be either amused or astounded. We have no one character to identify with, since none of them, for the most part, act even remotely believably human. I think that one identifiable character is essential for any work of fiction, cartoon or otherwise. In The Simpsons, that one character is probably Marge. In King of the Hill, that one character is probably Hank. In Fairly Oddparents, that one character is (or should be) Timmy. Of course, ideally, all the characters in a given cartoon should have some aspect we all recognize, identify with or sympathize with. Spongebob has three such characters: Spongebob himself, due to his innocent, childlike optimism; Squidward, due to his dour attitude towards his unfulfilling grunt job and his equally unfullfilled dreams; and Mr. Krabs, because of his kindly but practical "Stop-dreaming-and-work-for-a-living" credo. All 3 have some human quality we the viewers recognize. But nobody in Futurama really has those qualities. They're all very superficial. Even Leela seems rather cold and distant, although she's easily the smartest and most competent of the bunch.

Really, you'd think that, given his fish-out-of-water persona, Fry would be the identifiable character in the Futurama universe. But he's just as off-kilter and puzzling as the rest of them. The only thing that makes him remotely sympathetic is his obsession with Leela. And sadly, that aspect was completely left out of BBB. Because of that, while watching Fry, I felt like I was watching a stranger. And I don't think the idea behind the special, and the jokes it generated, really made up for it.

Didn't mean to write an essay here, but anyway, that's my take on BBB.

 

[maczero]

I didn't hate it but I was underwhelmed by it. Although, for some reason I lmao when the robot cop says "She looks like a freak to me". Was that John DiMaggio?

 

[Lavenderpaw]

I didn't hate it but I was underwhelmed by it. Although, for some reason I lmao when the robot cop says "She looks like a freak to me". Was that John DiMaggio?

No,he voices Bender.I don't know who voices the robot cop.

 

[Space Cadet]

No,he voices Bender.I don't know who voices the robot cop.

John DiMaggio also voices the robot cop.