Futurama: Wild Green Yonder.

[kupomog]

Basically, "middle of the road" about sums up everything I can think when I watched this. Nothing was totally fantastic, nothing made me lose complete interest.

[|Mr.Sparkle|]

I just finished watching it and I was happy, a 4/5

in order best to worst imo
BBS - IWGY - BBB - BG

personally I think Slapping and Craping (Bender's Game) shouldn't have been made and they should have left it at a trilogy, but other then that, I am glad they finished Futurama off with movies and really loved the ending of this movie, so long Futurama, you will always have a great place in my memorys. Best television show ever.

[JoshG]

Question: Did I miss something with the "Waterfall" people? The commentary mentions them a few times. Who the hell are they and why should I care?

Various members of the Waterfall family have appeared in a few (three, I think) episodes during the series. One was in the Popplers episode, one was in the penguins episode... and there's one more I think. They're all hippy-like environmentalist extremists and every single one of them gets killed off.

[Sprocketeer]

Old Man Waterfall from "A Taste of Freedom" was the other one.

[Upgrayedd]

I loved the movie. Resisted the urge to download it and rushed to Best Buy after school and bought it, and I wasn't disappointed. Save for a few cheap DVD-era-esque jokes, the whole movie was fantastic.

Also, the crew did a great job with handling the story with the 88 min format this time. Every moment was packed with goodness and I didn't really feel the pacing problems of the last 3 movies. The story did not disappoint at all and kept me at the edge of my seat. I was scared Fry saving the world would be cheaply recycled from Fry-saves-the-world stories like "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" and "The Why of Fry", but they were able to keep it fresh and original while maintaining the continuity of the story. It was even nice that they kept the continuity from "Bender's Game" as we see whale oil is now the PE ship's source of fuel.

As a moderate fan of the Fry/Leela saga, I felt one of the main drawbacks of "Bender's Big Score" was how they handled the Fry/Leela saga, but I thought it was now much better handled. It was kept out of the way, not shoved into our faces, not melodramatic, and when the moment did come, it was concise but very sweet and satisfying. Fry wasn't lovesick and emotional when shot down or downright stupid like in the last 3 movies, he felt more like the Fry from the series - clueless and impulsive yet having a burden on his shoulders, emotional/stupid only when the time called for it. Hell, even the ending was outstanding. It had the perfect blend of closure and cliffhanger and was very satisfying and left me wanting more.

Characters were in great form. Unlike Jean-era Simpsons, the Futurama crew did a great job at taking a very minor character and putting him at center stage. Leo Wong did a great job as an antagonist to the story while adding some good laughs along the way. Zapp was in great form (many great jokes) along with the PE crew.

Laughed a lot during this movie. Like I said, save for a few DVD-era-esque jokes, the jokes were great, even great subtle touches like Fry molding his foil hat into a cop-style hat. Nixon was great, as was Zapp who provided some of the best jokes. For me though, the best joke was Agnew's death. Though it was hilarious, it makes me sad we may not see more Agnew, as he was one of my favorite very minor characters. Gerald Ford as Nixon's sidekick in the future, perhaps?

My main gripe was the Bender/Fanny/Robot Mafia subplot. It was practically useless to the main story, but if anything, added some depth to the Mars Vegas portion of the story. And the subplot was funny, I won't deny that, but it could've been set aside to add even more depth to the main plot.

My final movie rankings: ITWGY > BBS > BWABB > BG

I'll rewatch tomorrow, too tired today, but I'll edit this post to tell extra pros/cons I noticed.

Here's hoping for that season 6.

(A 9/10)

EDIT: Gave it a rewatch today, hoping to make a final judgment after the "OMG FINAL FUTURAMA MOVIE" high has passed. I'd still say the main drawbacks for the movie were the almost-useless Bender story arc. Also, I was still reminded that we were in the DVD era, with some characters' quick, cheesy "catchphrases" like Fry's "holy Jeep" and Leela's "crud nuggets" lines and some cringe-worthy dialogue like the "I got one more trick up my sleeve/That's the exact number we need!" line, for one. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of the pop culture references. Even though they weren't really cringe-worthy, Futurama should just stick to making fun of our times via the heads rather than "OMG TiVO" and "OMG XM RADIO" and "LOL WE MADE FUN OF VISTA IS WE COOL YET" jokes. The Vista joke reminded me of Patchcord Adams' Windows 3000 quip in "Bendin' In The Wind", both were very similar, but that one was bad on purpose. How did the writers expect us to have a different reaction than the PE crew's reaction to the similar Windows joke?

Also, I started to see some of the 88 minute/4 22 minute ep format's toll on the movie, though it wasn't as gaping as some of the other movies. Come the end, like the other Futurama movies, it became rushed. We went from Leo's demolition ceremony to stopping it to Kif getting back with Amy in a very short amount of time, then went back to regular motion for the very ending. Also, I would've liked to see more of the Leo/Amy/Fry "child" triangle, if you wanna call it that. I wanted more but I felt it was horribly underdeveloped. They tried to build it up in the beginning, showing Amy's golf proficiency in golf and her dad's lack of acceptance for that. We see Fry be hired as Leo's security guard and do some odd jobs and see Leo acknowledge Fry's competence at the guard job. Then this is ignored, then, later, all this comes back for 5 minutes, where Fry now has Leo's complete trust and possible love, we reveal Leo wanted a son, Fry's the "son he never had", and Amy sees her attempts to live up to her dad's standards were wasted and joins the feministas. However, this is all wrapped up VERY QUICKLY in a matter of 2 lines at the end where Leo finally admits Amy has a good swing, and Amy getting flattered. This is one reason I believe Bender's arc should've been scrapped, it could've been used to develop this subplot that actually had a real connection to the main story. On the other hand, they could've kept Bender's arc and spent more time developing the Leo/Amy/Fry subplot all in the same film but they would've ran out of time, so either way, there's no winning with the 88 minute/4 - 22 ep format, which is why I'm hoping Futurama will be revived in the 22 min form.

Well, enough with the rant. The movie was still a pretty good improvement from Bender's Game and I still loved the majority of the plot and the jokes. Also, about the ending, I can't really decide which series finale was better, but each one fit perfectly with the context of the story. Despite the extra cons I noticed, I'll still edge this out over BBS. Both had great plots with a few flaws, their share of bad dialogue/jokes and their share of flaws at the expense of the divisible 88 minute format. But, I'll give this the edge because the Fry/Leela arc wasn't handled in the cheesy, melodramatic way it was handled in BBS and Fry was IMO in his best character form in this movie.

FINAL GRADE (A-)

[Mira]

in order best to worst imo
BBS - IWGY - BBB - BG

personally I think Slapping and Craping (Bender's Game) shouldn't have been made and they should have left it at a trilogy, but other then that, I am glad they finished Futurama off with movies and really loved the ending of this movie, so long Futurama, you will always have a great place in my memorys. Best television show ever.

I agree with this order. I liked them all except for Bender's Game, and also wouldn't care if they hadn't even made it. It was rarely funny and mostly a waste of time in my eyes.

Bender's Big Score and Into the Wild Green Yonder were both really great.

[Sprocketeer]

^ Thirded

Picked the DVD up last night and watched the commentary today (oddly enough, I never watched commentaries for Bender's Game or BWABB; I'll get around to it someday). A few funny bits on it, and some unique comments on animation mistakes, or how they purposely gave Leo five fingers (a no-no in a Groening series) for the King of Beers joke. And they do indeed acknowledge whale oil being their brief explanation for dark matter being rendered useless in Bender's Game.

[TriforceBun]

*SPOILERS*

Another Futurama finale...I don't think my heart can take a third. As someone who's had his fair share of problems with each of the DVD movies (some moreso than others), I'm happy to say that this one left me extremely satisfied.

A little history on the others, first--I got all the season DVDs as soon as possible, and the first three movies the weeks they came out. Bender's Big Score had an uncomfortable first third/fourth but then kicked it into high gear with the time parodoxes and Fry reliving life in the 20th century. It turned out to be a very good film, in my eyes. Beast With a Billion Backs had some scattered good laughs, but felt even more disjointed than the first movie and suffered from a rather pointless and uneven storyline. Bender's Game felt like two completely separate stories, had an underdeveloped fantasy world, and far too many flat jokes. So I was going into this one with somewhat deflated expectations.

You know, as much as I dislike MacFarlane, he did a great job on the swinging opening number that really set the pace for this film's first fourth. I loved the atmosphere of the casino setting--it made for a memorable location that hasn't really been seen before in this show, as well as a slew of solid, unique jokes. The poker game was well done and very fun to watch, and Bender's subplot was indeed one of the funniest "episodes" of the movies. Taken by itself (and with some minor alterations to give it an actual ending, etc), the 22-minute beginning would make for an above-average Bender showing, easily on-par with something like Bender Gets Made or The Lesser of Two Evils. The gags were well-timed, the characterizations were spot-on, and the writing was roughly the same level of quality as the series.

After that amusing tangent, we get to the main storyline, which I thought was handled better than the other three movies. BBS's is its strongest contender, and even that had some odd pacing (and a disjointed first quarter that wasn't nearly as funny). There were a few solid themes touched on in ITWGY--environmentalism, feminism, trust--that all felt like they were amply explored. All of the plotlines converged in creative and unpredictable ways, with a very interesting climax (involving the giant manta ray). It sort of reminded me of the Yivo finale in BWABB, except really well-done. And the implication that humans were an endangered species was a cool little throwaway line that could lead into something else if the series is ever continued.

Characterizations were very solid. The whole crew gave me laughs here, although this was sadly the least amount of Farnsworth in any of the movies. Bender, like in all the movies, was excellent and his motives were wonderfully in-character. Good use of Amy, Zoidberg, and Hermes too. Really enjoyed the way Fry and Leela were handled in their respective storylines, although I do think the romance could have been touched upon a bit more. A few more lines here and there would work more within the context of the movie, although looking at ITWGY as the final piece of the series as a whole, it fits in rather easily.

I only had a couple specific problems--more development time for Fry/Leela, more development (or closure) regarding the Mafia storyline, and more development regarding Amy/Kif getting back together. Admittedly, some of that isn't really the point of the movie, but those points all felt a little too quick. There was also a little too much exposition in Fry's meeting scenes (although the snake/frog series of gags were some great visual moments). But considering the issues with the other movies, these are some pretty small nitpicks. The sex and gore was kept to a minimum for once.

The last scene was really well-done all-around (although honestly, it probably could've fit at the end of BBS or a few of the series' episodes), with the fourth wall parallel involving the wormhole. I'll admit that the finale got me choked up, and that has only previously happened in Fryrish and Jurassic Bark...so I guess it did its job. I can't think of a better way to end it than that, honestly.

Well done, guys. It took a couple missteps, but they made a great four-act movie. Here's hoping we see this series surface again in some form, but if not, at least it went out in style. It's been fun on a bun!

Bender's Big Score - B+
The Beast With a Billion Backs - C+/B-
Bender's Game - C/C+
Into the Wild Green Yonder - A-

[Disgruntled Goat]

Various members of the Waterfall family have appeared in a few (three, I think) episodes during the series. One was in the Popplers episode, one was in the penguins episode... and there's one more I think. They're all hippy-like environmentalist extremists and every single one of them gets killed off.

Oh. Is that it? I already knew that. I thought there was some significance to them.

[TriforceBun]

Yeah, to be specific...

Free Waterfall, Jr. - The Problem With Popplers (killed when eaten by Lrrr)
Free Waterfall, Sr. - The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz (killed when eaten by penguins)
Old Man Waterfall - A Taste of Freedom (killed when crushed by Decapodians' ship)

And the two in this movie, Frida Waterfall and Hutch Waterfall.

[Big McLargehuge]

While I seem to be the only one here who generally enjoyed all four of the movies, I thought this one suffered from pacing problems that weren't present in the other three films.

My rankings would probably go something like this:

Bender's Big Score
Bender's Game
Beast With a Billion Backs
Into the Wild Green Yonder

Although I'll have to give Yonder a rewatch sometime soon. I've never really seen where the extreme hate of Bender's Game came from, although I understand it probably stems from whatever interest you do or don't have with the subject matter/references. And keep in mind that I also said I really liked all of the movies, so don't be too offended by my ranking.

[♩ ♪ ♫ ♬]

Agree with Kupo's summation. Granted I watched it really tired, but still didn't feel the need to turn it off due to boredom.

Will watch it tomorrow with the commentary. I can sort of picture the commentary already. David X Cohen will be talking about the significances of all the back story and minutia. The voice actors will be laughing at the jokes and doing all the voices of their characters. The animators will be say about how long it took them to do certain sequences and Matt will just occasionally comment about certain things he liked.

[|Mr.Sparkle|]

Just wondering, to you few who liked Slapping and Crapping (Bender's Game), are you fans of Dungeons and Dragons and or other similar magic type things like Lord of the Rings? Because I am not, and thought it was definitely the worst, but some people here seem to have liked it, so I'm just wondering if maybe you just truly need to like D&D to enjoy that movie.

[Postmaster]

I find it odd that people seem to be so against the fantasy genre in principle, when they seem to like the sci fi genre, it's just two sides of the same dorky coin. (yeah ok that doesn't quite work as a metaphor)

Although admittedly Bender's Game has the worst writing regardless of this.

[Tomacco]

The more time that passes, the more I dislike Bender's Game. It was the worst of the 4 in every department. It focused on the worst side characters (Mom and kids), the lamest parodies (LOTR and D&D) and had the most disjointed and uninteresting storylines going on (Leela's anger, dark matter shortage, the weak Professor/Ignar revelation, Bender once again entering the robo-sylum, and the entire D&D/LOTR thing). I barely remember any of the jokes anymore, and I've watched it 3 or 4 times. The other three movies I liked a lot. Bender's Game was a healthy reminder that Futurama was far from perfect at any point in its run. Episodes like "Obsoletely Fabulous", "Less Than Hero" and "A Pharoah to Remember" are memorable examples of very weak episodes towards the end of the series.

[Sprocketeer]

^ I rewatched "Obsoletely Fabulous" on TV the other night, and it was funnier than I ever remember it. Much more so than "Bend Her", which aired around the same point in the 4th season.

That said, even many weak episodes of the series were superior to Bender's game, which I actually lower my grade on after a recent rewatch (was a 3/5, now a 2.5). Even if an episode faltered on jokes, it generally had a plot that - no matter how ridiculous - managed to still make sense in the bizarre universe of Futurama. Yet I still don't understand the darkmatter/hexahedron science and reality distortion in Bender's Game.

[dapper dan]

My dislike of Bender's Game had absolutely nothing to do with the subject matter. When I heard that there was to be a fantasy spoof, I actually thought Great, it'll be a bit like a Tales of Interest (i.e, interesting and funny). But it bombed in my eyes because of poor dialogue. And there was none of the clever stuff that usually peppers a Futurama episode.

So no, if you suddenly got into D&D or LOTR, I don't imagine your view of BG would change.

[JoshuaAD]

What's the secret message at the opening title screen? I'm curious.

[Adam R]

^

In case anyone was lazy about finding the meaning behind the encoded message at the beginning:  "the humans shall not defeat us" 

I rewatched this again last night and I'm not as crazy about it but I still like it a lot. it's probably not as good as bender's big score. I have yet to pick up the dvd (and likely will not for a while yet), are the features any good?

also, I like bender's game too. it's noticeably weaker but it's an entertaining watch. I guess I'm less hard on futurama, period. even the weakest episodes of the series are a fun watch for me, even if they are low on the laughs or not particularly well constructed.

[♩ ♪ ♫ ♬]

features are numerous but short and they sort of feel like they are just going through the motions and little effort is put in.

[Ralph_Wiggum]

Hope to be getting it tonight, how do you guys get this early if it's not released until today the 24th, do you work at the store or know some one? What ever!

I think this little venture made a bit of money for Fox, the first movie made over $15,000,000 and you know Fox didnt pay them that much for the 4 movies.

So far Beast is my favorite then Game then Score.

It came out in the UK a day before the USA.

The more time that passes, the more I dislike Bender's Game. It was the worst of the 4 in every department. It focused on the worst side characters (Mom and kids), the lamest parodies (LOTR and D&D) and had the most disjointed and uninteresting storylines going on (Leela's anger, dark matter shortage, the weak Professor/Ignar revelation, Bender once again entering the robo-sylum, and the entire D&D/LOTR thing).

Seconded.

[troymclure17]

The ending gets me every time. (sniff)

As a robot, i don't get to feel emotions, and sometimes that makes me very sad (sniff).
Bender.

[HomersYellowButt]

I GONNA WATCH THIS WITH BUTTERED POPCORN AND ORANGE SODA AND SNAX!!!!! YAY FUTUTURAMA!

[Dark Homer]

http://io9.com/5165221/if-futurama-c...yline=true&s=x

here's an interview with david x. cohen that is illuminating

[Captain Yesterday]

Are we gonna put a poll on this baby or make a R&R baby?

[Dark Homer]

should we? i think we should put it to a vote

[blueguy]

Arghh. WTF? I went to Best Buy last night so I figured I'd finally pick this up. Skimmed through the Blu-rays and couldn't find it. They only had a huge stack of Bender's Game. The only thing I could think of is that I was mistaken about the release and it hasn't been released yet. Seems it was, over a month ago. Was there a shortage or are people just buying that many copies?

[Granto]

The second best Futurama movie. It was entralling enough to keep my attention but I did think it was a bit long and the ending was a stretch. Didn't like Leela and Fry finally kissing, there was no lead up.

Still a funny movie though.

6.5/10

[♩ ♪ ♫ ♬]

yeah that ending was really tacked on

[Granto]

Definitely. Just seemed like they added it at the last minute to please the minority that needed that closure