Futurama: Beast with a Billion Backs

I'm a little late with this given it came out June 30th, but i'd like to note down my opinion on the second Futurama DVD feature, "Beast with a Billion Backs". There is a definite inbuilt warm and fuzzy feeling to getting a DVD of fresh Futurama in the mail, knowing it will last well over an hour, and that as a glass half full type of guy, there isn't a single episode of the show that I dislike, so odds are good i'll enjoy this too.

Unlike the first feature, "Bender's Big Score" which I may or may not have pilfered prior to it's release because the lying studio made out there may not have been a region 2 release in the pipeline, I paid for this one straight away. I also finally paid for the first one, as I always intended to. It's good to see what I assume is Fox better understanding the importance of region 2 for this type of thing, releasing it only a week after region 1, a far cry from the 4+ month wait for the last one.

I didn't actually enjoy this as much as "Bender's Big Score", and I'm very much in a minority on this, it seems. Thing is, that feature was far more geared to exploring the ever developing Futurama universe. Yes, it changed some things that had previously been established, perhaps lessening their impact, but the premise was solid, and as I always say, time travel clinched it. On top of that, it furthered the Fry/Leela relationship angle leaps and bounds.

It's almost as if Cohen and the gang took a decision to make this one a stand alone story of little consequence in furthering the overall story. Not a problem, as this was certainly the way the original show worked the majority of the time, and I loved it. It's just a little disappointing for a fan that enjoyed the first feature so much, and hoped for more of the same.

The only element carried forward is the consequence of Bender's Big Score (literally), which paves the way for the multi-tentacled monster on which the second story focuses. There doesn't appear to be anything whatsoever between Fry and Leela, with just a little narrative by Bender on the matter, which didn't really explain anything. In feature one, the Nibbolnians return and expose their true selves again. Nibbler didn't even appear in this feature. That said, he did "exit" the universe at the end of the first, so perhaps this will be picked up later.

Putting it more simply, I'd compare Bender's Big Score to almost everybody's favourite episode, "Luck of the Fryrish" in tone (based on reviews I guess some won't like that). That was an exceptional episode amongst many great ones. "Beast with a Billion Backs" is more of a normal great episode of greater length. I'll be watching and enjoying it again and again, i'm quite sure.

This was a badly written review. I just reread it and it doesn't read well. I'm still publishing it.