REVIEW

DVD Review: Futurama - Bender's Big Score

Written by Michael Prince
Published December 01, 2007
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FOX and the crew did very well with this crop of watchable extras; they range from the standard (commentary) to the surreal ("Everyone Loves Hypnotoad"), but in all they are appreciated and hopefully this will be the pattern for the remaining movies:

  • Audio Commentary: Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, Billy West, John DiMaggio, Phil LaMarr, Claudia Katz, Dwayne Carey-Hill, and Ken Keeler perform a commentary track that discusses the demise and return of the series, writing and making a feature-length version, and frequent musings on the characters and their actions, a great and VERY entertaining listen.
  • Futurama Returns!: a live comic book reading by the Futurama cast: This hilarious live reading from Comic-Con this year previews the first 10 or 15 minutes of the movie. Since it is live, there are some great moments.
  • "Everybody Loves Hypnotoad": a full-length episode of the future's most popular TV program: An almost painful (intentionally so I am sure) 22 minutes of the Hypnotoad (a bit segment from the movie)
  • Deleted storyboard scenes: Nice look at scenes that were omitted from the movie.
  • A Terrifying Message From Al Gore: animated promo for An Inconvenient Truth, featuring Bender and Al Gore; video commentary by Al Gore, Matt Groening and David X. Cohen
  • Bite My Shiny Metal X: a mind-shattering Futurama math lecture, since math is so prevalent in Futurama and this movie (the Harlem Globetrotters were on hand to help with equations), this lecture is appropriate and oddly entertaining, but I am a geek.
  • 3D models/3D turnarounds: Nothing too exciting, but neat to see the progression in creating the 3d elements.
  • The Script: Original First Draft - a scan of the original script, if you are keen (and I am sure some are) you can read and see if you can spot where changes happened on the fly or over time.
  • New character/design sketches: pretty standard, but an animator friend of mine loved the inclusion of this feature.
  • Original Five-minute Comic-con promo: The promo that got the hordes excited at this years Comic-Con

The Final Word

While not perfect, Bender's Big Score is a very well done reboot for the series and is a great way to bring the crew back to viewers' perceptions. There are many laugh-out-loud moments here and a smile was on my face while watching. The large amount of extras was appreciated and adds substantially to this disc.

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DVD Review: Futurama - Bender's Big Score
Published: December 01, 2007
Type: Review
Section: Video
Filed Under: Video: Animation, Video: Comedy, Video: SF
Writer: Michael Prince
Michael Prince's BC Writer page
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