Despite running for four seasons and having decent viewer ratings, Fox axed the show citing low viewership figures. Whatever the reason was for cancelling Futurama the first time around, fans were unrelenting in their desire to see the sci-fi sitcom return and eventually in 2007 they were granted their wish. But Season Five of the show would take a different direction to the previous four seasons and would instead be split up into four feature length films. So, with the ability to make longer storylines with greater attention to character development, Matt Groening, Ken Keeler, and David X. Cohen got to work on making the biggest and boldest futurama stories ever. First up on the chopping block was Bender’s Big Score.
When a Planet Express delivery leads to the entire crew being scammed by aliens, it’s discovered that Fry (Billy West) holds the secret to time travel on a tattoo on his ass. Having enslaved Bender (John DiMaggio) with a computer virus, the scammers instruct Bender to time travel throughout history and steal everything that has any kind of value attached to it. Once they have everything they want and Fry becomes disposable, the scammers order him to be killed by Bender. Jumping through time to avoid certain death, Fry is given the opportunity to live out a life in the twenty-first century, but he soon discovers that a life without Leela (Katey Sagal) isn’t worth living. Meanwhile in the future, humanity is succumbing to the unstoppable might of the scammers, and Hermes (Phil LaMarr) desperately tries to save his marriage.
When a Planet Express delivery leads to the entire crew being scammed by aliens, it’s discovered that Fry (Billy West) holds the secret to time travel on a tattoo on his ass. Having enslaved Bender (John DiMaggio) with a computer virus, the scammers instruct Bender to time travel throughout history and steal everything that has any kind of value attached to it. Once they have everything they want and Fry becomes disposable, the scammers order him to be killed by Bender. Jumping through time to avoid certain death, Fry is given the opportunity to live out a life in the twenty-first century, but he soon discovers that a life without Leela (Katey Sagal) isn’t worth living. Meanwhile in the future, humanity is succumbing to the unstoppable might of the scammers, and Hermes (Phil LaMarr) desperately tries to save his marriage.
Bender’s Big Score not only a great way to kick off the show’s triumphant return for returning fans, but it’s an ideal jumping in point for newcomers too. Despite the fact that Seasons One through Four didn’t exactly have much of a throughline narrative to follow, Bender’s Big Score concerns itself so much with Fry’s cryogenic freezing in the opening to the pilot episode that you don’t really need to know the story so far to have a great time with Bender’s Big Score because it plays so fast and loose with the shows timeline.
It also perfectly showcases what can be done with a Futurama story when it’s given considerably more time to play out than a single twenty-two-minute episode. Coming in at just shy of ninety minutes, Bender’s big Score delves into characters in ways we’ve never seen on the show before and establishes a threat so great that it can’t just be solved by happenstance as in the previous seasons.
Right from the first scene of the film it’s clear that the creative team were not only thrilled to be back but had a bone to pick with Fox as well. With a recurring gag relating to Fox and rubbish studio executives cropping up throughout the film, it made me extremely happy to see the team getting their own back on the studio that kicked them to the curb.
What doesn’t work so well for me is the scammer aliens. Despite not liking the villains, I do enjoy the story in general. My biggest problem with the scammers is that they’re a race never shown in the show before, and they’re never seen again after this point either. We know nothing about them, and their only desire is to amass information and wealth. I feel like if that was the case why couldn’t the team have just brought back the brains from the episode ‘The Why of Fry’, or even just give us insight into what race these aliens are, where they come from, and why they do this. Obviously in the grand scheme of running a commentary about internet scams and how easily people fall for them, we never do know who they are in real life, but in the context of a film’s plot to not have any info about your villains other than ‘they are bad’ is kind of underwhelming.
It also perfectly showcases what can be done with a Futurama story when it’s given considerably more time to play out than a single twenty-two-minute episode. Coming in at just shy of ninety minutes, Bender’s big Score delves into characters in ways we’ve never seen on the show before and establishes a threat so great that it can’t just be solved by happenstance as in the previous seasons.
Right from the first scene of the film it’s clear that the creative team were not only thrilled to be back but had a bone to pick with Fox as well. With a recurring gag relating to Fox and rubbish studio executives cropping up throughout the film, it made me extremely happy to see the team getting their own back on the studio that kicked them to the curb.
What doesn’t work so well for me is the scammer aliens. Despite not liking the villains, I do enjoy the story in general. My biggest problem with the scammers is that they’re a race never shown in the show before, and they’re never seen again after this point either. We know nothing about them, and their only desire is to amass information and wealth. I feel like if that was the case why couldn’t the team have just brought back the brains from the episode ‘The Why of Fry’, or even just give us insight into what race these aliens are, where they come from, and why they do this. Obviously in the grand scheme of running a commentary about internet scams and how easily people fall for them, we never do know who they are in real life, but in the context of a film’s plot to not have any info about your villains other than ‘they are bad’ is kind of underwhelming.
Bender’s Big Score makes no major changes to the visual presentation. The most immediately visible change is the shift from a 4:3 aspect ratio to a 16:9 to accommodate for modern TV displays and the impending shift into HD entertainment. There’s also a lot more 3D CG animated elements than in a typical episode, but the same great animation style remains throughout. All the original voice cast return too, as well as some fan favourites like Dawnn Lewis as LaBarbabra, Frank Welker as Nibbler and Al Gore as himself. There’re also two great musical numbers nearer the end of the film which were very funny and well written.
Bender’s Big Score is a great way to kick of the short-lived Futurama revival of the late 00’s. It’s bigger and better than anything Futurama has done before, and it feels like the show never left. Perfect for fans or newcomers alike, Bender’s Big Score is a laugh a minute and really proves why Futurama should never have been cancelled in the first place. It also sets up the sequel, The Beast With A Billion Backs really well, meaning that you’ll be eager to come back for even more Futurama weirdness.
Bender’s Big Score is a great way to kick of the short-lived Futurama revival of the late 00’s. It’s bigger and better than anything Futurama has done before, and it feels like the show never left. Perfect for fans or newcomers alike, Bender’s Big Score is a laugh a minute and really proves why Futurama should never have been cancelled in the first place. It also sets up the sequel, The Beast With A Billion Backs really well, meaning that you’ll be eager to come back for even more Futurama weirdness.