The first two Futurama films that comprise half of Season Five’s four feature length episodes went down a treat for fans of the show, but the one thing that could be held against them is that they were relatively safe by the show’s standards. Sci-fi adventures about aliens wreaking havoc on Earth and the Planet Express crew somehow being the only people able to stop them. But the third film, Bender’s Game, was set to take the show in a fantastical new direction. Would it retain the same high quality that Futurama fans know and love, or would it be too great a departure from the show’s usual antics?
When Bender (John DiMaggio) is introduced to Dungeons and Dragons by Cubert (Kath Soucie) and Dwight (Phil LaMarr) he begins to malfunction as his programming fights back against this newfound imagination. He is subsequently admitted to an insane asylum as he now believes himself to be Titanius Anglesmith, Fancy Man of Cornwood.
Meanwhile Dark Matter fuel prices are soaring through the roof so that Mom (Tress MacNeille) can make even bigger profits, but Professor Farnsworth (Billy West) has a plan to render Dark Matter useless. But once the Planet Express crew infiltrate Mom’s lair a strange phenomenon occurs that transports everyone to Cornwood. With Fry (also Billy West) the bearer of the anti-backwards crystal, he must be escorted through a fantasy land by a centaur Leela (Katey Sagal), Bender, and the professor, to destroy the crystal in the lair of the nefarious Mom in the super bombastic bubbling plastic from whence it came.
When Bender (John DiMaggio) is introduced to Dungeons and Dragons by Cubert (Kath Soucie) and Dwight (Phil LaMarr) he begins to malfunction as his programming fights back against this newfound imagination. He is subsequently admitted to an insane asylum as he now believes himself to be Titanius Anglesmith, Fancy Man of Cornwood.
Meanwhile Dark Matter fuel prices are soaring through the roof so that Mom (Tress MacNeille) can make even bigger profits, but Professor Farnsworth (Billy West) has a plan to render Dark Matter useless. But once the Planet Express crew infiltrate Mom’s lair a strange phenomenon occurs that transports everyone to Cornwood. With Fry (also Billy West) the bearer of the anti-backwards crystal, he must be escorted through a fantasy land by a centaur Leela (Katey Sagal), Bender, and the professor, to destroy the crystal in the lair of the nefarious Mom in the super bombastic bubbling plastic from whence it came.
Bender’s Game is primarily a Futurama spin on The Lord of the Rings with a hefty amount of D&D and other fantasy references sprinkled in for good measure. This was always going to go down well with me because Futurama is one of my favourite TV shows, and The Lord of the Rings is one of my favourite film series. Of course, that’s not to say that Bender’s Game doesn’t have the typical Futurama style sci-fi tropes as the first half or so of the film is set in the Year 3000 we’ve come to adore.
The setup is fantastic with the overarching theme of a fake fuel crisis driving the plot. It really allows the show to delve deep into the science behind the Dark Matter as fuel, and a deeper dive into the history of where the fuel comes from than we’ve ever had before. Mom is also always a great villain, so to get her and her sons Walt (Maurice LaMarche), Larry (David Herman) and Igner (also John DiMaggio) for a full feature length episode was always going to be a recipe for success.
The fantastical elements of Bender’s Game allow Futurama to branch out in new artistic avenues, with depictions of traditional fantasy villages, fantasy depictions of recurring characters, and monster designs that no doubt went on to inspire Matt Groening’s work on Disenchanted. There’s also a lot more 3D computer animation in Bender’s Game than any episode before, and it’s presented in a considerably more sophisticated way allowing for some truly gorgeous spectacles.
I think Bender’s Game is probably my favourite of the four Futurama films because it manages to toe the line between sci-fi and fantasy so well, without ever losing sight of what makes the show interesting. It’s absolutely hilarious (the owl exterminator gag never fails to have me in stitches) and it feels fresh for Futurama, which after four and a half seasons is exactly what’s needed. Bender’s Game is the prime example of why feature length episodes of Futurama work so well as it allows the creative team to experiment with the show much more than they could with a single twenty-two-minute episode. But can the team stick the landing with the fourth and final film, Into The Wild Green Yonder?
The setup is fantastic with the overarching theme of a fake fuel crisis driving the plot. It really allows the show to delve deep into the science behind the Dark Matter as fuel, and a deeper dive into the history of where the fuel comes from than we’ve ever had before. Mom is also always a great villain, so to get her and her sons Walt (Maurice LaMarche), Larry (David Herman) and Igner (also John DiMaggio) for a full feature length episode was always going to be a recipe for success.
The fantastical elements of Bender’s Game allow Futurama to branch out in new artistic avenues, with depictions of traditional fantasy villages, fantasy depictions of recurring characters, and monster designs that no doubt went on to inspire Matt Groening’s work on Disenchanted. There’s also a lot more 3D computer animation in Bender’s Game than any episode before, and it’s presented in a considerably more sophisticated way allowing for some truly gorgeous spectacles.
I think Bender’s Game is probably my favourite of the four Futurama films because it manages to toe the line between sci-fi and fantasy so well, without ever losing sight of what makes the show interesting. It’s absolutely hilarious (the owl exterminator gag never fails to have me in stitches) and it feels fresh for Futurama, which after four and a half seasons is exactly what’s needed. Bender’s Game is the prime example of why feature length episodes of Futurama work so well as it allows the creative team to experiment with the show much more than they could with a single twenty-two-minute episode. But can the team stick the landing with the fourth and final film, Into The Wild Green Yonder?