The response to Futurama’s first foray into feature length episodes was very strong, with Bender’s Big Score becoming a big critical and commercial success. But of course, Matt Groening and David X. Cohen had signed on with Fox to make three more films to comprise the show’s fifth season. So would The Beast With A Billion Backs be able to continue the same stellar quality seen in Bender’s Big Score.
One month after the universe was ripped open in Bender’s Big Score, humanity is starting to lose interest in the massive tear in time and space. Fry (Billy West) has found a new girlfriend in, Colleen (Brittany Murphy), however what he doesn’t realise is that Colleen is polyamorous and already has numerous other boyfriends. Unable to adjust to that kind of relationship, Fry breaks it off and is left heartbroken. Meanwhile Professor Farnsworth (also Billy West), has begun to study the tear with his nemesis Professor Wernstrom (David Herman), only to discover that it leads to another universe that only allows organic material to pass through it.
An expedition is denied by Earth’s military and Zapp Brannigan (also Billy West) leads a military assault on the tear resulting in the death of Amy’s (Lauren Tom) newlywed husband, Kif Kroker (Maurice LaMarche). Unable to face life on Earth anymore, Fry ventures into the tear alone in the hopes of finding happiness in the other universe. Meanwhile on Earth, Amy mourns Kif with Zapp, Bender (John DiMaggio) joins a secret society of robots, and Leela (Katey Sagal) makes a terrifying discovery about the tear.
One month after the universe was ripped open in Bender’s Big Score, humanity is starting to lose interest in the massive tear in time and space. Fry (Billy West) has found a new girlfriend in, Colleen (Brittany Murphy), however what he doesn’t realise is that Colleen is polyamorous and already has numerous other boyfriends. Unable to adjust to that kind of relationship, Fry breaks it off and is left heartbroken. Meanwhile Professor Farnsworth (also Billy West), has begun to study the tear with his nemesis Professor Wernstrom (David Herman), only to discover that it leads to another universe that only allows organic material to pass through it.
An expedition is denied by Earth’s military and Zapp Brannigan (also Billy West) leads a military assault on the tear resulting in the death of Amy’s (Lauren Tom) newlywed husband, Kif Kroker (Maurice LaMarche). Unable to face life on Earth anymore, Fry ventures into the tear alone in the hopes of finding happiness in the other universe. Meanwhile on Earth, Amy mourns Kif with Zapp, Bender (John DiMaggio) joins a secret society of robots, and Leela (Katey Sagal) makes a terrifying discovery about the tear.
I want to say right off the bat that The Beast With A Billion Backs is just as good as Bender’s Big Score, however what I say in this review may make it seem like it’s not. The biggest problem that this film faces is that it’s so incredibly slow paced, and what the story is actually about doesn’t actually come into focus until over halfway through the film. With that, it’s difficult to talk about The Beast With A Billion Backs without some spoilers. As hinted on the main artwork for the film, what Leela discovers in the tear is a giant tentacle monster named Yivo (David Cross). Yivo is not a threat to our universe, but it does want to mate with everyone. The whole thing ends up being a massively overblown exaggeration of the polyamorous relationship Fry was struggling with at the start of the film, and the story in general is all about each character finding the right kind of love for them. It’s filled with all the trademark Futurama humour you would expect, but with that added oomph of having greater story and character depth thanks to the extended runtime.
Aside from the back-heavy story structure, the other big problem I have with The Beast With A Billion Backs is Bender’s storyline. Because Bender is a robot it means that Yivo can’t mate with him, and because once Yivo connects to anyone it makes them fall in love with it everyone kind of abandons Bender. Bender’s reaction to this is to join a secret League of Robots and plan the annihilation of humanity, only to never commit to doing so. It’s clear that Groening and Cohen had no idea what to do with Bender in a story so focused on human relationships that they just side-lined him as much as possible.
Despite Bender’s failings, I do really like Colleen and it’s a shame that this is her only appearance in the show. Exploring a polyamorous character is always something that’s going to be difficult to get right without pissing a lot of people off and I feel that Groening and Cohen manage to strike the right balance between being genuine in their portrayal of polyamory (for 2008 standards anyway) whilst also managing to make light of the situation for the sake of comedy.
The Beast With A Billion Backs once again utilises the extended runtime afforded from a feature length episode to great effect and the result is a film that is very similar in quality to Bender’s Big Score. If you enjoy Futurama then The Beast With A Billion Backs is something you’ll likely get a lot of enjoyment out of, but unlike Bender’s Big Score it’s not a particularly good entry point for newcomers to the show. Whilst the story definitely takes a long way to find its feet, you’re rewarded with one of the weirdest and unique Futurama storylines in the show’s history. With two films down and two to go, can the creative team keep up the high quality?
Aside from the back-heavy story structure, the other big problem I have with The Beast With A Billion Backs is Bender’s storyline. Because Bender is a robot it means that Yivo can’t mate with him, and because once Yivo connects to anyone it makes them fall in love with it everyone kind of abandons Bender. Bender’s reaction to this is to join a secret League of Robots and plan the annihilation of humanity, only to never commit to doing so. It’s clear that Groening and Cohen had no idea what to do with Bender in a story so focused on human relationships that they just side-lined him as much as possible.
Despite Bender’s failings, I do really like Colleen and it’s a shame that this is her only appearance in the show. Exploring a polyamorous character is always something that’s going to be difficult to get right without pissing a lot of people off and I feel that Groening and Cohen manage to strike the right balance between being genuine in their portrayal of polyamory (for 2008 standards anyway) whilst also managing to make light of the situation for the sake of comedy.
The Beast With A Billion Backs once again utilises the extended runtime afforded from a feature length episode to great effect and the result is a film that is very similar in quality to Bender’s Big Score. If you enjoy Futurama then The Beast With A Billion Backs is something you’ll likely get a lot of enjoyment out of, but unlike Bender’s Big Score it’s not a particularly good entry point for newcomers to the show. Whilst the story definitely takes a long way to find its feet, you’re rewarded with one of the weirdest and unique Futurama storylines in the show’s history. With two films down and two to go, can the creative team keep up the high quality?