"We're Back, Baby!"

“Futurama: Bender’s Big Score” (2007)
Directed by: Dwayne Carey-Hill (TV’s “Futurama”, “Drawn Together”)
Starring: Voices of Billy West, Katey Sagal, John Di Maggio, Phil LaMarr and Al Gore
Running Time: 88 minutes
Rut’s Rating: 5/5

If you remember back about nine years ago, the Fox Network debuted an animated TV series called Futurama, where a pizza delivery boy named Fry accidentally winds up getting cryogenically frozen on New Year’s Eve 1999. He wakes up 1000 years into the future, where he quickly becomes acquainted with a very distant relative, Professor Hubert Farnsworth, and his group of employees at package delivery business Planet Express, including Bender the robot, one-eyed Leela, and the lobster-like Dr. Zoidberg. The show quickly became popular and in my opinion, stood out from other animated shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy. Unfortunately, the show became a victim of ever-changing network programming schedules, pre-emptions and less-than-stellar promotion. After 72 episodes and five seasons, Fox dropped the axe on Futurama in 2003.

However, just as in the case of Family Guy, Fox has decided to resurrect the cult phenomenon - just not in the form of new weekly episodes. Instead, series developers Matt Groening and David X. Cohen have been given the green light to produce four feature-length Futurama movies, each debuting exclusively on DVD. The entire cast and crew are back, and this first one is entitled “Futurama: Bender’s Big Score”.

I had concerns about the quality of the movie at first. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be able to live up to or match the originality and humor of the TV series. Luckily, my fears were put to rest within mere minutes. The writers and voice-over actors haven’t forgotten what made the show so good in the first place, and I found myself laughing out loud a number of times throughout the movie.

In Bender’s Big Score, the Planet Express crew begin by taking some not-so-subtle jabs at Fox, renamed the Box Network. From there, the gang parties at a nude beach, where a group of aliens get all of them to sign a petition and its revealed that Fry has a tattoo of Bender on his buttocks. Unfortunately, the aliens were tricking the entire group into signing over the Planet Express business, which they then take over and slip Bender an “obedience chip” into his hard drive, making him a slave to do their evil bidding. Soon, its discovered that the tattoo on Fry’s body is really a code for time travel when looked at extremely close. The aliens, with their ability to sniff out information, get Bender to retrieve different treasures and artifacts from hundreds of years ago, but everyone soon discovers that when people travel back in time, they come back with a body double. This twin is ultimately doomed in order to prevent a potential paradox from occurring.

Also, Leela begins dating a man named Lars, which makes Fry jealous to no end. After Lars proposes to her and Leela agrees to marry him, Fry, heartbroken, uses time travel to go back to 1999, wanting to forget about his evil alien employers as well as his memories of Leela. What follows is a detailed series of events involving time travel and the use of many body doubles.

Bender’s Big Score doesn’t take itself too seriously, but at the same time it doesn’t get overly silly and over-the-top. The writers and creators look to have taken their time in writing the script, and have done a great job in keeping with the continuity of certain events that happened in the original TV series. I loved the movie because it simply was funny, creative and kept in tone with the same spirit of the show. It didn’t have that arrogant presence as if to say “Hey look! We’re finally a movie! Yay US!” like The Simpsons Movie from last summer. I strongly feel that if you loved the show, you’ll love this movie. Simple as that. As well, look for an extended cameo from former Vice President and Global Warming activist Al Gore, who has some pretty funny lines.

I’m also looking forward to the next three coming out on DVD, which I believe will have a span of several months between each release. Until then, Futurama fans just play the waiting game.