Futurama: Bender's Big Score (2007 Video) User Reviews

Some parts have aged well, others have not

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 7 January 2024]

I'm not that familiar with this show, but the full length movie came on this morning, chopped up into four half hour sections, so I thought I'd give it a try.

It's pretty original stuff from Groening and company, and all of the time travel allows some good twists and turns in the plot. It is basically about three members of a not so clever species of nudist digital age scammers who end up defrauding the owner of Planet Express, stealing the company and downloading an obedience virus into robot Bender.

For some reason the employees don't leave and instead reluctantly assist the scammers in their efforts. The presence of a time portal allows the scammers to send Bender into the past, looting the earth of all that is valuable and returning it to the scammers, since a robot has no mortal life expectancy. As a result the current population of the earth becomes destitute with everything being owned by the scammers.

Meanwhile, Leela falls in love with Lars and even becomes engaged to him while Fry looks on.

The part about scammers using pretty obvious methods to steal is still pretty timely, but Fry being willing to use dirty tricks to get in the way of Leela's happiness has not aged well. The guy is a stalker. Leela's not avoiding Fry because there is some kind of animal attraction ala David and Maddie in Moonlighting going on here that her brain tells her is not good for her. She's simply not into Fry. But I imagine this will all work out to Fry's benefit because the nerdy guy always gets the pretty girl. As for the reverse situation happening? That is an infrequent occurrence.

Much better than the Simpson movie

[thgc · 9/10 · 26 November 2007]

This movie is just great. It proves again that cancelling the TV show was a big mistake. In the world of Futurama there are simply much more possibilities and ideas than in the Simpsons world, which has gotten a little bit too boring over the last years. That's probably because you can bring more ideas to life in the future, where practically everything is possible. Even for people who didn't like the TV show it's a fun ride, it's worth watching it just to hear Bender's remarks. Sure, The Simpsons Movie was funny at some parts, but I've just watched too many episodes of this show to go to the cinema only to see another, longer, episode. Anyways, Bender's Big Score is a great movie, and thanks to the developers for their effort to bring us Futurama back! I give it a good 9 out of 10.

Hundreds of repeats later........

[ElijahCSkuggs · 8/10 · 23 November 2007]

Futurama fans are finally delivered the package we've been waiting for. Holy zombie testicles has it been one helluva wait. From buying the volumes on DVD, to watching the repeats shown on Adult Swim, we've finally got some more Fry, some more Zoidberg, some more Professor Farnsworth, and oh yeah, even some more Zap. Futurama fans rejoice and be happy that Futurama is going to be back on the air, but the celebration begins with their first direct-to-DVD movie Bender's Big Score. And I tell you what, it was most definitely a score.

This is easily the most in depth Futurama story to date. You've got time-traveling duplicates running all over the place. One coming, the other going, one staying and another just hanging around with his butt hanging out. To summarize the story in a short and sweet way, Nude Alien Scammers (think internet scams) are taking over our Futurama world one by one, and guess where it begins, yep, with our pals from Planet Express. That is the main story, but you also have side-stories with Leela's new love, Hermes' lack of a body and a few others. All in all, this is one jam-packed story that should please all fans. One thing I'm sure some Futurama fans will argue about is the slight change to the theme song. It's almost the exact same, but now with a more "hip", electronic sounding addition. I don't mind it at all, but I do prefer the classic theme song....which plays at the end of the movie.

Speaking of pleasing all fans, you have almost every character you've met in the Futurama Universe saying Hi. Another reviewer said that none are introduced just for the sake of being introduced....now, that's a die-hard speaking right there. It's quite obvious they've set up minor side missions just so they could include many characters. They've got the Devil and his lil devil robots playing music for only one scene and have screen time for about 3 seconds. Besides this point, you do have almost every character you'd want to see. Though I didn't see my beautiful gigantic Amazon women! Though I'm sure they'll be back.

Bender's Big Score was a very entertaining movie. It was pretty much nonstop Futurama silliness from the get go. You have the touching moments as well, but the jokes are the ones that run the show. Unfortunately, and I say this tentatively, I really didn't laugh out loud that much. At 98 minutes I was expecting to be laughing at least every couple minutes or so. Not the case here, more like a once every 10 or so. But I'm me and you're you, so you may laugh all the time, but I found the jokes, a little too "familiar" most of the time. Example, Bender will talk about himself and say something like this, "Sure it's not a big deal for that guy. Wait I am that guy. Me, Bender." But sometimes that old Futurama joke still rings true. One example, Zoidberg gets hostile with Leela because she talks down about a dumpster. Zoidberg confronts her with a spikey head, "You stay out of my dumpster!" That was classic Zoidberg.

All in all, Bender's Big Score was a great reunion for all Futurama fans. It's not the funniest 98 minutes of Futurama I've seen, but it's very memorable and truly entertaining. It's been a while, but Futurama is back and I can tell you one thing, the Hypnotoad is back in action baby! All praise the Hypnotoad. All praise the Hypnotoad. All praise the Hypnotoad.....................................................

Good News Everyone!

[insertnamehear · 10/10 · 21 November 2007]

It was a sad day in 2003 when I learned that Futurama had ended. I remember watching the first episode and being hooked straight away. It's not very often humour and genuine sci-fi have been balanced so expertly. But thankfully, like Family Guy before it, Futurama has now been given a new lease of life in the form of 4 direct to DVD movies (to be split into 16 episodes to make up a new season).

When something this great is brought back, there is always the lingering fear that it won't retain the "magic" of the original. But I can confidently say that the magic is back! When Family Guy released Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, I feel it suffered the problem of seeming too much like an over-long episode, a problem I think that the Simpson's movie also suffered (though both were not without their fair share of laughs). However,Benders Big Score, the first of these new Futurama features FEELS like a movie.

I feel it should appeal to old fans (who will be spoilt by many in-jokes and call backs, as subtle as they may be) and those (and shame on them) who have never encountered Futurama before. The story kicks off with a quick introduction of the characters, and within 5 minutes, old fans will be in familiar territory, and newcomers will be brought up to date. What follows is nearly an hour and a half of laughs, sci-fi action, and romance.

This is a film I would definitely have paid to see at the cinema over the Simpson's movie. I hope that the DVD sales of this and the next 3 films do well, as it was sorely missed.

Welcome back Futurama!

classic

[eeehlo · 10/10 · 22 November 2007]

Recently, we have seen several full-length features from our favorite TV-series. Family Guy, the movie. Simpsons, the movie.

One thing both of these lacked were going back and not only recalling, but intertwining our favorite side-characters into the plot.

Futurama does this beautifully and we see not only commonly featured side-characters, but characters that hard-core fans will rejoice to see, and I _wont_ give any examples here, because every element of surprise in this movie is what makes it worth watching.

I want to stress that I was very critical to the idea of a movie after such a long pause, and I was a die-hard fan. I signed the online petition all of those years ago when it got canceled (rumor has it all those signatures got printed and transported to box the CEO of FOX into his office, but thats only a rumor as far as I know). Having said this, I want to ensure everyone that even if you go into the movie with high expectations - they will be exceeded.

The plot may seem tangled, but the writers don't leave anything out. Nothing is "forgotten", like in Lost.

If you watched the TV-series, you will love this. If you didn't - tough luck (but you will probably wind up loving it anyway). Its literally a celebration of all of the five seasons aired on television, and its impressive that they did this without repeating anything.

All of the old themes are brought back - its like the show never went off the air. You will straight off the bat be able to re-identify with characters and feel the same way about the show you did all of those years ago.

I haven't seen a story tied up like this in years. The ending is _beautiful_.

This is for the fans.

FUTURAMA - IT JUST WONT STAY DEAD!

Like going home for Christmas

[spiritual_analysis · 23 November 2007]

I must admit i had huge fears about the reincarnating Futurama...in retrospective, i don't know why. It hasn't been that long after all, and the team has stayed pretty much the same. From the very first scene i felt right at home. No neat hyper modern animation tricks, no bullet time camera spins, just the familiar Futurama, which is all i wanted.

Bender's big score is a surprisingly plot-driven movie, reminiscent of the few more serious episodes. Have no fear, though, the gross humour is still present. Even with the horrid singing numbers (i was looking for anti-depressants) and the obsessive re-introduction of nearly every character that ever appeared on the original series, this is a rewarding event for sure, especially for us die hard fans who waited so long. It could have been better as a movie, but i don't want to get too critical, i'm just glad futurama is back! It just won't die!

Not terrible, but somewhat disappointing

[dualityim · 7/10 · 4 December 2007]

Bender's Big Score may have been a pleasant feature film in its own right, however when faced with the nearly flawless original series and the three years of anticipation by eager fans, it sorely disappoints. A number of elements of this new release unfortunately do not measure up to the genius that was the original run.

While the writing in the film was capable of producing a number of chuckles and a few big laughs, it suffers from an overuse of self-reference. A few inside jokes may have been amusing, but the viewer is eventually bombarded with a bulging cast of characters and a dizzying array of references to previously established canon. Not only that, quite a few jokes attempted to derive humor from meta-reference alone, something that the original series never resorted to. The opening sequence, for example, went as far as using puns for meta-references. Such jokes may blend in with Family Guy or even The Simpsons, but are terribly out of place in the Futurama universe. Even worse, the sort of satire involved with this sequence is not the gentle, prodding kind we've come to known in the original series, but a mean-spirited, sardonic sort. While its understandable that such emotions may prevail after the frustrations over the premature cancellation of the show, expression of these feelings in the first few minutes of the comeback seems to be in poor taste.

The movie is filled with little details that remind you of just how great the original series was, by falling short of the standards set by it. There is a general excessiveness surrounding this film, expressed with nudity, crude behavior, violence and gore. This excessiveness leaves one with the impression that Futurama was a beast shackled by the draconian regulations of the FCC, finally gaining its freedom thanks to the liberating nature of the DVD medium. Unfortunately, the original series never gave the air of a beast attempting to break free. Rather, the original elevated above such crudeness with intellectualism and smart satire. Thus, the viewer is confused by the sudden onslaught of gore and crudeness, which seemingly to have joined the series from nowhere. The writing attempted to weave musical sequences into the film, however these attempts too fell short of the original's greatness and were as shoddy imitations. While the original series managed to incorporate singing and dancing transparently by cleverly embedding them into the storyline, for example as part of an opera or a concert, the musical sequences in this film were utterly forced into their places.

Which brings me to my final point. The awful transitions into singing may have been forgiven if the songs were actually good, but that is not the case. It seems after a two year hiatus, some of the actors may be well advised to get some voice acting practice sessions before jumping into this production. The singing in the original series may not have been paragons of musical talent, but they were well-done and represented the characters and the situation beautifully. The musical sequences in this film were poorly executed and out of place by comparison. In addition, a number of otherwise genuinely emotional and poignant scenes were drained of their emotional component due to poor acting.

After all this, though, I still think Bender's Big Score is a movie worth owning, especially for long time Futurama fans. The disappointments that I pointed out were only due to the incredibly high standards set by the near-perfection of the original series. This film may have not lived up to expectations, but it is still a quality piece of work that's probably better than a lot of other things out there right now; and though it may not be as good as the best episodes of Futurama, it will still be loved by someone who loved every episode of Futurama.

Brilliant

[puggso_32 · 10/10 · 22 November 2007]

I have just watched this, and was a fan of the original show and am being completely honest here when I say this is not just one of the best animated movies I have ever seen but in fact one of the best movies of any genre I have ever seen.

Unlike the previous Family Guy and Simpsons films (both shows I am a fan of by the way) Benders Big Score seemed to have something extra in it separating it from these two films.

The jokes are great, the music and songs are great, the animation is absolutely superb (the 3d animation looking much better than when the show originally aired) and the story is very smart and also quite touching.

The writing was absolutely superb, cramming in a lot of past characters but not in a way that it felt they had been thrown in for the sake of them being there (as can be noticed Mom does not make an appearance at all) and also adding new call-backs to well known parts from the series.

All in, just superb and make sure you see it one way or another.

Futurama Bender's Big Score: Meh

[Platypuschow · 6/10 · 14 December 2018]

Truth be told I was never a Futurama fan, I always found it one of those take it or leave it shows so when cancelled it didn't exactly break my heart. It however wasn't cancelled for long and returned with a vengeance with his movie and it's rather underwhelming stuff.

It tells the story of our heroes running into global scale scammers who cost them their jobs, plus time travel plus a love story etc etc etc.

The standard Futurama humor is on display so there are laughs to be had and plenty of adult jokes that would go straight over kids heads. Trouble is I just don't appreciate it, I don't find it all that funny.

Bender's Big Score also has a very lackluster plot to go along with it, but has one single saving grace. The movie has a twist, one I didn't see coming and one that I really appreciated. Coincidentally someone was peeling onions nearby me when it happened, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

A must for fans, a pass for everyone else.

The Good:

The finale

Some laughs to be had

The Bad:

Most of it will only appeal to true Futurama diehards

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

There is a joke here to be made about Nude Beach Planet and Uranus but I'm too mature to make it

Barstool softener is the greatest joke I never knew I needed in my life

One day there will be a wealthy Nigerian Prince!

Family Guy > Futurama

Solid revival, if slightly awkward in the movie format

[antgirth · 8/10 · 22 November 2007]

Managed to see an advance copy of the DVD Screener of this flick. As an original futurama fan, I was eager to see how the TV genre translated as a feature-length.

It's hard not to draw parallels to the Simpsons movie - both are epic, and amusing, with the futurama film being arguably more so.

We're treated with references to all major characters and events past and present from the series, and similar gags that fans will appreciate, but I couldn't help but take the feeling that it was overly ambitious, perhaps sprawling.

The best part of the series is arguably that the episodes were compact, neat, quick witted and very well packaged. Although it's a solid production, it still feels a little confused. 8/10.

I love Futurama only really liked this

[thekarmicnomad · 7/10 · 16 August 2008]

I love Futurama, it is the best thing to be on TV for ages.

I don't however think these 30 minute comedy cartoons really transfer that well to a 90 minute slot. After about 50 minutes something in my head seems to click and I realise that I am actually just watching blocks of colour feeding one liners along pre-defined character lines. Then I start thinking about the whole thing too much for it too be any fun.

But this really wasn't bad. The characters are all there the same as they were when they jilted us at the alter all those years ago. There seemed to be a few stumbles with the execution and I could picture Hollywood execs arguing about how much history they needed to feed the views.

But it is great to have them back. The biggest draw back for this film will be the gap between the TV series going off-line and this release. As I am sure many others have my memory of Futurama has exceeded the reality.

Not quite as good as I remember but if you are a fan you are literally crazy not to buy it and should go and see your doctor.

good news everybody

[Pulpthatsfiction · 9/10 · 2 December 2007]

It's a great funny and fantastic return for Futurama. I was very sad to hear that the show was and canceled and had to watch those great episodes over and over again but after awhile I wanted to hear new jokes and great story lines. This is probably the best straight to DVD movie ever and is one pf my favorite movies in general and knowing that there are three more to come makes me very happy. The acting and the writing is very good just like the show. The story is very well done and is one of my favorite story lines. The jokes and the drama are hear just like and it feels like an ordinary episode but just longer and as good. The acting is just superb and I think that futurama has the best voice overs ever and never get tired of them . The story has a lot plot twist that rank up with the The Prestige and anyone that is fan of the show get this as soon as possible.

Low on laughs - very disappointing...

[shaneo632 · 6/10 · 25 November 2007]

Shaun Munro's Reviews (ShaunMunro.co.uk):

Futurama: Bender's Big Score is the much-hyped return of the comedy animated series Futurama, senselessly cancelled by FOX in 2003. As is characteristic for sister shows such as The Simpsons and Family Guy, pot-shots at their malevolent puppeteers are in great abundance throughout this feature-length episode, berating FOX from near enough the opening frame, and then swiftly moving to refer to them as "asanine morons".

What became apparent early on in this film was the true disdain felt for the bigwigs at FOX, yet it appears that, at least to an extent, the writers have allowed too much of their anger to seep into their vision, and it quickly begins to saturate the film, draining the life and soul (as well as the fun) out of it. To deem this film a "misstep" is to undersell the astronomical blunder at hand here.

Accepting its shortcomings, what Bender's Big Score does well is to retain every bit of the artistic genius of the series – a plentiful array of oddball characters are thrown at us, and the writers do well to parody Internet scammers, the Bush/Gore election, and even their little brother – Family Guy.

The very basic premise for the film is that a rabble of Internet scammer aliens con the Planet Express crew out of their company and place Bender under their control to steal ancient treasures, kick-starting a time-spanning adventure, whilst truths about Fry's past and future are revealed.

Bender's Big Score is an entertaining film, in that nobody will argue its artistic merits, yet it seems to be sorely lacking in any deal of uproarious humour. Belly laughs are nowhere to be found, and most attempts at a jibe are met with a mere smile. Essentially, it appears that this film is simply a stylistic demonstration, a tech demo, if you will – the effects are as wondrous as they ever were, but the lifeblood (that is, the humour) of this production is nowhere to be found.

One would be able to forgive the writers for the lack of laughs if the storyline itself could compensate, yet even that leaves much to be desired. The interpretation of time travel offered here certainly isn't my favourite one, and even for die-hard fans of the series, this may simply end up confusing you. A word of warning – pay close, vigilant attention to the screen at all times, as focusing yourself elsewhere for even a few moments may be at your own head-scratching expense.

The film is very much one for the dedicated, militant fans of the show – there are a ridiculous amount of obscure references to previous episodes that will undoubtedly be lost on anyone not familiar with the show. Moreover, anyone coming in cold is going to be very confused for the majority of the film – a large portion of the plot relates to time travel, and changing past events, with which newbies or casual fans cannot identify and will be largely unfamiliar. Even as a huge fan of the series, I must attest that I found the use of time travel in the storyline to be superfluous, and frankly, by the film's end, rather irritating.

Perhaps the most repugnant sin of this film's making is its insistence to frequently, unabashedly slate FOX, even all-too-occasionally making use of an esoteric, all-purpose powder named "Executive Producer" in situations that make little sense, and furthermore, they take the FOX-bashing from levels of acceptability to irritability. The film's writers, instead of revelling in everything that was fantastic about the show, seem contented, and moreover, insistent on reminding us of the ill hand dealt to them by FOX. Yes, the cancellation was, as Seth McFarlane similarly commented in regard to his show, Family Guy, a "dick move". Yes, FOX have cancelled a multitude of critical darlings, such as Joss Whedon's wonderfully spirited sci-fi western Firefly, the wildly funny Freaks and Geeks, and even McFarlane's own Family Guy (before reviving it years later), but by the end of this film, I felt like declaring – "Be grateful you're back, and make the best of it!", neither of which the film's helmers seemed to do.

The film seeks to slightly redeem itself in the final scenes, treating us to a wonderfully-envisioned space battle with a fantastic orchestral score, yet it only serves to reinforce my chief complaint of this venture – the laughs are very much gone. A twist ending is thrown in for good measure, and had I still cared about the plot at this point in time, then it would have been half-effective, although plenty will see it coming, thinly veiled as it is.

The most intriguing aspect of the episode is the manner in which it all ends – we are left on an exciting cliffhanger, and I can only assume that the next feature-length film will continue this. If not, it will join the laundry list of fatal flaws in this, the first of four Futurama films.

When you take a sub-par episode of Futurama and protract it to eighty-five excruciating minutes, the final result is a regrettably tiring, disheartening endeavour, and even by the half-way mark, I couldn't wait for this film to end. I had given up caring about the show that I once upon a time signed Internet petitions for, in a vain attempt to save the once-wonderful ensemble of artistic ingenuity and comic brilliance. "Shadow of its former self" is a very apt appropriation here, and it is with deep woe that I deem Bender's Big Score to be an over-hyped disappointment.

Not up to Futurama's high standards

[garysjwa · 5/10 · 3 February 2008]

It pains me to have to say so, but Bender's Big Score makes a disappointing return for the Futurama series.

One of the great appeals of Futurama was the respect it showed for its own continuity. With Bender's Big Score, that's out the window. Here's the best example: Nibbler's secret life as a powerful sentient being, a subplot the original show spent four seasons building up to, is revealed 15 minutes into this production -- and for no reason; all it leads to is a futile attack on the alien scammers.

Not that this movie doesn't like pointing out Futurama continuity. At times the story looks like a contest to see how many obscure characters it can work in. There are loads of tacked-on and unnecessary cameos; Santabot is probably the most egregious. Meanwhile, important secondary characters like Dr. Zoidberg, The Professor, Zapp Branigan, Kif, and Amy Wong have very small roles.

And the main characters disappoint as well. The Fry-Lars-Leela love triangle is shallow, and lacks any of the poignancy we saw in "The Sting" and other Season 4 episodes. The lambasting of Fox for cancelling the show is heavy-handed; Family Guy did a much better job of this (and if you didn't like it, at least it was short). The alien scammers, while they did have some gross-out appeal with their "sprunging", weren't nearly powerful enough to take over the earth. Leela could have killed all three of them with one kick. And the whole time-travel story (which were once verboten in Futurama) was convoluted and nonsensical.

And above all else... it just isn't funny. I can't think of one funny thing that happens in the whole movie, or any memorable moments.

I can only hope that this disappointing effort was the result of trying to write a feature-length film for the first time, and that it indulged whatever need the creators have to reference themselves.

Bender Scores Big.

[sallyfifth · 28 November 2007]

The first of four Futrama DVDs gets a lot of things right. First of all it remembers why people liked the show in the first place from the oddball space aliens to the shipping romance (kind of an awesome pun for a show about international delivery agents) to the geektastic sci-fi humor and low brow slapstick. It's got everything, again. Only problem is, it's just not up to the series' admittedly high standards. It certainly hits more than misses though and repeat viewings reward with humour you may have missed or not fully been prepared for the first time around.

The plot is hilariously complicated featuring Nudist Spamming Alien Invaders, Time Travel Hijinx and the convoluted relationships between stupid men and the women they love.

Though the box features Bender prominently- our favorite Bending Latino Hearthrob plays second fiddle to a Fry/Leela romance love triangle that comes to a satisfying conclusion. There are so many returning characters from the series' run that very few of them have time to get comfortable before they are whisked away and only a handful have time to actually be funny (though far too many of them bomb) Its actually the little moments that get the biggest laughs.

It's good to have the crew of Planet Express back, even if our second date wasn't quite as hot as our first one.

I didn't doubt they could do it, although some did!

[garydiamond · 8/10 · 17 December 2007]

I honestly thought this show was dead and would never come back. I only watch the episodes once a year because I don't want to wear out my favourite animated show. To hear of the comeback was great. To have to wait quite a while, not so much. Seeing the final product, a real joy and pleasant surprise.

To be sure, they're a little rusty in places. Some of the lines, especially in the initial third of the film, are questionable and would not have made the final cut under the regime that provided us with the standard series. Hermes, only occasionally an entertaining character, gets too much screen time in a somewhat superfluous side plot featuring his equally unentertaining wife and his irritating enemy Barbados Slim. The villains - the scammer aliens - are disgusting when they should be fearsome. These are the things that lose the film a perfect rating, and are the sorts of niggles I would have expected after such a long hiatus - after all, much of Family Guy's comeback season (number four) is terrible when stacked up to the classic old episodes and a fair few new ones.

But I marvel at what they did right. It retains much of the trademark dynamic writing, taking in some of the same unbelievable and jaw-dropping spins on science and human/alien relationships and making us laugh when explaining away the continuity errors the writers were aware were needed to create an engrossing story.

It makes good use of screen time and never drags it heels which I felt both the Family Guy and Simpsons features did. In the end, both of those other features were such a plot compromise, where you ended up had so little bearing on where you started you had to laugh unintentionally. With this Futurama feature although the plot is bombastic in the greatest sense of the word (like a Queen record for example) it ties up everything I wanted to know in a timely fashion using classic storytelling techniques - and where necessary awesome, seamless and not gratuitous 3DFX - throughout.

Now I've covered the good and the bad, it is time to address the ugly - the backlash. Some have moaned that there isn't enough humour in this feature. To be honest, one of my favourite features of the original series was getting us away from the old cliché which seems to doom a lot of animated shows, namely: Cartoon = Funny. Yes it has several moments of great humour - a nice fifty-fifty of building set pieces and incisive one-liners - but it balances them well with a poignant story which I think they pull off as well as 'The Devils Hands Are Idle Playthings' if you consider that they had to pace it out over nearly ninety minutes which is over four times the length of a standard episode. It's a tall order for almost any script writer used to cramming in the jokes in thirty minutes or less, but these writers don't have a lot of trouble with it.

Another point of contention with the hardcore fans has been what a few of them have called a hopelessly complicated plot. This makes me laugh because the hardcore brethren praise the show constantly for intelligent post-geek humour then with the same breath criticise this new installment for breaking out of the shows comfort zone to use that same intelligence to create a mind blowing story. They must have been watching a different movie because I stuck with almost every twist and turn with awe, and the few I haven't resolved yet will - like all great works of art - reveal themselves with further observation.

In closing - to you hardcore fans who say this isn't a patch on the original episodes, get off your soap box and think yourself lucky there's anything new at all and secondly, I bet you only grew to love those episodes through repeated viewings so stop being so hard on what is a logical continuation of a great premise! 8/10

(NOTE: For those new viewers who missed a lot of the in-jokes that spilled over from the original series and who aren't sure why there is such an abundance of characters, go and buy the Season 1-4 box set from Amazon or eBay and it'll all make perfect sense.)

Watch it a second time!

[schmidteren · 10/10 · 6 December 2007]

Hi everyone out there!...

I have had the pleasure of watching the all new Futurama full length movie, Bender's big score!... I have been a big fan of the series and have watched all the episodes more than once, and I can say already now that I am not disappointed by this full length movie!... The story was extremely well put together, and I think that it really had a big deepness to it. I watched the movie for the second time just now, and I can only say this. Watch the movie a second time, it really helps you understand the movie, and help you put all the pieces together. And it also made me realize how nice the storyline was put together. It really have some nice tweaks because of the time traveling, and it can give you headaches trying to figure out what is going on the first time watching it, but watching it a second time helped me put it all in order, or almost I think... Because time traveling can't really be explained properly.

For me as a fan, I think it is just GREAT to see Futurama BACK in the AIR! :) ... I hope in the future they will make more Futurama, but somehow this also gave a nice ending, also letting you know that Fry was the one for Lela! Very sweet :) You should be aware that there is a change from the movie and the series from how often the funny lines comes. In this full length movie there can be some time without the humor in first place, but it should also be different from the series in that way, it is a full length movie, so it should have a better storyline, and I think it surely does. :) And it also makes, this film more deep than any of the episodes where. So to all who likes Futurama go out and see it, be sure NOT to miss it... :) My grade will be 10, because I can't give 9.8, which I was thinking of ;). so the closest would be 10. close to perfection! :) Thank you for reading!

A must see for the fans, but overall maybe better once re-written as episodes..

[karl-366 · 6/10 · 22 November 2007]

I've been eagerly awaiting this release since the first whispers from Billy West and then the trailer appearing not long ago.

My brother-in-law preordered it, and seeing as it was coming from America I guessed we'd be late seeing it. How I was wrong, it was delivered over a week early and in my excitement watched as soon as I could.

After the moderate success of The Simpsons Movie which actually turned out to be half decent, I had bigger hopes for Bender's Big Score as Futurama has always been the better series IMO.

Frustratingly though, I feel a little let down. The first 30 minutes were fun and in my opinion the best. I felt the story dragged after that, my interest only being kept up by my enthusiasm for the movie and the occasional joke (maybe I'm being too harsh).

Still, that being said I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the series, as the first 30 minutes, the constant references to the series and the jokes will entertain (even the two songs).

6/10.

Happy it's back. Just not this way

[tfm_copycat · 8/10 · 17 December 2007]

I'm a HUGE fan. I mean, hardcore huge. I know episodes by heart and watched the whole series twice with audio commentaries. If you ever listened to the commentaries, when they started the series, they set some rules which shouldn't be broken. One of them was absolutely NO time travel. Of course, with the exception of "Roswell that ends well" (3x19), which they declared that they "bent" their own rule.

I think they tried to really "renew" the whole ideas and probably the first thing that came to them was "let's make it BASED on time travel!". That didn't work well. Futurama was always very geeky, and everything had a basis and in some twisted way, it was still believable or explained somehow. Having 3 benders and 2 Frys walking around just made me feel that it wasn't the old good Futurama. And I was really expecting at least the SLIGHTEST indictment of what happened right after the series ended between Fry and Leela, but there just wasn't anything to it. The scammers were really disgusting (something I've never felt in futurama, for the exception of the queen slurm worm), and I'm not saying I'm a prude or was offended, but it's just not that kind of show. Futurama has always been about witty, unexpected, double-sensed things.

It was just not the same. I'd still give it 8/10 because I did laugh and it was just great seeing everyone back, but I didn't love it. I hope they were just rusty and things will get better.

Not great, but I'm sure they'll get better and better

[zetes · 7/10 · 2 December 2007]

The long-awaited return of Futurama, a show that was canceled unceremoniously by Fox four years ago now. Personally, I can't say I desired new episodes. Sure, I loved the show, but it ended so perfectly. So many television shows stick around for far longer than they should. But I don't disdain the show's creators, who felt they had more to give us. So the verdict? Well, it's certainly not top-level Futurama. My biggest complaint is that there aren't enough laughs. Not that I didn't laugh at all, mind you, but there are long stretches where I wasn't laughing at all. It starts off slowly, but once the plot gets moving the jokes come more readily. There are several sequences that feel way too rushed, and the writers try desperately to shove every single Futurama character into the mix, like they were never going to be able to make another episode again (which they might have actually thought when they started writing this, but it's not true now). Did we really need Kwaanzabot? We didn't even really need Robot Santa. A lot of these side characters start to interfere with the movie's main plot line, which is pretty good. While the movie is something of a disappointment, at least it doesn't forebode awfulness in Futurama's future. It feels like a test run for the series' new beginning.

It Just Won't Stay Dead!

[bakkouz · 9/10 · 23 November 2007]

I just finished watching the first Futurama movie, Futurama: Bender's Big Score, And it was a breath of fresh air, Although I have to admit that from a die-hard Futurama fan's point of view, I was expecting more, Now, don't get me wrong, it was very good in all aspects, and very much enjoyable, and i LOVED it. but I just felt that perhaps it could have been more awesome.

Plot Summary: When the evil naked aliens launch a cyber-attack on Planet Express, they make a shocking discovery: the secret of time travel, mysteriously tattooed on Fry's buttocks. Using their devious nudist software to control Bender, they repeatedly send the beer-fueled robot back in time to loot Earth of its greatest treasures. Bender's rampage through history has shocking repercussions when he encounters Al Gore (guest-starring as himself) during the 2000 Presidential recount. Meanwhile, Leela finds true love, a beloved crew member suffers an embarrassing decapitation, and Fry learns deep secrets about his destiny and his buttocks.

The movie is as expected, hilarious. The jokes are fast and furious. Expect the classic Futurama experience — visual gags, great one-liners, and a ludicrous plot. and even though the plot may seem a bit latticed at first, it all falls into place beautifully. However, if you really want to enjoy the full experience of the movie, you should at least have watched at least a few TV episodes since the movie does contain many in-jokes and call backs, However if you are a newcomer to the Futurama universe, fear not, You'll be brought up to date with the characters in no time.

Overall, I was pleased, the movie has it all, witty humor, strong fast jokes, drama and romance, and of course, the kind of sci-fi action that a geek would enjoy :grin:, and compared to the Simpsons and Family guy movies, this is without a doubt the best movie of all.

Futurama: Bender's Big Score

[jboothmillard · 7/10 · 4 September 2008]

The TV series was brought to an end in 2003, and there were rumours it would return, and this straight-to-DVD film is a good indication of that, the film even begins with a joke about a network cancelling them, and then reinstating them. The story sees Hermes (Phil LaMarr) decapitated and having to live in a jar while his body is fixed. Fry (Bily West) jealous because Leela (Katey Sagal) is falling for head museum worker Lars Fillmore (also West). Prof. Fansworth (West again) has accidentally sold Planet Express to some greedy conning aliens, or Scammers, led by Nudar (David Herman) and they can detect information with their Sprungers, and from a tattoo of Bender (John Di Maggio) on Fry's ass, they find the code for a time sphere, capable of time travel and paradox fixing too. So with the help of the obedience virus downloaded into Bender, he constantly speaks this code and travels back to bring back every priceless object in past history. When the aliens decide to get rid of the code from Bender, they realise Fry must also be disposed, and to escape, Fry travels back to the day he was frozen, half an hour after, and again to eat some pizza (lol), and Bender is sent back to kill him. Bender appeared to have killed Fry, after 12 years of looking in the past (2000-2012), but the real Fry managed to get back, and everyone wonders what happened to the copy of Fry. In a series of flashbacks (continuing through the story), we find out Fry lived the life he could have had if he had not been frozen, where he decides to let Leela go, and he looks after a rare female toothed narwhal named Leelo. Meanwhile in the future, Leela is about to be married to Lars, but he cancels, just after Hermes copy body, with his present head is decapitated, the Prof. mentions all copies are doomed. The alien Scammers have grown so powerful with greed they are ready to take ownership of the world, and so everyone decides to fight back against the many solid gold Death Stars, and Bender saves the day by throwing the doomsday device into their ship. Oh, in the end, it turns out that Lars was the copy of Fry that was looking after Leeloo, and Bender didn't kill him, merely lost him his hair and deepened his voice, and he refroze himself to become the head museum guy Leela fell for. Also starring Billy West as Zoidberg, Prof. Farnsworth, Zapp Brannigan and President Richard Nixon's Head, John Di Maggio as Barbados Slim and Robot Santa, Tress MacNeille as Linda, Maurice LaMarche as Kif Kroker and Morbo, Phil LaMarr as Ethan 'Bubblegum' Tate, Lauren Tom as Amy Wong, Frank Welker as Nibbler, Coolio as Kwanzabot, Al Gore, Mark Hamill as Chanukah Zombie and Sarah Silverman as Michelle. It might be a little complicated with the time travelling aspect, but it is a good return for a much-loved Matt Groening cartoon which is just as good, if not better than The Simpsons. The ending by the way where space is tearing continues in the next film, Beast with a Billion Backs. The TV series was number 26 on The 100 Greatest Cartoons. Very good!

Supoib

[SweetClyde · 10/10 · 25 November 2007]

This might be a bit of a baffling one to casual Futurama viewers, as a lot of the humour is based on established themes and in-jokes. That said, even to a dedicated fan like myself, it starts off a little lukewarm.

For the first third to half of the film, though I enjoyed it, I got the impression that a lot of what made Futurama a classic, such as Fry's goofiness and the subtle, black, satirical humour had been dumbed-down or even totally neutered to appease the exec-u-bots. It was enjoyable to watch, but rarely laugh-aloud like the series. However, it's as you approach the end and the story starts to disentangle itself from the time paradox business that you start to see that the reason it's not so intense in its delivery of gags is because they've actually written a story, and a great one at that.

It was brilliant to see some of the better characters reappear - Kwanza-bot's a personal favourite, as is the God Entity - and anyone that's watched all the episodes will love the soppy story. It's similar to Jurassic Bark; nicely poignant in places, and the first time i've felt myself emotionally affected by a cartoon, besides the original episodes.

It seemed a bit dubious at first, but it was damn well worth watching.

Only gripe: who the hell wrote (or, as seems more appropriate, neglected to write) Zapp's dialogue? As soon as he showed up I nearly soiled myself in anticipation of more classic lines, but there was nothing good at all in the whole five minutes he was on-screen.

Almost as good as The Simpsons Movie or Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story

[gizmomogwai · 6/10 · 16 May 2008]

Futurama returns with this straight-to-DVD movie and a few others which will be released in time. Futurama was a quality show (including in visuals; the animation is the same here but after all this time it's not as impressive as it used to be). Bender's Big Score has some good, light humour and a few laughs, but it's not close to, say, the Roswell episode, Godfellas or The Sting. Some jokes made me laugh (age jokes about the professor are always good) but others, for example the fly mutant, did nothing for me.

The movie begins by using veiled jokes about the TV show being cancelled and then returning; these kind of jokes can be smart, except we've seen them before (for example, the episode SOBs from Arrested Development). We are then treated to a scene at a nude beach with revealing shots of Leela and Amy (we see Leela's buttocks but the rest is covered). However, the movie then introduces its villains- nudist aliens- who are weak and uninteresting. They can sense and actively seek "information," something the writers came up with solely to move the plot along. The aliens also take over Bender by means of a virus and, discovering the secret of time travel written on Fry's body, send Bender to the past to steal treasures. The storyline becomes a little complex with all this time travel, and in addition, one would need to know the TV series to appreciate the movie. The plot is passable, though some of it (the narwhal, for example) isn't compelling or subtle.

This DVD also comes with an episode (or would it count as a short film?) featuring the character Hypnotoad. It was a funny joke in the series, but here, he's mostly just staring at you with his hypnotic vision- there's virtually nothing here, so it's pretty much worthless. Altogether, an okay DVD.

More a tribute to Futurama than a Futurama story.

[michalchik · 4/10 · 11 December 2007]

Though the movie was OK, I was disappointed by it. I feel like it lacked a lot of the originality, coherence and edginess of the original series. It was largely the same old jokes repackaged and flung at you fast and furious. They made an effort to cram in a bit of everything and largely succeeded, but it lacked depth and coherence because of this. The social commentary was also largely recycled and felt forced. I'll see the next movie, but I hope they put more thought into it and go for something more meaningful. Here it seems like one of those cases where they tried to please everyone and wound up creating something unauthentic.