Beast with a Billion Backs Official Review Thread

Topic: Shadow Realm Note

Users: @Graham @SuzyQ Beb Chris gkscotty|CoH

irc.simpworks.com

[Lisabella]

The cut scenes are really interesting this volume out:

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In the original version of the movie, Scruffy was going to die.  Wonder what made them pull back on the decision.

[Archonix]

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Maybe it was going to be a throw-away joke and they figured it wa too gruesome. Remember, Scruffy's died before. As he lived.

[Wilde Grey Yonder]

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While that was a moment of heroism (?) for Leela, I'm glad they didn't go through with it.

Because we all know that Scruffy is the true hero of the show.

[Lisabella]

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You know, I'm so ingrained to the idea of Scruffy's dying in fic that I forgot that's an actual running joke about it in the show  .  Talk about when fanon and canon collide...

[Wilde Grey Yonder]

"Oh my God, they killed Scruffy!"
"You bastards!"
"Ach, I'm nae good at this..."

*Chris has never killed off Scruffy in any of her fics, though she did write a one showing his true purpose once...

[Lisabella]

BWAH!  I only killed Scruffy off once, but it was in DS my First Frama Fic Ever, so I guess I have an excuse there

*is sorry for dragging topic so far afield*

[Wilde Grey Yonder]

Something that just struck me:

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The indestructible pink stationery cutting through every other material reminds me an awful lot of the stuff Yomiko does with paper in "Read Or Die".

[gkscotty]

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Being an anime girl, I don't think she'd have much truck with a being like Yivo, either.

[BenderFriender]

Hey all,
I liked "Beast", but didn't think it was anywhere good as "Big Score".  "Bender's Game" looks like it might be a little more fun to me.
After watching "Beast", only a couple things stick with me that I really laughed at (out loud):

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When the Professor and Farnsworth were throwing the tiny robots into the zapper field.  Maybe a bit sadistic, but for some reason funny to me.
When Fry was seeing everyone in love, including the Mortal Kombat-esque video game characters that started making out.  I knew it was coming, but it was still done very well.

[Enhas]

I posted most of this at TLZ a few months ago, so it might be a bit all weird and stuff:

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I paid more attention to pretty much everything else (the Bender sub-plot, Amy, and Colleen) than I did to the Beast.  To me, the movie seemed to cut off rather quickly and there wasn't much of an ending or lead-in to the next.

Also, despite the fact that Kif is one of my favorite characters.. I wish that he would have stayed dead.  His "resurrection" was very lame.  Nice to see though that he got a spine, actually hit Zapp and won't take Amy back (though, this might be ignored by the next movie).

Overall, I still like it better than the last movie.. and the preview for the next looks even better.  Like a feature-length "Anthology of Interest", almost.

Good parts:

- The opening with everything having a "classic" look (including the farmer that lives on the moon!  I loved that).
- The scenes with the Robot Devil and Bender, however brief they were.
- Leela pointing three guns at once at Fry.
- Colleen's apartment sinking into and out of the ground, instead of a having an elevator.
- Deathball, both times.
- Bender pinning his "suicide" note onto Zoidberg like he's not even there.
- Pazuzu rescuing Farnsworth and Wernstrom.

Bad parts:

- Kif somehow being able to survive and talk in space.
- The "wooden ship" that Fry and others went in to visit Yivo.  One of the dumbest things ever, to me.
- Fry being bodysnatched with his early Season 2-equivalent, especially after the (days ago!) events of BBS.  Ditto for Leela, only it also seems like she's getting dumber over time if that were possible..
- Kif's whole "resurrection" scene.
- The whole "truth" about Yivo (rape of the universe).
- Zoidberg's barfing.  Only here since it was shown more than once (some things just aren't funny when repeated).
- Scruffy having absolutely no lines (except in a deleted scene).

Both this movie and BBS are like some weird, twisted Bizarro-World Futurama to me (though BBS not as much).  They just don't have the soul that the original series did and I doubt that the next two movies will either.

In my opinion, they're trying too hard to be funny and a lot of it is just not working.  Also, the writers seem to be ignoring or canonshafting virtually everything.

Watched Seasons 3 and 4, you say?  No matter!  Good plots and character development have been thrown right out the window with the retconning of Luck of the Fryish and Jurassic Bark, Fry reverting to his Season 2-self in intelligence and cares, and much more.  You might as well not have bothered to watch any heavy Fry / Leela episode (Parasites Lost, The Sting, Devil's Hands, etc..), because that's all forgotten about.  Fry's begging routine at the end of the movie to Leela, then Amy.. was absolutely pathetic, even for him.  What's even more sad is that Leela for once told him in a way that she was waiting, and that he had ignored her.  Completely out of character for Fry, who has spent almost the past EIGHT YEARS (including the events of BBS) wanting to be with her, but instead he jumps in bed with the first one to come along.  Leela, if you can recover enough of your brains (not likely, because you seem to be losing more and more of them with each new movie), then try to search for the real Fry who was kidnapped sometime after the opera he wrote for you and replaced with a mindless drone.  He's trapped in David X. Cohen's basement.

This is Futurama, yes.  And it's still funny at times.. but it's not the real thing.  The real Futurama died in 2003 and is still dead, and this is just a cheap knock-off that's trying to be more like Family Guy.  I hope my opinion changes with the next two movies, but I'm not holding my breath.  I'll enjoy what's given to me, but it'll never be the same as an actual series episode.

Also, Harold Zoid made a cameo in BWABB.  Harold Zoid, yes.  Who's next?

[Wilde Grey Yonder]

I pretty much agree with everything in your review. One point particularly:

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They could have let Kif stay dead. I like him, but... resurrecting characters just isn't done. Where's the drama.

I'm fairly certain that they won't ignore his breakup with Amy. It was far too marked for that. Her attempt to win him back will more than likely be a subplot in the next movie.

Also, I'll say this before, but here it is again:

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Leela's put-down to Fry at the end of the film makes no sense to me if we're supposed to take it as "oh, she's been in love with him and now feels rejected". Since when? Why does she never go out with him and shut him up, then? She never even seemed jealous of Colleen (good thing, BTW). The only way I can interpret her put-down is that she's annoyed that Fry immediately lost interest in her when a more accessible woman came along, yet returned to her on the rebound - in other words, she's annoyed at his behaviour, but not in love or jealous. Either way, I don't think it was awesome writing.

[Lisabella]

Re: The whole Leela/Fry Thing:

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So much of the sudden changes to her opinion of Fry, and his sudden dissintrest in Leela, smack of the writers wanting to "try something new", and damn continuity and characterisation.  Same thing with the sudden Amy/Kif breakup (though what Kif does to Zapp is so, so justifiable).

[Wilde Grey Yonder]

Agreed, Missy.

Kif should have done that to Zapp years ago. 

[Lisabella]

I'm positively anxious to find out what happens in ITWGY, considering BG appears to exist mostly in an AU/Fantasy setup.

Sidenote question: has anyone gotten their hands on Comedy Central's rating for the original broadcasts of both movies?  Do they engender hope for the notion of there being more movies or a series renewal (maybe I should start another thread for this?)?

[Shockwave]

Finally got to see this one. Like many, my feelings are somewhat mixed. The last 10 minutes or so really felt jumbled and lacking in proper direction. It's as if they had too much time on their hands left over so they added a final few twists and additions to the end, but overcompensated and then made them rushed as a result. Everything before that actually felt really well paced and thought out, and those last few minutes just didn't quite fit. And I'm not sure what would have been the better fix: cutting out the whole post-proposal stuff, or giving it a fifth "episode" to allow it to breathe some more.

As for the controversial Yivo bit, I basically see it as this: this is a science fiction show, and almost all science fiction shows have characters dealing with aliens and otherworldy beings that have a completely different perspective, different values and different ways of doing things, etc.. When it comes to Yivo, I think as a viewer you have to take this into consideration. You can't attribute human values and perspectives onto a creature like that really, especially when it's one that was completely alone. I think, to a degree, that's what the writers were going for here: they were trying to point out the whole fact that something that is considered as immoral and wrong to us wouldn't neccessarily be considered the same by a creature such as Yivo. It's all about perspective, and it's a rather subtle thing. Now, that doesn't neccessarily mean it worked well, and in some ways it didn't. Perhaps because it was a little too subtle, or that it didn't explore the negative side of things enough. I don't know.

All in all though, despite the problems with the ending, I enjoyed this a lot more than I did Bender's Big Score. It's not as good as the series for the most part, but it was still very funny, and filled with a lot of classic Futurama humour. BBS mostly suffered from a lot of plot holes and messing with things best left alone. This movie tends to have the odd iffy character moment and could do with a better ending, but I didn't feel it tainted the series as much and it was just a lot funnier (particuarly anything involving Farnsworth and Wernstrom).

A step in the right direction with a stumble at the end. That's how I'd sum it up. I think the show's writers are just more adept at a simple half-hour formula than in epic movie-length stuff, despite me having no doubts it could be pulled off (after all, I've read fanfics that can do it). I do have higher hopes on the next one from what I've heard so far though.