Bender's Big Score - official review thread

Topic: The Matrix...It's like it's from another millennium

Users: @SuzyQ

irc.simpworks.com

[Archonix]

I don't have it yet, but I will soon, so I wanted to put this up just in case anyone else has seen it already YOU LUCKY BASTARDS.

So far all I've seen are a few slightly spoilery reviews. I am... in a state of confusion.

[Archonix]

http://ilovebender.com

Just in case you haven't seen it.

[A Spy in Mancunia]

So, we're back apparently, baby. And let me be among the first to tell the world the internet my thoughts.

It was... well. My euphoria over the return of my favourite show OF ALL TIME is my business. If you disregard the larger format and just see this as an episode... I don't think it's the *best* episode, or even as good as my favourites, but nor is it among the worst. Maybe I'm overly critical after this long wait. There were a few too many crude jokes (nothing worse than has been on the show, I'm sure, but the sex jokes were never the appeal of Futurama in the first place to me), and while it certainly wasn't three episodes spliced together, the middle bit (the time-travel plot) did feel a bit disjointed, even though it did work in as a part of the larger whole.

Other than that, good plot, by the way, making full use of the whackier aspects of time-travel, which earns it high points in my book. There were some eddies and dull spots. The ending, with

Spoiler (hover to show)

the death of "Lars"... not really his death, in fact, as much as his decision to spare Leela's feelings

even made me feel quite sad. As for the very ENDING ending, well, inconclusive. I know there'll be a sequel, but I don't really like films ending on cliffhangers like that.

When the jokes weren't crude, there were quite a few hilarious ones. The bit that's been shown in the trailers is still hilarious. And a Torgo ref! I think the Hypnotoad segment probably wins, in my view, but it has strong competition. At first, I thought the spam jokes were retreading old ground, but they became a good running joke.

Some really nice animation. As Graham points out below, though, the lack of an original soundtrack was felt, though I enjoyed the remixed theme.

The bad guys stood out, wholly despicable whenever they were on-stage. I can't praise them enough, watch it yourself.

More specific comments in glorious spoilervision. Warning, there are spoilers here. I mean it. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Spoiler (hover to show)

I must admit, I was a bit worried the time-travel bit (with the "Terminator" refs) would be too similar to my own "Anthology of Interest IV", retconning me as a plagiary, but it wasn't really.

The song numbers... the first one was OK, but I really liked the second one. Hanukkah Zombie was funny and didn't outstay his welcome.

Considering the enlarged format? I felt that no real depths were plunged regarding characterisation, as they might well have been, apart from a bit in Fry/Lars' decision to make Leela happy, in spite of his own inclinations. Sometimes it felt like characterisation was limited to Fry saying "I hate Lars" half a dozen times. No, I cavil. The characters were all funny, though, particularly Bender and the Professor. The only real characterisation problem I had was with Santa being sad and reasonable. Yes, I know that was intentional, but it just felt like destroying the whole point of his character.

It's good seeing all the regulars and irregulars again: God, Hermes' family, Hedonism-bot, Seymour and Philip Fry Jr.! Everyone always has their own preferences, of course. I for one could have done with more Zapp and Cubert (it was good that they had spots in it, though). Still, this was a plethora of minor characters compared to, oh, why not say it, "The Simpsons Movie".

As the resident anti-shipper, I was happy that Lars was a completely mature and likeable person, not the usual jerk Leela goes out with only to demonstrate how much superior Fry is. (Yes, yes, I know.) I unfortunately had the Big Plot Twist spoiled to me before seeing this (well, half-spoiled and half-guessed, might be more accurate), but it's still a good one.

Futurama can be a really dramatic show, even soppy, but this film wasn't really. Apart from the death of "Lars", it didn't really tug at my heartstrings. The female narwhal was too cute to elicit any real response from me. I think what got the biggest emotional response from me is the fact that at least one Fry got to live a full life in his own time. No matter how much the series shows him as being happier in the future, some ties had to be cut, and that's always been at the back of my mind.

I normally dislike the Nibblonians, but they weren't a problem here. They weren't nearly as central to the plot as the trailer had led me to think, and they were actually funny when onscreen. That little parachute... awww...


At last continuity for Seymour's being encased in dolomite. I think it could have been done more elegantly, though... have the building fall on him and then reveal his fossilised corpse standing, instead of just having the flame shoot over him.

More comments may be a-coming.

EDIT: Join me in listing all the identifiable treasures Bender stole? I only caught the most obvious...

+Leonardo's Mona Lisa (unfinished)
+The Nobel Peace Prize
+Tutankhamon's death mask (love how the Egyptians realised that his gun was a danger)
+Vincent van Gogh's Self-Portrait
+An Easter Island stone head
+The True Cross
+The Holy Grail? Some sort of chalice, at any rate.

So... well. Don't expect the best Futurama-related item in history (unless you have a different taste than I, I guess). But it's still a good one! Hilarious bad guys, a lot of Bender, a hearty helping of little-used characters, some shipping if you like that sort of thing, all wrapped up in a cleverly twisty plot.

And a must see for all Futurama fans, of course.

EDIT: Just to clarify: on another Futurama board, someone said that this film retcons a few previous episodes. As Graham points out, however, it didn't retcon anything. It sticks firmly to the established canon of the show, or at least as far as it's possible in a time-travel storyline.

[Archonix]

Aaaaand here it is...

I've just finished watching this very second and I'm on the internet registering my disgust amazement around the world... spoilers shall abound.

Non-spoilery review first. It was good. I would not call it awesome, because the low budget shows quite strongly in a lot of places - the soundtrack for example. It mostly fitted, but there wasn't much in the way of original score and what there was seemed to either be cues taken from previous episodes or just remixes, but that's just complaining.

The basic plot is that these pink aliens manage to scam the PE crew out of their company, then go on to scam the entire human race out of the ownership of earth, after which they build a fleet of solid gold deathstars. Fry's butt has the secret of time-travel tattooed on it, Bender becomes evil... (becomes?) and Leela falls in love with a bloke called Lars. And that summary does the actual thing no justice at all.

Lets see, where to start. The opening was funny, though I really didn't need to see that owl's butt for so long. In fact this should have given me a warning. You will see a lot of Fry's butt in this film.

A lot of it.

Repeated shots, mutiple shots in the same scene, multiple angles. Fry's butt plays a leading role and it's safe to say that by the end you'll be weeping over it, especially when the aliens get involved. In fact the pink aliens are suitably disgusting badguys... my god they're disgusting... you will find yourself cringing at just how disgusting they are, especially when they get the time-travel involved and start... ech... I'll let you wait for that bit. It's hilariously disgusting.

The whole plot was basically a mess of time travel paradoxes that were all resolved by people dying, which is quite funny. Prior to watching this film I was given the impression that an alternate version of Fry from The Why of Fry would be involved. He wasn't... all the talk I've been given about the film retconning this episode or that episode is a load of baloney. Don't listen to it!

Oh yes, they reference Torgo. Repeatedly. This makes up for the repeated assviewage...

Lars is... interesting. To be honest, I liked him, but that's mostly because I had an approximate idea of how the film ends.

And now begin the spoilers. I shall start with the biggest.

Spoiler (hover to show)

That ending being: Lars is FRY!

Of course this is pretty obvious when you think about it. Same voice actor, practically the same voice, same basic character model... that big fat schnoz if his is a dead-giveaway.

Also, where the hell did the tatoo actually come from?

Actually there's little else to say. This is more the executive summary than a genuine review. It's an awesome; go buy it!

Now we've got The Beast with a Billion Backs to look forward to.

[Archonix]

Soundtrack, anyone?

Well, all right, it's just the end titles. Still. It's a really cool bit of music.

[Stretch Dude]

I have it. I have watched it. And I enjoyed it. Even came with a bonus disc featuring a preview of "The Beast with a Billion Backs," which looks to be most amusing and excellent.

Also, Everybody Loves Hypnotoad is the greatest show in the history of television.

[Enhas]

Well, it's a little late in coming but I don't really have a lot to say that I haven't already said (either here, or on another board).  I was mad and appalled at first over some of the stuff in it (mostly the way Leela acted for about 90% of the movie), but then I realized that it's a cartoon and came out of the fantasy bubble I was encased in.  She's under no obligation to love Fry no matter what he does, and if I was Fry I'd probably have given up long ago.

If I was a woman, I wouldn't want to date Fry either.  Both of them have serious problems, but most people seem to forget that Futurama is much more than just a love story between those two.  Bender wouldn't like all the lack of attention he's been getting, especially lately.

A cruel way to end the series would be to have them not get together.  Think of the end of "The Wonder Years" with Kevin and Winnie, or something like that.. not would it only be completely unexpected, but it would really make some people very mad (I could just imagine the PEEL forums now).

I liked Bender's Big Score, but it wasn't as good as it could have been.  To me, it is only as good as an average episode of Futurama at best.. way too many cameos and despite the roughly 90 minute length of the movie, not enough time.  Some things progress way too quickly and the jumps back and forth through time (from 2000-2012 and 3007) can be hard to follow, at least the first time through.

I agree with someone that the next movie looks to be more focused on Fry and Bender's friendship, and if so I think it'll make a much better movie than BBS.  More Zapp and Kif too.. they weren't in BBS for very long, but it looks like they'll be somewhat important for the next movie.  Kif is one of my favorite characters and he didn't get very many lines in Bender's Big Score (if at all, all I can seem to remember are a few groans).

[A Spy in Mancunia]

I wouldn't mind in the least if Futurama ends with Fry and Leela not getting together.

The show is an SF/adventure comedy, after all, not a love story.

I still feel sorry for Kevin.

[Enhas]

I wouldn't mind if it didn't work out and they both found somebody else (as long as it would be written well and not just something tacked-on in the last few minutes), but I lean on the side of having them together in the end.

What I do mind is the constant "three steps forward, two steps back" thing that has been going on since Season 3.  I'd like a resolution one way or the other, not even more dancing around.  And if the series is renewed past the next three movies, expect a lot more of it.  I'd sooner see Fry give up on Leela (and maybe after a while, she would want to pursue him instead of the other way around) than even more of these tired formulas:

1 - Leela meets someone, and Fry is jealous.
2 - Leela doesn't love Fry, but he keeps pining after her anyway.
3 - Leela breaks up with whoever she's with, and appears to grow a bit closer to Fry.  Go back to #1.

1 - Fry wants to impress Leela.
2 - Leela doesn't love Fry, but he keeps pining after her anyway.
3 - Fry does something great especially for Leela, and she appears to grow a bit closer to Fry.  Go back to #1.

I still say that the end of "Into the Wild Green Yonder" is probably going to be another "Devil's Hands" ending instead of something concrete..

[Stretch Dude]

By this point, I'll just be happy if they expand on Nibbler's "the other" comment from "The Why of Fry."

[TomCMMi]

Fry and Leela probably will never really be together.  Its a episode by episode show, not a developing story.  There isn't a continuum that is followed, as the characters never age.

[A Spy in Mancunia]

I have to say, I think there is at least a bit of a continuum. For example, Fry wasn't in love with Leela from episode one, but came to fall in love with her. Likewise, Amy got together with Kif in "A Flight to Remember", and the show has stuck with their relationship.

[Shockwave]

Finally got the DVD today after all this time and got a chance to view it. I have to say that I was both thoroughly entertained and a little disappointed at the same time. To put it simply, the whole thing was as funny as hell, and for the most part was well-written, with a lot of neat twists, some great moments that remind me of why I love the show and characters so much, some good cameos, and a good amount of underlying emotion.

However, some things just seemed wrong. Aside from the obviousness of Lars from the get-go, my main issue relates to the time-travelling seeming to... I don't wanna say "spit on" but... let's just say neutering the events that happened in two of my favourite episodes: The Luck of the Fryrish and Jurassic Bark. While I liked a lot of the neat paradox-related happenances, it really seems like they put a bit of a smudge on two of the episodes most liked by fans, and I can't help but wonder that I'll now view those episodes again quite differently now, and not for the better. Maybe something will be explained in later movies that'll set things back to the status quo, but... still... I kind of wished they hadn't messed around so much with the events from those episodes. Aside from that, there's a few niggling plot holes (such as the tattoo's origin, Nibbler suddenly so willing to reveal himself after being so careful before (though he can erase this later if need be), some of Bender's actions while under control of Nudar, several time paradox issues and rules that seemed broken, or at least bent, for convenience.

Aside from that, it's a hilarious movie. I'd still recommend it fully... I just hope somewhere along the line they either explain or fix some of the issues it seems to have brought up.

[A Spy in Mancunia]

Belated response (well, I've been busy).

My own theory re

Spoiler (hover to show)

Nibbler revealing himself

:

I suspect this is going to lead up to some Nibblonian-centred plot element in one of the later films (well, it'd be more surprising if there were *no* Nibblonian-centred plot elements in a saga of this magnitude), and that scene was basically to remind lazy watchers about their presence, as well as perhaps reducing the need for a big "How long have you been able to talk?" scene with the Planet Express workers. (Though I would have expected more of a reaction from the characters, especially Leela, after the battle. They can't have been *that* preoccupied. I haven't seen the film in a while, maybe I just don't remember enough.)

[Lisabella]

Even more Thoughts Most Belated; I just got this baby, actually!

Spoiler (hover to show)

The Good Stuff: Intelligent, funny, twisty plot.

Everyone was at least mildly sympathetic here - except for LaBarbara.

The enemies were fun and FUNNY - crucial!

BENDER!

TORGO POWDER!!

The Bad Stuff:

The WTF-ery in the LaBarbara/Hermes plot.  I didn't think she was THAT fickle.  She stood beside them when he lost his job AND when he tried to kill himself, but he becomes a head in a jar and she leaves him?!

Yet another roadblock in the Fry/Leela pathway.  People who 'ship the 'shippiness harder than I do must've been virtually glowing with rage.

A good, solid A-.  On to BWABB!