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Futurama: Bender's Game
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: James Teitelbaum & Noor Razzak (21st December 2008). |
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The Film
 "Futurama" (1999-2003), for the uninitiated, is a science fiction cartoon created by Matt Groening, the man responsible for "Life in Hell" and an for obscure cartoon that you have never heard of called "The Simpsons" (1989-Present). The characters in "Futurama" all look rather Simpsons-ish, except that there are also robots, space cops, laser guns, and other sci-fi archetypes - all rendered a la Groening. "Futurama" lasted for fifty-one episodes over four seasons, before folding. In that shortish period, the show accumulated a dedicated fan base, and with good reason. In addition to being hilarious, it was chock full of homages to (and parodies of) every conceivable bit science fiction lore from H.G. Wells and Georges Méliès to "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones" (2002). From 1950's B-movie xenophobia to the "Star Trek" phenomena, Futurama keenly parodied it all. The basic premise is that a delivery boy named Fry (Billy West) gets caught in cryo-freeze on New Year's Eve 1999 and wakes up one thousand years later. He gets a job as a delivery boy, and has adventures with his co-workers (including a robot, a cute Asian girl, a Rastafarian, a lobster-man, a senile inventor, and a Cyclops). The show was fast paced, brilliantly written, expertly voice-acted, and animated a notch or two better than "The Simpsons." It was canceled far too soon. The good news is that "Futurama" returned in 2007 with the first of four scheduled triple-length telefilms. The first was "Bender's Big Score." The second film, "The Beast with A Billion Backs" (2008), came next, and now "Bender's Game" is has been unleashed satisfy the mad craving for more "Futurama." In "Bender's Game", Professor Farnsworth (Billy West) tells us that in his youth, he and his rival scientist - and energy industry megalomaniac - Mom (Tress MacNellie) discovered the key to using dark matter as fuel. One convoluted bit of pseudo-science leads to another, and a race ensues for the possession of some crystals that will solve the galactic energy crisis. Farnsworth wants to solve the crisis, while Mom wants to perpetuate it to keep her monopoly intact. Meanwhile, the robot Bender (John Di Maggio) encounters some kids playing Dungeons and Dragons (a game that has not changed at all in a thousand years, apparently). He is insecure at his robotic lack of imagination. When he finally develops an imagination, he ends up going crazy and believing that he really is his D and D character. About an hour into the cartoon, the two plots converge (it seems that dodecahedron's are useful in both role playing games and in galactic energy production), and the story goes off into a sort of medieval-era "Futurama" episode. This allows for all sorts of Tolkien gags and other fantasy-genre parodies. Celebrity cameos this time include The Dixie Chicks, George Takei, Rich Little, and Dungeons and Dragons creator E. Gary Gygax. In the "Futurama" universe, 20th/21st century celebs have survived as disembodied heads in jars. In the contemporary world, all sorts of digital nonsense are needed in order to keep celebrities alive and kicking for their "Futurama" cameos. In this case, archival material is used to include Gygax, who passed away in March, 2008. This telefilm is dedicated to his memory.
Video
Presented in a widescreen ratio of 1.78:1 this high-definition transfer is in 1080p 24/fps and has been created using AVC MPEG-4 compression. This feature is an animated film so you won't get the same depth of live action footage as it's all down to the animation itself in terms of how much detail they put into it. The result here is excellent, as the future world these character inhabit is detailed and has depth to it. The character lines are bold and do not have any jagged edges to them, which is something you'll see on standard DVD. Colors are exceptionally bright, bold and vivid. The transfer is clean and was taken from the digital source so there's no flaws, not even compression related as the film is only 87 minutes long and has been mastered into a 50GB disc.
Audio
There's only a single audio track in English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixed at 48kHz/24-bit. The audio is just as strong as the image, the dialogue is clear and distortion free, and the sound mix features a dynamic range of sounds that fill the ambient field placing you in the cartoon future. Directional effects are well placed and feel natural, the film's more action packed moments shine in their aggressive nature and the score adds another layer to the overall mix. It's an excellent track that goes well with the stunning visuals. Optional subtitles are included in English, French, Spanish and Cantonese.
Extras
Fox has released this film with an audio commentary, Picture-in-Picture commentary, storyboards, three featurettes, a parody spot, bloopers, an interactive feature, a deleted scene and a bonus trailer. Below is a closer look at these supplements. The audio commentary featured includes creator Matt Groening, series developer David X. Cohen, voice actors Billy West, John Di Maggio, Tress MacNellie, writer Michael Rowe, producer Claudia Katz, and director Dwayne Carey-Hill sit around and collectively talk about the making of the film. The track is not really directed or focused at all, and the participants all just sort of chime in at random with their thoughts. They seem to be having a pretty good time; there is a lot of laughing and joking. Worth a listen for serious fans and those looking for extra behind-the-scenes tidbits. This commentary can also be viewed on profile 2.0 player with additional picture-in-picture content. Storyboard animatic runs for 21 minutes 47 seconds; these are storyboards - with occasional sound effects and dialogue - for the amazing Beatles 'Yellow Submarine' parody that opens the movie and a montage of other scenes. "Futurama Genetics Lab" interactive feature follows, select two characters and see a still image of a hybrid character. "D&D&F" runs for 7 minutes 2 seconds; this is the making-of featurette. Interviews with the creators of "Futurama," mostly about their childhood (or adulthood) D&D experiences. Also, a retrospective of D&D-based gags from classic "Futurama" episodes. "How to Draw Futurama in 83 Easy Steps" featurette runs for 7 minutes 51 seconds; the illustrators provide a how-to for all of you artists out there. "3D Models with Animator Discussion" featurette runs for 5 minutes 3 seconds; wireframe spaceship models and their rendered versions spinning around on the screen as the CG animators comment. There's a single deleted scene: "Cup or Nozzle?" that runs for 1 minute 3 seconds; The D&D kids go for a slurm (drink). "Blooperama" are bloopers that run for 1 minute 50 seconds; the cast are shown in a recording session reading their lines, and usually messing them up. There's another blooper that runs for 1 minute 24 seconds featuring Billy West as Farnsworth is included as an Easter egg (on the second features screen, highlight "D&D&F" and click right to access the feature by clicking the icon that appears). "Bender's Anti-Piracy Warning" spot runs for 1 minute 12 seconds; and is a fun take on the plea to stop illegal media ripping and file sharing. Rounding out the extras package is a bonus trailer for: - "Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder" which runs for 1 minute 13 seconds; this pomo is for the next feature-length movie on DVD. Included in the package is a collection of 4 postcards featuring artwork from the series.
Overall
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