In the mid-2000s, something unusual happened. Futurama and Family Guy, two of the seemingly endless amounts of television programs Fox had cancelled at the start of the decade, were suddenly popular again, mostly thanks to a successful syndication of both shows on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim lineup and strong DVD sales. Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane decided to exploit the situation, and revive the series for three increasingly formulaic seasons on Fox, as well as an upcoming spin-off, The Cleveland Show. In Futurama’s case, Matt Groening decided to take things in a different direction, choosing to create a series of direct-to-DVD movies, which would then be split into half-hour episodes for Comedy Central. While the first of these movies, Bender’s Big Score, oftentimes felt contrived and lacking in the biting satire that fans of Futurama had come to expect from its creator, The Beast with a Billion Backs actually feels like a feature-length film, and less like a series of episodes strung together.
What makes the new movie work is that writers Eric Kaplan and David X. Cohen (who co-developed the show with Groening) keep the subplots to a bare minimum and, thankfully, keep away from that nasty plot device called time travel. In the film, a giant hole in the universe has been ripped open, causing scientist Stephen Hawking (played by the real Stephen Hawking) to stage a conference for all the scientists to try and come up with a solution to the problem. Meanwhile, Fry (Billy West) starts a relationship with Colleen (Brittany Murphy), who gives him a bit of a surprise when it turns out that she has four other boyfriends. After discovering this, Fry dumps her and decides to jump through the rip in space, in order to start a new life. Once through the rift, he discovers a planet-sized, multi-tentacled monster called Yivo who falls in love with Fry’s universe and decides to mate with it. Strange, I know, and it gets stranger. Pretty soon, Fry becomes the Pope of Yivo’s new religion, and invites humanity to leave Earth and enter the other dimension. At the same time, Bender becomes a member of the secret League of Robots, whose mission statement to “Kill All Humans!” is pretty much ignored by its members, which include Calculon, Hedonismbot, and other familiar faces in the Futurama universe.
It may seem like a lot to swallow, but keep in mind that Bender’s Big Score had a lot more plotlines, and plenty of disorganization to go with it. The Beast with a Billion Backs keeps the energy focused on one story at a time, and only rarely pulls out some obscure character for a cheap laugh. The movie also benefits greatly from the casting of David Cross as Yivo, who injects some much-needed droll humor into an otherwise daunting character. Overall, Groening restores our faith in the future of Futurama with a wonderful new movie, and while it does represent a return to form, it doesn’t feel like a rehash of the same old jokes.
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