Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008) (V)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Peter Avanzino

Writers:

Matt Groening (creator) &
Matt Groening (developer) ...

Release Date:

24 June 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy | Sci-Fi

Plot:

The Planet Express crew must work to fix rips between their universe and another inhabited by a planet-sized...

Plot Keywords:

Tentacle | Robot | Alien | Sex On First Date | Duel

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Billy West	...	Philip J. Fry / Prof. Hubert J. Farnsworth / Dr. Zoidberg / Zapp Brannigan / Richard Nixon / Leo Wong / Moon Farmer / M-5438 / Mr. Kroker / Judge Ron Whitey / Carnival Barker / Superhero / Land Squid (voice)
Katey Sagal	...	Turanga Leela (voice)
John Di Maggio	...	Bender / Randy Munchnick / URL / Calculon's Manservant / Funkalistics Lead Singer / Guard #1 (voice) (as John DiMaggio)
Tress MacNeille	...	Crazed Fan / Bender's First Born Son / Hattie McDoogal / Linda / The Grand Midwife / Pocket Pal / Thog / Gladys Lennox / Suicide Booth / Monique / Petunia / Mrs. Kroker / Morgan Procter (voice)
Maurice LaMarche	...	Kif Kroker / Calculon / Morbo / Schlomo / SportsBot 5000 / Lrrr / Destructor / Horrible Gelatinous Blob / Hedonismbot / Fishy Joseph Gillman / Harold Zoid / King Kong / Guard #2 (voice)
Phil LaMarr	...	Hermes Conrad / Horse Repair Robot / Ndulu / Robot 1-X / Billionairebot / Bolt Rollands (voice)
Lauren Tom	...	Amy Wong / Inez Wong (voice)
David Herman	...	Dr. Ogden Wernstrom / Plastic Surgeon Robot / British Robot / Coffee Enema Robot / Chu / Warden Vogel / Three-Eyed Zebra / Fatbot / Giant Medium-Sized Ant / Mayor C. Randall Poopenmeyer / Pazuzu (voice)
Dan Castellaneta	...	The Robot Devil (voice)
David Cross	...	Yivo (voice)
Stephen Hawking	...	Himself (voice)
Brittany Murphy	...	Colleen O'Hallahan (voice)

Also Known As:

The Futurama Movie 2 (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

Argentina:90 min | Greece:90 min | Spain:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

Australia:PG | UK:12 | Finland:K-7 | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Singapore:PG | Argentina:13 | Ireland:12

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Trivia:

The title refers to the phrase "the beast with two backs", a term referring to the act of sexual intercourse between two people and commonly associated with its use in the work of William Shakespeare .

Goofs:

Continuity: The remnants of Fry's pink note disappear and reappear on Bender's sword during the climactic fight with Yivo.

Quotes:

Yivo: I should go now. The nature of your universe is burning me... even worse than my gonorrhea. You should get checked by the way.

Movie Connections:

References "Futurama: A Clone of My Own (#2.15)" (2000)

About two and a half good Futurama episodes

The problem with "Beast With A Billion Backs" isn't the writing, the storyline, the gags, or the inside references. Those are all just fine. Not great, but a decided improvement over the convoluted and fanservice-heavy "Bender's Big Score."

The greater problem -- one that all four DVD movies will face -- is that Futurama's fantastic worlds and crazy plots just plain work better in 22-minute episodes than as 90-minute stories. It's hard to keep up the energy and the gags for that long, while also involving all the characters and hitting all the notes Futurama fans want to hear.

"Billion Backs" had its share of slow spots, and gags that should have never escaped the Deleted Scenes part of the DVD. (The "schkler" and "schklee" thing was painful.)

The Yivo storyline could have been done in one focused episode (a la "The Day The Earth Stood Stupid"). The Bender/Calculon story would have been an okay B-story for a 22-minute episode, but it was weak for a feature-length movie. The other subplots weren't any deeper than you'd see in a single episode.

I realize that the movie will be broadcast as individual episodes. They should have made them that way in the first place, and cut out the dull stuff.

If you don't believe me, watch the "lost episode" bonus feature on the DVD. It's a compilation of cut-scenes from the Futurama video game, made into an "episode" of about 30 minutes. While it's nothing special, its fast pace and simple plot work a lot better than the padded-out, hit-and-miss main feature.

Having said all that, "Billion Backs" is a fun story that should appeal to all Futurama fans. There are some great gags, some beloved characters we missed in the first DVD movie, a Futurama-quality plot, and a fun homage to 1950s-style monster horror flicks.