The SmarK DVD Rant for Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder
"All good things must come to an end…hopefully with giant explosions!"
– Zapp Brannigan
And so, after four seasons on TV and another four made-for-DVD movies, we finally say goodbye to Futurama, killed off long before it could become a parody of itself or jump the proverbial shark. Unfortunately the revival of the show in DVD form has been hit-or-miss to say the least, as each "movie" is more intended to be four individual episodes for later airing, rather than a cohesive whole. So while the first try, Bender’s Big Score, did well to recapture the magic and tight plotting of the series, the next two movies tended to be a bit more meandering and dull. In particular, Bender’s Game felt like they spent so much time paying tribute to Dungeons & Dragons that they forgot to write any jokes.
Thankfully, that has been somewhat fixed with the final movie in the series, but the main problem still remains: This is really a series that lends itself best to 22 minute episodes and not movies. Hell, it took The Simpsons 10 years to put out a movie, and they were able to use the talents of the best cartoon writers on the planet and had a huge budget as well. And even then the results were only pretty good. As much as I appreciate the effort put forth by the Futurama crew to keep things going in this form, ultimately it just feels like they’re trying too hard to please everyone.
Into the Wild Green Yonder marks the end of the Futurama universe (or maybe a new beginning, but frankly at this point it’s time to just let it go), following a fairly broad story about a new form of life that is threatened by a galactic mini-golf game. The parallels with Douglas Adams are pretty striking, but since that’s the target audience I’m gonna guess that it was intentional. The first act of the story is clearly the funniest one, as Fry receives mind-reading powers during the construction of New Mars Vegas, and decides to use his new superpowers to win a $1,000,000 poker tournament. The B-story sees Bender seducing the gangster moll of the incredibly clueless Don-Bot, and those scenes completely blow away anything else in the movie. The levels of the Don’s misplaced trust are awesomely underplayed by Maurice LaMarche (the best joke in the movie sees Bender throwing the Don’s own severed foot at him, at which point the Don deadpans "Now I am growing suspicious"), and really they could have just done a whole movie around the Bender-Fry poker game subplot. Little geek jokes like "Wheel of Fortran" and the dancing fountains being made by Mentos and Diet Slurm are also great payoffs for the attentive.
Unfortunately, the movie just can’t sustain the momentum of the first 30 minutes, as the whole Mars plot is dropped like a hot potato and the real plot begins, with Fry finding himself at the center of yet ANOTHER giant cosmic conspiracy. Meanwhile, Leela joins a militaristic group of feminists/eco-terrorists and we get one final look at President Nixon and Headless Spiro Agnew, as the show brings back all the favorites for one last visit. Sadly, nothing in the middle portion is as memorable or funny as the Vegas plot and the whole second act just feels like filler leading up to the big finale, as literally every character from the series is gathered in a giant arena to witness the final fate of the universe. And of course there’s one last space chase with Zapp Brannigan ("How many men did we lose?" "All of them.") before the convoluted logic of the finale. Much of it is really funny and really well-animated, but the whole cosmic plot felt like a retread of the (much better) episode with the secret origins of the Nibblonians. Overall I’d call it the second-best of the four movies based mainly on the hilarious first portion in Vegas and it was a satisfying conclusion to the series, but it’s time to say goodbye to Fry and Bender. (Rating: ***)
Bonus Features:
I’m skipping the video and audio because Fox sent me a screener copy rather than the actual DVD.
So first up you get a commentary track with Matt Groening, David X. Cohen and the usual cast of creators and voice talent. Sadly, Billy West is absent, but Maurice LaMarche and John Dimaggio are here and make it a really fun track.
You get a 22-minute animatic version of the Vegas portion, same kind of thing that the Simpsons DVDs do so well.
Featurettes include Matt Groening’s trip on a zero G plane, a fake making-of called "How We Make Futurama So Good" (featuring Lauren Tom doing all the jobs), a quick look at Penn Jillette’s loud acting style, and "How To Draw Futurama in 10 Very Difficult Steps" which should be self explanatory. There’s also 2 minutes of deleted scenes, a quick look at the 3D models used in the movie, and a couple of throwaway "clips from previous seasons" bits with Bender’s movie theater etiquette and Zapp Brannigan’s "Guide To Making Love At a Woman". A fun selection of stuff for fans, but nothing terribly deep. (Rating: ***)
Overall, definitely a recommended DVD for fans waiting on the conclusion to the series. It’s funny and a satisfying ending, but just not as funny or as satisfying as it should have been.
