Futurama as a TV series has been canceled for awhile, but thanks to Fox Home Entertainment, you can get your (pretty) regular dose of the crew with direct-to-DVD movies. First one Bender’s Big Score ended with a tear in the space, and the new movie The Beast With a Billion Backs picks up right afterwards. After discovering this tear could lead to another universe, Dr. Farnsworth mounts an expedition with his incredibly expandable crew. Fry, after discovering that his girlfriend has 4 other live-in boyfriends, dumps her and is full of sorrow. Unable to take it, Fry sets out to the other universe.
On the other side of the tear is a being with tentacles called Yivo. Yivo makes Fry his emissary as the tentacles invade our universe. Soon everyone in the universe has a tentacle to their neck as a way of, umm, being together with Yivo.
The movie is, as you’d expect, full of pop references and in-jokes. Even the opening sequence has a tribute to Steamboat Willie with Futurama characters of course. Futurama’s humor is not as random as on Family Guy, another canceled but revived animation. The theme of this movie – love, sex and relationship – is refreshingly adult even for the series and it shows how well the series is maturing. This movie is strongly recommended to Futurama fans, although newcomers to the series should first finish the TV series before embarking on the movies.
Rating: 70%
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