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Futurama: Beast With A Billion Backs

posted by Matt Knicl at 10:33 pm.

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© Fox

As far as Futurama goes, this “film” was decent. The plot and commercial divisions that exist for the transition to TV did draw you out of the action somewhat, but the big concern I had with this latest installment of Futurama was the slow pace of the comedy.

The old shows still survive due to the fast pacing of jokes - they are unrelenting, several popping up every minute. But Beast With A Billion Backs relies too much on what the plot is rather than how the plot is told.

There are constant lulls in the show where there are no comedic bits, but sci-fi plot devices to further the story. While this would be acceptable in another movie, for Futurama you expect fast-paced humor with a sci-fi twist. Many times in the movie humor took a back seat to explanation and events.

Of course, there was enough hilarious jokes to maintain this prolonged episode, but it goes to show that with more time to fill, writers will do things to fill that time, and in Futurama’s case that’s not a good thing. Had this been three individual episodes that didn’t need to pretend itself a DVD movie, the end product would have been much better.

However, fans won’t be disappointed with the inclusion of various characters and easter eggs, well-known and obscure, from the Futurama mythos. There is a lot you will miss if you haven’t seen the show.

That being said, I do look forward to later 2008’s release of Bender’s Game, a spoof of the fantasy genre.

Matt Knicl: My name is Matt Knicl. I'm a U of I alumn and one of those unemployed English majors Garrison Keillor likes to make fun of. I've been reading comics since high school and one day I would like to write them. My goal is to expose readers to what is out there in the world of comics and using my English powers, show what is worth reading or not. I can be reached at buzz.comics@gmail.com.