With fuel prices skyrocketing, the Planet Express crew sets off on a dangerous mission: to infiltrate the world's only dark-matter mine, source of all spaceship fuel. But deep beneath the surface lies a far stranger place... a medieval land of dragons and sorcery and intoxicated knights who look suspiciously like Bender. So park your hover-car and saddle up your unicorn for Futurama's grandest adventure yet: BENDER'S GAME!
At once a merciless skewering of all things fanboy and an extremely satisfying addition to the Futurama franchise, Bender's Game is among the best of the animated series' feature length adventures. The game in question is Dungeons and Dragons, and Bender wants in--only robots aren't programmed with the necessary imagination. Naturally, Bender's plans to develop one go completely awry and land him in an android asylum. The role-playing plotline later re-emerges--in typically convoluted Futurama fashion--via a subplot involving Professor Farnsworth's conversion of dark matter into spaceship fuel, which created a key to a very D&D-influenced universe where our hapless heroes eventually find themselves. The alternate world storyline allows for much lampooning of fantasy tropes, with Lord of the Rings receiving the lion's share of the tweaks. Seeing as how the writers have already devoted much of the movie's running time to parodying Star Wars and Star Trek (and their Lego offshoots), one might think that Bender's Game might suffer from pop-culture overload, but surprisingly, it all feels fresh and frequently funny, and the writers are wise to ground the story in their eccentric characters rather than pinballing them through an endless string of gags. The result is probably the strongest of the direct-to-DVD Futurama releases to date, and one that newcomers to the show's cracked universe can appreciate as much as longtime fans.As with previous Futurama DVD releases, the extras come fast and furious on Bender's Game: commentary by members of the cast and production team (including Matt Groening) is both informative and funny, while interviews with the writers and producers discuss, among other topics, the influence of Dungeons and Dragons on the series and the 3D models used in the feature. Aspiring animators might appreciate "How To Draw Futurama in 83 Easy Steps and the storyboard animatic for the first part of the story, while the "Genetics Lab" feature allows for some amusing Dr. Moreau-style cross-breeding of the characters. Recording session bloopers and a deleted scene offer their own laughs, but the most enjoyable extra must be the preview for the next Futurama feature, Into the Wild Green Yonder, which suggests a shocking development for one of the show's regulars. -- Paul Gaita
Beyond Futurama: Bender's Game
The Simpsons
Family Guy
King of the Hill
Stills from Futurama: Bender's Game (Click for larger image)
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Episodes, not movies!!!:
With the exception of the first movie Bender's Big Score, the Futurama movie formula has shown (sadly) that it just doesn't work. Both Bender's Game and the even worse Beast with a Billion Backs feel like exercises in padding out an episode to make it reach that magic 90 minute running time. When do we get to the plot??!! - I kept asking myself as I watched these last two installments, as pointless diversion built upon pointless diversion. The simple and sad fact is that these movies feel like a Futurama... more info
Not the best of the three, but a must have:
I am a huge Futurama fan so this was a must have. I only watched this one once so far and it wasn't my favorite of the three. There was no hint at a possible end to Fry's love for Leela. The whole plot was very far fetched. There were some good parts and it made funny references to another hit movie, but I would say that this is by far not the funniest of three movies. I also didn't notice many scientific or mathmatical references for us nerds.
Not what I was hoping for:
I've been a Futurama fan since Day 1, and I eagerly anticipate the release of any new material. This one, though, doesn't live up to the franchise. The plot is disjointed and makes no sense. There's a noble tradition of that in Futurama, though, so that's not really a strong criticism of the movie. The real problem is that it's just not funny. It's not even particularly interesting. If you condensed the best parts of this movie into a single 22 minute episode, it would still be one of the worst Futurama... more info
Stink-O-Rama:
This is a poor excuse for a Futurama movie, it does not do justice to the series and is just poor writing. Its a huge waste of time. If you recieve this as a gift because you have all the others, or you are obsessive about collecting all the stuff FOX puts out (even with lame packaging that scratches the disc) then buy it. Its a non sensical hodge podge of ideas that dont make much sense.
