SCI FI PI

Released Aug 6
Starring Dan Castellenata, Stephen Hawking, David Cross, Brittany Murphy, Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche
Directed by Peter Avanzino





If you love your schlocky 50's Sci Fi, you'll love this new Futurama feature. It also helps if you're a Futurama fan!

Whilst Bender's Big Score was more about edifying fans than electrifying the world as the return of Futurama to our small screens, The Beast With a Billion Backs, the second in the four feature Futurama DVD adventure is a more of a well rounded exploration of the joy of Science Fiction with a whopping great big tale that's sure to be more of a crowd pleaser this time.





The action kicks off not long after the last film - with Bender leaving a rip in space time due to his over use of time travel (always the way - see Bender's Big Score for details). Fry, for some reason, has managed to snare a girlfriend. However, it soons becomes obvious that their's is a love that was not meant to be. Disconsolate, Fry hops on board Zapp Brannigan's mission to destroy the ever-widening anomaly that is now threatening the Earth.

Fry breaks on through to the other side and discovers a gigantic one-eyed multi-tentacled creature named Yivo (voiced by Arrested Development's David Cross) and discovers that having a tentacle through the back of the head produces the same sensation as love. He returns to our universe, tentacles in tow, and becomes the pope of a new religion, which involves the inserting of tentacles (don't they all?).

The robots though, as mechanical, non-biological entities, cannot visit the other universe, nor can they join in the tentacle action. Bender, once again, is in the thick of things as trouble brews.





Especially now that everyone in our universe has a tentacle in the back of the head.

Yivo takes our universe on a first date - and it doesn't go well. The universe as we know it is set for a showdown!

As far as slightly bizarre concepts for a movie, this is pretty good stuff. It's not, of course, that original, and that's the point - there's a great deal of schlocky storylines woven all through this particular feature, with even more film and pop culture references. It's more about nostalgia and, in a sense, is 'comfort food' Sci Fi, rather then 'oh my, they didn't just do that!'. That said, there are a few moments that toy with 'the line' that will provoke the occasional hiccup of glee, especially for those who think that religion is poppycock. You do have to have soft spot for any entertainment that includes the Robot Devil.





As a romp, the Beast provides enough action, enough scope and enough laughs to work, especially for the forgiving Futurama fan eager for more of the Futuramaness they cannot go without. There are some big big (well, universe-wide even) moments here, and some truly fun throwbacks. That said, the belly laughs aren't quite there, but it is a step up from the previous one, and one can only see the next couple continuing the upward trend.

Fingers crossed.

DVD EXTRAS:

Commentary By Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, Billy West, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Michael Rowe, Claudia Katz, Peter Avanzino and Lee Supercinski
Futurama The Lost Adventure – A Long-Lost, Full-Length Adventure Produced for the Futurama Video Game
Audio Commentary By Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, Billy West, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Michael Rowe, J. Stewart Burns and Lee Supercinski
Meet Yivo! Featurette with David Cross
A Brief History Of Deathball Featurette
Blooperama: The Futurama Cast At “Work”
3D Models With Animator Discussion
Storyboard Animatic: The Beast With A Billion Backs, Part One
Deleted Scenes/Storyboard
Original Opening
Fry and Colleen Meeting
St. Asimov Parade
Zapp and Scientists
Amy, Fry and Leela
Scruffy, the Janitor
Futurama: Bender’s Game – A Sneak Peek at the Next Futurama film.