Saturday, June 21, 2008
Mini-DVD Review: Futurama - Beast With a Billon Backs (June 24)
Futurama - Beast With a Billion Backs (20th Century Fox, $29.98) is the second installment in Fox's series of movies based upon the Sunday night animated sitcom from the past. The feature film picks up where the previous feature, Bender's Big Score, leaves off, when they try to find a way to keep peace and joy in the galaxy. But all doesn't go so well when a beast... a beast with a billion backs... takes over the society and makes Fry the Pope! How will they get out of this mess? Or will we have to wait until one of the next two installments to find out?
The movie looks and sounds great on DVD, with Dolby Digital Surround Sound audio. Of course, you can't compare this to how it looks on TV, as this has yet to be shown on TV, but to put it simply, it looks great.
Of course, the DVD also contains a plethora of special features, which honestly are much better than the movie itself. For starters, there is a commentary track that includes commentary from all of the important people involved with the movie. The "Futurama: The Lost Adventure" featurette is actually a lost full-length episode of the original series—kind of. This was produced for a Futurama video game that never quite made it, but now we get that "episode" on this DVD... with commentary, of course! "Meet Yiyo!" gives you a look at Yiyo, the title character of the movie. "Blooperama: The Futurama Cast at Work" lets you get a behind the scenes look at the screw ups made along the way in the production of this movie. And of course, there are animatics and deleted scenes--what would a Fox animated series be without those on DVD? Finally, there is a short preview of the next movie in the Futurama movie series, Bender's Game.
Any true fan of Futurama is going to want to see this simply because it is another chapter in a series that they are a fan of, but even these true fans should prepare themselves to be disappointed. It seems that the idea of the series has changed quite a bit with these movies, and it has become less of a good animated sitcom and has gotten more into the realm of science fiction, which would be fine except it is still being written by comedy writers. I can't really think of any time where my real disappointment with a DVD has been about the content of what is on it as opposed to a bad DVD compilation. The compilation in this case is excellent, and fans will certainly appreciate that, and it is worth watching the movie anyway if you are a fan.
-- Reviewed by skees53
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Sitcoms Airing Tonight
Saturday, December 2
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Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of November 27)
Friday, December 1
- Henry Winkler (Barry/Arrested Development/Out of Practice/Monty/Happy Days) - Watch Henry on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Brie Larson (United States of Tara/Raising Dad) - Brie is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Eric Idle (Suddenly Susan/Nearly Departed) - Eric appears on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Maria Bamford (Lady Dynamite/Benched) - Maria is a guest on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Ms. Pat (The Ms. Pat Show) - Ms. Pat appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Angela Means (Cousin Skeeter) - Angela is a guest on repeats of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen on CBS between 12:37-1:37am.
- Kelsey Grammer (Frasier/Partners/Hank/Back to You/Cheers) - NBC's Today catches up with Kelsey in the 9am hour.
- Brandy Norwood (Zoe Ever After/The Game/Moesha/Thea) - Brandy chats and performs on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
- Patrick Stewart (Blunt Talk) - Patrick sits down with to chat about his book Making It So on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your listings.
- Marcus Scribner (grown-ish/black-ish) - Marcus tells Sherri about his coming-of-age film, How I Learned to Fly, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
- Chris Redd (Bust Down/Kenan/Disjointed) - Chris discusses his upcoming film Candy Cane Lane on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
- Tiffani Thiessen (Saved by the Bell/Alexa & Katie/Good Morning, Miami/Saved by the Bell: The College Years) - Tiffani discusses her latest cookbook, Here We Go Again: Recipes and Inspiration to Level Up Your Leftovers, and cooks on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
New on DVD/Blu-ray (September-December)
09/05 - Young Sheldon - The Complete Sixth Season
09/12 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Second Season
09/12 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-6 (Blu-ray) (DVD)
09/26 - Family Matters - The Complete Series
09/26 - Step by Step - The Complete Series
10/10 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Complete Season Thirteen / The Complete Season Fourteen
10/17 - ALF - The Complete Series (Deluxe Edition) (Shout! Factory Special Offers)
10/17 - Night Court (2023) - The Complete First Season
11/07 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Sixth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/14 - Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/05 - Father Knows Best - The Complete Series
12/05 - The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/12 - The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Complete Series
12/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
12/12 - That Girl - The Complete Series
12/19 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series
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