Standing as the longest season of Futurama so far, with a whale sized serving of twenty six episodes it's rather difficult to review the entire of the sixth season without missing out some elements, however I'm going to do my best by looking at the high points and low points of the season.

I have to be honest, around the first two episodes of the show I was left thinking 'Maybe they shouldn't have brought the show back...'  The first episode, Rebirth is a middling affair with little good to recall about it, it's not terrible - but the jokes are pretty flat and there's a little too much time spent on pointless exposition.  This is Futurama, we don't need exposition or explanation, we need jokes and episodes that make us cry without warning.

The second episode, In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela is in my mind one of the worst episodes I've seen - it could have been a middle of the road episode with some good jokes, but the throwaway gag at the end of the episode - having Leela engage in sex with Zap - was the writing equivalent of taking a dump on the viewers, in their open mouths, while telling them to enjoy it.  Now I will skip That's Lobstertainment nine times out of ten, but I'm never watching In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela again, it has nothing worth going through that.  Proposition Infinity is a similar piece of fecal matter, this time breaking Amy and Kiff up for the purpose of the story, before 'returning everything back to normal' in that old sitcom cliched manner that I thought comedy writing was starting to grow out of.

There are other terrible episodes in this season, The Futurama Holiday Special is boring and fails completely to live up to the 'Tales of Interest' heights that occurred in seasons two and three; Attack of the Killer App seems like little more than a pointless shot at Apple and Consumerism and Yo Leela Leela turns from a fun episode into a preachy rant at reality shows and the quality of television writing in general - don't get me wrong, I'm not for reality shows as a whole, however Yo Leela Leela really doesn't have anything new to contribute to the discussion.

That's the awful taste of Futurama poop in your mouth there, and this is one of the problems with the season, there's a lot of episodes that are just not, not good enough - it didn't need to be twenty six episodes, twenty would have resulted in a superb season, but there are six turds floating around in the soup and that's a problem.

Fortunately there are also some real gems in the sixth season, Lethal Inspection is one of those beautiful tearjerker episodes that can hit you out of nowhere; Law and Oracle and Benderama are also personal favourites.  In fact most of the episodes that are Bender-centric tend to be a cut above the rest.

There is also one episode that stands up above the rest, stands head and shoulders above all else and ranks as possibly one of the best episodes of Futurama all time, if not the best.  I refer to, of course, 'The Late Philip J. Fry' the episode is exactly what makes Futurama great; it's funny, thought provoking, true to character and plays beautifully with mainstay science fiction concepts - in this case time travel and the big bang.  It's such a great episode that I can't help wish they'd used it to close out the season.  Overclockwise and Reincarnation are OK, the first one being a nice end to the 'cannon' storyline and the second being... well... just Futurama filler. But The Late Philip J. Fry should have been the last episode in the season, it's just that... right.  It's what Futurama always should be.

On the whole the sixth season of Futurama is great, the show is still among the best shows still airing at the moment, something we need in an increasingly stale world of television (is it a coincidence that the number of good shows going down coincides with a reduction in the number of female television writers?)  However the season has rough patches and really could have done with some objective quality control.

It does leave me hopeful for the seventh season, I expect some great episodes.  But I also have my sewer diving suit at the ready, because I'm expecting a few stinkers.
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Recently I had a chance to check out the The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (Here by shortened to Avengers:EMH) mini-series, a 20 part series that provides the back stories for each member of the line up and the creation of the super team. The Avengers is a pretty well established team, existing as the analog for DC's Justice League (and vise-versa). As the animated series Justice League and it's continuation into Justice League:Unlimited are two of my favourite cartoons (especially the latter Unlimited series) I thought I owed it to myself to try out the mini-series so I could decide if I wanted to plunge into the complete show when it starts airing.

The Avengers is (as I'm sure most people will know) the big boy league for Marvel, containing all of the greatest heroes from the Marvel universe of comics. Avengers:EHM is set up with the classic line-up for the team - containing Thor, The Hulk, Iron-Man, Wasp, Ant-man/Giant-man, Hawkeye, Black Panther and Captain America. The mini-series provides an episode for each of these, but The Hulk shares his with Hawkeye and Ant-man shares his with Wasp and Black Panther.

The Avengers are formed when a series of simultaneous prison breaks occur in the four S.H.I.E.L.D. prisons for super heroes, this frees a whole host of top level villains (and other minor ones), including one particularly dangerous master of gravity named Graviton. SHIELD themselves play a major part in the series, especially Nick Fury, often interacting in antagonistic ways with the various members of The Avengers.

At this point comparisons to the Justice League cartoon are inevitable, the two shows share a very similar art style and they're both about the same core concept, albeit with different brands. The art style in particular is a surprise, it is animated by Marvel Animation, but at times it's almost indistinguishable from Justice League. This is actually a bonus; because Justice League's art style, while exceptionally stylised, is without a doubt fantastic. So Avengers:EMH is an exciting and beautiful show to watch, I don't completely appreciate Wasp's look, there's a little bit too much of the Wapanese anime style creeping in where she is concerned but look of The Hulk, Thor and Captain America more than make up for any shortcomings elsewhere.

One of the areas I felt that Justice League came up short in the first two seasons, was the way that the show felt like it took place in isolation from the rest of the DC mythos. Many different villains made an appearance but on the whole the show felt like it was about the Justice League and almost every other superhero in the DC universe just didn't exist. This was addressed with Justice League:Unlimited and the added weight of all those extra heroes helped make the show feel more weighty and interesting. Characters like Green Arrow, Booster Gold, The Question and Doctor Fate were superb additions to the rotating roster and in many cases more interesting than some members of the original line up (although Hawkgirl was made far less one dimensional once JL:U started, which helped).

Avengers:EMH takes on the the entire weight of the Marvel universe from the very start, and it achieves it in quite a subtle fashion. Much exposition and explanation of who the various heroes/villains are is passed over, if you happen to recognise people like Constrictor, Blizzard and Wonder-man then fantastic, but if you don't it's not spelt out who they are. This even applies to more prominent characters from the Marvel universe; Wolverine makes an appearance that's wonderfully understated and references to characters like The Punisher are genuine Easter Egg 'blink-and-you'll-miss-them' affairs. It's this acknowledgement that there is a larger world beyond just the immediate characters and their own stories that helps cement the realism.

Avengers:EMH has also decided to make an exceptionally bold move by introducing multiple, long-term and over arcing villain plots; HYDRA, The Masters of Evil, Loki and Kang are all present and each one seems to have a long game scheme in mind. I for one always applaud serialisation of TV shows, I think the mix of stand-alone episodes and long term stories is a great compromise for viewers. I prefer shows that tell long, involved stories that draw you in and hold you (like that perennial classic The Wire), but I do appreciate that shows need to be 'dippable' in order to catch and hold the attention of the attention span deprived channel swapper that has become an ever increasing issue. Standalone episodes, which can be picked up and then discarded, combined with multiple episode (or even season) arcs is a good compromise and one that might perk up the interest of the casual viewer enough to get them to want to watch the next episode.

Ultimately Avengers:EMH is a children's show, it's aimed at kids and comic book fans (big kids!) primarily, but for someone like myself, who has a moderate to passing interest in superheroes there's plenty of good characterisation, fun moments and solid dialog to keep you interested. The action in the show in particular is building shattering in it's scale, the fights really do feel quite epic (even if a little ridiculous at times) and this makes every action moment great fun to watch. When Graviton makes the erroneous error of claiming to be 'The strongest one there is', even a layman like myself can't help but perk up and think 'You've made a mistake now sir!'

As a consequence the mini-series was a complete success for myself, it's drummed up enough interest that I want to watch the upcoming episodes and see where this show goes, because if it carries on as it's started then it'll become one of my favourite cartoons alongside other greats like Justice League, Frisky Dingo, TMNT 2K3 and Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law.

A promising start for the Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
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I recently watched and wrote about the first season of Frisky Dingo, a mad cap jaunt through the world of a supervillain named Killface and his newly acquired nemesis Awesome X (aka Xander Crews). Frisky Dingo is one of those shows you just have to watch to properly understand the brilliance of the show; it's energetic, funny, clever and frat house stupid all at the same time.

The second (and final) season picks up a short time after the cliffhanger ending of the first season, in an act of teenage rebellion Simon activated the Annihilatrix despite his father's plea not to do so. (un)Surprisingly the world was not plunged into the Sun, instead it was moved a short distance further away from the Sun, thus providing a solution to global warming.

Killface decides to take advantage of this gain in public opinion by running for President, something that the now destitute Xander Crews finds out about and decides to foil - if only he had the resources that is. Ka-Kow!

Much like the original season, Frisky Dingo 2.0 continues to develop and evolve both it's storyline and its characters, often in unexpected directions. This is, of course, a fresh and welcome change when compared to the format of many other cartoons (and indeed sitcoms), normally every story is, as you well know, self contained in a single episode. Frisky Dingo flaunts this by having each episode be a part of what came before, the ongoing storyline has some benefits and some disadvantages. It does manage to provide a narrative that you become invested in, it also gives you a wild ride that twists off to utterly unexpected places - it's only when you stop and take stock do you think "how on Earth did the story get to this point?" But, it also means that the show is almost completely inaccessable to anyone who hasn't watched it from the beginning. Events occurr on screen that make no sense when taken out of the context of the entire show and I believe that's at least one thing which contributed to the show's cancellation (and might also explain why it's spiritual successor 'Archer' has self contained episodes).

The first season of Frisky Dingo was a parody of current events, pop culture and the super hero genre. The second season retains this, but evolves it further by providing a strong parody of the US political structure. Killface, a viciously sociopathic individual 'cured' global warming - so he becomes the Democratic candidate; Crews on the other hand is a rich, decadent individual who lives almost completely alienated from normal society due to his bizzare isolation due to wealth - so naturally he's the Republican candidate. The pair are both moronic, have terrible habits and have no idea how to act like decent human beings (or even be one in Killface's instance).

Still, they push on - Killface supported by running mate (and rapper) Taqu'il, campaign manager Valerie and global warming poster child, the awesome penguine Baby Lamont. Xander supported by his wealth and Stan - his attempts to recruit a running mate prove a little... difficult to achieve.

Frisky Dingo was (and is) a shining example of how surreal and yet fantastic comedy can be. The ten minute episode structure the show follows really helps - much like it does in Harvey Birdman - there's no padding out of scenes, it's just plot, set up, gag, resolution - onto the next scene! This makes the show feel a lot longer than it is and absolutely packed to the (crab) gills with just about everything you could want from a comedy show with a sick sense of humour.

All that said, if still you're unsure about trying the show, perhaps this collection of clips from the show will help.

Second thought, that'll probably confuse you further, so let me try this angle instead.

Buy Frisky Dingo, it's the true American way. BOOSH!
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So Futurama has managed to pull a 'Family Guy' completely now, it's brought itself back from extinction and onto our screens through the four made for TV DVD movies and is now airing it's sixth season. The movies - Bender's Big Score, The Beast With a Billion Backs, Bender's Game and Into the Wide Green Yonder were a mixed bag overall. Alternatively great and then quite awful with no real consistency. Watching the DVDs with commentary revealed that the cast and writers were quite unaware of the weaker parts of their baby - they found great entertainment and pride in even the most juvenile and unoriginal of their jokes.

On a few rewatches my opinions of the four movies have changed a little - My estimation of 'Bender's Big Score' has gone up further, it's certainly the best of the quadrology; but 'Into the Wide Green Yonder' has plummeted in it's stock and I now only marginally prefer it over 'The Beast with a Billion Backs' - Bender's Game sort of hovers around the middle, some parts of it are brilliant, but others sort of fall flat.

Anyway, what I have been hoping is that the four movies which consist of the fifth "season" of Futurama were not the symptoms of diminishing returns for the series (something that Family Guy has begun to suffer from and that The Simpsons has been accelerating off towards the event horizon of since season ten). But in truth it's only through the watching of the now airing sixth season that we can get an idea if the quality of the original series (especially in the last two seasons) has been maintained.

Well, I'm going to quickly run through the first seven episodes with a short review on each:

Rebirth:
A moderately touching story that alternates between being good and being pretty lame. It was a rather lacklustre start to the new series, still when it was good it was rather good indeed and the twists in the plot were fun.

In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela:
Out and out the worst, yes that's right - worst, episode of Futurama of all time. There was a great premesis here to be played with but instead what we got was a torid venting of sewage that seemed to dump all over both the show and the viewers. I don't think I'll ever watch this episode again - it's even worse than That's Lobstertainment.

Attack of the Killer App:
The first of the great episodes in the season. Attack manages to lampoon current culture trends and as such feels both fresh and funny. The release of the iPad in particular (and the still continuing froth about the iPhone) really gave this episode some teeth. The race between Bender and Fry for followers and the uploading of the embarrasing video of Leela all came together to create something that just worked perfectly.

Proposition Infinity:
While not as bad as In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela, Proposition Infinity dumps all over one of the better established relationships in the show - Amy and Kiff for very little pay off. In fact you get so little pay off that at the end of the episode 'everything returns back to normal'. I've always appreciated that Futurama is one of the few mainstream cartoon sitcom shows that seems to have a progressive plot that builds on previous events. This was a huge step in the wrong direction.

The Duh-Vinci Code:
While the episode was a little late in taking full advantage of the buzz around Dan Brown's book (this wasn't the first time this happened with Futurama, see the Titanic episode), The Duh-Vinci Code was the first genuinely good episode of the season. It was fast paced, fun and filled with a balance of good gags and thoughtful moments - classic Futurama.

Lethal Inspection:
Yes, the ending to the episode was predicatble, but that did not reduce its impact. Lethal Inspection builds on the improvement in writing that The Duh-Vinci Code offered and gives us the first really emotional episode since Bender's Big Game.

The Late Philip J. Fry:
Fry and Leela's relationship has been exceptionally hard to follow in this season, and at this point I'm still hesitant to say that it's settled down into a pattern that can be followed. But The Late Philip J. Fry did feel like an episode that addresses this and moves the pair forward - I don't mind the ultimate destination for the pair, but I don't want to see more of the exceptional nonsense In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela voided at us.

Overall thoughts:
The sixth season has had a few rough episodes and weak moments, but there has been marked signs that the show is returning to its original stride. While I really, really cannot stand In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela in the least bit and will not be watching that particular turd ever again, the rest of the season so far has enough parts to make it an enjoyable proposition. It's just not quite back to the status of "all-time classic" yet.
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Historically I've always had something of a soft spot for the more off-beat adult/late-teens targeted cartoon comedy shows that Adult Swim have put out. The Venture Brothers, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, but I have been known to enjoy some of the others from time to time. Frisky Dingo has now joined the ranks of these shows after an impulse purchase from myself - the main driving force behind that decision was the name Adam Reed, creator of the rather great cartoon spy spoof show Archer.

Frisky Dingo is a show about an ultra-violent, sociopathic super villain named Killface and his soon to be arch-nemesis Awesome X - billionaire Xander Crews who has just defeated the last known super villain and needs to settle down and run the family business. Killface is a pretty unpredictable individual, and thanks to his incredible strength and psychopathic tendencies (along with his gun) he's a delight to watch on screen. You can't be quite sure how he's going to handle any given sitution. Xander Crews on the other hand is far more predictable, he wants to carry on being a super hero along with his fighting team 'The Xtacles'.

Each episode is little more than ten minutes long and it's filled with frantic action and witty one liners, much like Archer and Harvey Birdman the short length of the episodes is both a boon and at times a hinderance. The short length means that there is no filler moments, everything is set up, bang, pay-off and that makes for a fast watching experience; but also this means that there is little room for depth in the storyline. So don't expect it all to make completely logical sense, just sit back and enjoy the outrageous situations as the plot hurtles from doomsday devices to corporate life, then to home life as a super villain and eventually to killer bunny fights (which are even more awesome than they sound - serious).

Animation wise the show is adequete, but a little crude in places. It certainly holds to the stereotyped idea that Adult Swim shows are not well animated, but it's far from awful to watch. In fact the artistic style is great in it's simplistic direction, it's just the actual movement that's a little awkward at times. It's certainly not a deal breaker, but you shouldn't expect something to the standard of The Lion King (insert a more recent cartoon movie spectacle there if you prefer, I can't think of one).

Be warned though, the show certainly goes to some very dark places with its humor and as such it's really not suitable viewing for the younger audience - but for those people who are old enough and have an appreciation for cartoon violence, low brow humour and very fast paced plotting. Frisky Dingo is something worth checking out, and thanks to it's short run time it it's very easy to digest. As such I, for one, will be picking up the second season as soon as it's released later this month.


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[Before we start I believe that all props and credit should land squarely in the lap of Mr Rob Buckley for introducing me to this particular show as it's one I would never have discovered myself.]

You a fan of the spy genre? Enjoy your James Bond served with a twist rather than a shake? Maybe you love shows like Sea Lab, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law or The Venture Brothers. Or you adored the tongue in cheek style of the "No One Lives Forever" series of games.

Well if you're one of those, or someone who enjoys quality adult orientated (NO! Not that kind of adult) cartoons then you'd be doing yourself as serious favour and get over to FX then give "Archer" a serious going over.

Archer is a semi-realistic art style cartoon about a secret agent codenamed "The Dutchess" but known to everyone in the organisation by his real name - Sterling Archer. Archer (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin ) is a colossal jerk of such a spectacular magnitude that it's hard not to love his attitude. He comes across as a mix between Gary Cole's Harvey Birdman and Stephen Colbert's Phill Ken Seben (Both from the afformentioned Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law), saddled with a massive ego that is only dwarfed by the insecurities inflicted on him by his boss slash mother Malory (Jessica Walter).

Archer's co-workers include not just fellow spy (and ex lover) Lana Kane (Aisha Tyler) but also ISIS's accountant Cyril (Chris Parnell) who is now dating Lana thanks in part to his *ahem* special qualification and Malory's secetary Carol Cheryl Cristal Carol (Judy Greer) a young woman who is equal parts desperate and disturbed plus others, including Archer's butler Woodhouse (George Coe) - who I suspect is named in tribute to the author of the Jeeves and Wooster books, one P.G. Wodehouse.

Archer is a spy comedy which plays heavily on not only the absurdities of the spy genre but also the fun of an office environment for such a high action field. A lot of ISIS staff (described adeptly as drones at one point) are involved in the mundane aspects of spying, the paperwork and so forth. And this is a source of at least some of the humor alongside Archer's own absurdities.

It's almost redundant to say that the voice acting is phenomenal in this show, Judy and Jessica are both alumni from Arrested Development and if anything they're funnier here as they've had more time and practice. Though it is fair to say that the characters they are voicing here do have some traits in common with Lucille Bluth and Kitty Sanchez that is not a slight at their talent or hilarity. Chris Parnell himself is also no stranger to sitcoms, you might know him best as Doctor Leo Spaceman (that's pronounced Spa-Che-Man) from 30 Rock and Jon Benjamin has honed his craft with numerous voice overs before now.

Needless to say "Archer" is a phantasmal show and one which will probably burn brightly before departing from our screens with just a few episodes, but you really, really should check it out if you're the least bit interested because it is quite figuratively side-splitting in every aspect and totally gorgeous to watch to boot.

Still not enough to wet your appetite? See what Rob thought about the show.

Archer's website is located here.

(If you enjoy The Venture Bros, Chuck, Burn Notice, Arrested Development or Harvey Birdman you may enjoy this.)
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Well we're at the key point in my personal quest to decide if the old adage "The first three seasons of Family Guy were the best" is true or not (well as true as a personal and highly subjective opinion can be), with the fourth season. I've looked at seasons one, two and three previously, so I now have a point of reference to compare with. Of course I'm judging via the UK "Fourth Season" boxed set, which does not contain the originally broadcast fourth season for some reason. I suspect it's because the people who make the Region 2 Boxed sets felt they needed to milk a few more precious euros out of those people living on the right hand side of the Atlantic Ocean.

The fourth season of Family Guy exploded back onto our screens (after the shows second cancellation) in the year 2005, returning on a tide of exceptional DVD sales like a fat man in a clam. Now the truth is at this point that people were so excited that the show had returned from the grave that there was a lot riding on this season. Die hard fans would love it regardless (die hard fans will eat freeze dried dog doo if it's branded by their favourite show), but the more casual audience would have to be recaptured and sucked back in.

The honest truth is the show succeeded at this, but only just in my case. The thirteen episodes which make up the [UK] fourth season are a mixed bag, while the comedy is as raw and witty as it's always been, the stories told vary from one episode to the next. Episodes like North by North Quahog, The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire, Petarded, Breaking Out is Hard to Do and Peter's Got Woods are excellent. But the others remain a somewhat mixed bag, at times fantastic but at times quite weak.

No episode exemplifies this more than The Perfect Castaway, which opens with an incredible series of jokes and cutaway sketches before dipping off into lame and recycled (Peter eating Joe's legs - which is a tired variant on a dull joke) humour and even going back to a tired old Family Guy trope (Brian's "thing" for Lois, which is the second most boring joke in the show after the continued mistreatment of Meg).

Now this might sound like I don't like the fourth season, and if I'm honest I don't feel it compares well to the second or third season, but it does hold up when placed alongside the first season. And that's not a bad place to be, because in essence this was a relaunch of the show and when judged to that standard it's a solid season.

More importantly, in Blind Ambition Ernie the Giant Chicken returns - he's my favourite running gag and I appreciate the rare appearances he puts in. It could have been so easy to over use him, but instead he just appears occasionally. A light touch, combined with the unexpected suddenness of his appearance keeps the gag fresh and exciting.

There is no doubt at all that the shows animation is of a far superior quality when compared to the previous seasons, it's smoother - slicker and the 3D CGI sections are close to seamless in appearance. The hints of brilliance suggested back in the third season episode 'Emission Impossible' come to fruition in this season. Some of the sections in episodes are an absolute joy to watch. Now the 3D sections don't quite compare to the staggering Futurama ones, but they do blend in very well without jarring, which is a big thumbs up point.

Ultimately the fourth season of Family Guy is a solid affair, many of the cut away jokes are superb - "dueling farts", "the fire truck nature documentary" and the entire season opening gag of "we'll be back on only if these shows are cancelled" are amongst some of the best ones the show has ever used. And the episode 'Peter's Got Woods' is nothing short of fantastic. But this season doesn't rank amongst the finest Family Guy moments, it's just a solid one.

Extras:
Commentaries on selected episodes
"World Domination: The Family Guy Phenomenon" Featurette
Deleted Scene Animatics
"Score!" - Music of Family Guy Featurertte
Multi-Angle Table Reads
Storyboard/Animatic Comparisons

Details:
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Languages: English
Rating: 15
Region: 2
Run time: 270 mins
Subtitles: English HOH
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As third (and final) of the 'precancellation seasons' this review closes out the initial run for Family Guy and provides the most important piece for my simple question. "Are the first three seasons of Family Guy really the best, or is it a case of 'rose-tinted specatcles?" There is one pretty important fact for myself, when I think back I'll often mention the third season as being my favourite, but that doesn't mean collectively the original three seasons are better than the later ones. That's only something which time, and lots and lots of words, will tell.

The third season is the longest of the three initial ones, spanning for twenty one episodes. It opens with a great two parter (The Thin White Line & Brian Does Hollywood) which includes one of my favourite gags - the wonderfully over the top "Previously on Family Guy" which trots out a huge selection of hollywood action cliches, none of which happened in the previous episode. Of the other episodes it's One If by Clam, Two If by Sea, Mr. Saturday Knight, the frankly brilliant Emission Impossible, Road to Europe and my all time favourite episode To Love and Die in Dixie which the greats I enjoy. But Family Guy Viewer Mail #1 is also an episode of exceptional note - following The Simpsons ( and Futurama's (Tales of Interest) three short story format it gives us 'what if' type three stories, two of which (No Bones About it and Supergriffins) are frankly amazing - but I don't care for the third story (Li'l Griffins) at all, I suspect because I've never seen Little Rascals.

Other notable moments in this season include the death of Mr Weed, shaking up the show slightly because it resulted in Peter seeking new employment for several episodes, the first appearance of Bertram (voiced by the ever wonderful and completely inconcievable Wallace Shawn) and Jasper; Brian's cousin. It's also the first season where the animation really steps up and becomes a specatcle worthy of admiration on it's own - Emmission Impossible in particular stands out here during the 'Fantastic Voyage' sections.

In all Season three is definitely the strongest of the first three seasons. Season one takes a while to warm up, only really finding it's voice by about halfway through the episode run. Season two on the other hand starts well, but is a little inconsistent in quality. Season three on the other hand has very few weak episodes and duff moments, cementing it's place as the best of the intial run with ease.

Extras:
None on my (now admittedly ancient) set, you might have some though.

Details:
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Language: English
Rating: 15
Region: 2
Run time: 452 mins
Soundtrack: 2.0 Surround
Subtitles: English HOH
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Today's (slightly delayed) post means we're over halfway in the 'Top Shows series, there's just British shows and documentaries left to write about. But today Rev/Views is going to focus on the animated spectrum of television - and without any further ado, here's the list.



I must confess I've only seen the first five seasons of King of the Hill and as such my preference for the show is based on only part of the run. I'd love to watch more of it as I find the style of the show relaxing and enjoyable. Hank Hill is a very honest and down to earth character who just comes across as a nice guy living an ordinary life.

One of the things I really appreciate about the show is the rather low key style and humour employed in it; many animated comedy shows fall towards the wacky and bizarre in order to progress the plot and provide the laughs. KotH doesn't rely on that as a staple and it makes for a refreshing change at times.



Everyone who's ever watched the television should have seen at least one episode of The Simpsons by now, it's a great animated show. But has lost it's lustre in recent years and should be put out to pasture.

The earlier seasons are still amazing, and I love the Treehouse of Horror episodes, but beyond that I don't really have too much more to say about The Simpsons as it's really something everyone is familiar with by now.



Just like The Simpsons, Family Guy is one of those shows most people will have been exposed to by now, of course it's a lot more controversial at times (at least it's more controversial because some people allow themselves to be outraged by it - something which just draws more attention to the show). It's something which varies a little in quality, at times it's just amazingly well done, clever and funny. At other times it can fall flat - in recent years it's been more of the latter.

But this said the recent DVD "movie" release Blue Harvest was one of the most well done pieces of television I'd seen in a long while. It was so much fun and clever

As such, when Family Guy is good it's very good. It's just when it's bad, it's horrid.



Based on the DC mega team, this now ended cartoon series runs for a total of five seasons, two under the first title and three as "Unlimited". The initial run follows Superman, The Flash, Batman, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, J'onn J'onzz and The Green Lantern who unite as the 'Justice League' in order to protect Earth from the myriad of super villains who seem to exist for the sole purpose of giving the heroes someone to fight against.

The second run, under the title Justice League Unlimited expands the universe considerably by introducing a huge selection of heroes who are brought on board to join the Justice League. The show becomes something more of an ensemble show then, with the core seven characters not taking part in every episode and the show often focusing on lesser known heroes - often resulting in fantastic stories and episodes.

The show is stylistic, exciting and everything a good superhero cartoon should be. It's strong plotting, ongoing story lines, clever writing and dark overtones make it something much, much more than just a kids cartoon with superheroes in it.

Side note: Mark Hamil's portrayal of the Joker is just fantastic, it was almost definitive until Heath Ledger came along and turned everything on it's head.



A pastiche on Johnny Quest/Adventure style cartoons, super spies and super heroes. Venture Bros is a semi-irregular cartoon which turns up every couple of years. It's about the titular Venture Brothers - Hank and Dean. Two lads who live a Johnny Quest like life with their scientific father Doctor Venture and his bodyguard/Swedish murder machine Brock Sampson.

Playing like an action/comedy/super science/spy/drama the show runs at an almost break neck speed each episode. The gags come thick and fast, almost as fast as Brock's punches are thrown at the various nameless henchmen who are unfortunate enough to be set against him. And the show is something which is highly enjoyable for anyone who can remember the old Johnny Quest cartoon or who enjoys super spies/heroes fighting against outlandish villains.




As a young child my favourite animated show was by and far Teenage Mutant "Hero" Turtles (in the UK Ninja was swapped out for Hero for some reason which has always escaped me) - a series which endeared itself to me and was a regular part of my television watching.

In the grip of nostalgia a couple of years back I decided to give the original shows some re watching, and the experience was most definitely NOT pleasant. Unlike revisiting other childhood favourites of mine - shows like Eerie Indiana, Round the Twist, ReBoot and Knightmare - watching the Turtles was an exercise in sheer agony. The show was dumb, weakly plotted, predictable and the performance for Shredder was just horrifying. He's portrayed as a whiny, whining gigantic baby who's petulantly stamping his feet every time he doesn't get his way. The turtles themselves were exceptionally weak to watch as well, in fact just about the only character I could tolerate was Kang.

So rather dejected I stopped watching the show and assumed it was time to consign another childhood memory to the bin. Then I discovered the 2003 remake of the show, and after reading a little about it I thought I'd give it a try. This remains one of the best decisions I've made in a long time, the show is just fantastic. It's clever, energetic and has great voice acting. But it's also relatively sophisticated for a children's show, providing ongoing story lines set over several episodes and even heading into some very dark places at times.

There are some relatively adult themes featured at times in the show, decapitations and dismemberment do happen (within reason) and one character spends his time gradually having bits cut away from him. It's also filled with exciting action, reoccurring previous characters and gives the awesome Casey Jones a major role in the show.

It's fast become a firm favourite of mine and while one of the later seasons was a little ropey the most recent one brought the show back to great form. Fun for the kids and the big kids as well.



I found this cartoon classic off the back of Space Ghost: Coast to Coast which I saw during my years in university. One of my friends was hugely into the show and I'd watch it occasionally when hanging out with him. One episode in particular stuck in my mind, it's an episode where Harvey Birdman hosts the show instead of Space Ghost.

Fast forward a few years and thanks to Comedy Central making The Colbert Report episodes available online to everyone regardless of their country (which they no longer do - jerks), and I'm watching Stephen Colbert. In particular his Tek Jansen series which features fantastic voice over work from him (and almost got onto this list, except it's not really a TV show). I have a little look around to see if he's done anything else (Venture Bros.) and I find Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law. A little reading around the show makes me interested in trying it out.

Which I'm glad I did, because the show is just fantastic. Each ten minute episode is so packed with action, gags and plotting that you can be forgiven for thinking it's a longer show than it is. The basic premise is simple, Harvey has retired from the superhero gig and now works as a defense lawyer for various classic cartoon characters (Yogi Bear, Fred Flintstone, Johnny Quest etc). The problem is, he's not a very good one.

It's something I can just stick on when I have a spare ten minutes and it's always great fun to watch and hilarious to boot.

Why You Should Watch... Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law




No secrets, no surprises here. I've touted about Futurama on many occasions before now, it's quite literally the show I've watched the most. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen each episode, and the total number of hours spent with it on (either being watched or as moving wallpaper) in the Rev/Views household must number into three digits at least.

I can't really explain why the show clicks so perfectly with me, as I admitted at the start of this week I'm not a science fiction fan as such (in truth I'd classify myself as a lover of stories if pushed), but Futurama remains one of my favourite shows and it's most solidly science fiction.

Maybe it's the jokes, or the characterisations, the voice acting or the stories. I don't know. Maybe it's the whole thing together, the combination of all these wonderful things the show gives the viewer result in something which is at times close to television perfection.

All I do know is I can't wait for the next season to start airing as I'm gagging for new Futurama episodes, I know my DVDs are getting a little worn out.
Direct Link

First season review.

In my continuing mission to decide if the first three seasons of Family Guy are better than the later ones we move onto the second season. The first season turned out to be pretty decent, but was a little lack lustre in the earlier episodes, only really taking off after the halfway mark.

The second season marks an expansion to the cast with the addition of Adam West as, well, Mayor Adam West and Mila Kunis taking over from the lovely Lacey Chabert as Meg. Both of these changes prove to be fantastic, especially Adam West - who gives a wonderful self-deprecating performance as a deranged and frankly idiotic version of himself. Also, as I mentioned previously the change from Lacey to Mila allowed the show to take a more aggressive direction with the character of Meg, Lacey made her very sympathetic. But while Mila is accomplished at playing an unpleasant and shrill individual with great comic effect, the second season doesn't really take advantage of this, Meg remains somewhat normal and is treated (mostly) like any other member of the family.

The running order for my DVD set is different to the one listed elsewhere; as such I'm never quite sure which episodes are from the first and second season, but the set I have here contains Da Boom, Brian in Love, I Am Peter, Here Me Roar, A Picture is worth A 1000 Bucks, Fifteen Minutes of Shame, Road to Rhode Island, Let's Go to the Hop, Dammit Janet!, There's Something About Paulie, He's too Sexy for his Fat, E. Peterbus Unum, The Story on Page One, Wasted Talent, Fore Father and When You Wish Upon A Weinstein.

Some of the best running gags make their first appearance in this season; Adam West being one of them, but the excellent series premiere Da Boom also introduces the Chicken Fights, overly extended and exciting action sequences which occur between Peter and Ernie, the giant chicken. It also contains a few of my favourite one off TV Show spoofs, especially 'Sherry and the Anus'. Unfortunately it also introduces the terrible running gag of 'overly long moments' which is most typified by Peter scraping his shin in Wasted Talent. I've never found a single of those moments funny, I find them highly irritating and boring instead. Waste of my precious seconds those scenes are.

The best episodes in this season are Da Boom - with it's superb plotting and hilarious Dallas reference at the end; Fifteen Minutes of Shame - which partially parodies reality TV shows and partially attacks shows who replace an actor but keep the same character (something with Family Guy is guilty of, making the joke a double whammy); the amazing Let's Go to the Hop - an episode with a great musical number and one of the best stories in the season; He's Too Sexy for his Fat and Wasted Talent - with the brilliant (if over used) parody of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. But on average the season is a lot tighter and better than the previous one, the pacing on the stories is stronger and the tempo of the show beats better. Likewise the voice acting has improved, and while the actors haven't found their exact groove yet they're getting there.

The second season shows a vast improvement over the previous one, which (as I've said before) is always desirable, a show should get better as time passes, not worse. You expect each season to show improvements otherwise there really wasn't much point to having a new season. This is the case here as the second season contains some of the best episodes in the show and a introduces a lot of the best running gags - alongside one really duff one (see above).

But it's the presence of Adam West who makes this such a great season to watch, he's dynamite!

Extras:
As before, there are none on my version, but I believe later editions have some.

Details:
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Rating: 15
Region: 2
Run time: 333 mins
Soundtrack: English 2.0 Surrounf
Subtitles: English HOH

*I wonder if I can manage to get to 101 DVD reviews before Rev/Views reaches the two year mark. Worth a try.
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Yes, that's right. This Wednesday we again dip back into the reaches of time for another DVD review, this time it's focused on the first season of Family Guy. I don't really need to go into describing the show in much detail here, Family Guy has had massive saturation across many countries with it's mix of crude, broad humour and offbeat non-sequitur style... um... humour. It features the Griffin Family, a 2.4 unit which (dys)functions it's way through life. It's been compared to The Simpsons and even South Park have parodied it in one show.

Peter, Lois, Chris, Stewie, Brian and the other one are pretty popular in the circles I move near, but the general consensus seems to be "The first three seasons are better than the later ones". Which made me curious enough to go back and see if this really is the case, in order to do so I have to start at the beginning - I've got to have something to compare against in order to decide if this is really the case or if it's rose tinted spectacle syndrome ("Things were better when I was a lad, we used to climb in a tin bath, sail down a river and kill rats with a stick.")

The first season features fourteen episodes; Death has a Shadow, I Never Met the Dead Man, Mind over Murder, Chitty Chitty Death Bang, A Hero Sits Next Door, The Son Also Draws, Brian: Portrait of a Dog, Peter Peter Caviar Eater, Running Mates, Holy Crap, If I'm Dyin' I'm Lyin', Love Thy Trophy, Death is a Bitch and The King is Dead.

On the whole they're actually a bit of a mixed bunch, The Son Also Draws is probably the first genuinely good episode in the mix; and of rest it's Peter Peter Caviar Eater, Holy Crap, Death is a Bitch and The King is Dead which are the good ones. Not bad for a show which was just finding it's legs, but it's not a season filled with memorable classics - it's more one which was trying to find it's feet and really nail it's own particular voice. This is especially noticable in Peter's fantasy/non-sequitur/sketch sequences, some of them are hilarious, but others are either exceptionally steeped in American Pop culture or just a little flat.

Likewise the animation is also crude and lacking refinement, but that's the case with most cartoons that employ a new style, it takes time for the animators to smooth out the kinks, as such the first season doesn't look as slick as some of the later seasons, especially the ones which were created after the hiatus.

Also of considerable note is the character of Meg, Lacey Chabert provided the voice in the first season and while there are some vocal similarities between herself and Mila Kunis who took over in the second season onwards, the character is more sympathetic and less a target for the entire family to dump on. It's definitely fair to say that Mila is a better fit for the direction they decided to take Meg in, but there's also the possibility that Meg became more and more a target of ridicule because of Mila's performance. She is the queen of shrill, whiney young women for sure. Irregardless, first season Meg is a far more rounded character than her later incarnation, and Lacey is to thank for that.

So, is the first season great? The answer is 'Umm, sort of', it's filled with comedy and laugh out loud skits, but the first half of the season is middling to average and it's only towards the end of the season that things really come to life. I'd actually go as far as to say that the later seasons are an improvement over this one.

That all said, the first season of Family Guy is still a great product to own, one which holds up to repeated viewing and is comparable in standard to the first season of The Simpsons. It's an enjoyable beginning which lays the groundwork for some fantastic later seasons.

Extras:
My version features an "Interactive Menu" and "Scene Access". Wow! Someone better stop the presses. It's possible later versions have better extras, but mine dates from during the 'cancelled years'.

Details:
Audio: 2.0 Stereo
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Rating: 15
Region: 2
Run time: 312 mins
Soundtrack: English
Subtitles: English HOH
Direct Link

While I enjoy the first two seasons of Futurama greatly, I feel it's the third season where the show really begins to take off and hit it's stride. The second season contains a few of my favourite episodes, but the third season is absolutely rife with them, I'd call it infested with goodness, but then I'd have nowhere to go when describing the fourth season.

The third season not only provides laughs a plenty but also builds on previous story lines and some of the foreshadowing which occurred in the first two seasons. Of particular note is one piece of foreshadowing which actually occurred back in the pilot episode of the show and I'll write about it when we get to the relevant episode. It's touches like this; along with an evolving state of characters, great gags and a genuine feeling of chronology which makes Futurama something rather special in the world of cartoons. Many other cartoons lack that sense of reality, so to speak.

Amazon Women in the Mood is the first episode of the season and a prime example of how the show builds on previous moments, providing growth for unexpected characters - in this case Amy and Kiff, who if you recall, were thrown together back on the Titanic in season one by Amy's parents. It seemed like a throwaway gag at the time, but in this episode it's brought forward and allows us to learn more about the poor, rundown sidekick to Zapp Brannigan (additionally giving us more Zapp at the same time). Parastites Lost has Fry becoming infected with intelligent intestinal worms which actually set about improving their host. We get to experience what Fry would be like if he'd just been born smarter and stronger. Leela falls for this new and improved Fry, but in a genuine feeling moment Fry decides to see if it's him or the what the worms have made him she loves. The answer isn't the one he wanted to hear, but it gives the viewer a fun swashbuckling version of Inner Space to watch.

A Tale of Two Santas brings back everyone's favourite homicidal robotic Santa, this time voiced by John DeMaggio instead of John Goodman, you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference. Luck of the Fryish is an unexpected story which mixes two time lines, telling the story of Philip J. Fry (3000) and Philip J Fry (2000). The end of the episode is one of the most touching moments in the show and it's a joyous surprise to experience. The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz brings things back with just good old fashioned Bender style fun and a horde of murderous penguins to boot - Waak, waak waak! Finally the first disc is closed out with the return of Flexo in Bendless Love, another Bender-centric story with probably my favourite Bender expression. His eyes when Angeline tells him "I'll always care for you too." always does it for me.

The second disc starts with the episode which starts to pay off that brief "easter egg" in the pilot episode. In The Day the Earth Stood Stupid it turns out that Nibbler is not a mindless eating/pooping machine, but a hyper intelligent being stationed to help Fry save the Earth from the Flying Brains. Now I'm rather ambivalent where Nibbler is concerned, but I do love this episode so I'm willing to overlook the more irritating aspects of the character. That's Lobstertainment! is generally considered to be the weakest Futurama episode and I concur on that front, I often skip it when watching this season.

Fortunately the other episodes on this disc more than make up for that snooze-fest The Cyber House Rules gives us a two eyed Leela and Bender as a father - an exceptionally negligent and irresponsible father. Where the Buggalo Roam returns us to Mars and expands further on the Kiff/Amy relationship (plus more Zapp and some pseudo-cowboy action!), Insane in the Mainframe introduces the brilliant Roberto in a storyline which ends up with Fry being incarcerated in an asylum for insane robots and finally The Route of all Evil has Cubert (who I just love) and loads of "Paperboy" homages.

Disc three starts with Bendin' in the Wind, which is nothing short of a non-stop Beck and Bender lovefest, Beck's music is just fantastic (this episode actually introduced me to it, I now have most of his albums). Time Keeps on Slipping continues to build on the Fry/Leela dynamic and also introduces the amazing Harlem Globe Trotters. I Dated A Robot features Lucy Liu along with a return to the Internet (I love the Internet in Futurama, there needs to be more of it). A Leela of Her Own is another one of those episodes I'm not to bothered with, but I put this down to a lack of baseball in the UK, and finally we have A Pharaoh to Remember - "Remember me! Remember me!"

The last disc is probably the best of the four discs, it has Anthology of Interest II - which again has three great non-cannon stories, in this case they are "what if Bender was human", "what if life was more like video games" and "Futurama Wizard of Oz". I could watch Anthology of Interest episodes all day if they'd make more of them. Roswell that Ends Well is a superb episode with some wonderful time travel hi jinks, Godfellas has Bender playing god and then meeting something which might be God. Future Stock is a fun romp and spoof of the more, um, "special" quantities of the 1980s and The 50% Iron Chef rounds out the season nicely with Bender and Elzar in a cook-off.

There's no doubt that this is an amazing season, I'm still unsure if it's the best - I'll probably make the final decision once I go over the fourth season later this week. But for now it's enough to say that it's an improvement over the already excellent second season, which is what you want - in an ideal world each season is better than the ones which came before it.

The cover for this set is probably the best one yet, this time the windows set into the plastic dust cover function as helmets for the cast (though why Bender needs a helmet is a question not worth answering, perhaps it's so he can smoke in space.) and the scene inside references many of the events from the show. Each individual DVD case also has original artwork - by now you know the drill, nothing held back for these sets. Again you can get the sets with standard sized DVD cases (older version) and the thin slimline-DVDs in the newer edition.

Extras:
Disc One:
Gallery Images
Deleted Scenes for all six episodes
Audio Commentary

Disc Two:
5 Deleted Scenes
Commentary

Disc Three:
Commentary
3 Deleted Scenes

Disc Four:
Commentary
Alternate Animatics Commentary for Roswell That Ends Well
How to Draw Characters galleries
Gallery Images
3 Deleted Scenes
Animatics
9 3D Models from Rough Draft sequences (these are great)
International Clip
Three Trailers

Languages: English, French
Subtitles: Danish, Finnish, French, Norwegian, Swedish, English HOH
Rating: 12
Direct Link

The second season of the sci-fi comedy cartoon Futurama first aired in 1999 and contains a total of nineteen episodes. Just like any good television piece, there is a marked improvement in quality between the first and second seasons. The greater quantity of episodes hasn't resulted in a reduction in quality, instead many of the episodes are funnier and more memorable than the first.

The season opens with I Second That Emotion - a jealous Bender has an empathy chip installed in his bonce after he flushes Nibbler down into the sewers. Driven by Leela's emotions he is compelled to go after the critter and joined by Fry and Leela they encounter an entire civilisation underneath New New York, a civilisation plagued by a beast known only as El Chupanibre. It's the first appearance of the sewer mutants and a great episode to open with. In Brannigan, Begin Again - everyone's favourite Captain Kirk knock-off blunders by blowing up the new DOOP headquarters during the ribbon cutting ceremony and is thrown out of his job. Hired by the Professor he proceeds to lead a mutiny against Leela, and then continues to wage his war against the neutral forces of neutral in his own kamikaze style.

The next two episodes remain amongst my favourite, the first of them A Head in the Polls might possibly be my all time favourite episode. It expands on the hilarious Richard Nixon "cameo" from the pilot episode by having him running for the post of Earth's president, aided by the charisma of Bender's butt (and body). It's up to the crew of Planet Express to stop him - do they manage it? Well do the words "NIXON'S BACK!" followed by a rampage towards the White House answer that question? Xmas Story features John Goodman in his one appearance as the awesome Robot Santa (John DeMaggio takes over in later episodes, but I also do a mean Robot Santa impression if anyone needs one) and the first disc is closed out with Why Must I be a Crustacean in Love? The first episode focused mostly around one of my favourite characters, Dr. Zoidberg. Oddly though, this is not one of my favourite episodes - it has good moments, but for the most part it just doesn't click with me.

The second disc contains the awesome The Lesser of Two Evils, which introduces Flexo, Bender's goatee wearing double; the always enjoyable Put Your Head on my Shoulders - Fry on rare form as a complete buffoon here (and less irritating than A Fishfull of Dollars for sure); Raging Bender, A Bicyclops Built For Two (both good episodes, especially the Virtual Internet scenes from Bicyclops) and A Clone of My Own, another episode I adore - mostly because of Cubert, a child genius who promptly points out every single illogical flaw he can find.

The third disc has the somewhat Hermes centric episode How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back, another episode with an awesome musical number (the first one was Hell is Other Robots); The Deep South - which is an episode I can take or leave, but also has some brilliant gags - especially the ones involving Zoidberg's house; Bender Gets Made brings us the brilliant robot mafia; Mother's Day expands on everyone's favourite Mom when she decides to have all the robots on the planet conquer Earth for her and The Problem With Popplers (named after that Star Trek episode), which introduces the first of the Freewaterfall family and then promptly kills him off.

The last disc contains Anthology of Interest I, which is rather like the Simpson's Treehouse of Horrors, it contains three standalone stories created by the "What If" machine. They're not cannon, but they are immense fun. In one story Bender is a giant robot (spoofing the Iron Giant and Godzilla at the same time), in the second we see what life would be like if Leela was more decisive (short version, she'd kill a lot of people) and in the last one we find out what would happen if Fry hadn't been frozen and sent to the Future (short version; he spends an eternity playing D&D with Deep Blue, Al "I'm a twelfth level vice-president" Gore, Gary Gygax and Nichelle Nichols (Cursed to an eternity with nerds). While all these episodes are non-canon they are immense fun and it's amazing so much gets packed into each story.

The other three episodes on the final disc are the Starship Troopers homage War Is the H-Word (Daffodil, Daffodil, Daffodil!), The Honking with it's brilliant were-cars and The Cryonic Woman, where Fry is reunited with his ex-girlfriend Michelle (who broke up with him in the pilot episode if you recall that far back).

It's just a great season filled with gags, enjoyable stories and a lot of good future-fashioned fun!

Packaging-wise the set is just pure physical poetry, again you have the slightly transparent plastic outer sheath which combines with original artwork to create a great set of scenes. There's a little bit of an odd moment on the one side (which you can see in the picture above), I'm not sure why Fry is suffocating when he has two air tubes. There are again two versions of this set, the older fat version using normal DVD cases and the newer slim-line version. Once again I (sadly) have the fat versions.

Each of the four DVDs has original art, 30th Century Fox logos and a spine which combines to make a conga line containing Leela, Bender, Zoidberg and Fry. As always Futurama packaging puts other sets to shame with it's extravagance, detail and sheer entertainment value.

The menus on the old versions have slightly rough loops, but it's a vast improvement over the first season and the are animated - there's just a faint fade before the sound loops and no jarring on the animation recycling. There is still no "Play All" button (on my version at least), that doesn't make an appearance until season three.

The commentary remains as excellent as ever, as do all of the sub-menus. You can just feel how much effort and care went into the production of these sets, it's not just a case of slap on some pictures and roll it out.

If you enjoyed the first season, you'll love the second one - and this set is the best way to express that love. Say it with commercialism! It's the only way they'll know you mean it, because remember - love is quantified by the amount of money spent on it.

Extras:
Disc One:
Animatic for "Why Must I be a Crustacean in Love?"
Deleted Scenes for all five episodes
Commentary - Excellent commentary
Easter Egg - Nibbler's Eyeball on I Second That Emotion

Disc Two:
Storyboards for "A Bicyclops Built for Two"
Deleted Scenes for all five episodes
Commentary, James Commentary
Easter Egg - Select the Tiara on The Lesser of Two Evils menu and Gem on A Bicyclops Built for Two

Disc Three:
(I especially like the opening menu animation for this disc)
Deleted Scenes for The Deep South, Bender Gets Made and The Problem with Popplers
Easter Eggs - The floppy disc on "How Hermes..." menu,

Disc Four:
Still Gallery/Concept Art
Alien Alphabet
International Clips
Alien Advertisments
Deleted Scene from The Honking and The Cryonic Woman
Futurama DVD Season 1 Trailer
Easter Egg - Select the remote showing Bender at the bottom of War is the H-Word's menu and Monday Monkey on The Cryonic Woman

All of the Easter Eggs show various members of the Futurama production crew as teenagers. Dork alert!
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While I did write a review of the complete Futurama collection a while back I was never really satisfied with it. Futurama is probably the TV show I've watched most of all because it functions both as a show I adore and moving wallpaper - so when I'm not sure what I want to watch while I do something else, it's Futurama which goes on.

I think by now most people should be more than familiar with Futurama, the science fiction/comedy cartoon from Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons if you've been living in a cave for the past few decades), and it's particularly rough ride through the world of television. It's one of those shows which has always been treated badly by Fox, despite the obvious quality of the show, and as such it's already managed to be cancelled once, return as a series of made for DVD Movies and then get renewed - a story which should sound familiar for fans of Family Guy because it's more or less the same thing repeated there.

Futurama stars Billy West as simple-minded Phillip J. Fry, a pizza delivery boy who at the turn of the century gets accidentally frozen in a cryogenic tube. Awakening at the turn of the third millennium, he discovers that he's now a million thousand years into the future, alive long after all his friends and family have passed on. Also joining him are John DeMaggio as Bender; a foul mouthed, angry kleptomaniac robot, the lovely Katey Segal as Leela - a one eyed woman with a penchant for martial arts and the temperament to use it. Often.

There are two versions of the first season boxed set, the earlier version is larger as it uses traditional DVD cases to house the three discs containing the thirteen episodes which make up the first season. The second version is about half the thickness as it uses the later slim-line DVD cases, if you have that version I'm infinitely jealous of you as I'd love to get it, but can't justify buying something I already own.

The boxed set itself is an exceptionally fun item, the external sleeve is made of plastic and has Fry, Bender and Leela along with a pair of windows which show a bit of the interior art. The box inside has a detailed cityscape scene of New New York which homages the Futurama opening credits, and if that wasn't enough each individual DVD case has original art inside and out. It's an impressive piece of production which really adds to the experience of owning this set.

But wait, there's more! The lavish production standard doesn't end there, once you boot up the first DVD you're treated even further. The root menu is an amusing scene depicting Fry crashing through a sign - and there's an Easter egg here, you can select the flying limousine by pressing across, once clicked it'll show you a cinema poster for 'Planet of the Clams'. The sound loop on the root menus are a little rough, they doesn't loop very well at all and the older version of this set lacks the essential "Play All" button.

Additionally each individual episode has it's own unique menu art and the language/chapter selection menus are fantastic as well. It's surprising how much effort has gone into the Chapter Selection menu in particular as it's not one you'll use too often.

As for the show itself, well I think my feelings are pretty clear by now. I absolutely adore Futurama and pretty much can't get enough of it. That said, the first season is not really my favourite one - in fact it's probably my least favourite by a long margin.

Space Pilot 3000 opens the series exceptionally well, it's got great pacing and it introduces all the main characters in a memorable and enjoyable fashion. Episode Two: The Series Has Landed, slows things down a little and introduces the second string characters of Amy, Hermes and Zoidberg - the episode itself is based mostly on the moon and has some beautiful shots contained in it. I, Roommate is another great episode which is slower paced than the previous two and deals with Bender and Fry's burgeoning friendship - it also introduces 'All My Circuits' one of the shows within the show. Love's Labours Lost in Space is probably the best of the episodes on the first disc, it introduces the spectacular Zapp Brannigan and established that no character in the show was exempt from humiliation, it also brought us Nibbler, a character I'm somewhat ambivalent about - I like the episodes he's involved in but I'm not that fussed with him as a character.

The second disc has the fun Fear of a Bot Planet which gave us the fun of shouting "SILENCE" before every sentence (that's still enjoyable to do even now). Then there's A Fishfull of Dollars, an episode which honestly irritates me no end, there's a certain kind of comedy (generally derived from giving a character everything and then ripping it away from them through their own stupidity) which really annoys me - and this episode uses it in spadefuls. I actually skip it on occasion. Likewise I'm not so keen on My Three Suns, which isn't as annoying but just sort of occupies time and space without really having anything great about it. Fortunately A Big Piece of Garbage and Hell Is Other Robots more than make up for these two weaker episodes and then some.

The Third Disc contains the fun Titanic spoof A Flight to Remember which has pretty much the entire cast involved in several storylines, it's amazing how much is crammed into twenty minutes here. Animal House Mars University is a definite favourite of mine, Gunther the monkey might be an annoying whinge but he's hilarious when he's trying to put on the hat. When Aliens Attack brings us Lrrr and Ndnd and finally Fry & The Slurm Factory spoofs Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, bringing the season to a satisfying close. It's definitely Space Pilot 3000, A Big Piece of Garbage and Hell is Other Robots which are the best three episodes in the season.

I'd also be commiting a crime against culture, television and comedy if I didn't mention the fantastic commentary present on every single episode in the season. It's so good you might well find youself listening to multiple times. I'm yet to find a show which comes close to this level of quality for commentary.

While the later seasons are much better, this freshman collection still swings above it's weight and provides an entire Planet Express ship full of laughs.

Extras:
Apart from the aforementioned Easter eggs and the amazing commentary there are a host of other extras located on each disc.

Disc One:
Animatic from Space Pilot 3000
Space Pilot 3000 Script with notes from David X. Cohen
Space Pilot 3000 Storyboards
Deleted Scenes from: The Series Has Landed, I, Roommate and Love's Labours Lost in Space
Easter Egg - Hidden Cinema Poster for "Planet of the Clams"

Disc Two:
Trailer for Futurama Season One
Deleted Scenes for My Three Suns and Hell Is Other Robots
Easter Egg - Hidden Cinema Poster for "Quizblorg Quizblorg" (Select the Slurm Truck)

Disc Three:
Featurette (Matt Groening talking about the show, details of the animation and 3D scenes)
Deleted Scene for When Aliens Attack
Image Gallery
Easter Egg - Hidden Cinema Poster for "Buff-Bot: The Human Slayer" (Select the Police Car)
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As I settle into my new pattern of work and reviewing over this year I'm going to be putting out the DVD review on Wednesdays, leaving Friday for Damages, Sunday for the Wire and Monday plus whenever else for other stuff. The Week That Was will also make a return on Fridays, but it's likely to be lighter in content for a while because I'm honestly not watching that many shows right now. TV is a little... sparse.

This week I'm going to review the latest Simpsons DVD set. I'm unlikely to go back and review the previous seasons because there's little difference between each season. Only the packaging and menus really change, everything else is as formulaic as it ever is.



Starring:
Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson
Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson
Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson
Yeardley Smith as Lisa Simpson
Harry Shearer as Mr Burns & Various
Hank Azaria as Moe & Various

(Seriously these guys do so many characters each I can't be bothered to list them all, follow the links instead you lazy so and so. Stop expecting me to do all the work!)



I'm not really sure I need to go into much detail about The Simpsons, everyone who's watched TV will most like have watched an episode or two of this and the show doesn't seem likely to stop running until Dan Castellaneta passes away or a terrible tradgedy wipes out the entire cast. We already know the drill, Homer's stupid, Marge is repressed, Lisa is a genius, Bart is a troublemaker and Maggie is cute.

The Eleventh season contains some major events for the show, including a new family for one character and the loss of a loved one for another. The Simpsons lives in this strange state of twilight where people don't age but children can be conceived and born. You've almost certainly seen many of these episodes which were originally aired between September 1999 and May 2000, this is also the season where David X. Cohen and Matt Groening left to focus on (...the greatly superior as far as I'm concerned...) Futurama. But the show is still in it's best period during this season, it doesn't begin to lose it's lustre for a few years yet.

Heck, if you want to know what happens in this season, here's the wikipedia episode list. I'm not sure I have much more to say about The Simpsons which hasn't been said before. But I'm not writing this to talk about the show, onto the DVD set!


The Packaging:
Here's the reason I decided to write about this set. Now the DVD releases of The Simpsons have always included some seriously dubious decisions over the years, the "special edition" utterly useless head shaped DVD sets are one of the more ludicrous ideas that have been used (and are still used to this day). I'm not going to comment heavily on them except to say I always avoid purchasing the special edition version because it's a seriously awful idea. You could offer me one at half the price and I'd still take the non-special version. They don't fit on any kind of DVD shelf at all, they don't stack, they break easily. Ugh, they're utterly useless.

But even the normal editions haven't avoided some of the clearly drug induced decisions that have occurred over the packaging. Every single season includes this thin, flimsy back cover sheet that is sort of hooked over the back of the box. Now it wouldn't be so much of an issue if this was some disposable advert or a duplicate of the back cover on the box. But it isn't, it's actually the full details of the box contents, episode list, special features, details. All of it is on this easily lost and torn piece of paper. On what planet is that actually a good idea? Needless to say the eleventh season continues this particularly wretched piece of clown-****ery and I'm sure the rest of them will as well. I expect it's some big joke on the part of the Simpson DVD department.

But, if that wasn't enough the Eleventh season has even managed to take another cunning step into the world of ass-hatted packaging production. All previous seasons have used a combination of plastic and cardboard to create attractive looking fold out sheets which protect the discs well. Obviously someone looked at this and asked "Can we do this smaller, with less costs and cut out the packaging", then after months of meetings someone else brought in an envelop with a DVD in it and said "How about this?" Lo the season eleven box DVD holder was born.

It's a cardboard strip with admittedly attractive and fun scenes depicting a carnival. There's lots to look at and quite a few jokes. But it's not the appearance that's the problem. It's the system used to store the DVDs, it's based from those cheap newspaper cardboard envelopes. Now this does mean that season eleven takes up half the space any other season does on the shelf. Some props there, but when you're trying to actually take the DVDs out of their snug little cardboard holders all hell breaks loose. It's like a little puzzle designed to make you not want to watch the show.

Worst. Packaging. Ever.

The Menus and Start Up:
In contrast to the terrible packaging the start up and menu options for this set are very trouble free. Even Fox's usual strategy of jamming anti-piracy propaganda down the throats of people who've bought legitimate copies seems to be toned down here.

The menus for each disc are likewise attractive, for many sets the menu creators struggled to get the right set up for The Simpsons. The first season was boring and useless, the second season was gimmicky and irritating, but the third and fourth seasons were nice looking and funny. The eleventh season menus are great, they're filled with gags. There's a set which run once when you open the menu and then a well designed loop of short gags which is completely seamless. As such you could leave the menu on for a fair while and not figure out exactly where it loops.

The Extras:
There are a lot of extras on the discs for you to watch, every episode has commentary (which is often mocked by the Futurama commentary for good reason) and there's more besides.

The full list is as follows:
Special Introduction from Matt Groening
Commentaries on every episode
A Star on Hollywood Boulevard Featurette
The Many Faces of Krusty Featurette
Deleted Scenes with Commentary
Multi-Angle Animation Showcase
Original Sketches
Special Language Feature

There's an extended disc by disc breakdown over here.

The Details:
Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Runtime: 469 mins
Region 2
Rating: 12
Sound: 5.1
Subtitles: Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, English HoH.

The Price:
Sendit have it for £29.89 right now, that's 6.4ppm. Not brilliant, not awful. If you're willing (or want) the special edition version you can have it for a pound less.


A must have for fans of The Simpsons or people who purchase the DVD sets so they don't end up watching it on the TV whenever it's on (like myself). The Eleventh Season is a great season wrapped in a really poor package. It's like getting an intelligent and beautiful woman inside a dog crap cake.
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