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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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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I'm feeling somewhat melancholic as of late for personal reasons which I won't go into here. But it has left me thinking about the way television has the ability to not only lift the viewer up to the heights of adrenaline or joy but it can also take the watcher on a journey down to the depths of great sorrow. Which is a mark of a truly great show; if it can not only manage to make you laugh, rant, speculate and gasp; but it can also bring you to the point of genuine sadness over the events portrayed in a completely fictional environment.

This list is a tribute to the shows and episodes which elicited frank and open feelings of sorrow, sadness or even despair from me when I watched them. Shows which touched me in ways which most shows fail to do so (as I'm a calloused, jaded and heartless individual with no soul.)

Be warned, the following contains major spoilers for several television shows because it's normally the HUGE reality changing moments which elicit such a response from me. Check the labels at the top of the post to be aware of what shows are going to be spoilered here.

You've been warned.

Futurama
"Jurassic Bark", "Luck of the Fryish", "Bender's Big Score", "Time Keeps Slipping" and "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings"

Futurama is an unusual comedy cartoon show in that it consistently shows the ability to portray exceptionally strong and emotionally moving moments and episodes. All of these tend to revolve around Fry, who's a character completely in touch with his emotions, even if his childishness and stupidity often make you forget just how deep his character can run. Jurassic Bark and Luck of the Fryish are the two strongest tearjerkers from the above list - both of which deal with understanding just what Fry has lost when he went to the future. While he may have cheered during the pilot episode when he voiced the thought "My friends, my family, I'll never see any of them again. Yahoo!" these later episodes reveal just how much he lost to both the viewer and Fry himself. While Jurassic Bark has lost a little of it's punch now that Bender's Big Score retconned the events, Luck of the Fryish remains as potent as ever.

The other kind of emotional moments involve Fry's yearning for Leela; he's a faulty, broken down individual in so many ways, but many episodes reveal hidden depths to Fry with astonishing results. In Time Keeps Slipping we see just how much he cares for Leela (also echoed in other episodes) and in The Devil's Hands (plus it's companion episode Parasites Lost) we get to see the potential of Fry if he wasn't so crippled by (frankly) poor and incestuous genetics.

Finally there's Bender's Big Score, which is an intensely enjoyable romp filled with fun that suddenly drags the carpet out from under your feet with a massive and touching revelation at the end of the film regarding one character in it. We learn that Lars, a man Leela has fallen for completely, is in fact a paradoxical clone of Fry - we get to see that given time, loss, yearning and wisdom that Fry is the man Leela wants - or at least he could be, but this is only revealed after Lars' death and that makes it all the more potent.

The Wire
"Final Grades"

Of all the gut punching moments in The Wire, of which there are many, it's the events of the season four closer which hit me hardest. Over the previous seasons I'd come to love and enjoy the show, I'd seen many characters pass in a range of terrible and heart aching situations but the one which actually made me reel was the death of Bodie Broadus in the final episode of the stunning fourth season. He's shot twice in the head by O-Dog because he was seen with McNulty and (incorrectly) suspected of being a snitch.

While Bodie's death is surprising, coming at a point where he seems at his strongest - proclaiming how no-one will run him off his corner before being blindsided and killed - it's more the surprise how much it made me reel which makes it such a sad moment. I'd come to take Bodie for granted, I thought he was always going to be around as one 'smart ass pawn' (to quote the man himself), watching the world and spitting through his teeth until the show ended. I just didn't see it coming, but what I also didn't see coming was the sorrow and loss I felt over his senseless death. Bodie's a drug dealer, a man who killed one of his best friends (Wallace), a thug and a gangster to the core. But he'd completely endeared himself to me, he'd become a rounded and understandable individual - he was a human being to me, not a one dimensional villain. It was the shock over the sorrow I felt about his killing which brought it completely home.

And then we get to see how hard McNulty his hit over this, and it hurts all over again.

Homicide
Life Everlasting (aka Homicide: the Movie)

Life Everlasting is a melancholic swan song for a magnificent series (which spawned two of the other shows on this list almost directly) filled with sad moments, because you can't expect a show like Homicide to end on an upbeat moment.

There are many to choose from, but the one which haunts me is Tim Bayliss' confession to Frank Pembleton on the rooftop of the police station. Two men, two characters I came to love completely - just talking honestly with each other. But then Bayliss begins to confess to murder, a murder you always knew he committed but hoped he didn't, and you sit there watching Frank break down. Torn between his love for his ex-partner Bayliss, a man who he coached throughout the series (until Frank retired) and watched grow up into a capable and excellent cop. Torn between that and his unbending sense of duty to the law (mixed with Bayliss's request to be turned in). He's left in an impossible situation, but there can be only one solution.

And as such, the name of the man Bayliss murdered - one Ryland - goes from Blue to black, indicating that the case was solved but leaving the man's final fate unresolved.

The Shield
"Postpartum" and "Family Meeting"

The final episodes of the fifth and seventh seasons of The Shield are by far and away the most significant ones. They're also the ones with the hardest hitting punches for the viewer. The fifth season builds up towards it's final episode by having Lieutenant Kavanaugh hounding the least deserving member of the Strike Team, harrying Lem to the point of destroying his career before realising what he's done in his mindless pursuit of Vic Mackey.

Lem is forced to go on the lam, but in a final act of indignity for us we see him head out to meet up with the other members of the Strike Team, but to end up meeting with just Shane. Shane, a man who's got more to loose than anyone (other than Vic), a man with a young family, a man who's desperate. A man who Lem considers to be one of his closest friends, the very man who got Lem into trouble with Kavanaugh in the first place (Lem illegally confiscated drugs from a dealer to gain leverage in order to save Shane in the previous season). He heads over and hands Lem a sandwich before dropping in a live grenade which he palmed earlier.

There's a horrible moment as he walks away, a moment where you realise that this is entirely premeditated murder and then there's an explosion and Shane's running back. And then it hits you, you realise that Lem has lived just long enough to see Shane break down over what he's done. Lem died knowing who killing him.

As if that wasn't hard enough to watch, we then get to see Vic break down over Lem's murder and the entire Farmington district stand around in shock over it.

But if that wasn't enough, Family Meeting manages to top it - both in the betrayal stakes and the emotional ones. Family Meeting performs the amazing trick of taking Shane, a monster who killed my favourite member of the Strike Team, a redneck, racist goofball who's been nothing but trouble - taking him and turning him into a credible human being who you actually feel sorry for. When he calls out those fateful words "Family Meeting", there's a terrible realisation of what he's going to do - which is made even worse by what happens when Claudette finds him. Shane shoots himself and then you realise the full picture, he's gone so far down the rabbit hole that he saw no light at the end of the tunnel other than murdering his pregnant wife, young boy and then killing himself. Vic manages to kill Shane without even firing a shot, he quite literally talks Shane into this.

This is also in the episode where Vic shows his true colours, betraying his last surviving friend - Ronnie Gardocki - in an attempt to protect his wife and children. Protection they don't need because they're already distancing themselves from him. So Vic ends up destroying everything around him that he cared about. In the end, the cheese stands alone.

Six Feet Under
"Everybody's Waiting"

I've saved the best for last. The series finale for Six Feet Under was an absolute tour de force which just swept along with power and potency. While it wasn't surprising that Six Feet Under - a show which understood just how to portray emotions - managed to pull off an accomplished ending, it's the closing montague which just completely blew me away.

It was so completely unexpected, so final, so simultaneously filled with hope, joy, sorrow and loss, that it just caught me by surprise. While I should have expected a show about death to end with the deaths of every single character in the show, I wasn't prepared for the finality and completeness of it all. The way the show gave us each character's final moments and date of death was so poignant because it not only wrapped the end of the show in the way the show carried itself - demonstrating how everyones journey must come to the same eventual end, even if the circumstances and time varied. But it also hinted at the lives lived by these characters before their deaths, many of them lived for many years after the "end" of the story; dying of old age after full lives.

The unexpected power of this finale unhinged me in a way I didn't expect. I'm not ashamed to admit that I weeped openly and uncontrollably while watching this, weeping at the mixture of gladness over the lives they lived and sadness over their deaths. Sadness which mounted as each one of them went, one after another until just Clare was left - and then she died. Closing the show out.

It was an incredible finale; pure, focused and true to the show in every aspect.

So what moments put a lump in your throat?
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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
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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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Into the Wide Green Yonder is the fourth and final Futurama movie to arrive on our small screens and it's also potentially the last new material we'll see from the show. During an environmental protest in a construction site on Mars a small piece of metal jewelery becomes embedded in Fry's skull, granting him the ability to read minds. Gradually he discovers he's the most important person in the universe (again) and that the fate of a new "green age" rests on the shoulders of his special mind.

Head into the Wide Green Yonder beyond the link... (Mostly spoiler free)

Wow, this is a really great movie. I had reservations about this one ending well because the others have been of somewhat mixed quality. But "ItWGY" is just fantastic. It hits the ground with some simply gorgeous sequences and never stops running. Even static captures of some establishing shots are breathtaking, but to see them in action. It's another level of beauty.


Futurama has always had superb animation mind you, but it seems that "Wide Green Yonder" has taken this and refined it to a whole new level, with extensive use of 3D animation which is completely seamless from it's 2D counterparts. The space chase sequence in particular takes 3D animation to new places and beats Futurama's previously best 3D chase sequence (The Near Death Star) by light years. Just take a look at this shot of the Nimbus (click for a larger version).


Also this shot of the Planet Express ship scanning is another great example of how great everything looks. You should see this one animated.


But, it's not just the 3D which has stepped up, the standard animation is completely gorgeous and lush to the eyes. Many scenes are lit with unusual light sources and have masses of detail to them, far more than most normal animated shows manage. Of particular note is the foil worn by Fry and the other members of the Legion of Mad Fellows, this foil hat is on Fry's head in various forms for almost the entire movie. It's a great looking object and it never drops in the amount of detail on it.


Ok so I've frothed a little about how pretty "Wide Green Yonder" is, but how about the important part? The storyline and dialog? Is that any good?

In a word, yes. Yes it is. The plot is tightly written and runs very well from scene to scene, it's not quite at the same level of brilliance Bender's Big Score was at. That one remains the best of the quadroligy by a long margin, but it's certainly a close second best. We also get to see the conclusion to one of the more amusing running jokes, the deaths of Freewater family. Each of which has been played by Phil Hendrie, the previous members of the family were eaten by Lrrr, eaten by rabid penguins and crushed by a giant robotic lobster.

The jokes in "Wide Green Yonder" come thick and fast, propelled by the dialog and the decision to use the funniest members of the supporting cast for a lot of it. Lrrr, Morbo, Nixon, Mr Wong, LaBarbara and the entire robot Mafia all make solid appearances. The main cast are all given a reasonable amount to do themselves, Zoidberg and Hermes are more solidly in the role of supporting characters and are a little underused. But that's always been the case with the show, they are supporting characters who occasionally get the limelight. There are also a few special guest stars who have some great moments, Seth MacFarlane sings the wonderful opening number and Snoop Dogg plays himself.


Into The Wide Green Yonder is a worthy addition to the series and also works very well as a final chapter because right now there's no certainty of any more Futurama beyond this. So the writers chose to give us an ending which is both satisfactory in itself and has the potential to continue beyond. Some people may feel a little annoyed at the cliffhanger ending the film provides, but I like the boundless optimism that the ending brings. I don't mind it when a show says, "We're over, but the characters do go on beyond the limits of our story".

Ultimately everyone, everything, everywhere ends; and if this is the final chapter for Futurama I will be more than satisfied with it. A great movie bringing a close to a great series. My only regret is that we won't see another 'Tales of Interest' anthology.

I will write more on this once the DVD release for Into The Wide Green Yonder is out.

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I almost missed this release amongst all of the mayhem this month. But fortunately I didn't. Bender's Game is the third of the four Futurama DVD Movies and it's also the geekiest Futurama in existence by an absolute light year. The Futurama writers have made it no secret just how many of them are fans of Dungeons and Dragons, Anthology of Interest I from back in the second series included a guest appearance from the now desceased Gary Gygax and there have been numerous other references to the game in other episodes, including a Rust Monster in "I Second that Emotion" and a beholder in "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back".






It's possible that there are even more references, I don't know. I'm no expert as I only know these two monsters from that old Amiga classic 'Eye of the Beholder'. But anyway, I digress. The Futurama staff writers love Dungeons and Dragons, they even go as far as talking about their games of it on the commentary for some episodes, and this film is their tribute to both the game and to the man who created it.

Now I think it's fair to say that I enjoyed 'Bender's Big Score', but I wasn't so impressed with 'The Beast of a Billion Backs' so I went into watching this one with a little trepidation. But I shouldn't have worried, it's just brilliant, filled with great moments and jokes the film doesn't let up for a moment. It runs almost seamlessly from a just amazing Yellow Submarine spoof opening sequence and remains quality throughout. There are so many fantastic scenes it's hard to pick all of them out; but the space demolition derby, the multiple Lord of the Rings references, the farm scenes (especially the conversation in there) and the great way the show sweeps any potential 'consistency complaints' from the truly anal watcher with asides and throwaway comments are some of them.

It's just plain, simple, good old fun and a must watch for any fan of Futurama. It's also the best Role playing based film ever released, that's not saying much considering the competition is mainly the two Dungeons and Dragons movies, the two Gamers movies and that other movie called The GamerZ. But still, trust the Futurama writers to get it just right, and with a sci-fi show no less as well.

I can't wait for "Into the Wide Green Yonder."

Packaging:
There's not a lot to say about the Bender's Game packaging, it's very similar in style to the previous three single case DVD sets and it looks good on the shelf next to them. It's also carbon neutral just like the previous two movies are, so thumbs up on that front. It's environmentally conscious comedy!

Extras:
As always this set is jammed to the gills with extras.

First up is this:
I could have talked about that in full, but I thought it was so good that it was worth just sharing and watching instead. It's about time that atrocious and annoying anti-piracy advert which exists only to annoy legitimate purchasers of a DVD was sent up. Why should I, the purchaser of a legitimate copy of your DVD be inflicted with your anti-piracy campaign advert Mr. FACT? Talk about preaching to the converted.

Also included on the set are the following:
Commentary by Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, Billy West, John DiMaggio, Tress MacNeille, Michael Rowe, Claudia Katz and Dwayne Carey-Hill.
Storyboard Animatic
Futurama Genetics Lab - a fun little time waster that lets you see some combinations of various characters
D&D&F (Dungeons & Dragons & Futurama) Featurette
How to Draw Futurama in 83 Easy Steps Featurette
3-D Models with Animator Discussion
1 Deleted Scene "Cup or Nozzle"
Blooperama 2 - Outtakes
And a sneak peak of "Into the Wide Green Yonder", the fourth and possibly final Futurama film/outing/episode.

Details:
Runtime: 83 mins
Language: English Surround 5.1, Commentary Stereo in 2.0
Subtitles: Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and English H-O-H
Region: 1 and 2, also available in Blu-ray.

Price:
Play is the winner in the UK for the price of both versions, not only do they have the DVD version for a respectable £11.99 but they also have the Blu-ray one for £17.99. Now that's a price for Blu-ray that's approaching sensible. The ppm isn't very good mind you at 14.4, but that's not surprising considering this is a film rather than a series boxed set.

Bender's Game is a cracking addition to the Futurama mythos, it manages to spin off into a fantasy setting without feeling too jarring and then continues to lampoon many fantasy cliches effortlessly. It's brilliant.
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I first talked about the second Futurama straight-to-DVD movie last month and I did not have a favourable opinion. But the official release happened here on the 30th and I was committed to purchasing a copy no matter what. Some spoilers may follow here.



The Beast with a Billion Backs is not the best of the Futurama stories, even on the second viewing I still didn't find it as gripping as Bender's Big Score so I concentrated on watching it with the commentary this time. The usual crowd were there and I'll talk a little more about the commentary in the Extras section. The premise of The Beast follows directly on from the events of the previous film, Bender's actions caused a rift to tear in the fabric of the universe and no-one knows what it could be about. Meanwhile, Fry has met a new woman, Colleen and is pretty happy. Events push forward when Farnsworth and Wernstrom get into an argument about who should be allowed to examine the anomaly. It is resolved with a game of 'Death Ball' which seems to be a multi-ball tilting labyrinth with human players inside. Farnsworth wins and the crew are dispatched to investigate the anomaly, which they do by sending Bender out. When touching it he and the ship are thrown backwards. Fry discovers that Colleen is a polygamist and resolves to leave reality through the rift - which will only accept organic matter (and his space suit for some reason). What follows is a set of events which are supposed to be touching, earth shattering and moving. But in all honestly it doesn't quite hit the mark, Bender wanders off into his own story about "The League of Robots" which sounds like it should be exciting, but it isn't and the show just struggles its way to an unsatisfying conclusion.

Now I love Futurama, so it's especially hard for me to get through this and be so negative about it. But the honest truth is it's below average for a Futurama story. While the 3D Effects include some staggeringly beautiful moments (especially the shots of Earth and the anomaly), the jokes are often recycled, the dialog is weak and the overall plot is very unsatisfying.



The Extras on the DVD are up to the usual standard provided by the Futurama crew. The entire plot of the Futurama video game is included as a "Lost Adventure", several deleted scenes are included (one of them were Scruffy dies, that one should have made it into the final cut imo), a short interview with David Cross (which is every bit as funny as he always is), video of the cast recording dialog, some shots of 3D models and how the Death Ball game was designed. Then last of all comes a sneak preview of "Bender's Game", which is clearly inspired by "Dungeons and Dragons" and also includes a D12 (my favourite die!).
The commentary sheds some light on the thoughts and feelings of the cast, they seem to have a very different opinion of the movie compared to me. They're quite proud of their production and enjoy watching it a lot more than I did. Of particular note is the dialog where David X. Cohen talks about "Sock Barrelling", which is where a show unintentionally reuses the same joke on more than one occasion. He notes that it happens with two occasions of an underplayed 'ow'. But it's not that reuse that irked me. It's all the other recycled jokes that occured in this movie that made it less fun for me and they seem to be oblivious to how many of them there are.



There's not that much to talk about when it comes to the packaging, it's very standard. The artwork is nice enough (if rather misleading) and it evokes the old style of past B-movies. It matches up well enough with Bender's Big Score and Monster Maniac Robot Fun so I'm content enough with it.



Currently it can be had for around £13 and it runs for 85 minutes. This is a staggering 15p per minute, which - when combined with the overall weak nature of the film - makes it a really poor purchase. This is one for die-hard fans only right now, for everyone else I'd say "Wait until Bender's Game comes out and pick this one up once it's dropped in price".



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Well, I have just literally finished watching the second of the Futurama DVD Movies (as it was leaked early) and... I'm not wowed by it. The first movie, Bender's Big Score was a wonderful celebration of Futurama. It was exciting, funny, touching and everything Futurama had been before. It went back to old places, stories and characters without feeling like it was just rehashing old material.

But, I'm sad to say that TBWABB doesn't live up to the standard set by the first movie and the previous series. While there are moments that are laugh out loud funny and some of the scenes are brilliant there's also an awful lot of reuse of jokes from previous story lines. Including Bender sh*ting bricks not just once, but twice, Charleston Chew fireworks and more. Even some of the more original jokes from the film get used multiple times and they fail to feel like running gags, instead they feel like lazy writing. Also the plots feel rather weak compared to the ones that have come before and there seem to be very few consequences or hooks. The wrapping up of the story in particular just doesn't sit right, Bender's Big Score ended with a revelation that was close to the touching nature of the Episodes "Luck of the Fryish" and "Jurassic Bark". But the climax and resolution of TBWABB just feels rushed and not satisfying.

Now don't get me wrong, I'll still be picking this up on DVD as soon as it's released here. But, I'm sure I won't watch the movie as often as I'll watch the rest of the series. There are some superb moments, David Cross and Dan Castellaneta provide most excellent voice acting and the visuals of the show are as top notch as ever. But overall it falls short of anything previously done, I'd compare it to "That's Lobstertainment". Which is the only episode of the original series that I'll skip past.

All in all... Not good.
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I thought I'd kick this off with a look at one of my favourite shows and as I'm watching it again right now this seems sensible.

Packaging:
Each of the four seasons of Futurama is packaged in their own season box, which consists of three or four seperate dvd cases. The whole thing comes in a cardboard box that keeps them all together tidy. Essentially you get all four individual season boxes and another box to keep them in. Really this isn't much better than buying them individually. But the Outside box has a lot of original artwork and is quite nice looking.

It's worth noting that the box is rather cumbersome, but that is mostly because I bought the older version of the Complete Collection. The newer one is considerably smaller and I find myself annoyed that they didn't use the smaller size in the first place. As such I have to keep my Futurama collection ontop of my DVD shelving rather than actually on one of the shelves.

Each individual season is a cardboard 3/4 box that the DVDs slide into, wrapped with a plastic sheath which is pretty robust. This means the season dvds can take the odd knock and do just fine when removed from the shelf/big box. Of course, individual dvd boxes, inside another box, inside a sheath and inside a box isn't the most practical way to have a complete collection. But there is original artwork on each of the boxes and the outside boxes so they are nice to look at.
8/10

Features:
Each season of Futurama has quite a lot of features to it. The first two seasons sadly are missing the "Play All" selection on the menu. This is quite an oversight, but seasons 3 + 4 do have "Play All" so it's possible later versions of Season 1 + 2 have corrected this error.

Other features include deleted scenes, draft copies, amusing single frame easter eggs (Season One are movie posters) and concept sketches. There's plenty to keep you occupied and interested if you want to look at it. The deleted scenes are quite nice.

But the crowning jewel in the features/extras section for Futurama are the commentaries. Every single episode has commentary on it including the writers, animators, composers, creators and voice actors. There are plenty of appearances from John DeMaggio and Billy West plus a few from others like Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, Phill LaMarr and even Dan Castallaneta. All of the commentaries are infomative, interesting and quite often funny. The highlights of the commentary often come from the voice artists, my favourites include "Dueling Professors" and "Dr. John Zoidberg Comments". It's some of the most enthralling commentary and it adds a whole new layer to watching the show.
9/10 (I'd give it 10 but the easter eggs aren't that interesting, where's my easter egg version of the game Fry plays in the first episode?)

Show:
Futurama is a classic show already, it remains fresh even to this day and hasn't had a truely poor moment yet. I can only identify two episodes that I'm not that keen on "A Fishfull of Dollars" and "That's Lobstertainment", but even those episodes have their great moments and remain watchable. The score I give this show is pretty much predictable. It's perfection.
10/10

Price:
Sadly you make no extra saving for purchasing the seasons together. £80 for the complete season or £20 per season. There's no benefit to grabbing the entire collection these days. You get 72 episodes for this price, each episode is approximately 20mins so you end up paying about 5p per minute of watching - just under a pound per episode. Factor in the fact that every episode has excellent commentary and the Futurama seasons are exceptional value for money. The only problem is, the complete collection doesn't really represent any additional value beyond buying each season seperately.
8/10
Overall:
If you're a fan of the show, the DVDs are must haves. The only problem with the Complete Collection is it's not really an improvement over owning the seasons seperately. The box takes up slightly more space and is impractical for atypical DVD shelving. So it's better to purchase each season seperately.

Packaging: 8 Features: 9 Show: 10 Price: 8 Overall: 87.5%
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