Futurama: Bender's Game

This is a poor excuse for a Futurama movie, it does not do justice to the series and is just poor writing. Its a huge waste of time. If you recieve this as a gift because you have all the others, or you are obsessive about collecting all the stuff FOX puts out (even with lame packaging that scratches the disc) then buy it. Its a non sensical hodge podge of ideas that dont make much sense.

I love the Futurama series, and this is the first of the new movies that really felt like the Futurama that I know and love. This is by far the best of the three, and I recommend it highly to any fans that have been disappointed by the first two movies.

This DVD proves that Futurama is back in great form.

I was looking forward to the return of new Futurama and, as such, really enjoyed "Bender's Big Score" but found it a bit lacking. I was disappointed with "The Beast With a Billion Backs" and found it watchable but not up to the high standards I was expecting from Futurama.

When I watched "Bender's Game" I was blown away! As a D&D and Tolkien fan as well as a Futurama fan, this DVD spoke directly to me. The Futurama team has nailed everything that I enjoyed in the series with this DVD release.

Buy it and watch it! You will not be sorry... unless you hate laughing.

As a hardcore Futurama fan I enjoyed Bender's Game even though it does not measure up to the very best of Futurama. While there are times when the storyline drags, there are lots of funny "bits," with nods to numerous SF and fantasy movies/shows, along with moments that hark back to episodes in the Futurama TV series. The quality of the artwork is noticeably better than it was in the original series, and the DVD includes a good selection of extras. Overall, Bender's Game is a worthy addition to the series. (BTW: While the movie's title is a play on Ender's Game, it has nothing to do with that classic science fiction novel.)

Well, that's much more like what I want from Futurama!

The last two direct-to-DVD releases, Bender's Big Score and The Beast With a Billion Backs were both ok, but nothing great. But this movie is much more like what I expect from the show.

The story centers around Mom and her efforts at controlling the market in dark matter. Dark matter is what powers all the starships and provides energy in 3008, so the parallels between dark matter and our current situation with oil are blatant and obvious.

The story's sub-plot centers around Bender learning how to play Dungeons and Dragons, and how to develop his imagination. Unfortunately he quickly finds himself unable to separate fantasy from reality and is sent to the HAL Institute for Insane Robots.

Eventually the stories intersect and our heroes end up in Bender's fantasy world, where Lela is a centaur, Zoidberg is a big monster and Fry starts turning into Gollum, lusting after a twelve-sided dice of power.

Along with the usual science fiction references (including a nice bit of fun where George Takei is shouting at Scott Bakula, "Way to kill the franchise, Bakula!"), there's plenty of references to D&D and to "The Lord of The Rings". Fans of both should be very amused.

The format of these direct-to-DVD releases is still something of a problem. The show works best in half-hour installments, not in one long story. I hope after the next one, Into the Wild Green Yonder, they go back to making standard episodes.

One last note: I really hope they stop using these awful cardboard packages! These things are terrible! I understand the desire to "be green" and all that, but most people who buy DVDs don't toss the cases into landfills; they keep them and use them. These cases are a joke, and I'll complain about them every time Fox, or any other studio, uses them. In the future, it might be a deciding point for me when debating a purchase.