BENDER'S GAME (DVD Number III)

[Reply #40 on:]

Well at least it sounds like they'll be attempting a semblance of continuity this time. Hopefully it won't retcon everything...

[Reply #41 on:]

According to this article I found in  scifiwire, Bender's game is going to involve

Show spoiler

an alternate-universe adventure, with Bender, Fry (Billy West) and the gang trying to determine why dark matter, which serves as fuel for starships in the 30th century, costs so damn much.

I sure didn't see that coming...  It looks promising though, since it seems to support my theory that the fantasy stuff won't take up the entire movie.

[Reply #42 on:]

Huh. It appears the price for fuel in the future is also inflated. Well, sucks for them 

[Reply #43 on:]

Yes, very topical... 

 

It looks promising though, since it seems to support my theory that the fantasy stuff won't take up the entire movie.

Right, that's what I figured too. Anyway, that story arc about dark matter should tie in with the Nibblonians, allowing this movie to then "explain" some things about BBS. Apparently.

"The movie takes place in a land of magic and dragons"--oh dear. That kind of thing really needs to be handled delicately if it's going to work on more levels than mere fantasy...and I would like to think I still trust their ability to do it...

 

[Reply #44 on:]

 

Originally posted by km73:
...and I would like to think I still trust their ability to do it...

I have to. My mental stability depends on it.

[Reply #45 on:]

Am I the only one who got RCOTG vibes from centaur-Leela?

[Reply #46 on:]

RCOTG?

[Reply #47 on:]

 

Originally posted by Beamer:
Am I the only one who's not looking forward to this? Maybe it's because of my complete and utter distaste of the fantasy genre, but, meh, I'm just not that interested in seeing an entire movie set in a LOTR environment... Seems like something they should've saved for an episode of the show, I don't think it'll work as a full 90-minute feature.

Something tells me this'll be the weakest of the 4 movies and I'll like Into the Wild Green Yonder the best. We shall see...

I'm sort of partial to your comment. Though I don't think that "Bender's Game" will be as big of a bomb as "Bender's Big Score" or "That's Lobstertainment!", I don't think it will be nearly as good as the first Anthology of Interest or "Amazon Women in the Mood". Again, the movies are different than the series, and different in a kind of bad way (well, I have to wait until "Into the Wild Green Yonder" before I could totally clarify that statement).

I think the major problem to these films is that the Futurama crew is forced to write a script and make a plotline for a set time that is four times as longer as their usual limit and must meet the requirement for being split up into for self-standing parts that can air separately as episodes. Back during the original run, the writers were allowed to believe that they had all the time to implace certain plot points to the series and thought that they'd go on for at least eight years like that. The writers also had to only write episodes that would take up a half-hour block, therefore limiting their seemingly infinite horizons. When Futurama entered haitus and its temporary cancellation, the writers quickly sealed up some plot points, but kept some of it opened up enough to explore the plot some more if they were able to return to writing in the future. Now, in the "future", they're required to write large-scale episodes. Since they were used to writing half-hour scripts and now they're forced to write much larger movies, it's likely that the writing staff had to hold off on a lot of new material that they wanted to get into originally for their return, which does kind of effect the quality of their writing (the jokes aren't that harmed by this, though). Also, since the writing staff has to keep with a set time limit, they may have to add or subtract material to meet that, which, once again, they aren't used to doing for Futurama. Just take a look at the best example "Bender's Big Score"; the original idea of "Bender's Big Score" couldn't have nearly lasted the time it was required to meet. Because the plot wasn't long enough to last four movies, they basically puffed in some unnecessary and junk scenes that we didn't really need in the first place (think of it like the napalm squirted into the Bongo plushies, all just to enhance its size).

Futurama's writing staff would probably write better if they went back to the belief that they did have quite some time to introduce key plot elements, but instead of being limited to a specific time slot, they should choose the length of the episode according to the size of the plot. In "Bender's Game"'s case, "Bender's Game" would probably be more suited as a single episode or two-part episode, because an entire two hours (really one and a half) is a bit too much for a single plot on a more silly subject. However, I don't know if this free-length set-up would be legal, as some television shows almost require the episodes to be an exact length of time.

I probably came off crazy with this, didn't I?

[Reply #48 on:]

You have some points, certainly. One has to wonder why Santa only put napalm into one of those things anyway. I personally don't have a problem with the new format though. It would also be nice if they could vary the size of episodes according to the plot length requirements, but then again, the same could be said for when they aired as regular episodes. In both cases, the episode length is what was allotted them.

But I really enjoy watching either of the DVD movies so far. BBS was drug down by Leelu, BWABB was drug down by Colleen, but not by enough to make either movie bad. One common complaint, BBS being contradictory to previous episodes, I just don't see eye to eye with. Primarily because, while I can see why they're saying it, there ARE plausible explanations for how it could NOT contradict them, a stretch as they may be. I guess this is because I always found stretching explanations to cover plot holes to be part of the fun of watching Futurama. So for me this is nary a problem.

As for Bender's Game, well I can say I think it looks funny. Can't give an opinion from there seeing as it isn't out.

[Reply #49 on:]

Does anybody own the UK Blu-ray of Bender's Game? I'm having some trouble with the video commentary - if I select "audio & video" from the menu (either via setup or features), I only get the movie audio track. To actually listen to the commentary I need to select "audio only", but then of-course there's no bonusview picture-in-picture stuff.

I tried manually switching audio with the remote, doesn't work. Player is a Samsung BD-P 1500, which never had trouble with bonusview before. Any ideas? 

[Reply #50 on:]

Well, a good rule of the thumb is to not invest in Samsung hardware.

Still, it may be due to the lack of picture in picture support in the Samsung software, given this is mostly Sony technology.  You are most likely to get all the features with a Sony product.

[Reply #51 on:]

There is no lack of picture-in-picture support. I've watched a coupla video commentaries before, like Starship Troopers (Sony) or Wanted (Universal), just  never a Fox title. Wouldn't be a problem either if Fox didn't use UOP on their discs to prevent manual audio switching. Not all studios do. 

I'm aware Samsung have a bad reputation, however this particular player has played 70+ discs without a problem so far, including known troublemakers (the most recent of which was Inglorious Basterds).

[Reply #52 on:]

For the record, I found the solution. It seems the balance between main audio and bonusview audio is such that the latter is barely audible when connected to an AVR via optical. There is no way of manually altering this balance AFAICT.

All is fine when sound is played through the TV speakers via HDMI. Which is of course absolutely sufficient for an audio commentary. Still a little peculiar, but what the heck... 

[Reply #53 on:]

The weakest of the DVD movies. It wasn't horrific, but it just didn't appeal to me, either. I mean the first act was decent, while the second act was pretty good, the whole cornwood thing was really unnecessary and boring. Not a single laugh or anything, until the revelation of Igner being the Professor's son.

6/10

[Reply #54 on:]

Sorry to be OT, but is there a Into the Wild Green Yonder review thread? The list doesn't provide link a link to one, and searching for one didn't help.

[Reply #55 on:]

This doesn't even seem to be the proper Bender's Game review thread - most of the discussion took place prior to its release.

[Reply #56 on:]

Review threads, complete with _/10 ratings polls, for each of the movies would be great. Almost every thread about the movies talks about the Film before it was made, like this one does, so it'd be nice to have some threads for those of us who have seen the movies (multiple times).

[Reply #57 on:]

I believe this is the Into the Wild Green Yonder review thread you're looking for (and this should be the corresponding thread for Bender's Game).

[Reply #58 on:]

Nice finds, Tedward.