Futurama: Bender's Game

Plot synopsis:
Ignoring Professor Farnsworth's orders to conserve fuel due to a rise in dark matter prices, Leela borrows the Planet Express Ship to enter a demolition derby after being insulted by rednecks. They win it, however the ship is wrecked, but due to botched laser eye surgery, the Professor only notices that the fuel has been used. As punishment, Leela is fitted with a shock collar to teach her anger management. Meanwhile, Bender finds Cubert and Dwight playing Dungeons & Dragons with their friends, but he cannot join in since, as a robot, he has no imagination. After several tries at imagining things, Bender manages to imagine himself as a medieval knight named "Titanius Anglesmith, fancy man of Cornwood" and enters the game. Unfortunately, he soon gets lost in his fantasy and goes on a rampage, resulting in his commitment to the Hal Institute for Criminally Insane Robots.
The crew learns that Mom, who controls the world's only Dark Matter mine, is restricting the supply in order to drive up profits. The Professor reveals to the crew that while working for her many years ago, he stumbled on a way to turn dark matter from a useless curiosity into starship fuel. The process created two energy crystals, with Mom keeping one for herself and Farnsworth hiding the other, "anti-backwards" crystal. If the two crystals are brought together, they will render all dark matter useless. Farnsworth has forgotten where he hid his crystal, but it is being used as a 12-sided die in the kids' D&D game. Mom determines its location and sends her sons Walt, Larry and Igner to retrieve it, by saying that they are owl exterminators, but Farnsworth foils their attempt by sending an angry owl at them, messing up their plan since they do not know how to exterminate owls. Farnsworth, Fry, and Leela fly to Mom's mine with the crystal in order to neutralize the dark matter.
Reaching Mom's mine, the trio discovers the heart of the operation: thousands of captive Nibblonians, including Nibbler, being force fed chickens in order to collect their excreted dark matter. Igner spots them, having earlier overheard Mom telling his brothers a secret about him, and helps them reach Mom's office. Farnsworth tries to bring his and Mom's crystals together, but swallows his in order to keep it out of Mom's hands.
In the robot asylum, Bender is diagnosed with insanity and is due for a "Robotomy" in order to remove his imagination processor. The closeness of the two dark matter crystals triggers a resonance in all dark matter—including a stockpile Bender has stored within his body—and catapults all the characters into Cornwood, the realm Bender imagines himself to be from. The other members of the Planet Express crew (Hermes, Zoidberg, and Amy) are transported as well.
"Frydo" (Fry) and "Leegola" (Leela, now a centaur) emerge first and encounter Titanius (Bender); no one in Cornwood has any memory of their real-world lives, except for Fry and Leela. The three are attacked by "Waltazar" (Walt), "Larius" (Larry) and "Ignus" (Igner), who are trying to recover the anti-backwards crystal. While fighting them off, Frydo drops the crystal, which rolls like a die and magically banishes the sons from the area to the Swamp Hag's swamp. Frydo and company meet the wizard "Greyfarn" (Farnsworth), who explains that in this world, the anti-backwards crystal is known as the Die of Power. The evil snake-haired sorceress "Momon" (Mom) molded a set of powerful dice, but lost this one and has been trying to locate it so she can tap its immense potential. The only way to stop Momon is to enter her lair at the Geysers of Gygax and throw the Die into the lake of molten plastic from which it was formed, destroying it.
As the group sets out, the intersex, pacifist centaur "Hermaphrodite" (Hermes) bars their passage, since the centaurs are opposed to the violence that Frydo and company intend to do. However, (s)he is easily pushed aside by Leela, who leads everyone to the Cave of Hopelessness. As they approach, "Gynecaladriel" (Amy): Queen of the Water Nymphos joins their quest and seduces the guard, enabling them to enter the Cave. Inside the Cave, a horde of "Morcs" (orcs) attacks followed by a gigantic lobster creature (Zoidberg) which Leegola brutally cuts to pieces in a rage, and the wormlike Tunneling Horror which Frydo defeats using the Die. As Frydo becomes obsessed with the Die, Leegola renounces violence after realizing Zoidberg was not the tunnelling horror, and flees to take refuge among the centaurs. That night, Frydo makes a botched attempt to murder the other members of the party; when foiled, he flees with the die.
The remaining travelers journey to Wipe Castle to raise an army against Momon, only to find that Roberto, its insane king, has already sent his men on a pointless suicide mission. The heroes defend the kingdom alone as Waltazar and Larius lay siege to it, until Leegola regains her violent nature and rallies the centaurs to help her friends. Frydo makes his way into Momon's lair, aided by Zoidberg's still-living head; Frydo cannot bring himself to destroy the Die, so Zoidberg bites him to force him to drop it. Momon becomes a dragon and goes after the Die, but when it stops rolling, it turns Frydo into a dragon as well. The rest of the party arrives, along with Ignus, who reveals a secret Momon told his brothers: he is Greyfarn's son. Overwhelmed by this revelation, Greyfarn falls on the Zoidberg creature (who had claimed the Die), allowing Momon to seize the Die.
Cornwood collapses in on itself, hurling the characters back into the real world. With the crystal back in the Professor's stomach, Mom once again orders Walt and Larry to retrieve it. Before his moment of discomfort, the Professor requests a hug from Igner. Mom complies, saying someone should hug him as she never has. As the Professor had theorized, Igner had swallowed Mom's crystal in defiance and the hug brings the crystals in the two men's stomachs close enough to render all dark matter useless, breaking Mom's stranglehold on the fuel supply. As a temporary propulsion source, the crew harnesses dozens of Nibblonians to pull their ship home, which they call "Nibbler Power".

Tags: insanity, cult, fantasy, psychedelic, alternate reality

Review:
I have been impressed with the other Futurama 'films' (for wont of a better word), yet none of them achieved what this one did, the main thing I look for when watching the Futurama cartoon: laugh out loud comedy.
Let me put it this way, this movie was to "Billion backs" as "Billion backs" was to "Big score." The first movie was great, the second was just OK, and this one is actually kind of bad.I hate to speak ill of anything Futurama, but fans should keep their expectations in check.
Admittedly, the off-handed comments by the characters are still quite funny, and a handful of their social commentaries do hit the mark, as do a small number of the "regular" jokes.Anyway, If you're a Futurama fan, you really owe it to yourself to keep up with these movies.
However, whereas I was disappointed with Beast With a Billion Backs (which was the perfect demonstration of why Futurama is at its best not when it's funny, but when it tells a good story like it did in BBS), I was very impressed with Bender's Game.
Very funny and very entertaining, with Amy on Leela action that will have the fans salivating while they role their 12-sided die, Bender's Game is not quite the impressive feat that the first film was, but is a return to form after the disappointment of BWBB.
I have already said it on another commentary but I like repeating it : I had an enormous admiration for the TV programme Futurama because it shook sarcastic,incisive and irreverent humor with intelligent concepts of sci-fi,exotic characters and a well structured mythology.That twist resulted on one of the best comedies the TV has ever produced.Unfortunately,this series was very underrated,and after four seasons of declining ratings,Futurama was cancelled in mid-2003.But,the surprising DVD sales of the series and the success of the repetitions of the series on channels like Cartoon Network,made the executives from Fox to re-considerate their (stupid) decision and now,we can enjoy the rebirth of Futurama,not on TV,but on movies made straight-to-DVD.But,as a huge fan of Futurama,I have to say Futurama : Bender's Big Score and Futurama : The Beast with a Billion Backs,in spite of being funny and entertaining,did not leave me completely satisfied.It seems that the creators of Futurama perfectly dominated the half an hour format (22 minutes without the commercials) but they have found difficulties in telling fluid and natural stories in the format of a full-length film.That problem is still on Futurama : Bender's Game.Minute by minute,Bender's Game made me laugh pretty much and it kept me entertained.But the whole does not result totally satisfactory,because the film suffers from lack of cohesion and from a fractured narrative.At the end of the first half hour,there is a sudden change of tone and it seems a totally different movie from there...in other words,the film keeps being funny and entertaining but that sudden change makes the film a little bit forced.I think the best format for Futurama was the one for TV but I have to be grateful for back to have Futurama.As the other Futurama films,Bender's Game is entertaining but I expected more from it.Still,I can recommend it because I had a good time watching it..
This movie series started off just "OK" with "Bender's Big Score", then I felt a little hope seeing "Beast With a Billion Backs"..Sadly however, "Bender's Game" and "Into The Wild Green Yonder" are both in-cohesive, boring, and generally consist of the kind of lazy writing you wouldn't expect from a show like Futurama.One of the biggest problems is certainly trying to produce a full-length movie out of a 20-minute cartoon.
It became very clear to me that the writers lost interest and/or didn't have enough quality content to make these films, and the movies suffered big time.As some other people mentioned, there was way too much crude and sexual humor that just didn't fit the series.
Dr Zoidberg is funny as always, and the D&D theme will amuse every fan of Futurama (after all, there is a little nerd in all of us, right?).Nibbler is central to one of the plots in the movie, and he's cute and fuzzy race is a welcome addition back into the fold as Fry and the Planetary express crew fight against Mom's robot empire.One of the best cartoon movies ever!
Don't expect it to get any better after you successfully endured fecal gags, plain idiocy and obvious attempts to satisfy male viewers' wishes - only to get shocked by transsexual and elder-sexual appearances.Having seen the whole series and the previous two movies I daresay: "Worst Episode Ever".
The third and thus far worst of the Futurama feature films see's our heroes stuck in a world of dungeons and dragons and for that reason I expected great things.
It most certainly did not deliver!Being the big ol' nerd that I am I thought that could be the thing that takes the distinctly average Futurama and makes it enjoyable for me but instead it seems to have gone the other way.The jokes are just not on point at all, they're worse than ever.
If a d&d setting can't make it enjoyable than what chance does it stand?The Good:A few decent jokesGreat LOTR parodiesThe Bad:Most jokes miss the markThings I Learnt From This Movie:I don't think I'll ever get the appeal of this seriously overrated tosh.
Then Bender's overactive imagination sends everybody into a D&D alternate reality.Nibbler's story recap is great and I like the crew's battle with Mom for the most part.
It's a melding that this time could have used a few more trips to the writing table to get it to solidify.In this self-contained adventure, the Planet Express crew suffers from the escalating price of rocket fuel dark matter, provoking Professor Farnsworth (Billy West) to go up against the maniacal head of Mom Corp (Tress MacNeille) who single-handedly controls the supply.
Meanwhile, Leela (Katy Sagal) is disciplined for her violent temper and Bender (John DiMaggio) is accused of not having an imagination by the players of Dungeons and Dragons and is driven to robot madness by the game.The first act of "Game" is something of a dream come true.
The first act is a refreshing turn of a character comedy for this normally lightning-fast sci-fi satire in which details set-up in the series are brought to a head, notably some repressed anger from Leela toward Zoidburg and her appropriately hilarious reaction to a shock collar, a somewhat clever flashback to Nibbler's first meeting with the crew and the long promised next epic confrontation with Mom. As possibly the show's best villain, it's welcome to see this Mom story finally realized and MacNeille is something of a powerhouse in the voice performance.
This section of the movie is in flashes some of the best work the show has done.While D&D is established early and often, it still doesn't help cushion the wild, hard left turn the movie takes from its energy/Mom story to randomly and literally (and I do mean literally) dropping the characters into a D&D fantasy world.
"Game" is a broad, easily accessible palette cleanser of toilet humor and forced gags after the sharp, iconoclastic and surreal "Beast With A Billion Backs" - which for my money is still the triumph of the movie series so far.The D&D section of the film didn't have to be a mindless lost cause.
Instead of the creative or scientific explanation we've come to expect from Futurama, "Bender's Game" leaves us with the classically disappointing "It was All a Dream" ending.
but then again, that story was AWFUL, so i hope the next brings us fans back to "FUTURAMA" standards....It does finally bring forth new ideas other than stupid pointless ones, and it is worth buying unlike its previous offering, I really would love it if the show was resurrected, almost as much as if the original "STAR TREK" was given the chance to complete its 5 year mission rather than 3...but that wont happen...
Ah, if only I were Bender and destroyed his game.At any rate, Professor Farnsworth, Fry, Leela, and the whole crew go through this mysterious "Dungeons and Dragons" game it gets a little crazy.
Out Of All The Futurama Movies This One Is The Best So Far. Beast With A Billion Backs Was Crap Bender's Big Score Is Alright.
They Joke Off Lord Of The Rings & Star Wars A Lot. This Is Futurama's Best & Funniest Movie.
I'm a huge fan of the television series and the 2 movies that followed.'Benders Game' is the best movie and episode to date.It's full of laughs,crude and sexual humor,and wacky cartoon violence.In fact,this sequel is much more violent than the first 2 movies and all of the episodes.So make sure not to let little kids see it.Save it for teens.In this episode,Bender the robot discovers that he has no imagination until he becomes obsessed with a board game that goes by the name of Dungeons & Dragons.It's an actual game to.But soon,Bender loses control of reality and his imagination causes the Planet Express crew to fall into a fantasy world where Bender is king and where everybody eats fried dwarfs.Sounds too weird for you?
Well,it gets a little weirder as it continues.'Futurama: Bender's game' is the best movie of the series and is a must-see for Futurama fans..
I have watched and commented on all the movies so far and I always bang on about how cartoon comedys don't really translate to the big screen blah blah.The third offering from the franchise has managed to side step this which is why (in my humble opinion it is the best so far) it is more like two and half good episodes of Futerama messily stitched together.
They parody everything in here, the game, the controversy, the after school special on D&D which did nothing at the time except make the people involved look like complete idiots and the eating of strange things and drinking of soda.It is noteworthy that if you have EVER heard the Deadale Wives do "Dungeons and Dragons" and laughed ("WHERE'S THE CHEETOS??
That just tells you that the writers know their history and I find that comforting.There are a lot of parodies as you might expect from Futurama but they are finally doing parodies of stuff I wanted to see parodied which turns out pretty well for me.In short Fans of D&D will like this one, fans of the epic film trend will like this one and people who like it when Futurama just abandons reality and continuity completely to let the pure art of the moment will like this one.
Overall, It's a Futurama movie, not The Dark Night or something, it's above average.Watch it, enjoy it and move on with your life.Now we wait for the final film, which will decide it all..
The "game" section is a little too trippy for its own good but otherwise it is the first film to feel like the series and be really funny.
Meanwhile, Bender's initial inability to take part in the kids' game of Dungeons & Dragons (due to his lack of programmed imagination), takes off big time  seeing him falling into a fantasy world of knights and witchcraft in his head and a mental institution in real life.The previous two Futurama movies were not that great, with overly busy plotting getting in the way of what the show was actually meant to be  funny and smart.
Reading my plot summary here (and seeing the film synopsis in full) might suggest that Bender's Game is more of the same as we have different things going on with the characters all flowing together into a rather mad story.
We do still have the plot working hard to make things move forward at times but even when this is happening, the film is still funny.
The fantasy game section of the film is a little too trippy and long for its own good because it just suddenly "happens" in a way that feels like a different film and it is a while before the connection to the main plot is clear.
Even with the laughing though, 90 minutes still seems like a bit of an ask and it does feel longer than it is, reminding the viewer that Futurama always was about 20 minutes long and making the same thing work in a product about five times longer is not easy and doesn't totally work.Despite these minor qualms, Bender's Game is the Futurama film I have been waiting for and it is the first one of the three that has captured what I loved about the actual series.
i found them to be mostly slow and boring and unfunny.but,since my friend had bought this direct to video Futurama movie,i thought why not.what's that the worst that could happen?well,as it turns out,i liked it.i thought the story was very interesting,and flowed very well and there were some very funny moments and funny characters.the best part was that i was able to follow everything without knowing that much about the series.after watching this movie(number 3 in the series)i might check out the other three Futurama movies.they are:#1 Bender's Big Score:#2 The Beast With A Billion Backs:#4 Into the Wild Green Yonder.for me,Bender's Game is a 7/10..
I reckon the new Simpsons writers got to the script, because it's honestly awful: they've over-spoofed it as well, with white castle, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars all being pointlessly featured.The main feature of the movie, the alternative world, was only shown for half an hour to make room, instead, for a sub-par story about Professor Farnsworth trying to create an energy crisis in response to Mom increasing the price of fuel.
(Yes, it even looks bad on paper.) Not only does the plot make no sense, there is nothing clever done with this poor starting material, meaning there is no redemption in the jokes.Compare this to the first movie, Bender's Big Score, and this is a travesty of an excuse for entertainment.
Bender's Big Score had hilarious jokes, clever writing and an interesting plot which seemed to flow together; heck even the second film at least followed from one theme to another.
I'm hoping the last movie in this series is more like the first two.One last thing - the ratings on here have been given by fans who haven't seen the movie - that's usually what happens, as we make the presumption that every piece of Futurama animation will be brilliant, but don't let the rating fool you.
If you are going to make a movie, specifically a comedy, try to put some creativity into it.This thing is one rehashed joke after another, which lead to me calling what was going to happen in just about every scene.There is a complete lack of care for any of the characters, even for fans of the show.
When it comes to the fantasy world (Bender's game), the characters there (mostly parody of Lord of the Rings) are very good impersonated, with a lot of twist of course.
The conclusion is that this is a funny movie worth watching, and if your already a Futurama fan, either this movie was great or not, you would still enjoy watching it..
And for all who's a Lord of the Rings fan,this is a must see parody.The move starts with Bender feeling left out when he sees Cubert and Dwight playing Dungeons & Dragons and can't play because robots are not installed with imaginations.
Of the first 3 of 4 FUTURAMA movies, I love this one the best.
The jokes are almost non-stop, the story moves much faster, and overall, this one was more like the regular episodes are/were...The spaceship demolition race was so cool, and the whole 2nd half was a blast (I never was into Dungeons and Dragons, but enjoyed all the references anyways.
Some of the best FUTURAMA writing, jokes, etc., for my money.To paraphrase that garbage scow driver, "If you's likes FUTURAMA's, then you's justs got-stas gets 'Bender's Game'!".
Bender's Game isn't a disappointment because after the last two, I was expecting this to fall short of the TV series.The number of laughs in this movie are pretty low.
Bender's Game is full of inside jokes, the typical humor of the series and actually a little development of some of the episodes in the series.
Without the inside jokes, and without knowing of the previous episodes, it is still a really funny movie.
It is really good parody of its own, full of references too both sci-fi and fantasy movies (and others as well) and, of course, the game Dungeons and Dragons.
Combined with the humor of Groening and his marvelous team it is a really funny movie.However, to experience it like the gem it is, I think you need to be a fan.
The second is that to follow what is going on in a Futurama movie, you'd actually have to have seen the episodes a few dozen times.
Meanwhile, Bender feels left out of a game of Dungeons & Dragons because he has no imagination, but when he does he gives himself the new name "Titanius Anglesmith" in the realm of Cornwood, he believes he is a knight, has gone crazy and is put in an institute.
Anyway, the animation here is fantastic and here we have a longer opening with a very cool Yellow Submarine-like scene that ends in a very funny way with the crazy character Nibbler to let begin this 87 minutes movie.
Then when the two plots comes together we are in a new world, actually in Cornwood ad we have more Dungeons & Dragons, Lord of the Rings stuff and Star Wars stuff, is a very funny final part of the movie (check the hilarious stuff with Fry -do- as Gollum!).
Then I really liked Bender's Game, it is good Futurama stuff, a lot of fun!