Futurama was the brainchild of Simpson veterans Matt Groening and David X Cohen. With the growing popularity of their iconic cartoon, it was no surprise that Fox would tap the team to bring another show to the network. When Futurama premiered in 1999, it was a combination of The Jetsons and The Simpsons. That would be ironic for those of us who think the Simpsons theme is a direct knock off of The Jetsons. It was 1000 years in the future, and the joke was that no matter how much things changed, they hadn’t really changed at all. The space age series would use many of the writing and art team from The Simpsons. That meant the character designs, at least the humans, would look exactly like the people in the other show. The writing would include that same subtle wit that implanted tons of references for the adults who were watching. The show never seemed to click with the kids, but it was not really meant to. The subject matter was considerably more adult in nature, and there really weren’t any cuddly characters. All of this likely led to Fox’s decision to cancel the show after 4 years. It wasn’t a quick and painless demise, either. The show suffered through months of purgatory. It was on, then off again. The final episodes were moved around and often rescheduled. In the end it was an uphill battle, and Futurama lost.

Now Futurama has had a chance that home video has given to many cult favorite shows in recent years. Into The Wild Green Yonder is the fourth, and final scheduled, film to carry on the Futurama adventures. With this film, we’re finally getting a look at the future in the format of the future now, Blu-ray. If the films continue to sell as well as they have in the beginning, the crew have more adventures planned for us. You can vote for the continuation of Futurama with your dollars. Buy the discs and save Futurama.

In the series Fry (West) was a pizza delivery guy when he is accidentally frozen in suspended animation. When he awakens it’s 1000 years later. The galaxy is made up of robots, aliens, and humans. He finds that personalities from his own time have survived to the future, as heads in jars. Nixon is once again president and up to his old tricks. You never knew which 20^th or 21^st century celebrity you’ll find in a jar in this future. Calling upon his delivery skills, Fry joins the crew of a Planet Express spaceship run by a distant nephew relative of his. The crew is made up of the one-eyed beauty, Leela (Segal), on whom Fry has a crush. She is the ship’s captain. The ship’s robot, Bender (DiMaggio) is not the role model that Robby once was. He gambles, steals, and is on a mission to destroy all human based life. But he’ll complete his mission all in good fun. The science officer is professor Farnsworth (West), a somewhat senile old goat, who was Fry’s nephew. The crew encounters many strange species and situations on their quest to deliver packages across the cosmos.

All of your favorite characters are back for this high definition adventure. In this film the crew is out to stop the evil Wong from expanding his empire at the cost of destroying suns and planets along the way. He wants to build the universe’s largest miniature golf course, one that expands the entire galaxy. His 18^th hole requires him to supernova a nice violet sun and destroy the thriving and evolving ecosystem along the way. Caught in a chemical explosion, Fry develops the ability to read minds. He tries to use his power from inside Wong’s establishment, causing friction with Leela, who believes he’s gone over to the evil side. He’s unable to fill her in on her plan, because there’s a big bad out there that can read everyone’s mind but Fry’s. He can’t trust his plan, even to Leela’s exposed mind. Leela is not only protesting the destruction of the galaxy’s environment, but Wong’s exclusion of women in his posh resorts. She forms a paramilitary group of women who sabotage Wong’s various projects. Bender still steals the show here with some of his many sub plots. He’s having an affair with the wife of the boss of the robot mob, Don Bot.

The “Captain” Al Gore environmental story here is too obvious to be very effective. Fortunately it’s never heavy handed. The visuals are definitely a step up from the television shows. There’s some rather impressive three dimensional animation modeling done here that makes this feature a strong step up from the rather plain television animation. The planet everyone’s trying to save is an impressive piece of modeling indeed. If you love Futurama, you’re going to find this to be more of the same. The same wit is present throughout. It’s really just a long episode with more impressive visuals. That’s not really a bad thing for fans. You’ll be happy to know they haven’t messed with the formula that’s made this such a cult hit. The only real problem with the film is that it was created in four parts so that it could air on The Comedy Channel as part of a revival series using the 4 DVD films as the basis for 16 episodes. I’m not sure I like the idea. It makes the film’s pacing awkward and a little tedious at times. You’ll want to own them in this complete formula. Why would you then mess with watching them chopped up on television complete with commercials? I think Futurama needed to abandon the television idea and make 4 films that worked merely as what they were. Instead these scripts suffer from obvious plot contrivances to make logical episode beginnings and endings. The end result will be a poorly watched Comedy Central run and an incorrect conclusion that interest had once again waned. Of course it did, the fans already have the stuff. Doh!

Video

Futurama is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1. This is as good as the show has ever looked, or honestly should look. You get a startling 1080p image brought about using an AVC/MPEG-4 codec. Colors are ultra bright in this presentation even when you consider the often less than 20 mbps bit rate isn’t very respectable. Still, the film couldn’t be any cleaner, sharper, or solid looking. You really gain an appreciation for the upgraded visuals, absolutely best during the space scene. I’ve already talked about the 3D modeling of the endangered planet. The amount of detail on this kind of animation would make the classic Disney animators take notice. Lines are clean and pure. This is Futurama at its pie in the sky, beyond expectation best.

Audio

The DTS-HD 5.1 track clocks in at 3.0 mbps. I wasn’t quite as impressed with the sound as the video, but this is still some sweet stuff. You get plenty of whirling and buzzing ambient sounds, and again the space scenes are where it all comes together best. Of course, dialog is the big cheese here, and it’s perfectly placed and crystal clear at all times.

There is an Audio Commentary that has a PIP option as well. It features Matt Groening along with a large cast of voices, crew, and animators. You’ll want to try it after you’ve seen the film, as it is tremendously distracting. I don’t like where they placed the box. It’s toward the lower right corner, but not entirely down far enough. I also wish you could make it larger using the film as the PIP because, again it’s best viewed for its own sake. Everyone has a great time, and there’s a lot of stuff for them to point out. This is a Futurama film, after all.

Special Features

• Toilet Paper Animation: This short piece is actually an Easter Egg, but it’s so easy to access that I thought I’d include it as one of the extras. To find it just take another spin on the Wheel Of Fortune. That’s a hint, not a direction. It’s a minute black and white crude animation of Bender having a beer.
• Storyboard Animatic: This 22 minute feature is for those of you who are into storyboards. I really don’t get into them. It takes you through a large portion of the film, complete with sound, but using original storyboards instead of animation.
• Docudramarama – How We Make Futurama: This 5 minute fake making of feature has voice actress Lauren Tom doing everything from animation to providing all of the film’s voices. It’s a self described “real fake story”.
• Louder, Louder – The Acting Technique of Penn Julette: This 2 minute extra is in HD and features “the man of one voice”. Penn talks about providing the voice for himself on the film.
• Golden Stinkers: This is the deleted scenes section. There are 5 scenes for a total of about 3 minutes. Most are unfinished animation or simply storyboards. They are primarily extensions of scenes already in the film.
• Matt Groening and David X. Cohen In Space: The crew got to go on the famous “vomit comet” to experience zero G. Matt and Dave narrate stills and footage from the field trip. I’m sure it costs a gazillion dollars, but they tell us that everyone should try it. Maybe I can get them to pay for my wife, who absolutely yearns to feel weightlessness. Give me a call guys.
• How To Draw Futurama In 10 Very Difficult Stages: This is one of those drawing guides you see so much on animated films. I watched them, and my Farnsworth still looks like a stick man.
• 3D Models: This 4 minute HD feature gives you a look at some of the evolution of the cool 3D computer animation. Unfortunately a Rough Draft Studios bug occupies a large part of the screen throughout.
• Bender’s Movie Theater Etiquette: This HD minute long piece is one of those theater courtesy announcements with Bender breaking all of the rules.
• Zapp Brannigan’s Guide To Making Love At A Woman: This 3 minute HD piece is a guide to picking up chicks featuring Zapp trying them out on Leela.
• Trailer

Final Thoughts

I’m glad to see Futurama thriving so on home video. It dies really come alive in high definition. I remember first telling my wife we were going to get a chance to preview the latest Futurama film on Blu-ray. Her response, I’m afraid, might echo many of you as well. She asked me, “Does it really matter?” Hell, yes, it matters. Unlike The Simpsons, or even South Park, visuals are indeed a big part of this world. The animators were up to the task and did, indeed, give us something worthy of Blu-ray. I would have hoped for a more fluent story, but considering the dual format concerns here, they did the best that they could. Matt and Dave promise that, if they have anything to do with it, Futurama won’t end now that these four films are completed. Now you need to promise to go out and buy them all today. “Do you footswear?”