The Stories
Out the outset of the story, the main characters arrive on a massive construction project in the deepest reaches of space. It is here that Leo Wong, father of Amy Wong, is planning to build a ridiculously large casino and is willing to destroy any of nature’s creation to do so. No one really has a problem with this except Leela whose primary role in the story revolves around picketing along side a group of feminists who are all fighting for the environment in the face of Leo’s comically large construction plans.
Meanwhile, Fry discovers he has the ability to involuntarily read minds after getting stuck in the head with a charm from the necklace of one of the feminists. This mind reading ability is the source of several comedic moments. To help keep his sanity and all of the voices out of his head, he dons an aluminum foil hat, and later meets a large underground group of people who have the same issue.
Bender and Fry’s stories intersect when Bender decides to take part in the Universal Poker tournament. Fry believes he can win with this mind reading ability and Bender is out to win the heart of another robot, one who is married to the Donbot, a mob boss like robot who I thought was one of the funnier characters in the film.
Zoidberg, Hermes Conrad, and Farnsworth all take on much smaller roles. Farnsworth is the consulting scientist who Leo checks with to ensure he’s not harming the environment; of course Farnsworth doesn’t really care and just takes the money. You will also see some of the always awkward, always funny Zapp Brannigan, and Kif too.
Overall, Futurama: Into The Wild Blue Yonder isn’t bad, and I think most Futurama fans will get plenty of enjoyment from it.
Futurama On Blu-ray
The new Futurama adventure looks and sounds crisp on Blu-ray, with the few 3D animated scenes looking most choice. In particular there is a large asteroid that is rendered in 3D and it looks excellent. Otherwise the visuals are sharp and look good. The 5.1 Surround sound does its job well.
As for extra features, there are quite a few. They include:
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Audio Commentary with Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Patric M. Verrone, Michael Rowe, Lee Supercinski, and Peter Avanzino.
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Video Commentary Picture-In-Picture style.
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Storyboard Animatic: Into the Wild Green Yonder, Part 1 – This SD feature runs about twenty-two minutes and includes the storyboard art of the opening part of the film.
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Docudramarama – A feature on how the show is created, runs about five minutes in HD.
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Louder, Louder! – A short feature on the acting technique of Penn Jillette from Penn & Teller fame.
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Golden Stinkers – Five deleted scenes in HD, totaling about two minutes.
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Matt Groening & And David X. Cohen In Space!
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How To Draw Futurama In 10 Difficult Steps
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3D Models with Animator Discussion – Really cool feature where the animators discuss the making of and other aspects of some of the 3D animation used.
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Bender’s Movie Theater Etiquette
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Zapp Brannigan’s Guide To Making Love At A Woman
Let’s get to the summary…