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| Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs | 
 enlarge | Director: Peter Avanzino
Actors: Brittany Murphy, Dan Castellaneta, David Cross, Phil Lamarr, Billy West
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.99
Buy Used: $11.45
You Save: $18.54 (62%)
New (58) Used (19) from $11.45
Avg. Customer Rating:  155 reviews
Sales Rank: 1360
Format: Ac-3, Animated, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 90
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.5
MPN: FOXD2252093D
UPC: 024543520931
EAN: 0024543520931
ASIN: B00158K0V0
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: June 24, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Complete with original disc(s), case, and manual. In stock and ships right now!
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Product Description
Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 06/24/2008 Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Nr
Amazon.com
In Futurama's latest and most tentacle-packed epic, space itself rips open, revealing a gateway to another universe. But what lies beyond? Horror? Love? Or maybe both, if it happens to contain a repulsive, planet-sized monster with romantic intentions! Nothing less than the fate of human and robot-kind is at stake as the Futurama crew takes on The Beast with a Billion Backs.
The Beast with a Billion Backs will be presented in widescreen format with English Dolby Surround 5.1, along with French and Spanish subtitles. Bonus features include:
The second of four direct-to-DVD adventures featuring the Futurama crew, The Beast with a Billion Backs picks up where its predecessor, Bender's Big Score, left off while balancing multiple love stories and the arrival of a sexually voracious alien from another universe. Unlike Bender, the various story lines converge well here--the tentacled, Lovecraftian creature Yivo (voiced by David Cross), which wants to mate with the entire population of the universe at once, makes Fry (Billy West) its de facto leader (Pope, actually), which in turn plays havoc with his relationship with new girlfriend Colleen (Brittany Murphy). And Yivo's scheme causes the people of Earth to evacuate the planet, leaving it in the hands of robots--which is, of course, excellent news for Futurama's resident mechanical malcontent, Bender (John DiMaggio). Beast is probably best understood and enjoyed by longtime fans of the series, who will recognize and appreciate the countless "surprise guests" (Robot Satan, the Harlem Globetrotters, Bender's hero Calculon, the head of Stephen Hawking), though the feature is certainly well-written and performed by its voice cast, and should provide plenty laughs for first-timers with flexible attention spans. Parents, however, should note that the humor can be fairly suggestive at times, and should exercise caution in regard to younger viewers. Extras include a very funny commentary track with creators Matt Groening and David X Cohen, stars West, DiMaggio and Maurice LaMarche, and key members of the production team. Deleted scenes and a making-of featurette with the voice cast are entertaining, but the real features of value are Futurama: The Lost Adventure, which is culled from the Futurama game for Playstation 2, as well as a lengthy preview of the next direct-to-DVD movie, Bender's Game. Suffice it to say that the Lord of the Rings weighs heavily on the storyline. -- Paul Gaita
Beyond Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs on DVD 
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Stills from Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs (Click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 150 more reviews...
 The Proud Result of Prison Writing June 30, 2008
80 out of 88 found this review helpful
While I'm a truly devoted Futurama fan, I'm not one of those condescending supergeeks who claim to love Futurama so much that I have the authority to tell everyone else how virulently they're supposed to hate anything even slightly different than my favorite old episodes. (That's right, you heard me.) I'm ecstatic that Futurama has returned from the dead, and I totally loved "Bender's Big Score." But this new Futurama flick disappoints. Most of what we know and love about Futurama is still here in spades, but this flick suffers from a poorly-developed plot and a degeneration of the show's formerly deep and subversive humor.
The 88-minute format is either too long for a compact and focused plotline, or too short for the type of complex story the producers appear to be striving for. The story here jumps around at a very awkward pace and shows signs of severe over-editing. The jokes have been reduced to Family Guy-like asides played for cheap guffaws rather than deep thoughts. (The caped superhero is an unfortunate example, and Bender's firstborn son is a very unfortunate example.)
Many holes and inconsistencies in the storyline show that plot construction took a backseat to the more easily written sight gags and cheap asides. (Here's an example that hopefully won't be condemned as a spoiler. Late in the film the new Yivo character says he [sklee] sent an image of himself to artists in our universe, but most of the story is built on the idea that Yivo thought he was alone in all universes.) The fundamental story has also trumped the longstanding strengths of the show. The personalities of Fry and Leela (and important supporting characters like Kif) are inconsistent, Bender has been demoted to an unworkable subplot, and Zoidberg does little more than vomit for simpleminded laughs. There are also many missed opportunities for building upon the cliffhangers left from "Bender's Big Score."
You can rest assured that the great Futurama animation, music, and voice acting (the actors have always been the show's unsung heroes) won't disappoint this time around. But the writing will. Certain fans may or may not like the basic story, but the bigger point is that everyone will notice the careless and unprofessional defects in the story. Hopefully this flick will just be a temporary misstep. Console yourself by remembering once again how lucky we are to have Futurama back among the living. [~doomsdayer520~]
 Great Movie, PLUS Best DVD Bonus Item Ever June 19, 2008
41 out of 54 found this review helpful
Having seen an advance copy, unlike some of the other non-reviewers, I can say that the movie is excellent. But I mainly want to point out that the bonus features include the "lost Futurama episode", a full-length 30-minute CGI episode originally produced for the old Futurama video game (never aired on TV, but featuring the actual voice cast and written by the show's original writers). This is also very entertaining, and is undoubtedly the best DVD bonus item in Futurama history. What's with the one-star reviews from people who haven't seen the DVD?
Too late to go back to the future? June 25, 2008
30 out of 35 found this review helpful
I bought this on the day of release, so of course I'm a big Futurama fan and expected to like it. I thought Bender's Big Score was a decent effort showing some rust, so to speak, and that the new releases would get better from there. This one is a letdown, though. No doubt, there are some good jokes, and I laughed here and there during the 90 minutes. But the writing really doesn't feel like Futurama. The grossout and mildly sick humor is amped up (it was always there but balanced with the show's sophisticated writing), and in particular, some of the humor that plays on the film's "rape" plot has a slightly ugly edge. There's also a lengthy subplot with Calculon that really drags down the film while offering almost no laughs.
The special features are pretty weak too. The deleted scenes reel is very short, the "blooper" section is just 2 minutes of the voice actors mugging for the video cameras (though this guy is happy to look at Tress McNeill and Katey Segal), and the full-length "episode" created for a video game just doesn't have the laughs.
Bottom line: I eagerly awaited this and bought it day of release; I won't be in such a hurry for the next one (which doesn't look so hot, based on the preview included with this one).
Lives up to the Hype May 28, 2008
22 out of 47 found this review helpful
I saw an early release of this movie and it is insanely good. If you liked episodes such as "When Aliens Attack" or "A Tale of Two Santas", then you will love this movie as the humor seems to be very similiar. My favorite part was when the purple tentacle grabbed Leela and squezed her. What she says at that point is so funny, but I won't drop any spoilers here.
Buy this now if your looking for some good laughs!
 Looks like Futurama, tastes like Futurama . . . but what the heck is it, really? June 26, 2008
20 out of 32 found this review helpful
If anything, "The Beast with a Billion Backs" has helped me to recognize that while I am a fan of Futurama - I am, thankfully, not a fanboy. I've read over some of the previous reviews extolling the outrageous humor, deep meaning, and (god help me, no pun intended) biblical parallels . . . and I'm afraid that I have to side with the minority and say that this latest effort felt like a half -hearted attempt to try and put a shiny Futurama wrapper on a mish-mash of storylines without direction that get slammed together at the end for an unsatisfying finish. I was so disappointed with this release that it moved me to write my very first review here on Amazon. My one . . . lonely moment of laughter was the guest appearance by Stephen Hawking. That at least justifies the one star rating.
The developments of "Bender's Big Score" are all but forgotten and almost every character is out of character. Not to mention the big payoff, the moral after 89 minutes is . . . love isn't really love without jealousy. The End. Wow. I realize that this particular story arc isn't trying to bury us in pointless humor, but when putting it up against previous stories like Jurassic Bark . . . the writing doesn't even compare.
Die hard fans will rave about this video and five star it all day long no matter what anyone says. Weak jokes, even weaker self-references, and a thin plotline lead me to recommend that regular fans of the series rent this and save themselves $16. For me, the true measure of how much I enjoyed this movie is that while I do and will continue to watch seasons 1-4 of the series over and over, I highly doubt this disc will ever come into contact with my DVD player again.
My expectations aren't high for "Bender's Game" when it comes out this fall.
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