Product Description

With fuel prices skyrocketing, the Planet Express crew sets off on a dangerous mission: to infiltrate the world's only dark-matter mine, source of all spaceship fuel. But deep beneath the surface lies a far stranger place... a medieval land of dragons and sorcery and intoxicated knights who look suspiciously like Bender. So park your hover-car and saddle up your unicorn for Futurama's grandest adventure yet: BENDER'S GAME!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5038 in DVD
• Brand: FUTURAMA
• Released on: 2008-11-04
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: AC-3, Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 88 minutes

Amazon.com
At once a merciless skewering of all things fanboy and an extremely satisfying addition to the Futurama franchise, Bender's Game is among the best of the animated series' feature length adventures. The game in question is Dungeons and Dragons, and Bender wants in--only robots aren't programmed with the necessary imagination. Naturally, Bender's plans to develop one go completely awry and land him in an android asylum. The role-playing plotline later re-emerges--in typically convoluted Futurama fashion--via a subplot involving Professor Farnsworth's conversion of dark matter into spaceship fuel, which created a key to a very D&D-influenced universe where our hapless heroes eventually find themselves. The alternate world storyline allows for much lampooning of fantasy tropes, with Lord of the Rings receiving the lion's share of the tweaks. Seeing as how the writers have already devoted much of the movie's running time to parodying Star Wars and Star Trek (and their Lego offshoots), one might think that Bender's Game might suffer from pop-culture overload, but surprisingly, it all feels fresh and frequently funny, and the writers are wise to ground the story in their eccentric characters rather than pinballing them through an endless string of gags. The result is probably the strongest of the direct-to-DVD Futurama releases to date, and one that newcomers to the show's cracked universe can appreciate as much as longtime fans.As with previous Futurama DVD releases, the extras come fast and furious on Bender's Game: commentary by members of the cast and production team (including Matt Groening) is both informative and funny, while interviews with the writers and producers discuss, among other topics, the influence of Dungeons and Dragons on the series and the 3D models used in the feature. Aspiring animators might appreciate "How To Draw Futurama in 83 Easy Steps and the storyboard animatic for the first part of the story, while the "Genetics Lab" feature allows for some amusing Dr. Moreau-style cross-breeding of the characters. Recording session bloopers and a deleted scene offer their own laughs, but the most enjoyable extra must be the preview for the next Futurama feature, Into the Wild Green Yonder, which suggests a shocking development for one of the show's regulars. -- Paul Gaita

Beyond Futurama: Bender's Game

The Simpsons

Family Guy

King of the Hill

Stills from Futurama: Bender's Game (Click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

Incentivise that employee for a great movie.
This movie is completely independent from the other two films, with everything back to normal at the beginning of it from when the last ended. It's pretty easy to follow along for thsoe who haven't seen the other two, or even the rest of the series. As others have mentioned, this movie takes on a D&D / Lord of the Rings feel to it as it explores the fantasy realm, but it's nicely explained as to why it happens that way. Everything seems to blend together well in this movie (the various subplots set up at the beginning join together). The movie also refers back to the original series and explains various things: a possibile origin between the Farnesworth-Wordstrom rivalry, more on the Mom-Farnesworth relationship, Nibbler being picked up off Vergon 6 as it implodes (and why it does implode), and a few other things. I think all of these add to what's known in the Futurama universe without taking away from anything, and fits very well in to what is already established.

I really enjoyed the movie, probably more than the other two movies. The one thing I didn't like so much about the DVD were the features. I didn't find them all that exciting. I enjoyed seeing how to draw the characters, and the genetics lab was somewhat interesting (but limiting). Everything else wasn't bad, but just seemed a bit short.

Features:
-Movie Commentary
-Storyboard Animatic for part one (~ 20 minutes)
-Futurama Genetics lab (you can choose two characters and see what they look like merged- but only for a small number of characters)
-Dungeons & Dragons & Futurama (~ 7 minutes, explains D&D references in the show)
-How to draw Fry, Bender/Flexo, Leela, & Zoidberg (~ 8 minutes)
-3-D modeling of various ships in the series (~ 5 minutes)
-Deleted scene (only one)
-"Blooperama," outtakes from the movie (~ 2 minutes)
-Bender's Anti-Piracy Warning
-Trailer for the fourth movie: "Into the Wild Green Yonder"

The packaging I got my DVD in was the cardboard "carbon neutral" packaging, in which the disc is put into a cardboard slit. I went out and bought a CD envelope to put in my box instead of using the slit.

The box did contain 4 Futurama postcards: giant Bender and Zoidberg (from the Anthology of Interest), Fry and Leela running away from aliens attacking, an ad to "Keep your robot clean" and a generic "The future is today, worry about it tomorrow." Even though these were mostly put in to advertise that these images were for sale in paintings, I kind of like the extra of having postcard-sized art ("One 'art' please").

The unmistakable stench of dwarf urine!
The first two Futurama movies were ok (well, to be honest, Beast with a Billion Backs was terrible), but this third installment is a winner. It has all the sly humor from the classic Futurama seasons that you've missed, and then some. I enjoyed the greater inclusion of Dr. Zoidberg.

The premise is quite true to life; the Planet Express crew must deal with the increase in dark matter fuel prices. This somehow segues into a Lord of the Rings plot which I won't spoil, but it actually works out quite well. We have an interesting tie-in between Mom and Professor Farnsworth.

All the old favorite characters are here too, including Morbo the Annihilator, Nibbler, Sal, Scruffy the Janitor, and George Takei. I didn't see Zapp Brannigan or Kif, but they weren't missed, and would've detracted from the story, or rather, the semblance of a story.

In conclusion, I think it's the unmistakable stench of dwarf urine that makes this Futurama movie a winner!

Okay, But Could've Been Better
Let me just say this - I've never played D&D, but big deal, that shouldn't matter. It's not like I don't get what's happening when they roll dice and things happen. It's not like I can't see an orc-ish monster and draw a comparison to something of the D&D universe. So the reviews I've been reading by D&D fans who loved it, and the one I read saying that they didn't play as well and thought there was too many "inside jokes" to the game, I don't think that's very relevant. You might get a few more laughs as a fan, but altogether it shouldn't really help or hurt.

What is important is if you love alternate universe plotline scenarios... which I always find as an excuse to parody and lampoon things the fans have been dying to seen, yet aren't entirely funny nor relevant to anything else in the show.

Let me be real here though on the other DVD movie releases:
Bender's Big Score - Thought it was entertaining, not the greatest, but it felt good to have Futurama back, and the bonus features on that DVD were insanely interesting. I'm not much of a math nerd, just a fan of the show, but hearing them have discussions about the mathematical references althroughout the series run on that disc was surprisingly captivating.
Beast With a Billion Backs - I keep seeing this movie get panned, but honestly - it's my favorite so far. BWABB is what I think of when I think of Futurama, as the whole show has always had the feel of a campy 60s Sci-Fi movie of what the future will be, down to the design of the ship. BWABB felt like an old invasion movies, but with a slightly more [adult swim]-like vein of humor, which in my opinion was refreshing to see in Futurama. The bonus features were pretty good, but the movie was what made that purchase for me.

Bender's Game is a bit of a disappointment for me. The movie is funny, and is good for a few watchings, but the story is a bit weak, and all ends with possibly the worst ending of all the current Futurama movies. Then, to chock it up further on my S-List, there's the half of this movie that takes place in an alternate Dungeons and Dragons reality where the jokes are cheap and the plot is cheaper. It feels like it's pandering more towards the show's fanbase rather then people who like the show for what it is, and becomes as cheesy and predictable as any Saturday Morning Disney Channel cartoon. I'm not going to give away any twists, but the "big one" near the end I called the minute they brought it even slightly to light, and it made me feel as if the show's creator were dumbing down the rest of its mystery to confuse me.

As I said before however, the movie isn't completely skipable. Fans of the show and maybe even a foreign audience to its charm should at least crack a smile if not pass out from laughing at times. I merely found that as a movie itself and as an addition to the recent line of movies and an extension to the series, this one was very weak and more of a cheap gag that was bound to show itself eventually, but would've worked better as a question in Professor Farnsworth's "What If" Machine.

The bonus features are also pretty subpar, with the exception of the commentary at which I think I laughed at more than the movie itself. I'd highly recommend watching it with the commentary to those with the DVD purchased who haven't done so already. The other special features, such as the D&D and how to draw featurette aren't as interesting as the other DVDs. The Genetics Lab is only fun until you've exhausted all your options, and any deleted scenes or animatics are pretty much best left unseen.

The good thing about the special features - the sneak preview of the next Futurama movie installment, Into The Wild Green Yonder, which from the looks of it should be truer to the show and a much better movie than this one. After being let down by the film, seeing the commercial for the next one is the only thing that gave me hope that Futurama hasn't gone the way of Family Guy and become more of a tragedy trapped inside of its own cliches, dooming it to never be completely enjoyable again or worth more than a few smirks every ten minutes or so.

So if you're a die-hard Futurama fanatic and you also happen to love D&D, then you will no doubt soil yourself while watching this as you laugh maniacally at all the jokes none of your friends seem to understand. If you're a fan of the series, but not really the fantasy realm or direct theme parodies, or if you're even new to Futurama and this is your plan onto entering the 30th century, then I'd advise you rent this before you plan on purchasing. The disc has very little replay value to me, and I don't think I'll be watching it again anytime soon.

Let's just hope I'm right about Into The Wild Green Yonder being excellent.