| Futurama: Bender's Game [Blu-ray] | ![Futurama: Bender's Game [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61LZ9%2BvCYbL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Dwayne Carey-hill
Actors: Billy West, Katey Sagal, John Di Maggio, Tress Macneille, Maurice Lamarche
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $17.99
You Save: $22.00 (55%)
New (21) Used (4) from $17.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 1658
Format: Ac-3, Animated, Color, Dolby, Dts Surround Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: Cantonese (Subtitled), Chinese (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Korean (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Media: Blu-ray
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 87
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 5.3 x 0.5
UPC: 024543541899
EAN: 0024543541899
ASIN: B001DZOC46
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: November 4, 2008 (New: Last 30 Days)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Ships Within 24 Hours - Satisfaction Guaranteed!
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| Editorial Reviews:
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
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Family Guy
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King of the Hill
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Stills from Futurama: Bender's Game (Click for larger image)
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!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
 Additional review. November 20, 2008
Best of the series, funny, new theme music about a rocket ship. Bender and his sword were hilarious during the first half.
I bought a playstation three so I could watch this movie in blue ray. If I could take half a star away, it would be for the joke about Kansas.
In blue ray, the opening seen where they advertise bachelors chow was incredibly detailed.
 What happened!? November 17, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am A huge Futurama fan. Have every episode and love how smart and well timed the comedy can be. As much as I want to love this installment, I can't. Benders big Game is A Big let down. The comedy is so low-brow and the story and dialog is poorly written in comparison to everything that has been done up till now.
-"Benders big score" felt like Futurama well seasoned.
-"The Beast with a billion Backs" felt like a really long episode.
-"Benders game", has too many holes, not enough why?, The jokes all lean toward potty humor (that's not just because one of the castles is design after a toilet), and some jokes are dragged out till you wanna say, "and we are still talking about this, because.....?"
It feels like the writers have taken lessons from family guy and later bad episodes of the Simpsons. The comedy isn't smart, too much sensless humor, an advertisment for a knife commercial that feels like it lasts for 5 minutes (I laughed in the first 30 seconds then it became annoying), they had rosie the robot from the jetsons in the robot insane asylum), a side story shock collar gag on leela that ends up going no where, and on top of that and then some we have a very long build up of wasted story time until we finally get to the meat, in this case, benders fake fantasy world, which has limitless possibility, and wasn't taken advantage of the way many fans would hope.
on a side note: if the time is taken to watch the commentary, (bluray lets your see them talk) I was in aw that they basically don't pay attention to the story or whats happening on the screen, and spend the time making jokes to entertain themselves, unless there is too much gross on the screen then they all cringe.... I said it before, "what happened!?"
I can't give this movie five stars just because I wanted to love it, and one or two decent laughs doesn't mean five stars either.
 Futurama: Bender's Game Review November 15, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The main cast of Futurama: The Professor (Billy West), Hermes (Phil LaMarr), Leela (Katey Sagal), Bender (John DiMaggio), Amy (Lauren Tom), Zoigberg (Billy West), Nibbler (Frank Welker), Fry (Billy West) as well as Mom (Tress MacNeille) and her three bumbling sons return in this 80-minute special. Futurama: Bender's Game is unlike Futurama: Bender's Big Score and Futurama: The Beast With A Billion Backs due to this instalment not having a movie feel at all to it. Futurama: Bender's Game is designed to be aired in four-parts when it premieres on television and it feels like a four-part episodic.
In the beginning of the film you are first introduced to a Futurama version on "Yellow Submarine". I believe this is just symbolic of how crazy the upcoming scenes get. Whilst driving about in the Planet Express Ship, Leela, Fry and Bender run out of fuel and luckily Nibbler had one ball of dark matter, which was enough to get the ship to a petrol station. The same guy Sal (John DiMaggio) that always seems to be at one of these stations makes fun of the crew's ship. Sal states even though his ship is beat up, he won the Space Destruction Derby five times. Due to Leela's unrelenting anger issues, she decides to enter the derby and later returns the ship severely damaged.
Later, Dwight Conrad (Hermes Son voiced by Phil LaMarr) and Cubert Farnsworth (the Professor's son voiced by Kath Soucie) are playing a game of "Dungeons and Dragons". Bender thinking that it is a form of gambling, wants to join in, only to find out that it is nothing like that. Dwight and Conrad tell Bender that it is the kind of game that you have to use your imagination and anything will be possible. Bender is finally able to use his imagination, but causes him to go mad, believing everything that happens in real life is happening in "Cornwood" (fictitious Dungeons and Dragons land).
The Professor annoyed with Leela's anger issues, has a shock collar put around Leela's neck, so anytime she has any thoughts or act of violence, thoughts of sexual perversion and/or lies, she will be electrically shocked. Mom appears in an interview with Morbo discussing the "problems" of dark matter and that she hopes to take care of them soon. The Professor perturbed at the interview explains how he created dark matter as a usable energy source. He further explains that Mom has the positive crystal and he has a negative crystal that he cannot find. He says that if the two crystals come together, that it will make dark matter useless. Mom tries to avoid the destruction of dark matter by sending her sons as "Owl Exterminators" to retrieve the crystal.
The Professor sees past the boys ruse and finds out that his anti-matter crystal was being used as a die in the Dungeons and Dragons game. Bender having completely gone mad is submitted to the HAL Institute which cannot help his problem. The crew heads over to Mom's base to destroy her crystal. While, the professor is able to get the two crystals to come in close contact, which causes the dark matter to glow, it somehow amplifies Bender's imagination to send everyone to Cornwood.
From this point on the crew are each changed into a Dungeons and Dragon character or a "Lord of the Rings" character. Cornwood is essentially Lord of the Rings with Dungeons and Dragons theme to it. The rest of Futurama: Bender's Game tries to wrap up the convoluted story as much as possible. Overall Futurama: Bender's Game is very silly. This is a good thing as they brought back much of the Futurama humour and have many jokes about things you may have forgotten from the 1990's. I felt that this adventure is a big step in the right direction from Futurama: The Beast with A Billion Backs as this was actually funny. Futurama fans should enjoy this as long as they just relax and enjoy it as it is without preconceived notions and realise it is very silly.
4/5
Picture:
Futurama: Bender's Game is presented in the 1.78:1 (16:9) format. The picture was crystal clear throughout and I could not find any skipping, frozen frames or blur in the picture.
5/5
Sound:
The sound is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The sound was very well done throughout, but since they decided to make this like the television series, you do not get much in terms of cinematic sound. The voice actors voices were always clearly audible in the centre speaker during the talking scenes, which for some films can sometimes be problematic.
4/5
Special Features:
The special features are rather dull. There are not too many special features and even when you think you find something good such as a deleted scene, it is just a story board with sound. The team that assembled this DVD got rather lazy as far as extra features go.
3/5
Review Round-Up
Movie: 4
Picture: 5
Sound: 4
Special Features: 3
Overall: 4
Final Thoughts:
The first thing I would like to say to Futurama fans is: DO NOT watch this as if it is a film nor should you have ideas floating around in your head about how great/awful it will be. You need to just sit back and watch it as if you are watching the show and enjoy the silliness of this adventure. I found the part when the crew ran into Zoidberg in "The Cave of Hopelessness" and what happens to him reminiscent of Maria in the video game "Silent Hill 2". If you played the game, it may give you a chuckle, if not, you will enjoy it all the same. Whilst, I wish that Futurama: Bender's Game was produced as a film rather than a four-part TV series, it made me chuckle several times. I recommend this DVD/Bluray to fans of Futurama as it is a very silly one that makes up for the disaster that was Futurama: The Beast with A Billion Backs and I definitely recommend this to casual Futurama fans.
NOTE: A DVD was used for this review.
"Welcome to Cornwood!" November 15, 2008
The Good News, Everyone!
*Superb video/sound quality. It is practically perfect on Blu-Ray; the details are sharp, clear, vivid. The color is great and the picture has no defects that I can see.
*Includes some good special features; commentaries, animatics, a thing that lets you genetically mutate the Futurama characters, featurettes, deleted scenes, outtakes (one of which is an easter egg), and a trailer for the next Futurama film.
*Excellent animation quality.
*Has some great hilarious dialogue and funny scenes (without relying too heavily on catch phrases or old gags). Also has plenty of action.
*A few funny parodies throughout (including "LOTR").
*One or two funny puns.
*Also makes good fun of modern-day issues, like rising fuel prices and kids' obsession with "Dungeons and Dragons."
*A few of nostalgic homages to older Futurama episodes (expect to see some familiar characters and references). Everything is accurate to what the show was.
*The storyline is surprisingly good. I expected a fantasy-themed story to be stupid and weird, but it actually made some sense (in Futurama terms anyway).
*Characters are still great and funny.
*Good music.
*Don't know if it is intentional or not, but isn't the title "Bender's Game" a little like "Ender's Game" with a B in front of it?
The Bad Things
*Contains a surprising amount of bloody violence. It's not too overwhelming, but it's probably not good for kids to watch.
The Questionable Things
*The characters don't seem to have as many major issues to work out in this story. It is kind of good, because it cuts through the sappy drama and romance and tells the story in a manner similar to classic Futurama episodes. However, it also has less character development, and what issues the movie does have seem contrived.
Given that "The Beast With a Billion Backs" had such a weird story, I expected this new movie to be equally strange and inferior. I still think that "Bender's Big Score" was better. But, this new story is not bad and it has a lot of cool and funny moments. Futurama fans will be pleased; casual viewers may need to rent it first to make up their own mind (or roll that 12-sided dice, whatever you prefer).
Best thing I've ever purchased! November 10, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
You already know it's Futurama, so what are you waiting for? The gags are fast and furious, and the movie looks gorgeous in Blu-Ray. Heartily recommended!
Great extras too, as always.
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