"he" who?
Futurama: Bender's Game
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"he" who?
You mean the original approach to continuity where characters talked about Star Trek prior to "Where No Fan Has Gone Before"?
Really, the only reason it's 3008 is in service of a cheap joke at the start of "Bender's Big Score". Functionally the movies picked up right where the series left off, without a three year jump.
"He" who?
According to the commentary, the writers/producers began playing with the idea of Igner (and they stress that it is spelled Igner, so the Infosphere Wiki is wrong) being Farnsworth's son a decade ago, which would've been pretty early in the series' production (it didn't even premiere until 1999, but animation takes a long time to create). So it's something that's been simmering for a long time, but that they never found an opportunity to pursue until now. I really liked the subplot.
They also pointed out in the commentary that Walt and Larry are implicitly Wernstrom's sons. "Werrnstrom!"
Not really. Both of them followed a similar arc: the character was observed to have a problem, attempts were made to rein that problem in, but ultimately that "problem" proved to be instrumental in saving the day. Bender got immersed in fantasy and was institutionalized for it, but the fantasy world he created was where key events in resolving the plot occurred (although the Igner/Farnsworth revelation might've happened in reality too, given the chance). Leela's anger was believed to be out of control, and for a time she renounced violence, but ultimately it was by embracing her violent nature that she saved the day. So the resolution was the recognition that her problem wasn't really a problem. Which isn't quite applicable in Bender's case, but it wouldn't be the first time a character subplot has been dropped without resolution at the end of a Futurama story.
The rationale offered by Farnsworth is that society wouldn't commit to developing cleaner, more economical alternative fuels -- or be freed from Mom's economic stranglehold -- unless it were forcibly broken from its addiction to dark matter. Paralleling our situation with fossil fuels.
I think it's more forgiveable in a comedy. It's as much mocking that juvenile attitude as portraying it. The best use was in "Jurassic Bark," where Leela and Amy were wrestling in skimpy workout clothes, the sort of thing a guy like Fry would normally get off watching, but Fry was totally oblivious to it because of his fixation on Seymour.
Has it ever been suggested that Leela isn't bisexual, or at least willing to experiment? Besides, maybe the "Queen of the Water Nymphos" has some kind of magical mojo that lets her seduce anyone.
Remind me? I'm sure I'm flexible where some aspects of Futurama continuity are concerned -- I don't believe there's value in being a stickler for absolute consistency in something like this -- but I enjoy the fact that the show has allowed for character growth and change over time by not being stuck in a perpetual present, and that events in past episodes have consequences later on rather than just being forgotten. It's part of the show's charm that the continuity is imperfect, but I like the overall sense of progression and growth.
It would have to be. I also watched it this morning and I still love Big Score best. This one only makes sense if you are a Dungeons and Dragons fan, which I am not. The story made no sense whatsoever. How did they get into a simulation? How did Leela become a centaur? I was hopelessly lost. I was hoping for a movie that erased the bad taste that the insipid Beast with a Billion Backs left in my mouth, not one that made me appreciate it. If it hadn't been for Bender's "there's gas in our ass" line, this movie would be a total write-off.
Oh well. Better luck next time I guess.
Yeah if you're not a Dungeons and Dragons/LotR fan this movie might not be as entertaining as it was for a fan of those things.
It ties in to what the Professor said about all things being possible in quantum physics -- sort of an "infinite improbability drive" approach. Farnsworth's dark-matter experiment created the two immensely improbable crystals, one that turned all dark matter into a fuel source and one which could cancel out its effect. When they were brought into proximity, the quantum effect must have made reality itself mutable, so that the big stash of dark matter inside Bender's compartment amplified his D&D-addled imagination and transformed it into an alternate quantum reality, kind of like the pocket universe Dr. Crusher's mind created in TNG: "Remember Me." It all makes perfect technobabble-sense.
It ties in to what the Professor said about all things being possible in quantum physics -- sort of an "infinite improbability drive" approach. Farnsworth's dark-matter experiment created the two immensely improbable crystals, one that turned all dark matter into a fuel source and one which could cancel out its effect. When they were brought into proximity, the quantum effect must have made reality itself mutable, so that the big stash of dark matter inside Bender's compartment amplified his D&D-addled imagination and transformed it into an alternate quantum reality, kind of like the pocket universe Dr. Crusher's mind created in TNG: "Remember Me." It all makes perfect technobabble-sense.
Of course it makes sense! It wasn't some kind of crazy dream, or ghosts, it was science! You can't make that kind of stuff up.
Whoops. I meant Fry. My bad. I type fast.
See above.
I haven't listened the commentary yet. Regardless if it was kicked around a long time ago, the revelation seemed forced onto the plot.
True, but having it been made such a big deal at the beginning of the movie, not addressing it at the end seemed strange.
I remember something about that. Honestly, I need to watch it again. That scene was filled with so much technobabble, it was hard to focus on what was being said while absorbing it.
True...but it just seemed very upped for this movie for whatever reason. The bit in "Jurassic Bark" used it well.
I suppose not, but I would think it would have been touched upon at least once in the series since a decent portion of Leela's storylines centered on her dating life (or lack of it).
In short, we discussed the continuity overwrite that occurs in BBS. I argued that all the time travel really threw what was previously established in the "past" segments completely out of whack and should, in theory, dramatically affect the various episodes the touched on the past. You had a more-or-less counter opinion by saying that Futurama is just a cartoon with a continuity that isn't all that strong to begin with.
With the show, the continuity is pretty strong for an animated program, though, like the Star Trek thing, they have gone back on a few throwaway items. The big stuff though, they've kept straight.
That's what he said, though I imagine the main reason he wanted to do it was because of his hatred of Mom. I'm sure Dark Matter was a huge part of her empire (of course she'll probably develop a new source of fuel for the next film so they can use their ship again).
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
That and I would think with the rising cost of Dark Matter, Farnsworth's business would be going a little south (more money for fuel, not enough for profit).
More importantly, it was funny.
Well, it's not the same issue. I'm not talking about continuity in the sense of remaining faithful to every last nitpicky detail in the past. I'm talking about story progression and character growth, and specifically about allowing the characters to age. Futurama's continuity has always been loose, but overall it has maintained the broad conceit of moving forward through time and allowing characters to go through changes. The Fry/Leela relationship has advanced (though intermittently), Amy and Kif have gone through a lot of growth in their relationship culminating in marriage, Kif himself has become more strong-willed and independent, that sort of thing. And they've acknowledged the calendar moving forward; the series began in 3000 and had reached 3004 by the end of the series, jumping forward to 3007/8 in the movies. So really Dwight and Cubert should be in their late teens by now.
And I want to stress one thing: I would never have said that Futurama is "just a cartoon" as if cartoons were somehow more trivial or less worth being taken seriously than other media. Its continuity isn't loose because it's a cartoon, but because it's a comedy. There have been animated series with rich, complex, consistent continuities, such as Gargoyles, Avatar, and many anime series. And there have been plenty of live-action sitcoms with rather loose continuity (although none with children who never aged, of course).
You know, I actually predicted the thing about Mom's son being the Professor's son as well, but only because I know a guy who has always been insisting it. Well, he thinks the Professor is the father of all three of her boys because their heads are shaped like his. So when Mom began telling the other two the secret about Igner, I figured it out right there.
Now, I have to tell my friend he was partially correct.
Now, I have to tell my friend he was partially correct.
I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would, and that's mainly because the LOTR parody was relegated to the final 35 minutes. Thank god it wasn't the whole runtime! I really liked the Mom/dark matter storyline. And we finally got to see the Killbots! They were hilarious. "WHAT IS HE SAYING????"
I did find it odd that Mom had abducted all these Nibblonians for all these years. A) what about all the Nibblonians we've seen in all the other episodes? Were they unaware of what happened to their comrades? B) The Nibblonians weren't powerful enough to elude capture or escape? C) How did Nibbler return from out of the universe? D) Did these captive Nibblonians not escape the universe in Movie#1?
The LOTR parody was... adequate.
Funniest line: "Thanks for ruining the franchise, Bakula!"
I did find it odd that Mom had abducted all these Nibblonians for all these years. A) what about all the Nibblonians we've seen in all the other episodes? Were they unaware of what happened to their comrades? B) The Nibblonians weren't powerful enough to elude capture or escape? C) How did Nibbler return from out of the universe? D) Did these captive Nibblonians not escape the universe in Movie#1?
The LOTR parody was... adequate.
Funniest line: "Thanks for ruining the franchise, Bakula!"
I like any new Futurama, but this one was my least favorite. I even nodded off a bit. I just didn't care for the D & D jokes and LotR spoof, both of which seem like old things to spoof in 2008. I did like all the stuff leading up to the trip to fantasyland, especially the spaceship derby. I loved the "Rocketship" song that played when they took off.
Under the circumstances, they may have assumed their comrades were lost when Vergon 6 imploded.
The Nibblonians are ancient and wise, but not especially powerful in terms of physical force. Remember the Scooty Puff Jr., and their battle fleet in Bender's Big Score that was defeated by folding chairs? (I had the same problem at first until someone pointed these things out to me.)
He crossed over from the cowboy-hat universe at the scenic overpass.
How would they have known of the need? They weren't exactly in a position to get news from the outside. Although I do wonder why they didn't use the "self-swallowing" technique to escape their cages.
That was interesting. A very good fit to the show, not only because of the lyric, but because the rhythm track and instrumentation was a very good fit for Christopher Tyng's Futurama music.
Thespeckledkiwi
Vice Admiral
To me this was a LOT better than the last movie. I absolutely hated that last movie that I've even forgot the name of it.
To be fair we don't know that much about the self-swallowing technique. For all we know it can only be done on certain conditions or maybe they can only do it once it their life.
^Or maybe it was just a funny visual gag after seeing Nibbler eat so many things over the years?
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