Bender Scores Big in First Futurama Feature DVD Release

futurama-benders-big-score-annies-2008-winnerFrom 1999- 2003, Matt Groening’s second-love to “The Simpsons,” “Futurama,” had a cult following that loved every second of the intergalactic tomfoolery featured in every episode. However, despite solid ratings during it’s run on television, FOX decided to pull the plug for reasons that are still unclear to this day.

It’s been almost six years since the sci-fi animated sitcom was taken off the air, but during the show’s exodus, hardcore fans of the series have still managed to get their fix, thanks to numerous DVD box sets and at times, a weeknight time slot, thanks to Adult Swim.

Nevertheless, Groening and company felt it was time to give fans something new. From the depths of television purgatory enters “Bender’s Big Score,” the first of four animated films the team will be releasing. By the end of it, not only is it worth the near-six year wait for hardcore fans, it also does a great job of introducing new fans to the series.

Focusing mainly on the relationship between the show’s main character Phillip Fry [voiced by Billy West, who also does the voice of Dr. Zoidberg] and his best friend and robot, Bender [voiced by John Di Maggio, who’s done voiceovers for everything from Final Fantasy video games to Kim Possible during his decade plus career], “Bender’s Big Score” continues to do the same things that made “Futurama” such an entertaining show in the first place.

For those who aren’t familiar with the show, “Futurama” is basically a Star Trek and Star Wars nerd’s version of humor. The same way “The Simpsons” uses pop culture to make audiences laugh, “Futurama” does the same thing, but mixes pop culture with sci-fi culture and creates a new world, doing everything from making Richard Nixon’s head the President of Earth to having suicide booths all over “New” New York City instead of phone booths. The end result is a great tribute to every nerdy show or movie you could never admit to watching that is side-splittingly funny and equally as charming and witty.

Luckily for fans, “Bender’s Big Score” doesn’t ever try to stray away from the things that made “Futurama” so much fun in the first place. Instead, it brings back every character [as well as introducing a few new ones] and serves up an extra-big spoonful of one of the most underrated television shows of all time in an 88-minute dose that you won’t soon forget.

Old fans of the series will be happy to know that “Futurama” is just as funny as it used to be and new fans will wonder why they never watched the show during its first run ob TV. With three more straight to DVD films out as well, the laughter won’t be over for quite some time.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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