Futurama: Bender's Big Score (2007)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Brett A

  
  Easily the best of the four straight to DVD movies.

• Manu G

  
  Just when you thought it was safe to watch something else! Not so funny and nothing compared to family guy or the simpsons movies. It was still entertaining because of the things they come up with these days but that's about it. Hermes Conrad does a roll call of the Planet… More
  Just when you thought it was safe to watch something else! Not so funny and nothing compared to family guy or the simpsons movies. It was still entertaining because of the things they come up with these days but that's about it. Hermes Conrad does a roll call of the Planet Express crew. Unfortunately, after completing it Professor Farnsworth immediately fires them - it turns out the main delivery network, the Box Network (a thinly veiled stab at the Fox Network), canceled their contract two years ago. However, a regime change suddenly occurs and the crew's jobs are reinstated. The Professor also delightfully describes how the network executives were also painfully killed, crushed and turned into an all purpose powder. The crew celebrate with music and limbo dancing. Hermes, boasting of his own abilities, shows off by limboing underneath a razor sharp sword. Basking in his success, he is almost immediately decapitated by another sword, and his headless body finds itself crushed underneath the Planet Express ship. While his body is being repaired, Hermes is forced to live as a head in a jar, and his wife LaBarbara leaves him for her ex-husband Barbados Slim. Meanwhile Leela hits it off with a head museum employee named Lars, much to Fry's chagrin. At their first delivery to the Nude Beach Planet, Fry is surprised to learn that he has a tattoo of Bender on his buttocks. Meanwhile, Bender, Amy and Leela sign seemingly innocuous petitions for three alien nudists. In the process they give them their email addresses, eventually swamping everyone at Planet Express with spam. The Professor is caught unawares by a lottery scam and soon discovers that the aliens have taken control of Planet Express. Bender is also infected by an obedience virus planted by the aliens, and does their bidding. The aliens, who have the ability to sniff out information, discover Fry's tattoo and realize it contains a binary password that allows them to conjure up a sphere that allows them to travel back in time. Although Nibbler and the Nibblonians try to stop them, as any use of the sphere could tear apart the fabric of space, they are quickly defeated and the aliens use Bender to go back in time to steal the treasures of the past. They also discover that while temporal doubles are created when two or more of the same person exist in the same time, the double is ultimately doomed to prevent a potential paradox from occurring. As the aliens continue to steal from the past and scam the rest of Earth, Leela and Lars' relationship builds and eventually he proposes marriage. Heartbroken, Fry discovers that, after having stolen all the world's treasures, the aliens want to kill him to destroy the tattoo, so he goes back to the year 2000 to both escape them and his memories of Leela. However Bender is sent back to kill him. In a series of events, Fry returns to the 31st century by freezing himself while his temporal double, created after another time travel trip, stays on in the 21st century. The double ends up befriending a Narwhal and becomes a marine biologist, but is apparently killed by Bender when his apartment explodes in 2012. Meanwhile the original Fry gets rid of the tattoo and plans to disrupt Leela's wedding to Lars. Although his plan does not work, Lars ends up canceling the wedding anyway after witnessing Hermes' new body (whom he had stolen from his own temporal double) mangling itself again. Eventually the aliens take over the Earth and evict everyone to Neptune. There, the crew teams up with Robot Santa and Zapp Brannigan to retake the Earth. A space battle ensures, and the aliens are destroyed by one of the Professor's doomsday weapons. Fry, realizing that Leela and Lars should be with each other, gets them to reconcile.. Unfortunately the reunion is short lived when a surviving alien confronts the trio, and Lars sacrifices himself to save Leela and Fry. His video will reveals that Lars is actually Fry's temporal double who stayed on in the 21st century. It is revealed that the explosion which supposedly killed him just burned off his hair and changed his voice into Lars. Knowing that they will get together in the future, he freezes himself until the 31st century and gets a job as a feeder at the head museum, where he'll meet Leela. Unfortunately, after witnessing the fate of Hermes' temporal double's body he realizes that he too is doomed and called off the wedding. After bidding Lars farewell at his funeral, Bender has to make one last trip back in time to 2000 to put the tattoo on Fry and set everything right. Unfortunately he discovers the many temporal doubles of himself, who almost immediately begin self destructing, causing a large rip in the fabric of space.

• Jennifer D

  
  Geez, Futurama, what a way to completely rip out my heart.... I've always had such a soft spot for Fry and really liked the story by the end. It was a little strange to begin with.

• James A

  
  A good use of Futurama cannon while staying in continuity.

• Lewis C

  
  I remember how excited I was on the day that I found out that there were going to be four new, direct-to-DVD, Futurama movies. The original series is still one of my favorite shows, ever, and I never thought that I'd get to see Fry & Co. again after their untimely demise. The… More
  I remember how excited I was on the day that I found out that there were going to be four new, direct-to-DVD, Futurama movies. The original series is still one of my favorite shows, ever, and I never thought that I'd get to see Fry & Co. again after their untimely demise. The very fact that Bender's Big Score exists to be reviewed, is wonderful. It's a genuine delight to be able to see all these beloved (at least by me) characters again. Now for the disappointing part. Bender's Big Score is probably the least entertaining adventure that the Planet Express crew has gone on. The plot is an uninteresting, hard to follow, mess. There is way too much jumping about in time, that serves to only complicate the story. A story that starts to feel like it's gone on for way too long, with about 20 minutes still left before the end. Worse, it's all just not very funny. The writers obviously needed a trial run to get back into the Futurama groove, and BBS got the unfortunate duty of serving as that guinea pig. The three movies that followed are much closer in quality to the show, so it's nice to see that the first Futurama movie was not made in vain. The song numbers were also uncharacteristically bad. These are the same people who brought us "Robot Hell", so clearly they know how to write a good song. Here, there are a couple of absolutely dreadful numbers that aren't catchy, memorable, or even well-performed. I wish they would have left them out of the movie entirely - they were genuinely that bad. It may sound like I absolutely hated Bender's Big Score, but that wasn't the case. There were a few instances of classic humor, and a story with such a heavy focus on Bender simply can't be completely horrible. But, amidst all the cameos of my favorite characters and locations, I soon came to the realization that this movie was nowhere as good as the Futurama that had come before (or the movies that followed). This is a series that's known for razor-sharp wit, humor, and occasional genuine emotion...and Bender's Big Score failed to deliver in all those areas.

• Kylie B

  
  I was so excited when I found out that there were Futurama feature films after it got cancelled. Then I watched this, and personally I didn't think it was as consistently good as the series. But hey, three more of the films yet to watch, they may be better.

• Gordon A

  
  Average extension to the franchise which adds little and isn't particularly clever or funny. Time to move on.

• Jens S

  
  After gotten canceled at Fox the beloved cartoon show returns with a 90 minute movie straight to DVD. It combines all the hilarious features of the show: movie references, respect less observations of life and society and wonderful politically incorrect humor. Especially the scenes… More
  After gotten canceled at Fox the beloved cartoon show returns with a 90 minute movie straight to DVD. It combines all the hilarious features of the show: movie references, respect less observations of life and society and wonderful politically incorrect humor. Especially the scenes making fun of Fox and its decision, spam mail and the parody on time travel movies and all its paradoxes are hilarious. All the major characters return, along with the most popular minor ones (Hedonism Bot! Hyno Toad!) and another guest appearance by Al Gore. Only awesome Cap Zap Brannigan is somewhat underused. The really cool thing about this film is that they actually managed to give it a pretty smart, funny and even touching plot with quite a final twist. Fans of the show should love this, here's to hoping there will be more.

• Khris N

  
  hehehe... even though Im not a fan, this was actually pretty good, in a twisted sort of way. though why they called it Bender's Big Score is beyond me, but apparently everyone loves Bender. Well, its a really twisted and off the hook plot about time travel, Bender under the… More
  hehehe... even though Im not a fan, this was actually pretty good, in a twisted sort of way. though why they called it Bender's Big Score is beyond me, but apparently everyone loves Bender. Well, its a really twisted and off the hook plot about time travel, Bender under the control of alien criminals and Fry's love triangle between Leela and new guy Lars, and the twist at the end will explain everything clearly, though the time travel bits were confusing enough. Lots of funny bits, nudity and of course Bender. It does ripp off a lot from other movies but hey, that what makes it special. Look out for the THUG LIFE bit and Bender going back in time to terminate Fry. XD Anyways, I guess Futurama Fans will love it, I liked it enough, but no im not converting from the Simpsons.

• Tim S

  
  Hilarious and fits in perfectly with the original series.

• David L

  
  Futurama: Bender's Big Score is a movie I've been waiting for since the show was cancelled ( for reasons that have never made any sense) I will try to keep this short and sweet and not spoil anything about the movie, When the evil naked aliens launch a cyber-attack on… More
  Futurama: Bender's Big Score is a movie I've been waiting for since the show was cancelled ( for reasons that have never made any sense) I will try to keep this short and sweet and not spoil anything about the movie, When the evil naked aliens launch a cyber-attack on Planet Express, they make a shocking discovery: the secret of time travel, mysteriously tattooed on Fry's buttocks. Using their devious nudist software to control Bender, they repeatedly send the beer-fueled robot back in time to loot Earth of its greatest treasures. Bender's rampage through history has shocking repercussions when he encounters Al Gore (guest-starring as himself) during the 2000 Presidential recount. Meanwhile, Leela finds true love, a beloved crew member suffers an embarrassing decapitation, and Fry learns deep secrets about his destiny and his buttocks. The movie is as expected, hilarious. The jokes are fast and furious. Expect the classic Futurama experience ? visual gags, great one-liners, and a ludicrous plot. and even though the plot may seem a bit latticed at first, it all falls into place beautifully. However, if you really want to enjoy the full experience of the movie, you should at least have watched at least a few TV episodes since the movie does contain many in-jokes and call backs, However if you are a newcomer to the Futurama universe, fear not, You'll be brought up to date with the characters in no time. Too sum up. I loved the movie, it has it all, witty humor, strong fast jokes, drama and romance, and of course, the kind of sci-fi action that a geek would enjoy and compared to the Simpsons and Family guy movies, this is without a doubt the best movie of all.

• Steve K

  
  Thank God they're back!

• Aaron N

  
  Bender: People will call me a failure...others however, will call me the worlds sexiest killing machine...who´s fun at parties! Thanks to good DVD sales and high ratings on Cartoon Network, Futurama is pullin' a 'family guy' and coming back on the air. This full length… More
  Bender: People will call me a failure...others however, will call me the worlds sexiest killing machine...who´s fun at parties! Thanks to good DVD sales and high ratings on Cartoon Network, Futurama is pullin' a 'family guy' and coming back on the air. This full length feature is the first four episodes, but it is very plot oriented and works great as a film. Part of the joy of Futurama is how smart of a show it always was. Among the gags that are funny and easy to get, there are some layered jokes that range from computer geek knowledge to random math facts, to social commentary and satire. From how I saw it, a large part of the reason The Simpsons started to downgrade, was due to the writing staff moving over to this show. With this new film, we see all of the characters back in action, complete with the reliance on its characters and plotting to move the story forward, which has always been what separated it from Family Guy. If there are any gripes, its that the movie does take time to try and please everyone by making a call back to the favorite jokes and characters that people enjoy. This is fun to see, but it does obviously stall things at times and can confuse the casual viewers into thinking some events are too random. However, the writing is still very strong, the show looks great as it has since the very first episode, the show's theme and music continue to be very good, and if the future films-to-be-turned-to-episodes can be as good as this, then all the fans should be pretty pleased. Al Gore: Finally, I get to save the Earth with deadly laser blasts instead of deadly slide shows!

• Justin Y

  
  Good news everyone! <i>Futurama</i> is back baby. Many years have come and gone and the long wait is finally over with the release of this feature length film.<p>This film is made especially for <i>Futurama</i> fans. Other people may pick this up and… More
  Good news everyone! <i>Futurama</i> is back baby. Many years have come and gone and the long wait is finally over with the release of this feature length film.<p>This film is made especially for <i>Futurama</i> fans. Other people may pick this up and watch it, but I really believe that you will get more out of this if you are a full-fledged follower.</p><p>The story basically plays out like a 90 minute episode and the ever-so-popular time travel experience serves as one of the main features of this flick. It not only allows for an entertaining story, but it is also able to bring in tons of characters from the past episodes. Yes, most are just short cameos, but you don't hear me complaining. It also allows the film to actually unfold some of the small events that actually take place in the past series. Great stuff. The ending may also catch you by surprise.</p><p>The animation is basically the same with no real improvements what so ever. But that doesn't matter, since it isn't the graphics of <i>Futurama</i> that entertains. It is the stories and the characters. The same thing can be said about the voice acting. It is nothing new. I guess you don't have to fix what isn't broken.</p><p>My only real complaint is that this film isn't as funny as the past episodes. Don't be fooled, it is funny, but I guess the expectations were a little high with the long absence of fresh <i>Futurama</i> material. Still, this is a must see for any <i>Futurama</i> fanatic. Enjoy.

• Mike S

  
  About as funny as the Simpsons movie (minus Spider-Pig in the equation), altough unfortunately also suffering from the same flaws, meaning that it's good, but just not as brilliant as it used to be. As a big fan of Futurama I'm very happy though that the whole gang is… More
  About as funny as the Simpsons movie (minus Spider-Pig in the equation), altough unfortunately also suffering from the same flaws, meaning that it's good, but just not as brilliant as it used to be. As a big fan of Futurama I'm very happy though that the whole gang is back, especially Bender who is still the lovable deuche-bag we all remember him as. This movie, which is the first out of four (that's right, three more are on their way, scheduled for 2008), felt more like a 1½ hour long episode, but I didn't really mind as it was quite enjoyable throughout, and still better than the last 8-9 seasons of the Simpsons. Something seemed to be lacking though and there weren't that many laugh-out-loud moments, but let's hope that the writers just need some time to get settled into "Futurama-mode" again (altough 5 years should have been plenty of time to come up with some new great material). Anyway, despite falling short of greatness, it's a nice comeback for one my favourite series of all time and I feel pretty confident that it can only get better from here on. After all, I had feared that Futurama was long since dead and buried, but this just proves that quality shows are meant to last (altough hopefully they won't come to suffer The Simpsons' over-extended and self-degrading fate). "Not so neutral now, are you Sweden?" - Bender

• Dann M

  
  Futurama's back with an all new adventure. After an untimely cancellation, the gang is back with a full-length feature. And who better than Bender to center the story around. Surprisingly, the Bender story is pretty clever, with layers of time-travel and alternate lives. And… More
  Futurama's back with an all new adventure. After an untimely cancellation, the gang is back with a full-length feature. And who better than Bender to center the story around. Surprisingly, the Bender story is pretty clever, with layers of time-travel and alternate lives. And to the story's credit, the continuity with the rest of the series is pretty solid and holds up. However, the side-plots surrounding the Bender plot are weak and don't hold the film together very well. While it was fun to return to the series pilot and Fry's time-traveling adventures through a new perspective, the plot just isn't strong enough to sustain a full-length feature. Still, Futurama: Bender's Big Score is full of hilarity and fun adventures.

• Daniel P

  
  File under "could do better".

• Doctor S

  
  Not quite as sharp as the TV series but still plenty of wisecracks.

• Edward S

  
  Don't underestimate this because of its reputation and the fact it looks like a children's cartoon. Bender's Big Score has a rich blend of laughs, stupidity, an enjoyable storyline, and heart-warming humanistic moments which will make this film a great time for people… More
  Don't underestimate this because of its reputation and the fact it looks like a children's cartoon. Bender's Big Score has a rich blend of laughs, stupidity, an enjoyable storyline, and heart-warming humanistic moments which will make this film a great time for people of all ages! (Ok, maybe not ALL ages...)

• Nate H

  
  The best of the Futurama movies, it would seem. Not only does it pay incredible attention to detail and miraculously weave itself through the series' canon, it also manages to produce the most genuine emotion and the funniest jokes.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings