Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3653 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-06-30
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 85 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The latest feature-length DVD spin-off from Matt Groening’s terrific Futurama, The Beast With The Billion Backs picks up directly after the recent Bender’s Big Score, and the momentum and fun from that production comes along with it.

The story of The Beast With The Billion Backs follows, as you may have guessed from the title, the arrival of a strange creature on Earth. Said creature then takes control of Fry, who becomes the Pope of a brand new religion that soon begins to exert its grip on the planet. And without giving too much away, the panic and paranoia becomes just one part of an ambitious animated adventure, that makes a fair few points among its many, many laughs.

The good news for fans of Futurama is that The Beast With The Billion Backs really delivers, with more guffaws and a better all-round script than the mightily enjoyable Bender’s Big Score. It’s not without the odd problem, and still doesn’t quite manage to match the highs of the TV show at its finest, but it’s a very welcome fresh addition to the Futurama universe.

Two further direct-to-DVD movies are in the works at the time of this review being written, and with them comes continued hope for a full-on revival of one of the funniest animated programmes of the past ten years. It may not make suitable family viewing, but Futurama is brilliant television, and The Beast With A Billion Backs offers plenty of evidence as to why. Strongly recommended. --Jon Foster

Synopsis
In FUTURAMA - THE BEAST WITH A BILLION BACKS, space rips open, allowing a monster the size of a planet to come to Earth. The alien uses its powers to make Fry the head of a new religion that convinces its followers to depart from Earth, leaving the robots to take over the planet.
The second in a series of full-length Futurama titles, THE BEAST WITH A BILLION BACKS features regular characters and appearances by Dan Castellaneta (THE SIMPSONS), David Cross (ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT), Brittany Murphy (8 MILE), and Stephen Hawking.

Customer Reviews

Futurama is back!
Strange..... for some reason, I liked this a lot better than Benders big score (BBS). Looking at the other reviews, most people rate the 2 feature length episodes the other way around. For me, this was back to the Futurama I love, didn't find it too long or fragmented like BBS, and no gripes at the network (MY major gripe about BBS). For me this was a good movie... enjoyed it a lot. 4 not 5 stars as there could have been a few more belly laughs.

Getting better but still not the TV series
This was without a doubt better than "Benders Big Score". There were atleast some half decent jokes through out it and the plot wasnt all over the place like BBS.

However, it is nowhere near as good compaired to the brilliant TV series. The jokes in this are funny but largely rely and grossing you out for the laughs whereas the TV series often used more wittier humour. Although it certainly is enjoyable you will might find that it drags on a bit too much with the last 2o minutes or so. Sadly this 1h 30 min format does not work for futurama.

Overall, its not a bad watch and you'll certainly feel better if you were left sour from BBS.

Not bad
As a fan of the awesome TV series (better than The Simpsons in my view..!) I was a little disappointed by this feature-length offering. The jokes come as thick and as fast as fans of the show have come to expect but there was a lack of cohesiveness like it was several mediocre episodes tacked together. Having watched the two other feature-length Futurama releases I found this the least enjoyable; 'Bender's Game' is far superior in my opinion.