3
(jokes at the expense of the spiritual)
5
(cartoon violence, crude language, sexuality, nudity)
7
(worth seeing multiple times)
"Futurama" season 2 is an improvement over the first but not a drastic a change. I think the art improved slightly (the 3D renders in particular) as did the actors and overall storytelling, but they are subtle improvements that anyone other than the avid fan is not likely to notice or care about.
As far as the overall story there's not much development. Fry goes through several love interests: Amy, Umbriel, and Michelle. His unquenchable desire for Leela is still not yet established. Amy and Kif's relationship is somewhat solidified though she is still playing the field. She has a short relationship with Fry and is seen picking up guys in numerous episodes: she doesn't become a one-amphibian gal until next season. She does show a continuing interest in Kif, though. Zapp's continuing obsession with Leela grows creepier.
A few recurring characters show up for the first time including the sewer mutants, Cubert, and Flexo. One new character I don't particularly care for is Scruffy. Thankfully his roles are more like cameos. He has some funny moments, but he can be annoying.
I was hoping for a return of Fender from "Hell is Other Robots" and the organ peddler from "My 3 Suns," but Preacherbot, Calculon, Tinny Tim, and others do show up again. Sal changes jobs with his underwear and it's a different profession every time. It's a running gag that sounds stupid but works.
Richard Nixon shows up frequently and with occasionally sizable roles throughout the series. He's another one of my least favorite of the recurring characters, but I guess some people enjoy him if he keeps showing up. Mom and her 3 sons are also frequent. Mom is the type you love to hate and her sons provide some 3 Stooges type comedy.
The stories are some of the most disturbing of any season including a murderous Santa Claus, Fry's head being grafted to Amy's neck, and Fry learning about the anatomy of a mermaid. It continues to be offensively goofy and distastefully hysterical.
Morality
There's plenty of strong language once again. I still think Mom in "A Fishful of Dollars" is the worst, but there's plenty unsuitable for young ears around in these episodes. Count on plenty of crude remarks and crass humor as well.
There are a couple of episodes with partial female nudity and a couple more with bare male butts. There's some sexual content particularly with Fry and the mermaid (Fry learns that she doesn't have the female anatomy required for what he wants to do). Kif is essentially pimped out by Zapp (who is himself selling his body) in a parody of "Midnight Cowboy." One episode deals entirely with the mating practices of Zoidberg's race and the woman with whom he wants to mate making heavy sexual advances towards Fry. "Put Your Head On My Shoulders" has a number of scenes involving heavy sexual innuendo. Leela gets involved with a guy who takes sexual advantage of her and then has her organize his porn for him. Farnsworth and Mom get steamy in one episode with plenty of skin shown.
The violence is presented for comedy but is still sometimes gruesome. Fry gets his arm severed in a fight. He is mutilated in an accident and has his head grafted onto Amy's body. Robots rampage against humans in a couple of episodes causing massive destruction and calling for blood. Leela becomes a serial killer with several people dying violently at her hands.
Spirituality
"Futurama" likes to make jokes at the expense of Christians which may be enough to offend some viewers. I don't get overly offended, even when I don't necessarily appreciate the comments, mainly for the fact that I feel like they are picking on everyone. I take Jesus seriously, but I can have a laugh at my own expense when it comes to religion in society. One of the more notable lines I don't like is when Farnsworth says, "Sweet zombie Jesus!"
Christmas has now officially been renamed Xmas. While the "Xmas" episode is irreverent in that way it actually has something of a positive message by way of putting others before onesself.
Final Thoughts
I think it's fair to say that "Futurama" steps over the line on occasion. I enjoyed it just the same up until I began feeling like they were singling out people and pushing an agenda instead of just making goofy comedy at the expense of everyone equally. I can't really recommend the series as a whole anymore and advise anyone sensitive to religious jokes to steer clear. It's great sci-fi comedy especially in these earlier seasons just not very family friendly at all.
Buying Guide
A good bit of "Futurama" vol. 2 is the same as the first one, but the technology and design are better though they will improve again in the next release. You may want to skip down to the extras list, but for the sake of completion I'll detail the other options again.
You can get this set by itself, of course, but in 2 vastly different packages. I'll spend some time talking about this in a little while because as a collector there are things about the differences that matter to me so they might to you as well.
There are also 2 series sets. One is the Bender's head set containing everything up to the point of the Comedy Central restart. The other is newer and contains the complete series old and new.
The new repackaging is done with simple cardboard and an art deco theme which has the benefit of fitting with the look of the later seasons. It's designed to be more eco-friendly which would be fine if it weren't so product unfriendly. The flimsy disc holders tend to let the discs slide out of the pouches easily which means easily damaged DVD's (just tilting the folder the wrong way can cause every DVD to fall out onto the floor). If the DVD's are useless the whole package is a complete waste which seems a lot more eco-unfriendly than a good design that collectors are going to want on their shelves long-term.
The complete series has a few notable points. First of all, it includes all 8 seasons plus the 4 movies. They are all on DVD so you'll sacrifice HD for the ones that offer it. The set includes a special wall calendar but does not include any other extras beyond what is offered in the individual releases (though those extras are not lacking). Packing is essentially all of the individual seasons, repackaged in their flimsy cardboard cases, residing in a larger box.
Final Recommendation:
The full series box set is not worth the hassle in my opinion, and the substandard eco-friendly design should be a last resort. Think what you will about the original plastic and cardboard packaging, but it does what it's supposed to do which can't be said of the newer design. The Bender head set is a worthy purchase leaving you with only the last few seasons to flesh out your library, and, hey, it's even more eco-friendly because it's one case for everything.
Volume 2 is a 4 DVD set.
Video
1.33:
It's very clear and sharp with a little occasional minor fuzziness.
Audio
2.0 Dolby:
Clean and dynamic but it all comes from the front
Packaging
This is just a repeat of the details of the first volume except for the interface description. I mentioned the new packaging already so now I'll talk about the original. Each disc comes in its own thin-clamshell plastic case. Those fit inside a box which has an outer slipcover to keep anything from spilling out. It's an extremely convenient design with other benefits as well. At first I thought this was excessive packaging (adding to the cost), but I have come to appreciate having a case for each DVD instead of 1 folder for all of them. Accessibility is easier especially for pulling out the Christmas episodes during the holiday season.
The whole package is covered in amusing artwork. The outer sleeve has windows looking in on the main box. The only downfall is that the diecut edges around the windows have a way of catching on things making them look ragged after a while so be wary of that. Each case has an image that fits with the others to form one large mural, and the inside of each has a comical theme with the art on the DVD it contains. That's a lot of detail just on the aesthetics, but it's something that I appreciate about the packaging and miss in the new design so I think it worth mentioning.
There is no insert exactly, but the sleeves for the DVD cases have episode details on the back and chapters printed on the inside cover.
The interface has an amusing theme for each disc with music and animation. Each episode has a unique menu.
Extras
-Commentaries: Each and every episode has a commentary. Rather than detail them all I'll just summarize here. They all include creator Matt Groening and exec. producer David Cohen. The rest of the speakers vary from episode to episode but include writers, directors, and voice talents Billy West and John DiMaggio. Sometimes they're boring or chaotic with so many people trying to talk at once, but they are more often informative (even if it's useless information) and entertaining particularly when the actors get into character.-Deleted Scenes: 15 episodes include deleted scenes. Those will be listed in the episodes section. Content warning: a fair amount of strong language in a few of them.
-Animatic: Learn more about it in the episodes list.
-Storyboards: Another feature for the episodes list.-Still Gallery/Concept Art: A manual slideshow featuring some good artwork of the new characters.
-Alien Alphabet: A translation guide as a static image.
-Futurama Video Game Trailer (2:09) A quarter of it is just logos. A look at the animation and gameplay though you can't tell how annoying it is here.
-Alien Advertisements: These are the ads shown at the beginning of some of the episodes collected in one easy-access menu.
-Arachno Spores (0:10) The fatal spore with the funny name.
-Glagnar's Human Rinds (0:11) It's a buncha muncha cruncha humans.
-Molten Boron (0:09) Nobody doesn't like it.
-Soylent Chow (0:12) A deleted ad featuring a familiar voice.
Easter Eggs:
Remember the hidden movie poster parodies scattered throughout Vol. 1? This time we get yearbook photos. Here's how to find them all.
Disc 1:
-Matt Groening : I Second That Emotion menu, highlight Nibbler's 3rd eye.
Disc 2:
-David X. Cohen: The Lesser of 2 Evils, highlight the crown.
-Eric Kaplan: A Biclops Built for 2, highlight the star medallion.
Disc 3:
-Bill Odenkirk: How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back, highlight the data disc.
-Patric Verrone: The Problem With Popplers, highlight Jurr.
Disc 4:
-Eric Horsted: War Is The H Word, highlight the bomb activation remote.
-J. Stewart Burns: The Cryonic Woman, highlight I Hate Mondays.
The Bender's head box set contains all 4 seasons/volumes up to the point of the original cancellation plus the 4 followup movies. It contains only DVD's and does not include the Blu-rays of the movies that are available in HD.
The disc content is exactly the same as the original release. The audio and video details can be read above.
Packaging
The biggest selling point of this set is that the discs are housed in a huge Bender head. The back has a hatch that opens to allow access to all the discs stacked on top of one another. That makes it sound like they sit on each other which is not so. They have individual slots which prevent a disc surface from ever touching anything else. The upside is that disc damage is not going to happen due to packaging (which can not be said of the other set), the downside is that finding the disc you want at any given time requires counting and probably pulling out the wrong one a time or two before getting to the right one. Few DVD packages cause me to deviate from my meticulous shelving system. This is one that does. It just looks too good as a display piece and deserves a place apart from the rest.
The box that everything comes in is in itself pretty fun due to the head-in-a-jar artwork. Bender's antenna has to be attached so some assembly is required.
A guide book offers details on all the episodes.
Extras
The extras are exactly the same as each individual release. There are no additional extras for buying the head set except a letter.
-Letter: This is a note from Matt and David printed on Planet Express letterhead and assigning a number to your head. Mine is 11990/25500.
Episodes
This one has 19 half-hour episodes meaning that without commercials they clock in at around 22 minutes (give or take). There is still no play all option yet, but chapters are placed well for easy navigation.
1) I Second That Emotion:
-Deleted Scene (0:23) The Professor in the tub.
2) Brannigan Begin Again:
-Deleted Scenes (1:20) Getting drunk, pillow delivery, and test results.
3) A Head In The Polls:
-Deleted Scene (0:19) A talk with Bush.
4) Xmas Story:
-Deleted Scenes (1:40) Bender's lawyer, a talk with Tinny Tim, Conan's applause, Conan frozen, relative organs, and Preacherbot on TV.
5) Why Must I Be A Crustacean In Love:
-Deleted Scenes (0:34) Why the interest in robot sex and gym flight.
-Animatic (21:44) This is essentially pencil drawings of the episode with temporary dialogue. It's like watching a coloring book. If you like the episode you'll enjoy this alternate version of it.
6) The Lesser Of 2 Evils:
-Deleted Scene (0:14) Flexo's rights.
7) Put Your Head On My Shoulders:
-Deleted Scene (0:23) Car mirrors.
8) Raging Bender:
-Deleted Scenes (1:00) Mom at the fights and interactive movies.
9 )A Biclops Built For 2
-Deleted Scenes (1:14) Zoidberg the midwife, the wedding party, and street vendors.
-Storyboards: If you like seeing storyboard art this one covers the entire episode as a manual slideshow. It's hard to read the text, though.
10) A Clone Of My Own
-Deleted Scenes (1:34) Deploying laser cannons, parking mistake, and bad jokes on stage.
12) The Deep South
-Deleted Scene (0:23) A dream of Zombie Jesus.
13) Bender Gets Made
-Deleted Scene (0:22) A change of identity. This one is best to watch after listening to the commentary.
15) The Problem With Popplers
-Deleted Scene (0:17) A Honeymooners tribute.
18) The Honking
-Deleted Scenes (1:08) How many must die, parting ways, and Youthere's response.
19) The Cryonic Woman
-Deleted Scenes (0:49) Ice-V will cut you and a picnic in space.