3
(jokes at the expense of Christianity)
5
(cartoon violence, crude language, sexuality, nudity)
7
(worth seeing multiple times)
This fourth season of "Futurama" was the final season of the show during its initial run. I expected it to go out on more of a flourish making this set a mild disappointment although that sentiment is outdated since the series has been revived. What makes up for the initial disappointments, though, are the continued use of emotional range and the tying in of numerous episodes.
The continuity throughout the series changes to match the joke, or, at the very least, requires a vivid imagination to make the conflicts explainable. In one episode someone may point out that Bender has no sense of taste while later on he thinks anchovies taste awful. That might be explainable with some sci-fi development, but the show never gets into it. In one episode Bender lives in a tiny, bare room while in another it's large enough to hold a lot of things pleasing to a young pilferer. We are told the first Planet Express crew was killed by a Space Wasp, but that later becomes bees. Bender's composition of elements varies. If you add together all the times he's said "I'm x% of such and such metal" it equals to well over 100%. At one time his young self looks like his current self while at another time he looks like a kid robot.
The kid robot is also a great example of tossing reality for the sake of a joke. Since he's not organic he wouldn't grow from one stage to the next like a human, but doing that for an episode where everyone is getting younger adds more comedy than having him stay the same. So there's a good bit of jumping around, as you can see.
There is also a continuity of events, however, that ties a little more closely together. For instance, Leela's relationship with Zapp, Amy's with Kif, and Fry's with Amy pop up from time to time rather than them acting like nothing never happened (Fry reminiscing about Amy spoils his date with Leela in one episode). Even though in past episodes Amy is sometimes hung up on Kif while sometimes acting like she's still playing the field, their relationship solidifies a lot this season. Fry likewise has been interested in Leela for quite some time, but that intensifies and ends up being key in the closure of the series.
There are at least 3 major callbacks to large numbers of robots seen in previous episodes. One is just names, one is just a handful of references including Roberto and Fatbot, and one contains the majority of the robots seen throughout the entire series including Preacherbot, Fender, Masked Unit, Chain Smoker, and numerous others. It was fun to see so many of them this close to the end.
Several explanations are offered this season. I'm glad they were able to get this stuff in before the end. The concept of a smizmar is explained since it had been introduced as kind of a 3rd sex. We see the secret of Leela's origins which plays into several following episodes. It isn't just referred to, it's a major part of at least 3 otherwise unrelated stories.
"The Why of Fry" brings a lot more together than any other episode. First, it's the sequel to "The Day The Earth Stood Stupid" so it expands the Nibblonians vs. the Brains story. Second, it explains Fry's uniqueness from other beings by referencing "Roswell That Ends Well." And third, it adds a conspiracy element in Fry's coming to the future going back to the pilot.
"Jurassic Bark," also referencing the pilot, gives a clue to this conspiracy tying itself in to this episode as well. This one episode especially, but the whole season in general, gives the series the feel of an overall design rather than a bunch of various stories connected only by the premise.
A couple of things I had hoped to see this season were another Christmas episode and another "Anthology of Interest." That's one reason I didn't like this one as much as season 3. They had built up that expectation then dropped the ideas. Another thing is the lack of guest stars. I guess they spent their budget to get the "Star Trek" cast on at the same time, but there are only a few other episodes with any notable faces.
I hated to see it end and was initially very excited to see it continue after being away for so long, however elements of the continuing show have pretty much killed my interest in the series as a whole. I used to watch these DVD's frequntly but have barely touched them in the months following the new episodes.
Morality
I didn't notice as much strong language this time although there's still some in most if not all episodes. Crude remarks are still plentiful.
Nudity might be toned down slightly, but still gets featured more than once. Farnsworth and Amy show their backsides in different episodes, Amy and a couple of the guys give half-moons, and Zapp gives a long, disgusting look at his naked body. There does seem to be more of the right-on-the-verge-of-nudity and skimpy clothing shots, though, such as everyone naked in a hot tub. There are also shots of Fry and Zapp's butts on a couple of the DVD interfaces.
"Spanish Fry" is the only one that stands out as far as sexual jokes, but they make up the majority of the content since the premise involves an alien wanting to harvest Fry's gentalia for use as an aphrodesiac. Kif does get pregnant, but no actual sex is involved. Bender has a sex change so that he can compete in women's sports then has a fling with Calculon.
There's some violence, but it's mostly silly and bloodless. Noses are ground up and consumed, Leela and Fry get impaled, Fry gets his hands chopped off and replaced with robotic hands.
Bender smokes, drinks, steals, and womanizes a lot.
Spirituality
"Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch" has something of a positive message as far as taking responsiblity. I wouldn't say it's profound, but it does offer a little bit of a counterbalance to Bender's love-em-and-leave-em attitude. Speaking of which, we see Bender finally get his comeuppance for using women (if you can consider a spaceship a "woman.")
Zoidberg's lawyer demands a satanic burial and makes references to being a poligamist with husbands and wives. The joke is that he says things about justice and freedom that the crowd loves followed by revelations that they find detestable.
In the future certain fandoms, most notably Star Trek, have become so popular that they basically become religions. Christianity is little more than a footnote to history.
The robot Devil makes a deal with Fry. There is actually something of a positive message here in that those around him end up hurt by Fry's dealing with darkness. It also puts forth that shortcuts to fame and glory ultimately lead nowhere.
Final Thoughts
"Futurama" is sci-fi comedy gold, but it is not suitable for young or easily offended audiences. I like it despite its distasteful moments even though it is occasionally annoying and eventually reached the point that it drove me away from watching it (the sordid story will be written in future reviews).
Buying Guide
"Futurama" vol. 4 wraps up the original run of the series. The release largely mimics the previous one with a few fairly minor aesthetic changes. The details of the box set and repacking are still the same so you might want to jump on down to the details of this release.
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:
I can't recommend the full series box set thanks mainly to the eco-friendly redesign of the season set. The packaging just doesn't do what it's supposed to do and may leave you with coasters rather than DVD's to watch. The original plastic and cardboard packaging is great, and the Bender head set is a worthy purchase leaving you with only the last few seasons to flesh out your library. Go with one of those if at all possible.
Volume 4 is a 4 DVD set.
Video
1.33:
It's clean and sharp. There are a few moments of quickly passing fuzziness.
Audio
2.0 Dolby:
Clean and dynamic but it all comes from the front.
Packaging
While similar in many ways to the previous volumes, this one does have a few differences. 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. I guess the makers of Futurama didn't like this much material being used in the production of the DVD's, but it's a useful and durable design that I prefer to the new design.
The whole package is covered in amusing artwork. Previous sets have had windows on the outer sleeve looking in on the main box. This time the whole sleeve is transparent plastic except for the images which reveal hidden images on the box inside when removed. As amusing as the concept is there are new downfalls to this design: one is that I could not find a single one with an undamaged plastic sleeve when I was buying it. I look at every single one on the shelves of a few different stores and finally settled on one that was the least damaged. The other downfall is that the sleeve is almost too tight around the box (contributing to the warped sleeves perhaps?) which makes putting it back together more troublesome than it should be. 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 is fun and original including different characters looking through binoculars at the Planet Express HQ. Menu selections are written out on objects like a chalkboard or refrigerator. One thing I miss from set 3 would be the individual episode descriptions by the characters. Although we do get some comical comments, they're random lines rather than anything specific to the episodes.
Extras
-Commentaries: Once again, every episode has a commentary. They include producers, writers, directors, and actors. They can be slow and dry or informative and entertaining. The majority of them are actually pretty good especially when Billy, John, and Maurice get into character. "Animaniacs" fans will want to listen to "The Why of Fry" if no other one. There is an extra commentary as well.
-Deleted Scenes: 16 episodes have deleted scenes. I'll provide more details in the episodes section.
-Storyboards: If you're expecting storyboards for another episode you'll be glad to know that you'll get it. See the episode list.
-International Clip: Hear part of an episode in various languages. See the episode for more details.
-Animatic: Yes, there is an episode with an animatic. See the episodes section.
-3D Models from Rough Draft: Short clips of animated models with a description of what we're seeing.
-Planet Express Hangar & Lift (0:25)
-Los Angeles Urban Defense Vehicle Turnaround (0:27)
-The Nimbus Artist Sketch through Turnaround (0:22)
-Nixon Robot Turnaround (0:19)
-Planet Express Neighborhood Backlot (0:40)
-Various Planet Express Ship Modifications Turnaround (0:51)
-Planet Express Ship Controls Test (0:19)
-WWII Tank Wire Frame to Final Color (0:20)
-Character Walk Test for Neighborhood Extras (0:18)
-WWII Army Truck Turnaround (0:19)
-Angelyne's Hover Corvette Turnaround (0:16)
-How to Draw Characters: Last go around we learned how to draw Fry and Leela. Here's another set. The backgrounds are not as comical as last time, though. Once again they are manual slideshows.
-Bender
-The Professor
-Still Gallery/New Character Artwork: A manual slideshow displaying many of the new robots and characters with great clarity.
-Character Pencil Tests: Simple black-and-white animations showing off scenes and characters doing random things. Some of them are hard to see. It would be better with a little background audio.
-Bender (2:20) Dancing, falling, spinning, etc.
-Leela (0:29) Fighting and climbing.
-Kif (0:17) Reactions.
-Zapp (0:15) Caressing.
-The Professor (0:12) Cheering and exploding.
-Zoidberg (0:46) Dancing and exploding.
-Fry (0:20) Dancing.
-Amy (0:20) Partyboarding and exploding.
-Miscellaneous (3:27) Dances, stuff exploding, various odd effects, etc.
Easter Eggs:
-Panel Discussion: I'll give the details in the episodes section. At the episode menu for "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" highlight Home then move right. When the picture changes, press enter.
-Captions Not Used: This is more of the opening caption ideas that they scrapped. We saw the same feature (with different captions) hidden last season. As before it's an automated slideshow, but you can use chapter skip to jump ahead or go back. This time go to "Spanish Fry" on D4 and hit left until the image changes then hit enter.
-Table Read: On the "Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings" menu move up until the Devil's hands appear then press enter. See the episode list for more details.
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
We get 21 episodes this time at about 22 minutes each. The play all option is back, and chapters help with jumping around.
1) Kif Gets Knocked Up A Notch
-Deleted Scenes (3:08) Binary hangman, Amy's new messages, power pain relief, why Bender can't stay awake, avoiding instant death, Bones parody, Leela the older sister, Kif's woes, stealing ideas, a jock strap, and the midwife talks.
-Storyboards: As usual this is a manual slideshow. It is interesting to see the conceptual art but most of the text is too small to read easily.
2) Leela's Homeworld
-Deleted Scenes.(1:10) Leela's announcement, mutating a rat, and dirt on orphans.
3) Love And Rocket
-Deleted Scene (0:14) Why kill the cow.
-International Clip (1:27) Though it says "clips" it's just one. Use your DVD audio selection to choose between 4 language track options (including English).
4) Less Than Hero
-Deleted Scene (0:21) Fishing in the sewer.
5) A Taste Of Freedom
-Deleted Scene (0:46) Farnsworth's secret dream and Zoidberg's apetite.
10) Jurassic Bark
-Commentary: An additional commentary includes several of the series' directors. It's informative, but they all try to talk at once several times.
11) Crimes Of The Hot
-Deleted Scene (0:21) Fry's strange clothes.
12) Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles
-Deleted Scenes (0:47) At the diner, young Hermes and son, and planning the race course.
13) The Why Of Fry
-Deleted Scene (0:26) What Fry wants to do.
14) Where No Fan Has Gone Before
-Deleted Scene (0:09) What the situation calls for.
-Panel Discussion (3:00) This is a few moments with a con panel discussion. Writer Goodman talks about the Star Trek cast and and John talks about Bender's voice. It's very funny.
15) The Sting
-Deleted Scenes (1:39) Fry's ant farm, work and golf, another dream, honey glazed, and the planets speak.
16) Bend Her
-Deleted Scenes (0:52) Bender's threat, meant to be, and the caress of a feather duster.
17) Obsoletely Fabulous
-Deleted Scenes (1:06) Robot rock band, Mom addresses the robots, wooden Bender emerges, and Bender's battle cry.
-Animatic (25:36) Like the previous animatics this is a lot like watching the episode as a coloring book.
18) The Farnsworth Parabox
-Deleted Scenes (0:43) Leela's response, Fry's jacket, and Amy's hatred.
19) 300 Big Boys
-Deleted Scenes (0:58) Casting a vote, new store, organ vendor, and Bender's justification.
20) Spanish Fry
-Deleted Scenes (1:12) A cloned nose, finding the wrong nose, and marital issues.
21) The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings
-Deleted Scenes (1:25) Invitation, Fry's disaster, what are we, and planning a date.
-Table Read (35:57) This is audio of the actors rehearsing the episode. Having video with it would be more fun, but it's still entertaining.