When we last left our expendable crew, they had just caused a rip in the fabric of space-time (see Bender's Big Score), and while that seemed to be a real immediate problem, after a month of nothing really bad happening, life is starting to return to normal. Well, actually there are a few changes; for one, Kif has finally asked Amy to marry him and for another, Fry has a new love interest in Colleen (Brittany Murphy). Apparently the two met shortly after the rift appeared and after a night of end-of-the-world-sex, decided to start dating.
After three months of doing nothing about the space-rift, a convention of scientists has convened to discuss what they should do. This gathering of the minds is hosted by Stephen Hawking's head and eventually comes to the conclusion that a team needs to go to the anomaly and investigate it. So who shall it be? The Planet Express crew, or Wernstrom's crew of grad students (for those that don't remember Wernstrom, he was the Professor's student a long time ago).
It isn't long before Bender is sent to investigate the rift and lands in a robot hospital because of the ensuing explosion. Angry at the injustice of sending a robot to do this job, he seeks out the council of a secret robot society. Meanwhile, President Nixon feels that the scientists have flubbed the mission and decides to send Zapp Brannigan and his military might against the rift. Let's just say the story really starts to get odd when Fry throws himself in the void and discovers a planet-sized being named Yivo (David Cross) who takes over Fry's body and then everyone else's in the Universe.
I don't want to go any further, because all of the story points start off real strong and while a few seem forced by the end, a good bit of them have very... unusual endings.
The Beast with a Billion Backs not only has a ton of laughs in the way only Futurama can deliver, but its special features are also of note. One of the options is a blooper reel where we get to see how the voice actors act as they try to go through their lines. Another item of interest was "Futurama: The Lost Episode" in which all of the clip scenes and some in-game footage from the series' one game is spliced together to tell the tale of Mom's purchase of Planet Express, and her eventual ownership of the Earth. Having played this game, and not actually being able to beat it because of bad game mechanics, it was nice to finally see how it ends. The features also include the animatics for an alternate opening, deleted scenes and an interview with the voice of Yivo, and to top it all off, there is even a preview of the next movie, Bender's Game, all of which, any Futurama fan will like to see at some point.
Where Bender's Big Score was the first new Futurama we have seen in a long time, and thus was crammed with tons of references to the series, here Beast with a Billion Backs goes for fewer call-backs, and breaks a bit of new ground. If you are a fan of the series, and want to see how the previous video's cliffhanger ends, then pick up this movie. And while it doesn't seem to leave an opening for the next video, Bender's Game, it might be necessary to see this one before that one comes out.
