Customer Reviews

Futurama, Vol. 4

5 star:		(121)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Very little on television could match Futurama. At it's height (seasons 4-8) the Simpsons squeaked a narrow lead in the laughs-per-minute category, but it was also allowed a better chance to grow and mature than Futurama did.

Futurama, quite obviously, takes place in the future. And while it has sci-fi themes and many references to "classic" sci-fi, it's more a show about the pop culture of our time. Pop culture references are mostly endless, and always very, very sharp. One needn't appreciate science fiction in order to adore this show.

This season gives us the following:
- Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch - Not one of the best episodes, but still quite humorous. As the name implies, Kif finds himself pregnant. 6/10

- Leela's Homeworld - Slightly better than the previous episode, this explores Leela's past, and how she came to the orphanage. 7/10
- Love and Rocket - A Bender episode, and a high quality one. Bender woos the new AI in the Planet Expresship. We all know how serious Bender is about commitment, and you can see disaster coming lightyears away. 8/10
- Less Than Hero - Fry and Leela manage to aquire superpowers and fight evil with Bender, who forces himself in the group. Largely a parody of 60s superhero shows, this is another quality episode. 7.5/10
- A Taste of Freedom - An episode with deeper meaning, and an episode centered on Zoidberg, leading to an episode low on laughs. 4/10.
-Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV - Bender finally makes it onto All My Circuits. Biting commentary on the impact of television on children. 8/10
- Jurassic Bark - Fry delves into his past and manages to find his dog. His petrified dog. Hilarity certainly ensues, 9/10.
- Crimes of the Hot - Global warming is looming, and the professor realizes his robot design (used in all robots) is the cause. A solid episode, 8/10.
- Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles - An instant classic, and surely the highlight of this set. All the characters find themselves aging backwards, slowly becoming infants. Ever wondered what the professor was like as a young man? Hysterical. 10/10.
- The Why of Fry - The brains are back, and again only Nibbler and Fry can save the world. Well made, chock full of big laughs. 9/10.
- Where No Fan Has Gone Before - This episode features the original Star Trek cast. I'm no Star Trek fan, don't believe I've ever seen an episode, yet the world around it is common knowledge and pop culture. Big laughs are again ever-present. 9/10.
- The Sting - A surreal episode, beginning with Fry's death and Leela blaming herself. A risky episode, yet the team has the talent to pull this together quite nicely. 9/10.
- Bend Her - Bender changes his gender. Bender episodes are never as funny as the rest, but this is still quite entertaining. 7/10.
- Obsoletely Fabulous - Another Bender episode, as Bender fears he has become obsolete. 7/10.
- The Farnsworth Parabox - Farnsworth has created a parallel universe in a box. Sharply written with numerous hysterical paradoxes, this episode is a distinct winner. 10/10.
- Three Hundred Big Boys - Thanks to a dubious military victory, the whole planet gets $300 to spend as they wish. 8.5/10
- Spanish Fry - Fry awakes from a camping trip without a nose. Yes, it sounds like a simple plot, but this episode has a great deal of fun with its setting. 8/10.
- The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings - Ah, the irony of making deals with the robodevil. Ah, the irony of Fry outsmarting someone! 10/10.

Yes, some of these ratings are low. The reason for this is they're rated relative to each other. Had they been placed on their own merit against nearly any other series they'd all be 9s and 10s.

All of the episodes contain commentary, often quite biting towards Fox, often a bit chaotic, and always hysterical. Many of the episodes contain cut scenes, some of which are also very funny and worth watching.

If you love Futurama I'm sure this series is already yours and you're merely reading the episode listing to see how wrong I have my ratings. If you aren't familiar with Futurama, or have only seen a few episodes, jump on this! Jump on it now! You won't regret adding this to your DVD collection.

The end of a great series. For shame, Fox. How could you have denied the world of such pleasure and laughter?

I have never laughed so hard as I have at the Planet Express crew. Matt Groening pokes fun at everything imagineable and it all adds up to absolute hilarity!

You've got a displaced human, a one-eyed alien love interest, a homicidal robot, a scientist boss with a love of sending his crew on hopeless missions... and, of course, I can't leave out Kif, the straight guy to Zapp Brannigan (an even more arrogant send-up of Captain Kirk). In other words, great characters with equally funny storylines. The writing is absolutely brilliant and never underestimates the audience's intelligence.

You just can't go wrong with this set. I have pared down my DVD collection, but couldn't bring myself to part with ANY volume of Futurama. In my opinion, it outshines The Simpsons by far. So do yourself a favor... order all four volumes and sit back and enjoy!

Futurama is a really cool and funny show and any one that's a fan of almost any Fox cartoon show will like this. There are a few Easter eggs (secrets) in this DVD set. I don't know what they are yet but I'll have to buy it to find out.

Here is a list of the episodes in SEASON 4. If it has a * beside it has a commentary included, if it has a - beside it has no commentary.

*Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch (deleted scenes)
*Leela's Homeworld (deleted scenes)
*Love and Rocket (deleted scenes)

*Less Than Hero (deleted scenes)
*A Taste of Freedom (deleted scenes)
-Bender Should Not Be Allowed on TV
-Jurassic Bark
*Crimes of the Hot (deleted scenes)
*Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles (deleted scenes)
*The Why of Fry (deleted scenes)
*Where No Fan Has Gone Before (deleted scenes)
*The Sting (deleted scenes)
*Bend Her (deleted scenes)
*Obsoletely Fabulous (deleted scenes)
*The Farnsworth Parabox (deleted scenes)
*Three Hundred Big Boys (deleted scenes)
*Spanish Fry (deleted scenes)
*The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings (deleted scenes)

ALL TOGETHER--- 414 MINUTES LONG

Futurama is one of THE best cartoons ever. It's hilarious, very clean and cool looking, with tons of memorable characters. For some reason FOX likes to put alot of crap on the air that sucks and then take the good shows that are actually worth watching and move them all around the schedule so that no one can find them. I used to watch this show when it first debuted then after that i never knew when it was on. They did the same exact thing to Family Guy, but unlike Family Guy, Futurama didn't get picked up again. It's airing on adult swim on Cartoon Network right now. And now that i actually know what time the show is on i watch it everytime. I can't believe how funny it is!! Fox is stupid they need to pick this show back up!!! But until then, we'll always have the DVD's.

The end of Futurama. :( I don't see how people can badmouth this show. it was great. Unfortunatly it was NEVER given a chance. I can't say how many times I tried to turn this show on and the beginning of the show was cut oof due to football or other sports shows. I am a Simpson fan from season 1 and by the time Futurama came on I acually liked it better than the Simpsons. I still watch them but they are getting more and more off course and just coming up with stupid plots. Futurara However stayed freh. with the show based in space it was left lot more open to plots. Buy this DVD!!!!!

I don't want to parrot everyone else's review, but I have to say this series is one of the best animated shows ever produced. I still watch all the re-runs on CN even though I've seen every episode many times.

This is a great season, with my two of my favorite episodes - the Sting and Jurrasic Bark. Call me a baby, but these actually moved me to tears.

I am holding out hope that the show goes back into production (a la Family Guy), but it doesn't look good...

TV networks have a history of messing with good shows and Futurama is no exception. When it first premiered it was slotted at foxes only good timeslot, after the Simpsons. It premiered to some of the higest ratings in Fox history. The rating dropped the next week but were still good. Fox, wanting to place other shows after the Simpsons to give it a boost, moved the show to the middle of the week. There, no one knew it was on and no one could find it (much like family guy). It struggled there for a while and was eventually moved back to sunday but at a much worse slot. It was placed a 7:00 which had two major problems
a) the show was a little too risque for 7:00 which lead to many arguments with the network (and the delay of the second X-mas episode)
b) It was cancelled week after week after week by football. Sometimes it wasn't even cancelled for football but for the aftergame commentaries. King of the Hill usually got shown, but Futurama was rarely seen.
Midway into the fourth season (right after they had one an emmy for "Roswell that ends well" actually) fox pulled the plug. They had never liked the series (too far out and weird) and the rating just weren't high enough. So the plug was pulled. Too add insult to injury, alot of the last episodes were delayed into the summer instead of being shown during the regular season. It wasn't even replaced. Two King of the Hills woudl be show rather than Futurama. The season faded out in the summer where few were aware that new episodes were premiering. It went on to get good ratings in reruns on CN, though those rating were still less then what it got on a average night on fox.
This is a Great Season. It's the first that had a few week episodes but overall it was still fantastic. It ranges from Political (A Taste of Freedom) to sad (Jurassic Bark), to just plain funny (The Fansworht Parabox). This also contians the best tribute to Star Trek that could possibly be made (where no fan has gone before) and one of the best last episodes in the history of TV (The Devil's Hands are idle Playthings). This is truley a wonderful show and to not own all the season would be a crime. Hopefully it will experience a revival like Family Guy did (New episodes and a movie on the way! Wahoo!)
Order today!

You have to apply the bizarro logic to the ratings game. Remember the Superman villian Bizarro? On his world up is down and wrong is right. Same principles apply. If you have a show that's truly funny and appeals to the intellegence in people it doesn't have a chance. Now if Bender was a cute Robot perhaps it would have been on for ten seasons. Everywhere you look Futurama broke convention and took chances. Where no animated series has gone before...

Season 4 shows us if Leela and Fry end up together. I hope there is a feature film with this one. I can see Zack Branagan getting his own show. Perhaps that will be the future of Futurama?

Good news and bad news everyone! First bad news, as you all know
Fox doesn't have enough decency to bring it back,now good news! The last volume contains some of the finest episodes, including Jurrassic Bark, Teenage mutant leela's hurdles,The sting,the truly
comic Farnsworth paradox,and last,but not least,the final episode,
the Devil's hands are idle playthings,now, more good news!Matt groening,and the rest of the crew are making a futurama movie
released instantly on DVD, due to DVD sales. So the old crew will
be ressurected from their graves!

I own all four Futurama box sets, and I couldn't be happier with them. This show has become one of my top three favorites of all time, along with The Simpsons and Coupling (a British sitcom). It's unfortunate, though, that Futurama is a show that FOX set up for failure, what with assigning it an unstable and too-early time slot and failing to promote it adequately after the first couple of episodes aired. Thank goodness the reruns have found a home on Adult Swim, but it's a shame that new episodes are no longer being produced.

The DVD presentation for this box set is excellent, with high quality episodes, funny and informative commentaries, and awesome special features, which include deleted scenes, artwork, a storyboard, an animatic, and 3D models. The episodes themselves contain just the right mix of humor, intellect, and emotion, as well as spectacular animation. Here are comments on my favorites from this season:

-Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch - An amusing role reversal story, with the emergence of Kif's maternal instincts, and Amy having trouble facing unexpected new responsibilies.

-Leela's Homeworld - The truth about Leela's parents is revealed. The music montage at the end of the episode is very sweet.

-Jurassic Bark - Similar to season 3's "Luck of the Fryrish", the story cuts back and forth between the 21st and 31st centuries, showing how Fry's disappearance affected his faithful dog. Quite moving.

-The Why of Fry - A callback to "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid", Fry must face his destiny and decide who to trust: the Big Brains or the Nibblonians. Fabulous 3D graphics!

-The Sting - A very strange, surreal episode, with a twist ending. It was nice to see Leela's feelings for Fry finally developing.

-The Farnsworth Parabox - One of the wackiest and most philosophical episodes ever. The different parallel universes are all hilarious.

-Spanish Fry - A more risque episode, where Lrrr and Ndnd (of Omicron Persei 8) attempt to harvest Fry's "lower horn" to use as an aphrodesiac. Silliness ensues.

-The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings - My all-time favorite Futurama episode. A bit of a callback to "Parasites Lost". Not only are the Holophone graphics and the singing awesome, but this episode features Hedonism-Bot, one of the funniest guest characters ever! A very touching, yet upbeat, ending to the series. Talk about going out on a high note.

Again, it sucks that this was the final season, but nevertheless, it's a gem. Congrats to Matt Groening, David Cohen, and the rest of the gang for all your hard work. Fans like me really appreciate it, and if there is a network out there that has the wisdom to order new episodes, I will faithfully watch them. But if not, then great job with what was created!