Did you see Beast with a Billion Backs? – Spoilers!

[Jonathan Capps]

Within about an hour of being told it had leaked I had it downloaded and started watching. I’ve just finished it. Obviously SPOILERS abound, so for Christ’s sake don’t read this until you seen it.

And… well, I thought it was a bit weak. Great central idea, lots of great little ideas kicking around and some funny jokes but it all felt messy and half arsed. No where near as good as Bender’s Big Score, which I thought was absolutely brilliant.

The jokes and dialogue just weren’t sparkling like they should and the various story lines seemed just haphazardly stuck together. They ended up coming together ok at the end, but that didn’t really make it all seem worth it. There was nothing at the end that made me think “wow, absolutely every second of that was building up beautifully to the ending” like I did with BBS.

David Cross was very good, though – there was something very amusing about a pan dimensional tentacle beast having that voice – but how fucking long did we have to wait until he actually shows up, let alone speaks?

I dunno, maybe I’ll like it more on second viewing, but that first viewing just gave me the impression of it being messy, directionless and not nearly as funny as it could’ve been.

The extended title sequence and the credits with pictures of all the characters the voice actors played were by far my favourite bits.

Topic

[Daff]

Saw this soon after it was leaked and was nearly tempted to grab it, but series 1 of BS Galactica HD-DVD arrived so I’ve started watching that instead.

[Ben Paddon]

So great idea, poorly executed? Are you sure you didn’t watch Bender’s Big Score?

[Jonathan Capps]

> So great idea, poorly executed? Are you sure you didn?t watch Bender?s Big Score?

NO, BBS IS BRILLIANT SHUT UP. Jesus, why is the entire Internet so wrong about it?

I’ll be hugely surprised if anyone prefers BWABB to BBS, anyway. On that we should agree.

[Ben Paddon]

BBS was such a disappointment. Sorry, but dems the breaks. It actively shits all over some of the most touching moments from the series’ run. I know that the show is at heart a comedy, but it just felt sloppy. And lazy. And… well, disappointing. Great idea, poorly executed.

You enjoyed it, sure. But you’re you. I’m not you. Not at all. I’m me. And I, being me, didn’t enjoy BBS. Funny, that. It’s almost as if we’re two entirely different people.

[TheLeen]

I liked BBS and I probably will like BWABB. It’s Futurama, how would it not amuse me?

[Jonathan Capps]

> You enjoyed it, sure. But you?re you. I?m not you. Not at all. I?m me. And I, being me, didn?t enjoy BBS. Funny, that. It?s almost as if we?re two entirely different people.

Yes, my overzealous disagreeing with people isn’t entirely serious.

[peas_and_corn]

Look, I did an investigation which PROVED that Ben is a sockpuppet of Capps- I used wikipedia software. BELIEVE ME PEOPLE, I HAVE NO QUALIFICATIONS IN WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT.

[Ben Paddon]

Jonathan busts Capps in my ass (in an entirely hetrosexual way, of course)…
Yes, my overzealous disagreeing with people isn?t entirely serious.

Snap.

[Jonathan Capps]

I watched it again last night, and I enjoyed it a lot more. Still, not as good as BBS (FACT, SHUT UP ALL OF YOU) but much better than I originally thought. I guess I was in a funny mood the first time round.

[Phil]

Watched this last night with someone…we actually didn’t make it all the way through. Which surprises me, considering how much of a Futurama fan I am.

It’s not that it was bad–it wasn’t. It’s not that it wasn’t funny–it was. But I think it felt pretty directionless. In BBS, just to grab a related example, you might not have known where the plot was going next, but you knew it was going somewhere. It was clearly enough building toward something.

This time…well, maybe they were–I didn’t see the end–but it didn’t feel that way at all. Good moments, some very big laughs, but we ended up finding other things to do about an hour into the film. Which pains me to admit.

And Ben isn’t exactly WRONG about how he feels…I think we’re just viewing the same thing from different angles. He feels that it devalues two major emotional episodes of the show. Certainly in the BBS version of things that’s an easy argument to make. But the fact that Yancy WOULD HAVE felt that way if his brother hadn’t returned, or the fact that Seymour WOULD HAVE wasted his entire life waiting…it still works for me. In the same way George McFly WOULD HAVE grown up to be a wimpy little weed.

The time-travel alters the outcome, but doesn’t make the original outcome any less affecting.

To me, obviously. I can’t speak for anybody else, and I’m taking care not to make the opposite opinion seem invalid. No matter how you argue it logically, it all comes down to whether or not you feel those scenes retain their emotional identity. (And probably for others still, whether or not you even care about that.)

[Ben Paddon]

While I agree that this film was a fair bit more aimless than BBS, I have to say I enjoyed it much more. It’s still not quite there yet – Futurama appears to be suffering from Post-Cancellation Syndrome, where the quality of the new content is unable to live up to the sheer awesomeness that came before it – but it’s getting there. Mostly I think the problems with BBS and BwaBB lie in spreading out an idea that would normally last us a good 22 minutes into an hour and a half, which is a problem pretty much every Movie Based On A TV Show suffers from.

It worries me that people seem to be placing these films in higher regard than they’re actually deserving of, simply because It’s New Futurama.

[Dave]

>NO, BBS IS BRILLIANT SHUT UP

Blindfolded Bowel Surgery?

>It?s Futurama, how would it not amuse me?

They…found…a way

I liked Bender’s Big Score and I liked the Beast’s Billion Backs, but both feel equally padded and constrained by the format. It’ll be interesting to see how they function as individual episodes because they could arguably fail on both counts.

I’ll probably reconsider on a second viewing.

[Zombie Jim Undead]

I actually enjoyed it a lot more than Bender’s Big Score.

BBS was good, but seemed to be trying too hard to be an epic event – and it really wasn’t.

This felt more like good old fashioned quickfire random as heck Futurama.

Think both specials have been better than Season 4 (which I reckon is pretty weak).

[Danny Stephenson]

I’ve just bought the Season 1 – 4 box set. YAY for me!!! Just thought I’d let you know

I need to watch Bender’s Big Score and Beast with a Billion Backs, though…

[Dave]

I enjoy The Beast with a Billion Backs more each time I see it, which I don’t think was true of Bender’s Big Score

[Ben Paddon]

I love you, Dave. Let’s run away together.

[Dave]

But where will we go?

[Ben Paddon]

Anywhere. There’s a whole world out there just for us. All we have to do is reach out and take it.

[Dave]

You’re too good to me. I promise to get my gonorrhea checked.

[Ben Paddon]

Wait, you have gonorrhea?

Oh… uh… I’ve just remembered, I have a… erm… a thing I should be doing, so… er… I’ll just go and… and do that, and I’ll, uh, I’ll… be back. Later.

[Dave]

Of course, I have Gonorrhea, I can’t leave her with the childminder all week.

[Author]

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