Fourth Futurama Movie Keeps Me Laughing Until Y3K

Futurama fans worldwide rejoiced when Fox announced the creation of four new full-length direct-to-DVD movies starring everyone’s favorite Planet Express crew, reviving the series from cancellation Hell. Unfortunately, these movies have been uneven, to say the least: Bender’s Big Score suffered from a labyrinthine plot and forcing too many characters in for nothing more than fan service, and Bender’s Game abandoned the series’ staple style of humor at the midway point, instead opting for an unsuccessful Lord of the Rings parody. While they were still fun (seriously, they were better than 95% of the “comedy” movies that were released last year), only The Beast With A Billion Backs recaptured that ol’ Futurama feeling for me. So when I popped in the final flick—Into The Wild Green Yonder, which is officially out today—I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Now I can happily say that this is likely my favorite of the four Futurama movies, finally achieving the goal of an 88 minute episode without packing it full of unnecessary fan service or plot devices.

I’ll keep this as spoiler-free as possible: the story begins when Fry gains the ability to read thoughts after a piece of necklace becomes lodged in his head. Shortly after Fry realizes his gift, he finds himself among Legion of Mad Fellows, a group of similar mind readers who are fighting to save the universe—and in typical Futurama fashion, Fry is the only one who can help. Who would have thought sleeping with your own grandmother could make you such an important person? Meanwhile, Bender seduces the most famous fembot in Mars Vegas, ignoring the fact that she’s married to the Donbot of the Robot Mafia.

Finally, gazillionaire Leo Wong, the father of too-cute Planet Express intern Amy, plans to destroy one of the arms of the Milky Way galaxy, allowing him to build the universe’s largest miniature golf course. Naturally, Leela can’t stand by while the galaxy’s cuddly creatures are in danger, so she joins an eco-feminist society and begins reeking havoc on Leo Wong’s construction sites. Wong fights back by hiring Zapp Brannigan to chase down Leela and company, with a well-paid Bender serving as Zapp’s navigator.

This movie offers plenty of fan service, but doesn't shove it down our throats this time...

As with many of Futurama’s more memorable episodes, this movie promotes environmentalism, but is subtle enough that it never comes off as preachy. Any risk of pretentiousness is drowned under a sea of visual gags and clever writing, including sure-to-be classic lines such as “Bite my shiny metal hat!” and “I’m Bender. Let’s do it.” The movie is full of fun scenes as well, including the Frank Sinatra-esque intro number (performed by none other than Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane), a high-stakes Fry vs. Bender poker match, a not-so-high-speed chase through a giant miniature golf course, and a Supreme Court trial headed by Chief Justice Snoop Dogg.

Frankly, I could talk all day about how much I enjoyed this film, but in doing so I would ruin the fun. If you’ve enjoyed Futurama, The Simpsons, or Hell, any type of comedy, you could do a lot worse than checking out Into The Wild Green Yonder. And I sincerely hope you do, because if enough of us check this out, we just might see the Planet Express team again in the near future.