MovieChat Forums > Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs (2008) Discussion > Did this make sense to anyone?

Did this make sense to anyone?

posted 16 years ago by kylesbeaver
25 replies | jump to latest

I loved the first movie. It did a lot and it did it all well. Time travel sphere coming from the God being, Fry and Leela seeing that they may be soul mates yet again, the doom factor playing into all the doubles, Nibbler trying to save the universe and eventually the tear in space/time appearing as a great cliffhanger.

But in this one....I just dunno. Lots of SPOILERS below!

We spend the first half hour just debating and assembling a team to investigate the tear. Then all the tentacles come out and start taking over the universe, which was cool, but then as soon as it starts talking it changes its mind and lets everyone go? Then it dates everyone in the universe? Then the Robot League drags it into our universe where it breaks up with us and we all go back to earth complaining? What did I just type?

And I thought once the tentacle got you, you were brainwashed into loving the tentacle? Then Leela says that the tentacle is mating with them and they're all disgusted?

Colleen needing more than one man and the league of robots seemed like a filler storyline. And Kif died, Amy slept with Zapp, and Kif came back? Not only a cheap way to kill a character and bring them back, much less our beloved Kif, but to have Amy sleep with Zapp that easily and now their broken up?

And I thought the tear was caused by a paradox in the space/time fabric? Why did it magically close the second the storyline was resolved? Is everything fine now?

I get that it's just a cartoon, but Futurama has always been as smart as it is funny. That's part of what made (makes?) it brilliant! I just feel this story didn't make much sense or flow at all.

[–] DesiredFX 16 years ago

And I thought once the tentacle got you, you were brainwashed into loving the tentacle?

That was the twist: it wasn't brainwashing, but a genuine love for the sensation that being connected to the tentacle provided.

I will admit, this is one of the stranger plots they attempted.

ATTENTION RANDOMLY TYPING MONKEYS
The reply button does not dispense bananas. That is all.

[–] rogerfgay 16 years ago

It lacked humor. It was like listening to a stand-up comedian for a long time who just wasn't funny.

Tens of thousands of scientists have declared that the AGW scare is a hoax.

[–] gohmifune 16 years ago

I thought it was funnier than the first, and smarter. The first movie had the theme of love and soulmates defying time and space. This one was about how one person needs others, and how powerful that need was. I think that was very smart and even poignant.

The robot league was bender trying to find a place to belong only to find that the crew is his home.

Colleen was trying to find everything in one person only to have to have several, where at the end she gives up her hang ups and accepts the tentacle monster for who shle(?) is.

Amy was always questionably promiscuous, but even she finds someone and only sleeps with Zap in an attempt to connect with something associated with her dead husband.

It was smart I think. I think it made perfect sense.

[–] josh_reed 16 years ago

Just throwing out there that I agree with Macro. :)

Adding a second negative to regardless is a way to illustrate an underabundance of irregard.

[–] Fenrir-5 16 years ago

I think that just illustrates how some people will never admit when something they like loses its quality. They will just find new justification to keep liking it - oh, it's smarter now, and if you don't like it you're too dumb. Oh, it's subtle now and if you don't like it you must like big 'splosions! Et cetera.

[–] ftremblay 16 years ago

And I think it illustrates how some people don't get that to say it loses quality is a matter of opinion.

[–] sgtpeppers1967 16 years ago

Not sure if you've ever heard of this, it's kind of new, but for future reference...

opinion (plural opinions)

1. A subjective thought that a person has formed about a topic or issue.

[–] ikbenleon 16 years ago

wow
that might have been the single most brilliant analysis I have ever read or will ever read about Futurama.

You managed to find a deeper meaning to all of the situations the original poster mentioned. Also much better than I would ever have thought of.

I especially agree with the first part of your comment. I would go even further to state that this movie's theme is like a direct contrast to the previous one. This previous one was about the spiritual side love and how low can overcome many difficulties (of time travel!) while this one was about the more physical aspects like need for humans to be with one another.

[–] dohzer 16 years ago

Yeah, I was really bored towards the end. It just got old.
The humor in it was more stupid than funny.
I definitely liked the first movie more.

[–] Shaomoki 16 years ago

After hearing the big reveal that the tentacles were, uh, you know, I was instantly brought back to memories of bad hentai porn.

[–] ikbenleon 16 years ago

i was kinda "hoping" that Leela would call them Penises instead of genticles :P

[–] danzaiver 16 years ago

I bought this DVD because I thought it was going to be tentacle hentai.

[–] Progeny51 16 years ago

Not "tensticles"?

[–] cocoa_queen_7 16 years ago

I honestly did not think it was as good as the first movie. The first movie made sense. It had a storyline and tied up all the little bits together and made me so happy. This movie was just random. Things really didn't make sense. The coleen storyline was retarded. Fry just enters with her and hes forgotten all about leela and we're like... whos this? and if they wanted to end amy and kifs relationship they could have kept kif dead.So they just killed him, brought him back and made them break up? Stupid...

There was hardly an story at the end to keep us going wanting another one. it just ended. And there were kind of gross bits too, like kif pulling a bouquet out of his stomach, throwing it and then zoidberg eating it? not needed, and zapp eating kif was un neccesary. The start was bad but there was a couple of funny bits and they all involved Bender, who didn't have alot of a part in this movie. He was head of the league of robots but it really did just seem like filler. The pirates of the caribbean spoof at the end was a nice touch but just didn't do any justice for the movie.

This really was a disappointment to Futurama fans. I just hope they can get their act together a bit better for the next movie, to be set in fantasy world. There was nothing in this movie to connect that together either.
FOR SHAME FUTURAMA, FOR SHAME!

[–] venners77 16 years ago

I thought that this movie, like the first one, was very clever. And a fantastic take on religion.

Yivo is clearly a representation of God/religion and the way the people react once the tentacles attach is analagous to the acceptance by them of a religion. Yivo tells everyone how he watched earth from afar and projected images into the minds of artists on the planet. They even make Fry "pope" and they all visit "heaven".

I think the genticles thing was very good. It alludes to the fact that people of any religion love their God. But bring in the idea of sexual love or perversion to their religion and they would be outraged.

To then have them all go on a "date" with God and then decide to mutually "dump" God and then be proposed to by God with an enormous diamond ring I thought was really funny.

The league of robots thing could have been used to better effect I agree but there had to be a mechanism for Yivo/God to find out that he had had his promise broken.

(The tear at the end could easily be fixed by a God like being.)

That's what I think anyway.

[–] dafatdude243 16 years ago

Some of you guys bring up decent points but I completely agree with the original poster on everything he/she said.

Sure some of it has logic to it but not good Futurama logic. The characters for sure changed personalities in the movie. Especially Amy.

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"Futurama, Now In Color"

[–] imyourcanary 16 years ago

I don't know about this Amy talk. Amy's always been ditzy, clumsy, and promiscuous. Sure, she loves Kif, but seriously, she's no saint, and she's easily influenced ("Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me 8 more times..."). Seriously, this is Amy Wong we're talking about.

[–] bjornhaakinen 16 years ago

It's actually "Fool me seven times, shame on me. Fool me eight or more times, shame on you." ;)

This is Walter Cronkite saying, "I told you so".

[–] avesummathat 16 years ago

Isn't it "fool me seven times, shame on *you*?" :p

[–] danzaiver 16 years ago

maybe bush can clear this up http://youtube.com/watch?v=eKgPY1adc0A

[–] garydiamond 16 years ago

It amuses me that so many people purport to understand the first movie now. At the time I remember reading a lot of posts about how to unravel all the paradoxes. Most people decided that it made ENOUGH sense, and forget the deus ex machina of 'where did the tattoo come from?'. The writers did it to mess with us. Probably to give us something to criticise and analyse in that anal way hardcore fans do.

I've watched both movies with almost no expectation - if I hate it I can just watch the old episodes instead. As a result I've really enjoyed them. Sure I could nitpick them a bit, but why waste time? Almost all the plots in Futurama - movies and episodes - have been loosely based in fact, with a lot of things messed with or stretched for humour or drama. I mean, a dog fossil with a chewy nugget core? A spaceship that works by moving the universe around itself, instead of moving through the universe? Why are parts of Old New York underground, why are some still a part of New New York? How about Bender's backstory before he met Fry, that's changed about five times.

There are continuity errors all over the place and things that just don't make sense, but the stories and acting have always pulled it through and made it good science-fiction/comedy. Most of those choices were made for the humour. I don't see the movies doing that much differently; in fact I'm glad they're not pandering to old ways of writing too much. I'd have been bored if both movies were just endless callbacks. Am I one of the few who actually wants less callbacks, more crazy risks like a giant horny tentacle monster and a camp 'giant medium-sized space ant'?

[–] Shaomoki 16 years ago

I think they're comparing to the last film, which seemed just thrown together at random. Beast with a Billion Backs just came right out of left field in comparison.

The allusions to religion I totally missed because I was still wondering about the story and how it was going to end.

[–] kbraeden 16 years ago

The allusions to religion I totally missed

No offense, but jeez how thick can you get?! Seriously, Fry even refers to himself as a Pope, wears a Pope hat and preaches at a tentacle church thing. Then we find out Yivo's surface resembles heaven in pretty much every conceivable way.

[–] pcnew2 16 years ago

LOL, how the Hell do you(/we) even know how Heaven even looks like?
Not that I even believe in it.

Meh, whatever I don't care about this show anymore. Hope the next one is better tho.

PHILIP J. FRY IS UNDERRATED!!!

[–] bruno-mailly 7 years ago

I get that it's just a cartoon, but Futurama has always been as smart as it is funny.

This left the same impression to me : Futurama started both serious AND cartoonish, now it's just cartoonish.

I just feel this story didn't make much sense or flow at all.

It didn't.
Things were like thrown at random until the expected runtime was met.

What did I just type?

Aaand.. that sums up the story.