Can I possibly write about anything other than the election?

Along with being the most important day of for the future of our country (ed. note: failing at mission statement), it also marks the release of the third Futurama movie, Bender's Game!

I feel like the decision to produce direct to dvd 90 minute features was overall a good decision for Futurama. Although it was done out desperation after being dumped for inferior programming, the movies have turned out to be refreshing explorations of the hysterical, often non-sensical universe of the year 3000.

Bender's Game was announced with the release of the last movie, The Beast With A Billion Backs, and delves deeper in the machinations of the series. Also, it includes the first break from the sci-fi setting and into the fantasy realm of Dungeons and Dragons. Major nerd points for that, to possibly one of the biggest nerds in the country, David X. Cohen.

Unfortunately, Bender's Game is possibly the most stale of the movies thus far. Now, that's not to say that it's not funny per se; it has a lot of great lines from a wide variety of character's, but my dislike of most Mom-centered episodes easily carries over to the movie. Without revealing the plot its hard to discuss the main points of my criticism. To sum it up though, Mom isn't a very interesting character, and the arc of the main plot revealed itself a little too early.

The advantage of the first Futurama movie, Bender's Big Score, is that it was full of u-turns and plot points that make the ending a complete surprise and repeat viewings a must. The Beast With A Billion Backs was interesting enough, but felt a little light in comparison to some of the strongest episodes. This is starting to come off as an argument against the movies, but bear with me, I'm getting to my point. The Futurama movies work because they take the best elements of the series and combine them with the show's flare for long form absurdity. It's a joy to watch the writers take multiple premises, in-jokes and bizarre settings and stretch them out for 90 minutes at a time.

What's left will be a great box set to own, and a wonderful possible end to the too-short run of the series. In a different world, The Simpsons could have gotten this treatment too, but they're doomed to run forever at this point.