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Released on: Dec. 18, 2012
Released by: 20th Century Fox
Directors: Various
Starring: Billy West, Maurice LaMarche, John Dimaggio, Katie Segal
Year: 1999
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The Series:
I've found that there are 2 opinions on Futurama - you either love it or could care less about it. Finding myself in the former camp I watch and rewatch the episodes and pretty much thoroughly enjoy them and the geek culture they not only inhabit but, also, propagate. Season 7 of Futurama keeps the fun mostly rolling with 13 new episodes, covering 2 DVDs in their latest release:
Ep. 1 - The Bots and The Bees. Bender fathers a child (superbly voiced by series regular Phil LaMarr) with the new office vending machine (voiced by Wanda Sykes). Fry glows bright green and gets bent.
Ep. 2 - A Farewell To Arms. A strange and cryptic prophecy predicting that the world will end in 3012 has a select team escaping to Mars. Fry and Leela both lose arms, but sweetly.
Ep. 3 - Decision 3012. Leela enters the political fray by becoming the campaign manager for an honest candidate, a positive contrast to the head of Nixon. However, problems arise when discussions of his Earth certificate are raised.
Ep. 4 - The Thief of Baghead. Bender finds the job he's perfectly suited for, as a papparazzo. Attempting to snap a picture of the world's most famous “hidden†actor, though, nearly destroys everyone at Planet Express.
Ep. 5 - Zapp Dingbat. Leela's parents separate and her mom begins dating Zapp Braningan. Can the universe keep from exploding itself as a result?
Ep. 6 - The Butterjunk Effect. Leela and Amy get on “nectar†to compete better in their butterfly-fighting arena. Yes, this is a premise for an entire episode.
Ep. 7 - The Six Million Dollar Mon. Hermes goes cyborg and mad robot Roberto returns to wreak havoc.
Ep. 8 - Fun On a Bun. Oktoberfest and human evolution are compared and reach synthesis in the chicken dance. No, really.
Ep. 9 - Free Will Hunting. Bender is dismayed at his lack of a free-will chip and searches for the meaning of it all.
Ep. 10 - Near-Death Wish. Another trip to the Near-Death Star features Farnsworth's parents and a hidden twist about the professor.
Ep. 11 - 31st Century Fox. Did you see what they did with the title there? Fox-hunting in the future, featuring the vocal talents of Patrick Stewart (rescued from Seth Macfarlane's evil clutches).
Ep. 12 - Viva Mars Vegas. The Robot Mafia and Amy's parents come into conflict on Mars. Can an invisible Zoidberg save the day? Sort of, it turns out.
Ep. 13 - Naturama. The characters are re-imagined as wild animals in three different nature documentaries.
Audio/Video/Extras:
Extras are always good on these discs and Volume 7 is no exception. Again, the alternate audio commentary tracks for each and every episode are usually as hysterical (if not more so) than the episodes themselves. There's even an additional commentary for episode 2 included. Deleted scenes, an alternate ending to episode 5, two infinite screen loops, Futurama Karaoke and a good bit with the series' musical composer Christopher Tyng provide everything a growing Futurama geek needs to survive until the next season is released.
Audio for the episodes is served up English-only in Dolby Digital 5.1 and serves the show dramatically well, nicely rendering every little side sound effect that this team of geeks loving includes into each episode. Spanish, French and English SDH subs are available as well.
The image is presented in widescreen 1.78:1 and, even on DVD, the digital image quality is always quite clear with consistently-balanced levels.
The Final Word:
Good, geeky fun - that's the best way I can describe Futurama and Volume 7 is another welcome, well-done chapter in its continued run of excellence.
