DVD Collectors Online

Futurama: Bender's Game, a review by Dragonfire

Futurama: Bender's Game

With fuel prices skyrocketing, the Planet Express crew sets off on a dangerous mission: to infiltrate the world's only dark-matter mine, source of all spaceship fuel.  But deep beneath the surface lies a far stranger place...a medieval land of dragons and sorcery and intoxicated knights who look suspiciously like Bender.  So park your hover-car and saddle up your unicorn for Futurama's grandest adventure yet... Bender's Game.

My Thoughts

I loved Futurama and am still annoyed that Fox canceled it - along with some other very good shows.  Anyway, I was very happy when I learned that some direct to DVD Futurama movies were being made and I got the first two, Futurama: Bender's Big Score and Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs when they came out.  This movie didn't reference anything that happened in the first two, so it is more self contained than they were.  There were no story threads left unresolved from the second one.

The plot was a bit different, but I think that is typical of Futurama in general.  It was very entertaining and I think fans will be happy with it.  The story featured a combination of things connected to Dungeons and Dragons and The Lord of the Rings that I think worked very well and was very entertaining.  It was hilarious to watch Bender get sucked into the game and end up in a robot asylum.  The characters ended up in a fantasy world that was very interesting.  I thought the movie was funny as well.  The characters still acted like they had throughout the series without anyone having a major personality change.  Leela, Fry, and Bender really ended up with the most to do overall.  The other regular characters like the Professor, Amy, Hermes and Dr. Zoidberg were also around. 

I also enjoyed the extras.  There is a short featurette featuring a few men involved in the making of the movie talking about Dungeons and Dragons and how they incorporated it into Futurama.  They pointed out some references to the game that popped up during the episodes.  There was one deleted scene shown and some outtakes from recording sessions with the voice cast that were funny.  It would have been nice if there had been more extras. 

I don't like the case for the DVD..that is a minor thing, but I just don't like it.  Like the first two Futurama movies, it is just cardboard.  It says on the case that it is carbon neutral and how the makers are being more environmentally friendly.  I don't have a problem with that, but this type of case does not keep the disc secure.  I have to be very careful with these cases because I've had the first two movies go flying out when I was just picking up the case.  It wasn't like I was waving it all around or anything.  Anyway, the movie is still great and fans of Futurama will probably enjoy it.

 

(From My November Alphabet Marathon on November 6th, 2008)

THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: Rescue at Sea, a review by Antares

THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: Rescue at Sea (1999) 95/100 - This was an utterly fascinating episode of this fantastic program. I had never heard of the Republic/Florida disaster of 1909 and when one juxtaposes this incredible rescue with what would transpire three years later to the Titanic, it makes that calamity all the more tragic. Guglielmo Marconi's wireless transmitter would forever change the way ships communicated to land. Prior to Marconi, the only way to get a message ashore was to use either semaphore, or carrier pigeons. Once a ship was over a hundred miles from shore, the pigeon's limit, they were unable to communicate with land. When the RMS Republic and the Lloyd Italiano liner SS Florida collided in the pre-dawn hours of January 23rd, 1909, the fate of the passengers on both ships would be decided by the new invention, just coming to the forefront of day to day life. Marconi operator Jack Binns, would man his station at the wireless for close to 20 hours, communicating and guiding the RMS Baltic to the scene of the accident. In the cold, foggy air of his wireless cabin, he refused to take rest and stayed at his post until the Baltic arrived. All the while that the Baltic was looking for the Republic, the crew ferried all of its passengers to the Florida, which although damaged, was in better shape than the Republic. Mid-ocean transfers were extremely dangerous and after enduring this perilous trip, they would be once more ferried from the Florida to the Baltic. Throughout the ordeal, only 6 people were killed, and they met their demise when the two ships collided. It has to be considered one of the most amazing rescues in the annuls of maritime history. Sadly, for the passengers of the RMS Titanic, the rescue was so successful that a false sense of security blanketed the maritime world, as it was now thought that great loss of life in ship disasters were a thing of the past.

But the story doesn't end there. After arriving in New York City, Binns would be thrust upon the stage of notoriety. He was given a ticker tape parade, plays and songs were written about him and a film by Biograph would force Binns to sue them for defamation. When he told newspaper reporters how he slowly sipped scotch whiskey during his 20 hours of transmitting, to keep warm, the recreated character in the Biograph film looked drunk. Binns would win a sizable award and went back to his job at Marconi. Fate would once more shine brightly upon Binns, when in 1912, he was scheduled to be the wireless operator on the RMS Titanic, but turned down the assignment to get married.

Teal = Masterpiece
Dark Green = Classic or someday will be
Lime Green = A good, entertaining film
Orange = Average
Red = Cinemuck
Brown = The color of crap, which this film is

(From Antares' Short Summations on December 5th, 2014)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

Murder in Suburbia: Series One (2004/United Kingdom) IMDb | Wikipedia Acorn Media (United Kingdom) Length: 286 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: Subtitles:

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Plot:
The suburbs - manicured lawns, palatial houses, car pools, wife swapping and murder. Even the most picturesque suburb can hold dark secrets in its lush gardens. Detective Inspector Kate 'Ash' Ashurst (Caroline Catz, The Vice) and Detective Sergeant Emma 'Scribbs' Scribbins (Lisa Faulkner, New Street Law) are partners who investigate crimes in Middleford Criminal Investigative Department.

In Series One the detectives investigate six cases ranging from a singles club murder to an out-of-control stag party and a home improvements lover whose hammer becomes a murder weapon.


Murder in Suburbia
1.01 Episode One
Writer: Nick Collins (Writer), Nick Collins (Created By)
Director: Edward Bennett
Cast: Caroline Catz (DI Kate Ashurst), Lisa Faulkner (DS Emma Scribbins), Jeremy Sheffield (DCI Sullivan), Danny Webb (Gavin Webb), Patrick Barlow (Redmond Appleby), Barbara Durkin (Maxine Appleby), Stuart Bunce (Ralph Mitchell), Stuart Nurse (Dr Weatherall), Liam Noble (DS Pudney), Sebastian Knapp (Harry), Jay Simpson (Photographer), Linette Beaumont (Nikki Pengelly), Cal Jaggers (Hazel Lawrence)

Your average murder mystery series with likable leads.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on June 10th, 2012)