Futurama Season 5 (2008)
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Futurama Season 5 Review
The fifth season of Futurama is the worst. It is solid, but I expect so much more than solid from this series which is why it was so disappointing.
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“Oh, I never knew how much I’d miss him until he was gone!
Not that much, as it turns out.“
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This is the only season that basically consists of four DVD movies split into four parts and thus it consists of sixteen episodes as a whole. Some movies are pretty good, but others not so much. The quality is actually pretty stupendous when it comes to the format, but when it comes to Futurama, it is inferior to all of the previous seasons.
Bender’s Big Score is the quintessential example of everything that is wrong with the four movies. It starts off strong and both Part 1 and Part 2 are actually very good, but Part 4 and especially Part 3 are quite mediocre. I liked Bender in this installment as one of his ass lines made me laugh a lot. That was one of the most hilarious moments so far. The nudist aliens are also pretty memorable as villains and I really liked the twist with Fry, but overall it was a disappointing story that started off wonderfully and yet ended on a pretty disappointing note.
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The Beast with a Billion Backs is easily the finest of the four movies. Let’s state the highlights. Fry dating a woman who enjoys being in a relationship with many men simultaneously was of course very entertaining to watch. I didn’t like Bender’s role here as it felt rehashed and somewhat unimaginative, but Leela is pretty heroic in this story and of course Fry is pretty good as well. But the highlights are those tentacled monsters and the overall storyline that felt pretty well developed and with high stakes.
Bender’s Game is the worst after Bender’s Big Score. Leela with her anger is actually pretty funny in these four episodes which was refreshing to witness. Bender having a conflict about not showing any imagination was in-character and quite well explored, but the kids are expectedly dull and overused. I really disliked the episode which was a Lord of the Rings parody not only because I strongly dislike said property, but also because they really didn’t do anything truly funny with it. So again you have two pretty good episodes, but the last two are very weak thus really affecting the movie as a whole.
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Into the Wild Green Yonder is the second best of the four movies. Once again Leela is pretty funny as the scene with her killing the leech was one of the most hysterical sequences in the history of the show. The whole ecological and feminist aspect to it was overplayed, but mostly well done. And of course the ending is memorable for being a possible finale for the series and was thus epic and really interesting. But Into the wild Green Yonder still disappointed me as it again started off strongly, but ended up being disappointing, but this time around mostly in its middle parts and not the ending which was actually very strong. It was crowded with too many characters and plot points with no focus whatsoever.
In the end, this fifth season is solid and it was actually very strong in terms of storytelling plus showcasing Leela at her funniest, but because the movies were mostly half-baked and half-great with the other half being weak and even mediocre in some instances, it was disappointing and ended up being the worst season of the show.
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Worst Episodes: Bender’s Big Score Part 3, Bender’s Game Part 2 and Bender’s Game Part 4.
Best Episodes: The Beast with a Billion Backs Part 1, The Beast with a Billion Backs Part 3, Bender’s Game Part 1 and Into the Wild Green Yonder Part 1.
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