Futurama - The Beast with a Billion Backs [2008]

The story of The Beast With The Billion Backs follows, as you may have guessed from the title, the arrival of a strange creature on Earth. Said creature then takes control of Fry, who becomes the Pope of a brand new religion that soon begins to exert its grip on the planet. And without giving too much away, the panic and paranoia becomes just one part of an ambitious animated adventure, that makes a fair few points among its many, many laughs.

The good news for fans of Futurama is that The Beast With The Billion Backs really delivers, with more guffaws and a better all-round script than the mightily enjoyable Bender’s Big Score. It’s not without the odd problem, and still doesn’t quite manage to match the highs of the TV show at its finest, but it’s a very welcome fresh addition to the Futurama universe.

Two further direct-to-DVD movies are in the works at the time of this review being written, and with them comes continued hope for a full-on revival of one of the funniest animated programmes of the past ten years. It may not make suitable family viewing, but Futurama is brilliant television, and The Beast With A Billion Backs offers plenty of evidence as to why. Strongly recommended. --Jon Foster

Synopsis
In FUTURAMA - THE BEAST WITH A BILLION BACKS, space rips open, allowing a monster the size of a planet to come to Earth. The alien uses its powers to make Fry the head of a new religion that convinces its followers to depart from Earth, leaving the robots to take over the planet.
The second in a series of full-length Futurama titles, THE BEAST WITH A BILLION BACKS features regular characters and appearances by Dan Castellaneta (THE SIMPSONS), David Cross (ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT), Brittany Murphy (8 MILE), and Stephen Hawking.