Futurama: Into The Wild Green Yonder [DVD]

The fourth full-length adventure from Matt ‘The Simpsons’ Groening’s animated sci-fi series. Pizza delivery boy from Earth, Philip Fry, who woke up in the year 3000 after accidentally freezing himself in 1999, continues his adventures delivering the goods for Planet Express. Accompanied, as usual, by the beautiful one-eyed mutant alien Leela, and Bender the robot, Fry sets out to save the universe from the bad guys who are threatening the future Green Age.
The last of the four commission direct-to-DVD spin-off movies for Futurama, Into The Wild Green Yonder fortunately leaves us salivating for more. Will we get them? Possibly, but for now, it’s perhaps wiser to deal with what we’ve got.
Into The Wild Green Yonder continues the environmental theme that has underpinned many of the specials, with the plan this time surrounding Amy’s dad, Leo Wong, and his desire to sweep away part of the galaxy so that he can build a golf course (the biggest of its type in the universe, naturally). As this plan unfolds, Fry manages to pick up some mind-reading abilities and Bender embarks on an affair, amongst other events. And while Into The Wild Green Yonder does focus tightly on a handful of characters, leaving some of the others a little short-changed, the star attractions here all get plenty of time.
And that’s been one of the strengths of these DVD spin-offs. Running to the best part of 90 minutes, they’ve taken their time to set things up, and made the most of the extended running time. Into The Wild Green Yonder is no different, and really benefits–albeit at the cost of one or two slower moments–from having a bit more space. The end result is a very funny, enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes, and one of the best of the spin-off movies, too. Here’s hoping though that for Futurama, this isn’t actually the end… –Jon Foster