My problem with the first two Futurama direct-to-DVD movies is that they didn’t seem to have the right “flow,” like they weren’t quite full movies, and not quite four episodes. As much as that bothered me with the first two, the problem seemed to be amplified even more in Bender’s Game.

See, here’s the thing: Most movies follow a three-act structure, set-up, conflict, and resolution. Sure, it’s an old formula, but the fact is that it is the standard because it works so well. Chopping a story into four pieces that are designed to also be able to stand on their own, seems like it would be not only a daunting challenge, but also an unnecessary one. If these things are designed to be individual movies, then let them be individual movies. If they wanted to create 16 new episodes, they should have done that.

Further hurting Bender’s game is the fact that it doesn’t feel like it has a great finalizing purpose in the Futurama universe. Bender’s Big Score and The Beast With a Billion Backs tried, even though not totally successfully in my humble opinion, to address some of the larger unresolved issues the show had when it was canceled way back when. This movie feels like a pure stand-alone, which wouldn’t necessarily be such a bad thing, but if this is in fact the penultimate adventure, it should be working to actually moving towards some final resolutions. That or maybe they’re just saving everything for Into the Wild Green Yonder.

The Dungeons and Dragons/Lord of the Rings parodies were overall funny, but they didn’t feel all that fresh to me. Maybe that’s because I just like LOTR and am not obsessed with it, and despite my other nerdy leanings, I’ve never in my life played a game of D&D. Maybe the jokes would have been funnier otherwise, but as it was, many of them fell flat. Although on the flip side of that coin, despite the way the film was marketed, the Middle-Earth type shenanigans didn’t really seem to kick in until the movie was more than halfway done.

And, on top of all that, once they did end up in their alternate reality, it felt like something from an Anthology of Interest, only it was sort of kind of real. There was a scientific explanation offered, but even the writer’s seemed to be admit that it was itself pretty lame.

But hey, I have to cut the thing SOME slack – there were, as always, some very funny moments sprinkled throughout the DVD, and I will always think that eh Futurama is better than no Futurama. The problem is I want GOOD Futurama, which is, as we know, great Futurama. My fingers are crossed that the fourth movie will be able to deliver the GOOD goods.