Futurama-Monster Robot Maniac Fun Collection (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Menu Audio Episode Introductions-With Creators And Cast Members Audio Commentary-Animatic Footage For "Hell Is Other Robots"
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	88:54
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Wesley Archer Peter Avanzino Carlos Baeza Dwayne Carey-Hill
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Billy West Katey Sagal John Di Maggio Tress MacNeille Maurice LaMarche Lauren Tom David Herman Phil LaMarr Tom Kenny
Case	?
RPI	$24.95	Music	Greg Ginn Michael Z. Gordon Christopher Tyng

    As you may have heard, there is now serious discussion about bringing Futurama back for new episodes based purely on the level of DVD sales of the original seasons. Originally, there were 4 production seasons of Futurama, which were shown on US television over 5 seasons. These have all been released as 4 separate season box sets and recently as a 15 disc box set of the entire series. So then, what is this release?

    This release is a set of what the producers believe are some of the best episodes. They have all been previously released and to my mind if you own the season sets or the overall box set, you don't need this disc as it doesn't add a whole lot to the episodes.

    The episodes included are:

1. Hell is Other Robots - Ep 9 1999 - Bender gets into robot drugs and ends up in hell.
2. Anthology of Interest I - Ep 29 2000 - The professor invents a What If? machine and Bender, Leila and Fry try it out.
3. Roswell That Ends Well - Ep 45 2001 - Due to a supernova explosion and Fry making popcorn in the microwave, the team ends up in Roswell in 1947.
4. The Sting - Ep 65 2003 - The professor sends the team to collect honey from space bees. Fry gets killed, maybe...

    This release would only be of interest to casual Futurama fans, which is why I chose to review it, as I am a casual fan. If you have the box sets you really won't need this disc.

Video

    The video quality is excellent.

    The feature is presented in a 1.29:1 aspect ratio non 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was very clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise.

    The colour was wonderful, rich and solid throughout.

    The only noticeable artefact was some very minor aliasing such as at 6:35 in Ep 2 and 18:14 in Ep 4.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is very good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s as the only option on the actual episodes. One of the extras has two audio options (see below).

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The music by Christopher Tyng is lots of fun and sounds very good on this DVD.

    The surround speakers were not used.

    The subwoofer was not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    To my mind the extras are fairly uninteresting, the only one of note being the animatic version of Hell is Other Robots. There is also an Easter egg.

Menu

    The menu included music, and the ability to select scenes, languages and subtitles. I found it a bit annoying to move around in due to the large number of menu items.

Disc Intro (1:38)

    As with the other introductions on this disc, this involves Matt Groening, David X Cohen, Claudia Katz, Rich Moore, John DiMaggio and Billy West laughing and joking but not adding much real value to proceedings.

Episode introductions (0:41, 0:47, 0:55, 0:41)

    These short intros are similar in nature to the disc intro, i.e. pointless.

Animatic - Hell is Other Robots (24:58)

    This is the only real extra included here. It is an animatic version (early animation draft) of the episode which includes cut scenes. There are two audio options, either dialogue from the show as recorded for the rough draft or an audio commentary by the people above. This commentary is much better than the intros in that they discuss interesting points about the episode in addition to carrying on like idiots. Definitely of interest to fans of the show.

Easter Egg (0:13)

    There is one Easter Egg which I could find which is a photo of Al Gore recording his lines for one of the episodes here. It can be accessed by (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) pressing the down arrow while highlighting Play All w/ intros ON .

    This disc has been released in the same format in Region 1.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The set has a few extras none of which are essential.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall