Futurama Monster Robot Maniac Fun Collection is the latest single-disc collection from Fox. It features four of show creators’ favorite episodes. Despite the title, only two episodes - Hell is Other Robots and Anthology of Interest actually feature monster robots. The other two episodes are Emmy-worthy, but don’t relate to the monster robot theme. Unlike other single-disc collections from Fox (like the recently released Bart Wars), this is a very entertaining disc with four excellent epis…des.

Episode List

Hell is Other Robots

After a Beastie Boys concert, Bender hooks up with his old fried Fender, where he gets hooked on “Jacking on”. After hitting rock-bottom, Bender is saved by the church of Robotology and becomes uncharacteristically decent, much to the annoyance of his friends. After relapsing in sin, Bender is sent to Robot Hell, where he is ultimately rescued when Leela beats the Robot Devil in a fiddling contest.

Great episode with a fun musical number. Dan Castellaneta – the voice of Homer Simpson – is excellent as the Robot Devil.

Anthology of Interest I

In the style of Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horrors, this is episode is a set of three fantasy stories. The first features a 50-foot Bender battling a giant Zoidberg in downtown New New York. The next has Leela going on a murderous spree and killing off her co-workers one-by-one. The last story is an alternate reality where Fry never travels to the future – a rip in the space-time continuum is the result, which eventually destroys the entire universe.

These fantasy episodes are a very enjoyable, since you can kill off major characters. The last story has special guest stars Nichelle Nichols (Uhura from Star Trek), Stephen Hawking, and then-Vice-President Al Gore. Gore is actually quite funny!

Roswell That Ends Well

After a freak accident involving a supernova and microwave popcorn, the crew of the Planet Express Ship are sent back in time to 1947 Roswell. Bender’s destroyed body is mistaken for a crashed UFO, and Dr. Zoidberg is captured and subjected to an alien autopsy. In a screwed-up effort to ensure his survival in the future, Fry accidently kills his grandfather, and impregnates his grandmother, making Fry his own Grandpa.

Winner of the 2002 Emmy for best animated comedy, this is a brilliant episode. Zoidberg is particularly hilarious, providing commentary during his own autopsy – “Hey, lighten up! What is this, a funeral?”

The Sting

While on a dangerous honey-collecting mission, Fry is killed by a giant bee. Leela, filled with remorse for her friend’s death, finds comfort in a jar of hallucinogenic Queen Jelly. As she descends into madness, she becomes increasingly convinced that Fry is still alive. She may be right…

This episode was nominated for an Emmy, probably due to its clever storyline and touching dialog. An enjoyable episode, but it just doesn’t have the comedy punch of the other episodes in this set.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 2.0 mix sounds good, but as with most animated releases, nothing exciting. Dialog and effects are clear and crisp. The music enjoys some limited surround effects. Too bad Futurama doesn’t get a 5.1 mix to enhance the fantastic space battles!

Video

Given that all episodes are colored digitally, it is no surprise that the 1.33:1 transfer is excellent. Colors are vibrant and well-saturated. Black levels are very deep. The image is noise-free. Some still elements were a bit jaggy, particularly dark straight lines. Quite nice, overall.

Special Features

We get some decent never-before-seen extra features in this collection. Each episode gets a 60 second intro commentary from the show creators and actors. There is also an overall Disc Intro. In the disc’s best feature, we get treated to a full-length animatic (i.e. rough-drawn version) of Hell is Other Robots, which is an outstanding 4 minutes longer than the aired episode. The animatic includes a new full commentary from the show creators, animators and actors.

The menus are static, but scored to a beatbox version of the theme song. All menus are done in the Monster Movie theme, consistent with the disc’s title. Well laid out, everything is where you expect it to be.

Final Thoughts

My usual recommendation on these collections is to skip them and buy the full seasons instead. Given the quality of the episodes on this disc, and the additional features, it’s worth picking up. Casual viewers of the show will enjoy this disc as well. Even if you own all seasons on DVD, with this disc, you are getting four of the top series episodes in an easy-to-carry format!

One let-down: The season 2 episode The Honking, which features Bender turning into a killer Were-car, was NOT included. I mean, is this a Monster Robot Maniac Collection, or isn’t it?

Special Features List

• Special introduction by series creator Matt Groening and executive producer David X. Cohen, joined by Futurama characters and crew
• Additional introductions for each episode
• Full-length animatic of Hell Is Other Robots featuring optional commentary Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, Claudia Katz, Rich Moore, John DiMaggio (voice of Bender), and Billy West (voice of Fry, Professor Farnsworth, Dr. Zoidberg, and more)