Into the wild green yonder

Futurama has always included parodies of the classic sci-fi Gen X grew up on (Exhibit A: Zapp Brannigan.) But I think it was at its best when it took those classic themes and made them the heart of the story.

That is what I thought that "Into the Wild Green Yonder", the last of the four Futurama straight-to-DVD movies, accomplished. It took the tried and true plot line of hero with special power needs to fight dark power and wrote a story around it that bounced between humor and action. Despite the name, it was not the wildest Futurama, but it had earnest characters trying to do right in their screwed up universe, and that is something that everyone can relate to.

I am glad to see that Comedy Central has ordered up another season of the show--Futurama is a unique gem written by people that love science fiction but who are not afraid to play around with its conventions. For the record, my rankings of the movies are:
1) Bender's Big Score
2) Into the Wild Green Yonder
3) The Beast with a Billion Backs
4) Bender's Game.

It breaks my heart to put Bender's Game last, given that D&D and fantasy gaming in general has always been near and dear to my heart, but the script did not rise to the same level as the others.