Bender's Big Score

Lore & Background

The film represents a pivotal moment in the franchise's history, proving that the Planet Express crew could sustain a longer narrative arc without losing their comedic edge. It introduced the concept of time paradox duplicates being doomed to die prematurely, a rule that drives the tragic reveal of Lars as the Fry duplicate who survived Bender's attack in 2012 and froze himself to return to the future. The plot hinges on a time code tattooed on Fry's buttocks, which three alien scammers—Nudar, Fleb, and Schlump—exploit after infecting Bender with an obedience virus. Nibbler warns the scammers against using the code but is ignored. The film also features special appearances including Coolio as Kwanzaa-bot, Al Gore as himself, Mark Hamill as Chanukah Zombie, Tom Kenny as Fry's older brother Yancy, and Sarah Silverman returning as Fry's ex-girlfriend Michelle.

Reader's Guide

The film opens with Planet Express getting back "on the air" after Box Network executives are fired. Hermes is decapitated, causing his wife LaBarbara to leave him. His head is placed in a jar while his body is repaired. Lars, who performs the procedure, flirts with Leela, much to Fry's chagrin.

Key characters include Bender, who is infected with an obedience virus by the alien scammers Nudar, Fleb, and Schlump; Fry, whose buttocks tattoo contains a time travel code; Leela, who dates Lars; and Lars, revealed at the climax to be the Fry duplicate. The film contains two original "movie musical" style songs by Ken Keeler: "I May As Well Jump" (also referred to as "Street Song") and "This Trinity's Goin' to War" (also referred to as "This Toyshop's Goin' to War").

The movie also contains a cover of Scott Walker's "30 Century Man" performed by The Jigsaw Seen. The film was broken into four separate episodes which served as the first part of Futurama's fifth season, followed by The Beast with a Billion Backs, Bender's Game, and Into the Wild Green Yonder. The voice recording finished on July 3, 2007. An official trailer was released on October 10, 2007. The DVD sold 222,036 units in its first week, for a total of $3,994,428.

Did You Know?

• Bender's Big Score is the first carbon-neutral DVD released by 20th Century Fox, with the studio working to reduce the carbon impact of DVD manufacture and distribution.
• The film features a 22-minute full length episode of "Everybody Loves Hypnotoad" as a bonus feature on the DVD.