The Beast with a Billion Backs

The Beast with a Billion Backs is the second of the four Direct-to-DVD films to be released in 2008. The film will be released for region 1 on 24 June, 2008 and region 2 on 30 June, 2008. Fans in region 4 will have to wait until 6 August, 2008.

As of 8 July, 2007 the voice acting for all the films (which includes the fifth season) is finished, according to Lauren Tom. It will guest star Stephen Hawking, David Cross, Dan Castellaneta and Brittany Murphy.

According to a recent Wired article, "The Beast With a Billion Backs," can be viewed as a full-length movie about a creature that carries on a simultaneous affair with everyone in the galaxy.

The story will continue from where Bender's Big Score ended.

Plot summary


One month after the rip opens up, people are getting less scared. Fry explains to the crew that he has got a girlfriend (they met at the viewing at the Anonomy). More gracious news, Kiff and Amy are getting married, or, getting a fonfonru. Everyone goes to Amphibius 9 for them to get married. After they get back, Farnsworth gets invited to a science convention. They are greeted by Stephen Hawking's head. Wernstrom is also there and compeits with Planet Express to see who gets to explore the Anonomy. They decide to compiete ina scientific manner... Deathball. Planet Express wins. Colleen is there to congradulate him, and Chu, her other boyfriend. As Fry learns that he is not the only boyfriend of Colleen, he gets depressed. After winning in Deathball, Planet Express gets to further explore the Anonomy, much to the crew's demise. Bender's the one who has to explore the Anonomy. He moons the tear, but gets backfired (litterally). Bender is sent to the hospital. There he is met by Calculon in hopes to cheer him up. It works, but too hard. He becomes a stalker of Calculon. Calculon is the only person he can have fun with because Fry is paying too much attention to Colleen. Fry tries to have a five-way date wth Colleen and her four other boyfriends, but doesn't go well when he breaks up with her. Wernstrom and Farnsworth try to work together to explore the Anonomy. The figure out that any metalic machine can't enter. Zapp and his crew (and Fry in hopes of finding true love) are prepared to bomb the universe. Fry sends out into the universe. Kiff gets killed after trying to repair the UUM, and Zapp sends it before he got out. He gets cushed by the missile ad dies. Fry explores the other universe and meets Yivo, the planet-sized alien/squid. Soon, Fry gets attracted to Yivo, and wants to make the whole universe to be attracted to Yivo. Planet Express hide form the tentacles in the building. Farnsworth makes an invention for Planet Express to protect their neaks. They open up the building, but when they do, Leela notices that Farnsworth is controlled. So is Hermies. And Wernstrom. All that's left is Amy, Leela and Zapp. They escape to an abandoned soup kitchen. After crying over Kiff, Zapp tries to cheer up Amy, and one thing lead to another, and they do it. Leela sees them, and tentacles. The tentacles control Zapp and Amy. Leela runs away from them. She rips off part of a tentacle and runs to Planet Express to find out about the tentacles. Meanwhile, Bender gets too depressed and decides to kill himself. He goes to a suiside booth, but the booth opens a trap door leading to a secret alience. The League of Robots.

(continue story...)

Trivia

 * The title is a reference to Shakespeare's line "I am one, sir, that comes to tell you your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs." in the play Othello (however, use of the phrase dates back before this usage). In "Spanish Fry", the sex shop in which Fry, Bender and Leela enter is called "The Beast with Two Bucks", which is a reference to the same line.
 * It also references, The Beast With a Million Eyes. Incidentally plot of that movie involves a huge alien mind controlling the weak minded, albeit to fuel hatred rather than coerce the world into having sex with it. The movie came out in 1955, and the box art for The Beast With a Billion Backs is modeled after 1950's horror movies involving monsters.
 * A sneak peek was included in a two disc DVD of Bender's Big Score exclusive to Best Buy.
 * The official trailer (in colour) has been released and can be watched at slurmed.com.
 * Fry called DIAL-A-JOKE from Colleen's Apartment a total of 8128 times.

Characters
Characters that can automatically confirmed, and characters that have been confirmed.

Cast

 * Billy West as Philip J. Fry, Professor Hubert Farnsworth, Dr. John Zoidberg, Zapp Brannigan, Richard Nixon's head, Bolt Rolands, Additional Voices
 * Katey Sagal as Turanga Leela
 * John DiMaggio as Bender, Curly Joe, Additional Voices
 * Tress MacNeille as Linda, The Grand Midwife, Amazonians, Additional Voices
 * Maurice LaMarche as Kif Kroker, Morbo, Calculon, Additional Voices
 * Phil LaMarr as Hermes Conrad, Ethan 'Bubblegum' Tate, Ndulu, Additional Voices
 * Lauren Tom as Amy Wong, Additional Voices
 * David Herman as Dr. Ogden Wernstrom, 'Sweet' Clyde Dixon, Pazuzu, Giant Medium Sized Ant, Additional Voices
 * David Cross as Yivo
 * Brittany Murphy as Colleen
 * Stephen Hawking as Himself
 * Dan Castellaneta as the Robot Devil

The DVD
It has been reported that the DVD will contain :
 * The film itself
 * Commentary by Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, Billy West, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Michael Rowe, Claudia Katz, Peter Avanzino and Lee Supercinski
 * Futurama The Lost Adventure - A Long-Lost, Full-Length Adventure Produced for the Futurama Video Game
 * Audio Commentary By Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, Billy West, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Michael Rowe, J. Stewart Burns and Lee Supercinski
 * Meet Yivo! Featurette with David Cross
 * A Brief History Of Deathball Featurette
 * Blooperama: The Futurama Cast At "Work"
 * 3D Models With Animator Discussion
 * Storyboard Animatic: The Beast With A Billion Backs, Part One
 * Deleted Scenes/Storyboards
 * Original Opening
 * Fry and Colleen Meeting
 * St. Asimov Parade
 * Zapp and Scientists
 * Amy, Fry and Leela
 * Scruffy, the Janitor
 * - A Sneak Peek at the Next Futurama Epic!