Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Video: 20th Century Fox

 

Disc:

Region: FREE! (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 0:21:40.299 X 7 / 0:21:39.339  X 6

Disc One Size: 40,135,205,978 bytes / Disc Two: 42,075,499,749 bytes

Episodes Size: 7 = 38,764,627,968 bytes / 6 = 35,406,071,808 bytes

Video Bitrate: 28.43 Mbps / 30.63 Mbps

Chapters: 28 / 24 (4 per episode)

Case: Custom Cardboard Blu-ray case

Release date: December 20th, 2011

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 1.78:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

DTS-HD Master Audio English 3493 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3493 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Commentaries: Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps

 

Subtitles:

English (SDH), French, Spanish, none

 

Extras:

Disc 1:
• The Silence of the Clamps
• Mobius Dick
• Law & Oracle
• Benderama
• The Tip of the Zoidberg
• Ghost in the Machines
• Neutopia
Deleted Scenes (6:30)
Audio Commentaries for all 7 Episodes

Disc 2:
• Yo Leela Leela
• Fry am the Egg Man
• All the Presidents’ Heads
• Cold Warriors
• Overclockwise
• Reincarnation
Deleted Scenes (8:26)
Audio Commentaries for all 6 Episodes
Professor Farnsworth's "Science of a Scene" (17:11)
Reincarnation Explained! With Director Peter Avanzino (6:47)
Futurama F.A.Q. (Frequently Axed Questions) (11:28)

BD-Live Features

 

Bitrates:

 

 

 

Description: Blast off your inhibitions as The Simpsons creator Matt Groening brings you another far-out collection of FUTURAMA™ fun! In addition to a full payload of outrageous extras not shown on TV, Volume Six delivers 13 mind-Bendering new episodes that involve time travel, self-replication, covert missions, alien eggs, and more robot roughhousing than you can shake a girder at. It’s a scream...the good kind!

 

 

The Film:

During its original run, Futurama was one of the highlights of the TV schedule. The misadventures of the Planet Express crew - Fry, Leela, Bender, Zoidberg, Amy et all - make for some outstanding re-visitation - years post initial cancellation. This is great fun and fans should rejoice at the 13 NEW episodes! Most impressive is the inventive writing and hilarious animated execution of the plots and characters. I could watch this 24/7 and never grow tired of the comedy and unique situations. Let's hope this runs as long as The Simpsons! Bravo!

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

This looks equally as impressive as Into the Wild Green Yonder and Bender's Game on Blu-ray. Colors are spectacularly rendered with tight lines and creeping depth. Digital animation, especially at the hi-def level, should be perfect - and this is. There are none of the deficiencies associated film-to-digital like noise and artifacts. This is exactly how the animators and 'creators' intended it to look. The only complaint could be with the animation style of any lack of continuity in motion - sometimes referred to as 'jaggies'. The 'Futurama' style, without dramatic change, has been around since 1999 - more advanced than Groening's original The Simpsons - and it balances nicely between simplistic and recognizable to extravagant and epic sci-fi venues. This series is so much fun. The two Blu-rays are both dual-layered housing 13, 21-minute, episodes and the 1080P transfer supports deep rich contrast and black levels producing some surprisingly strong visuals. Looks fabulous!

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

Excellent audio via a DTS-HD Master 5.1 track at 3493 kbps. The opening theme music has some potent depth and the effects and voice characterizations are all wonderfully crisp. There are decent separations and a flaw could not be detected in the transfer. This lossless rendering sounds perfect and there are optional subtitles available. My Momitsu has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.

 

Extras :

There are about 15-minutes of hilarious Deleted Scenes spread over the two discs and fun audio commentaries available for all 13 Episodes. On disc two are added Professor Farnsworth's "Science of a Scene" explanation for about 17-minutes, a Reincarnation Explained! With Director Peter Avanzino for about 7-minutes and the funny Futurama F.A.Q. (Frequently Axed Questions) running 11.5 minutes. Great for us fans who cannot be sated!

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
I loved revisiting this show with all new episodes (I had not seen the broadcasts in 2011) - especially in such brilliant HD. Futurama has this appeal that continues to grow and again - I'll credit the writing. This is easily one of the most creative shows on television. I always LOVE the President's Heads concept! Voices are great and the Blu-ray a/v is magnificent. Those who enjoy the show don't need a recommendation from me - this is easy to endorse!

Gary Tooze

December 19th, 2011