With "The Simpsons", creator Matt Groening made millions ripping off the Flintstones. With that success, he decided, once again, to violate his Hanna-Barbara muse by ripping off the Jetsons. All he proved was that lightening doesn't strike twice in the same place.

"Futurama", the series, never really hit it's stride, and the erectally dysfunctional execs at Fox were finally able to get their revenge on Groening for giving them, arguably, the most successful show in television history, by jerking "Futurama" all over the prime time schedule until it's ratings were lower than VH1's rebroadcast of "The Secret Life of Paul Simon."

Refusing to turn off life support, Groening and company decided to develop a series of movie-length straight-to-DVD "Futuramas", apparently attempting to disprove the theory that you can't get milk from a dead cow. And as all film fans know, there's nothing that says fantastic viewing ahead more than the phrase "straight to DVD".

One thing this movie brought to mind was how cartoons allow writers to get away with things they wouldn't on live-action TV: like primitive racial stereotypes and grotesque nudity. On Futurama, we get such classic ethnic characters as Hermes (Phil LaMarr) and his wife, LaBarbara (Dawnn Lewis) the oversexed, promiscuous negroes; Dr. Zoidberg (Billy West), the unethical, neurotic, avaricious Jewish doctor, Amy (Lauren Tom) the perky & prissy overachieving Asian girl with cold, materialistic, conniving, status-driven parents; and, of course, Bender (John DiMaggio), the obnoxious, amoral, thieving, drunken, blue collar Italian guy. A cornucopia of bigotry all expressed through the wonders of South Korean animation!

As for the nudity--dear God--the nudity. "Bender's Big Score" has more naked cartoon butt in it than you would get by doing a Google search "Simpsons porn." Main character, Phillip J. Fry (Billy West, again) spends most of the movie with his pants down around his ankles because he has a coded tatoo on his keister that everybody wants. We get to see Hermes butt, too, when Dr. Zoidberg accidentally reattaches his head on backwards (don't ask). At one point, the entire Futurama crew goes to a nude beach, where we get to see the ancient shriveled body of Professor Farnsworth (Billy West, again!). And to top it off, the evil alien antagonists are large, fat, pink, wrinkled nudists. Can anyone say "nudity fetish?'

The plot involved Earth being taken over by rather gayish, pink aliens, via internet e-mail scams. After that, I haven't a bloody clue what went on. The plot was one of those sci-fi classics where everyone goes back and forth in time until the story is totally convoluted. Anyway, what I can remember: Fry falls in love with a whale, Hermes gets cold-cocked by a former limbo champ, Leela (Katey Sagal) falls in love with a bald guy, Bender steals a shitload of stuff, and every character ever on the show shows up at least once. And I couldn't give you a real spoiler on this movie if I wanted to. Here's guessing the next one goes straight-to-the-internet.

--Oddball