REVIEW: Futurama “2-D BACKDROP”

Spoilers!!

The professor starts out by fixing the matter compressor. The crew gets in, but barely gets out of the port when the drive fails and crashes. The Professor feels like they slighted him, so he got to fixing the ship at the junkyard. After falling, morning comes, and after getting one of the cars from I think Wacky Races, the ship flies away. Then, in a moment of personal amusement, the Mach 5 gets torched. Thank god. The Prof is flying the ship at a very leisurely pace, when a bunch of street racers push the Professor into racing. After a rousing couple of minutes of Highway Star, and the ship shedding a crap ton of crap off the back, he turns into a legitimate racing ship, the ship goes fast as all hell. Then the ship starts flickering and disappears, with the Professor calling it the Dimensional Drift.. Professor flies into the parking lot where the crew is and gets offered to join the crew.

And Leela does her best Professor impression when she introduces the new ship.  This ship has disappointment all over it. So they make their first delivery. Meanwhile, in New New Jack City, Professor starts to co-mingle with the racing crew, showing them the 4-D drive. The ship gets back, with no adventure, or chaos. The ship seems to be turning into a Caravan. Leela is grocery shopping, picking up kids, and dropping Bender and Fry off at Karate. Of course this sets up the inevitable drive off between Leela and the Professor. They go race on what looks like an old, but massive, Hot Wheels track. Ahh, nostalgia. After hitting the Dimensional Drift, the professor and Leela hit the finish line at the same time, creating a cracker made of two ships.

The Planet Express, as well as the racing crew, are standing over the cracker, worried about the fate of the racers…and Fry. They are in 2D, and look kinda hilarious. I need to say this. I love how the racers are overly playing the dramatic story. Back in Flatland, the Professor is showing everyone the laws of perspective and physics. As this is going on, the Lord of Flatbush has prepared a feast…of all flat foods, like McDonald’s hamburgers. I wonder if they bounce. After getting a digestive lesson, and getting called stupid for wanting to be 3D again, they flee with the new Planet Express ship. They get back, using what got them there in the first place; the Dimensional Drift, well, if they can get there before the junkyard doesn’t melt the ship cracker first. They actually get back, and all seems well. Yes, even the Daddy issues the chick racer has, too.

I have come to a conclusion about my current taste in cartoons. I love two things. One is when ancillary characters get a turn starring in an episode of a show. The other is when the show’s animation changes to a different style for a portion of the episode. I got both in one episode! So I’m giddy! This was a really cool episode, because the animators kept to the 2-D perspective and rules. The story with the Professor street racing was fantastic. This didn’t actually catch traction until about halfway through. That, however, is called buildup. This is something the twit at IGN doesn’t exactly understand. The classic charm and gags Futurama fans have come to love are here in full effect!