Cliffhangerama

In 2007, Futurama returned four years after being cancelled by Fox, in the form of four direct-to-DVD movies. As part of a deal struck with Comedy Central, these movies would then be chopped up into four episodes each, creating a 16-episode season. There were a couple of differences between the movies and the individual episodes (which have never been released commercially), the biggest of which were the creation of twelve cliffhangers obviously not seen on DVD. Let's find out what they were, along with some assorted other trivia...

Bender's Big Score: Part 1
The cliffhanger is Nibbler declaring the universe doomed after the Scammers have discovered the time travel code ("Can I pull up my pants now?" "Doooooomed!") A natural place for the episode to end, and an early indication that these movies were always written with the intention that they'd later be broken up into individual episodes rather than the people responsible for doing so having to create unscripted cliffhangers.

The Part 1 edit also moves the cold opening to after the opening titles, makes a number of small trims and adds a "Torgo's Executive Powder" sponsorship bumper before the first advert break.

Bender's Big Score: Part 2
Note that all Part Twos, Threes and Fours added a "Previously on Futurama" bumper at the start of the episode, spoken by a character before something else happens (for example, Zapp then leans in to kiss the camera, or Mom slaps it), and then obviously followed by a reprise of the story so far and opening titles. You can see all of these links as a special feature on the Volume 5 DVD (containing the first 13 episodes of the "proper" Comedy Central run, beginning with "Rebirth".) Another good cliffhanger here: Bender believing he's killed Fry ("Oh god, what have I done?")

Bender's Big Score: Part 3
Lars leaves Leela at the altar, and Fry declares it a happy ending... as Leela starts crying. Note that as with part 1 above, all the episodes had minor cuts and edits to get them down to length, since this paragraph is otherwise so short.

Bender's Big Score: Part 4
This is obviously just the last quarter of the film plus recap and cuts, as were all other Part Fours. Note that as each individual part has a set of opening titles whereas the film just had one, there are twelve opening captions seen on the episodes but not archived on DVD (even though they did archive the "Previously..." links), which the blog has discussed before.

The Beast with a Billion Backs: Part 1
Bender attempts to show the anomaly his shiny metal ass, only to be blasted off into space. Note that all four parts of "Bender's Big Score" had something new, even if it was only the "Previously..." link, and this episode doesn't.

The Beast with a Billion Backs: Part 2
Fry first meets Yivo after entering the universe beyond the anomaly.

The Beast with a Billion Backs: Part 3
Leela's revelation that the tentacles are actually genticles. (Interestingly, one of the cuts is Zoidberg's uncle referring to getting a small part in a "fancy DVD movie".)

Bender's Game: Part 1
Bender waking up and discovering he's in the HAL Institute.

Since these sections are getting a bit brief, I just want to mention that on most of these episodes the executive producer credits for Matt Groening and David X. Cohen have been moved to the very beginning of the episode rather than the end, which feels really sloppy to me given how they completely fill the screen in a way all the other credits don't.

Bender's Game: Part 2
The discovery of Nibbler in the crap farm; probably the weakest of the cliffhangers for me.

Bender's Game: Part 3
The Tunnelling Horror first appears (after Zoidberg was originally mistaken for it). (This episode also has a new establishing shot of the crap farm at the start.)

Into the Wild Green Yonder: Part 1
The mafia shoot Bender and Fanny after they've finished digging the shallow graves. This episode also has a new addition: at the end, a worm train runs past the screen with the words "TO BE CONTINUED..." written on it, whereas all the other To Be Continueds up to this point were simple captions.

Into the Wild Green Yonder: Part 2
We first discover Bender is going to betray the Feministas to Zapp ("A patriot of the highest order has volunteered to lead us to them...") After this, Kif blows into the trumpet from his one-man band to reveal a banner reading "TO BE CONTINUED..."

Into the Wild Green Yonder: Part 3
Bender holds the Feministas at multiple gunpoint ("Even less fast"). There's then one of the more interesting changes: in the film, Leela says "Bender?", to which he replies "All two tons of me". In the episode, this dialogue is the same, but he then has an extended, fourth-wall-breaking version of the line: "All two tons of me, and if you think that's shocking, wait till you see wh--" He's then interrupted by the transition announcer (the one who says "Stay tuned for more tales of interest!" in the "Anthology of Interest" episodes) saying "Tune in next time on Futurama!" as the "To Be Continued..." caption appears. Interesting how this is the only movie to try things like this with the cliffhangers. (Note that the extended version of the line can be seen on the trailer for the movie on the Bender's Game DVD.)

Into the Wild Green Yonder: Part 4
A rather odd change has been made here: Calculon's operating system has changed from Windows Vista to Windows 7. This is similar to another (and, in my view, unnecessary) edit made to the Comedy Central runs of one of the original Fox episodes: In "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid", Bender says "Let's all join the Reform Party!" originally, but on Comedy Central it's changed to the Tea Party. (Supposedly the reissues of the DVD have the new Tea Party line, which must be annoying; apparently the change in "The Cryonic Woman" made after the July 2011 terrorist attacks in Norway, so Bender's new career is now "Chainsaw Juggler" rather than "Prime Minister of Norway", also made it to DVD.)