Robot Chicken: Star Wars

Review


Robot Chicken is a stop-motion animation show from the minds of Seth Green (Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Family Guy) and Matthew Senreich, a parody show performed entirely with the help of action figures and dolls. Airing as part of the [adult swim] line-up on the Cartoon Network - a time block of animation aimed at a more mature audience - the show is structured as a variety of satrical sketches and skits aimed at referencing and making fun of pop culture in all its various guises.



Robot Chicken: Star Wars is not, as some may assume, a feature-length 'recreation' of Star Wars in the Robot Chicken style ala Family Guy: Blue Harvest, but simply a special episode dedicated to a variety of Star Wars-themed skits. As such, the main feature runs for a measly 22-minutes, but saving this Revolution DVD release from utter pointlessness is a variety of extras centred around the creation and promotion of the episode (which, incidentally, US audiences can catch for free on the [adult swim] website) as well as a bonus episode of Robot Chicken, and episodes of a couple of other [adult swim] toons.



Just like a regular Robot Chicken episode and, frankly, any other sketch show you care to mention, it's a case of hit and miss. But credit where credit's due, when they hit one of these Star Wars sketches, they hit it out of the park. From Orientation Day on the Death Star where recruits are taught how to 'play along' with Vader's force choke, a particularly bad day in the life of Ponda Baba told from his perspective, the hauntingly annoying force ghost of Jar Jar Binks, through to my personal favourite - Boba Fett's amorous adventures with a carbonite-frozen Han Solo - there are some real crackers on here that any Star Wars fan will get a kick out of.But why buy the DVD for a single 22-minute episode when any schlump could look the skits up on YouTube and save themself a crisp, brown tenner?



Well, it's hard to argue with the logic of doing it the bad way. Skits are presented in either letterboxed 1.78:1 and straight 4:3, with bog-standard stereo sound and despite the various extras - including a pop-up video commentary of sorts from creators Green and Senreich, a brief panel discussion, various making-of gubbins and the three bonus [adult swim] episodes (including Harvey Birdman and Frisky Dingo), nothing on here is as piquant as the feature episode itself, and while of course complementary, you'll probably find yourself skipping through them and re-watching Robot Chicken: Star Wars itself. Yet again.



It's also worth noting that there isn't much in the way of new material in the episode itself; most of the content is lifted from other episodes, so fans will have seen it all before. That said, this is the first Robot Chicken DVD to see a UK release and with a reasonably budget price-point, there are worse ways to spend a few quid.