CS Weekly Archive > DVD > 09/21/07

Chicken Soup for the Funny Bone

by david michael wharton

Robot Chicken: Season Two (Uncensored)

Jordan Allen-Dutton, Hugh Davidson, Mike Fasolo, Douglas Goldstein, Seth Green, Charles Horn, Breckin Meyer, Dan Milano, Tom Root, Matthew Senreich, Erik Weiner

There's a Mark Twain quote that's along the lines of "I would have written you a shorter letter, but I didn't have time." That's a philosophy familiar to anyone who's ever written a short story, sketch, or short script, and it should be kept in mind when considering the Cartoon Network's stop-motion, short-attention-span comedy series Robot Chicken. Each 15 minute episode contains a mixture of parody sketches, obscure pop-culture references, and so-called "channel flips"—non sequitur punchline-and-run gags lasting only a second or two. It's a credit to the writers that the channel flips are usually just as funny if not funnier than the longer sketches. Robot Chicken's second season tackles everything from Mr. & Mrs. Smith recast with the Brady Bunch to Lindsay Lohan taking the heads of her fellow pop tarts in a riff on The Highlander. A season stand-out is the sketch that shows Star Wars' Emperor Palpatine taking the call from Darth Vader informing him that the Death Star has been destroyed. It's one of the show's best moments, and almost certainly got the ball rolling on the Robot Chicken: Star Wars Special that aired last June. Neither does the set disappoint on the extras front, with deleted scenes, deleted audio, animatics, a christmas special, and commentary on every episode from a motley mix of writers, cast, and, in one particular case, Corey Feldman and Corey Haim. The crown jewel of the extras, however, is the "Making of a Sketch" featurette, where creator Seth Green walks us step-by-step through all the work that goes into one single segment that only lasts a few minutes.

David Michael Wharton is the managing editor of CS Weekly and a contrinbuting editor for Creative Screenwriting Magazine. His experiments with robot chickens have thus far resulted only in disaster and EPA injunctions.

Robot Chicken: Season Two (Uncensored)courtesy Turner Home Entertainment

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