Robot Chicken: Star Wars (Episode I & II) (2007/2008)
Brandon Sears
RUNNING TIME: About 22 Minutes for Each Special
Thanks for checking out my two part review on both Robot Chicken: Star Wars specials!
Robot Chicken: Star Wars (Episode I?)
In 2007, Robot Chicken was achieving massive levels of popularity. Combining their love of all things Star Wars and knowing their fan base pretty well, the guys behind the show decided to air their first TV special - "Robot Chicken: Star Wars". Despite the airing being extremely successful - for some bizarre reason, they decided to wait an entire year before releasing it on DVD. The show originally aired on June 17th, 2007 but was not released until July 22nd, 2008. I was a little hesitant on buying it as I assumed it would be released along with season 3 - but it was not. Seemed like an easy cash grab to me. However, upon going through the DVD - they put an extraordinary amount of extras in with the special. It was actually mind blowing. The special itself runs in at just under a half hour but the extras themselves come in around 2 hours. Strange.
While most of the material contained within the first special is original, they have a few sketches that are recycled from older episodes. While I did enjoy the special as a whole, I found that some of the sketches just were not funny. I had this same problem with Family Guy's Blue Harvest (their Star Wars parody) and the recent film, Fan Boys. I certainly enjoy the Star Wars film franchise, I've seen the movies countless times but it just did not live up to my expectations. While I may not have enjoyed it as much as others - it did manage to win a few awards so there is something to be seen there regardless. In the end, it's still Robot Chicken and that's good enough for me.
Robot Chicken: Star Wars (Episode II)
Robot Chicken decided that after receiving such wide critical acclaim for their first special that they would follow through with a sequel. Episode II aired in November of 2008 and once again received praise by many critics and series fans as a worthy follow-up to the original TV special. This time around, Robot Chicken even received an Emmy award nomination.
In terms of quality - Episode II is much better than the first. I found myself laughing out loud at about 90% of the special - especially a short sketch involving Vader and Lando's infamous deal and Vader's "altering" of said deal. Funny stuff indeed. In the short making-of documentary, Seth Green spoke about how with the first special they mainly spent the whole time throwing together random sketches about things they found funny in the Star Wars universe. This time around, they followed a linear storyline - somewhat - involving bounty hunters. I think that really helped and added to the whole special.
Also, as I said earlier with the first special, if you want to own the episode, you need to buy the DVD as like Episode I, Episode II will not be available on any series box set. If you ask me, the 2nd special is defiantly worth the money.
Both specials are pretty decent, the second more than the first, but I would still rather watch episodes of the show's 4 seasons. They still have not been able to top "Schindler's List 2: Schindler's Pissed" as of this writing but I still have high hopes. Chances are, if you are a fan of Robot Chicken, you are a fan of Star Wars but if you have no knowledge of the Star Wars mythology then you might want to skip it.
Brandon Sears is an insurance salesman by day and a superhero by night (not really). He has been writing for Modern Distraction since 2004. He lives in Sydney Mines with his wife, Ashley and his dog Toby.