Robot Chicken is an
American stop motion animated television series created and
executive produced by
Seth Green and
Matthew Senreich along with co-Head Writers
Douglas Goldstein and
Tom Root. Green provides many voices for the show and Senreich, Goldstein and Root were former writers for the popular
action figure hobbyist magazine
ToyFare.
The program is a
sketch comedy that
parodies a number of
pop culture conventions using
stop motion animation of
toys,
action figures,
dolls, and
claymation (usually for special effects) and various other objects, such as tongue depressors and
The Game of Life pegs. The show's name was inspired by a dish on the menu at a
West Hollywood Chinese restaurant, Kung Pao Bistro, where Green and Senreich had dined, although the series originally was intended to be titled "
Junk in the Trunk".
The show is produced by
Stoopid Monkey,
ShadowMachine Films,
Williams Street, and
Sony Pictures Digital, and currently airs in the US as a part of
Cartoon Network's
Adult Swim block, in the
United Kingdom and
Ireland as part of
Bravo's
Adult Swim block, in Canada on
Teletoon's
Detour block, in
Australia on
The Comedy Channel's Adult Swim block, in
Russia on 2x2's Adult Swim block, in
Germany on TNT Serie's Adult Swim block and in
Latin America on the
Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. It premiered on Sunday,
February 20,
2005.
The series was renewed for a 20-episode third season, which ran from August 12, 2007 to September 28, 2008. After an eight month hiatus, during the third season, the show returned on August 31, 2008 to air the remaining five episodes. The series was renewed for a fourth season which premiered on December 7, 2008 and ended September 20, 2009.
In 2007
Robot Chicken was the highest rated original show on
Adult Swim and the second highest on the network (after
Family Guy).
Overview
The show focuses on mocking pop culture, referencing toys, films, television, and popular fads. One particular motif often involves the idea of fantastical characters being placed in a more realistic world or situation (such as
Stretch Armstrong requiring a corn syrup transplant after losing his abilities due to aging,
Optimus Prime performing a prostate cancer
PSA, and
Godzilla having problems in the bedroom). The program even had a 30 minute episode dedicated to
Star Wars which premiered
June 17,
2007 in the US featuring the voices of Star Wars notables
George Lucas,
Mark Hamill (from a
previous episode),
Billy Dee Williams, and
Ahmed Best. (The Star Wars episode was nominated for a 2008
Emmy Award: Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)). Another recurring segment is "Hilarious Bloopers", a parody of the
Bob Saget era of
America's Funniest Home Videos featuring the host constantly moving around in various exaggerated, disjointed motions. Unlike that show, this skit ends with the host using various household methods of suicide.
The show's theme song was composed and performed by
Les Claypool of
Primus, and he sings the song's only lyrics, "It's alive!", in typical
Frankenstein fashion. The ending theme of the show is not actually
Muzak but from a cut from a Capitol Hi-'Q' production music album entitled "The Gonk" (famously used in
George A. Romero's 1978 horror film
Dawn of the Dead) clucked by a chorus of chickens, which are actually the crew members.
Opening sequence
The opening sequence opens with a
mad scientist finding a
road-killed chicken. He takes it back to his laboratory and refashions it into a cyborg. The mad scientist then straps it into a chair, uses
specula to hold its eyes open, and forces it to watch a bank of television monitors (an allusion to
A Clockwork Orange); this scene
segues into the body of the show. (In the episode "
1987",
Michael Ian Black claims that this sequence tells the viewer that they are the Robot Chicken being forced to watch the skits.) Midway through, the title screen appears and a voice scientist can be heard screaming "It's alive!"
In the "
Star Wars Special", the opening is changed to mimic
Anakin Skywalker's transformation into
Darth Vader as depicted in
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, with the mad scientist in the role of
Darth Sidious, the chicken as Vader and the theme song redone to the melody of
The Imperial March.
Cast
Besides
Seth Green voicing himself and many of the characters for the show, major recurring actors/writers are:
Celebrity guest stars
Among those celebrities that contributed to this show are:
Many of these are people that Seth Green has worked with in the past on other projects or that he knows personally.
Williams Street executives
Mike Lazzo and
Keith Crofford have also lent their voices to the show on occasions revolving around season premieres.
Non-celebrity voice acting
Besides the celebrities above, many famous voice actors work on this series, including:
Episodes
DVD releases
Revolver Entertainment have released the first and second season in the
United Kingdom . A box set including the first 3 seasons has also been released. .
In popular culture
In the
Family Guy episode "
Blue Harvest," at the end of the story,
Chris Griffin (voiced by
Robot Chicken creator Seth Green) accuses
Peter (voiced by
Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane) of stealing the
Star Wars special idea from the
Robot Chicken Star Wars special. This sparks a discussion in which Peter denigrates and insults
Robot Chicken, claiming that it is not a real, legitimate, show (as it is a show about action figures, dolls and plushes, is stop motion and has a fifteen minute run time). This prompts Chris to call his father "a real jerk" and walk out of the room. Seth Green also made an appearance on World Wrestling Entertainment's RAW brand promoting
Robot Chicken while being a "Guest Host."
Robot Chicken was again shown in
Family Guy, in the 8th season premiere "
Road to the Multiverse," where
Stewie Griffin and
Brian Griffin travel to a "Robot Chicken" universe, and are potrayed as two of the show's characters.
Peter Griffin and
Chris Griffin sit on a couch watching TV, when four frequent characters from the show enter. Right before Stewie and Brian leave the dimension, Stewie asks Robot Chicken Chris "How does it feel to be on a major network for 30 seconds?," to which Robot Chicken Chris responds: "Fuck you!"
See also
