ROBOT CHICKEN

'Robot Chicken' is an American stop motion animated television series produced by Stoopid Monkey, ShadowMachine Films, Williams Street, and Sony Pictures Digital, currently airing in the US as a part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim line-up, in Britain as part of Bravo's Adult Swim line-up, and in Canada on Teletoon's Detour nightly adult programming. It premiered on Sunday, February 20 2005. Seth Green and Matthew Senreich are the creators and executive producers of the show. They are also on the writing team, and have directed some episodes. Seth Green provides many voices for the show.
The program is a sketch show 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. The show's name was inspired by a dish on the menu at a Chinese restaurant, Kung Pao Bistro, where Green and Senreich had dined, although the series originally was intended to be titled "''Junk in the Trunk''"^[1].
The series was renewed for a 20-episode third season, which started on August 12, 2007. The "Robot Chicken" Season Two DVD was released September 4, 2007.

Contents

Inspirations

Celebrity guest voices

Writing staff

Co-head writers

Writers

Episodes

DVD releases

Awards

Locations

References

External links

Inspirations

The show was inspired by the comedy antics of ''Twisted Mego Theatre'' (now called ''Twisted ToyFare Theater''), which appears monthly in ''Toyfare'' Magazine, published by Gareb Shamus' Wizard Entertainment. The segment "The Aussie Hunter" on FOX's MAD TV is an early work of the group. Matthew Senreich worked in various capacities with Wizard Entertainment prior to working on the show. Some of the first shorts were originally on the now-defunct Sony ScreenBlast website under the name "Sweet J Presents"; this website also hosted the animated Lenore shorts. The show is similar in appearance to the many shared internet videos created using toys and household items. Many figures and sets are custom built, or adapted from commercially available toys such as G.I. Joe or Barbie, or vehicles such as the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard are also sometimes used.
''Robot Chicken'' often uses extremely outrageous and twisted humor. One recurring segment is "Hilarious Bloopers", a parody of the Bob Saget era of ''America's Funniest Home Videos'', but is more reminiscent of Ray Combs of Family Feud. Whenever he is featured, he commits suicide at the end of his skit using various household methods. The show tends to avoid political issues, instead mocking pop culture, referencing toys, films, television, and popular fads. When political figures are depicted on the program, the focus of their appearance is usually only tangentially-related to recent news or their positions in world affairs (such as Fidel Castro's ''Dance Dance Counter-Revolucíon'' video game competition from Season Two and President George W. Bush fantasizing he is a Jedi). 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, Optimus Prime performing a prostate cancer PSA, and Godzilla having problems in the bedroom). The program even had 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 and Ahmed Best.
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 a portion of the famous Muzak named "The Gonk" (famously used in George A. Romero's 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead) clucked by a chorus of chickens.
Robot Chicken is currently the highest rated original show in Adult Swim and the second highest in the network (right after Family Guy).

Celebrity guest voices

Besides the recurring voice acting by Seth Green, Breckin Meyer, Chad Morgan, Dan Milano, and Tom Root in this series, a number of celebrities have done voice acting for the series (often portraying themselves), including:

★ The Cast of ''That '70s Show''

★
★ Kurtwood Smith

★
★ Mila Kunis

★
★ Ashton Kutcher

★
★ Topher Grace

★
★ Debra Jo Rupp

★
★ Wilmer Valderrama

★
★ Danny Masterson

★ The Cast of ''Family Guy''

★
★ Seth MacFarlane

★
★ Alex Borstein

★
★ Seth Green

★
★ Mike Henry

★
★ Mila Kunis

★ The Cast of ''The ''Scooby-Doo'''' films

★
★ Matthew Lillard

★
★ Freddie Prinze, Jr.

★
★ Sarah Michelle Gellar

★
★ Linda Cardellini

★
★ Seth Green (appears in the sequel)

★ The Cast of ''The Girls Next Door''

★
★ Hugh Hefner

★
★ Holly Madison

★
★ Bridget Marquardt

★
★ Kendra Wilkinson

★ The Cast & Crew of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer''

★
★ Emma Caulfield

★
★ Sarah Michelle Gellar

★
★ Seth Green

★
★ Michelle Trachtenberg

★
★ Joss Whedon

★ The Cast & Crew of ''Star Wars''

★
★ Ahmed Best

★
★ Mark Hamill

★
★ George Lucas

★ The Cast of ''Battlestar Galactica''

★
★ Michael Hogan

★
★ Tahmoh Penikett

★
★ Katee Sackhoff
As well as:

★ Candace Bailey

★ Lance Bass

★ Abraham Benrubi

★ Michael Ian Black

★ Wayne Brady

★ Eugene Byrd

★ Dean Cain

★ Bruce Campbell

★ Kristin Chenoweth

★ Erika Christensen

★ Rachael Leigh Cook

★ Josh Cooke

★ Dave Coulier

★ Alan Cumming

★ Macaulay Culkin

★ Dom DeLuise

★ Phyllis Diller

★ Snoop Dogg

★ Dr. Drew

★ Donald Faison

★ Joey Fatone

★ Bill Farmer

★ Drew Massey

★ Tom Kane

★ Peter Gallagher

★ Ginnifer Goodwin

★ Cee-Lo Green

★ Melanie Griffith

★ Corey Haim

★ Melissa Joan Hart

★ Ethan Hawke

★ David Hasselhoff

★ Jon Heder

★ Hulk Hogan

★ Kelly Hu

★ Gregory Itzin

★ Roger L. Jackson

★ Jenna Jameson

★ Scarlett Johansson

★ Jamie Kaler

★ Jimmy Kimmel

★ Don Knotts

★ Phil LaMarr

★ Jordan Ladd

★ Rory Thost

★ Fred Tatasciore

★ Quinton Flynn

★ Mindy Sterling

★ Stan Lee

★ Ming-Na

★ Malcolm McDowell

★ Pat Morita

★ Conan O'Brien

★ Pat O'Brien

★ Roddy Piper

★ Marion Ramsey

★ Burt Reynolds

★ Alfonso Ribeiro

★ Paul Rudd

★ Rick Schroder

★ Ryan Seacrest

★ Dax Shepard

★ Michael Benyaer

★ Danny Goldman

★ Scott Adsit

★ Efren Ramirez

★ George Lowe

★ Dana Snyder

★ Miguel Ferrer

★ Susan Silo

★ Jim Meskimen

★ Hugh Davidson

★ Sarah Silverman

★ Nick Simmons

★ Christian Slater

★ Amy Smart

★ Robert Smigel

★ Hal Sparks

★ Mindy Sterling

★ Cree Summer

★ Charlize Theron

★ Stuart Townsend

★ James Van Der Beek

★ Michael Winslow

★ Elijah Wood

★ "Weird Al" Yankovic

★ Frank Welker

★ Jeannie Elias

★ Bob Bergen

★ William Mapother

★ Shane McRae

★ Gene Simmons

★ Corey Feldman

★ Danny Smith

★ Julianne Buescher
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 one occasion.

Writing staff

Co-head writers

★ Doug Goldstein

★ Tom Root

Writers

★ Hugh Davidson

★ Jordan Allen-Dutton

★ Mike Fasolo

★ Seth Green

★ Charles Horn

★ Breckin Meyer

★ Dan Milano

★ Pat McCallum

★ Matthew Senreich

★ Kevin Shinick

★ Erik Weiner

★ Zeb Wells

Episodes

See List of Robot Chicken episodes

DVD releases

Title	Release date	Episodes
"Season One"	March 28, 2006	1–20
This two disc boxset includes all 20 episodes from Season 1 in production order. While it contains many sketches that were edited from the TV airings, the several of the original Sony Screenblast webtoons, and the words "Jesus" and "Christ" as an oath unbleeped (though "fuck" and "shit" are still censored out), the episodes are not all uncut. One particular segment that featured the Teen Titans meeting Beavis and Butt-head was omitted from the DVD due to legal problems. Seth Green stated at Comic-Con 2006 that the legal problems have been resolved and the segment will be included when Season 2 is released to DVD. The Voltron/"You Got Served" sketch shown on the DVD has a replacement song due to legal issues over having the song that was used on the TV.
"Season Two: Uncensored"	September 4, 2007	21–40
This two disc boxset includes all 20 episodes from Season 2 in production order and uncensored. It is currently available for download on iTunes (though the episode "Veggies for Sloth" is absent for an unknown reason.) Seth Green stated at Comic-Con 2006 that the second DVD set will contain the "Beavis and Butt-head meet the Teen Titans" sketch, which had been removed from the first DVD set due to copyright issues. Contains the Christmas Special. The Archie sketch from "Veggies For Sloth" is missing from this release, probably due to copyright reasons.This is confirmed. Check here: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/sitereviews.cfm?ReleaseID=6795
"Season Three"	Late 2008	41–60
This two disc boxset inclues all 20 episodes from Season 3 in production order. It is currently running on Adult Swim.

Awards

The show won an Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation in 2006 and is currently nominated for the 2007 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming less than One Hour) for the episode Lust for Puppets.

Locations

Several of the sketches seem to take place in or around New Jersey. Various locations are references to actual places such as the highway scenes which feature I-78 "Clinton" which is an actual sign on Interstate 78 in New Jersey when travelling westbound, or the Care Bears parody in which Care-a-lot is turned into New Jersey.

References

1. http://www.g4tv.com/screensavers/episodes/3902/Robot_Chicken_Constantine_Dark_Tip.html

External links

★ Adult Swim

★ AdultSwim.co.uk - Broadband VOD website for Adult Swim UK.

★ The ''Robot Chicken'' Wiki

★ Chicago Newspaper review of Robot Chicken Star Wars including links to the Commentary Extras

★ Robot Chicken - Star Wars Review at ''Variety.com''