Robot Chicken

Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created by Stoop!d Monkey and Sony Pictures Digital and produced by ShadowMachine Films, currently airing in the US as a part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim line-up, in Britain as part of the 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, provide the majority of voices, and have even directed a few episodes.

Robot Chicken is a variety 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.

According to Adult Swim's website, Robot Chicken has been renewed for a 20-episode third season, which will begin airing Spring 2007.

Opening

The frame story, seen during the show's opening credits, recounts the life of the eponymous Robot Chicken. It was a regular chicken who was run over by a car (presumably while crossing the road) and was brought back to life in cyborg form, inadvertently resembling a Borg from Star Trek. Its 'creator' is a mad scientist named Fritz Huhnmorder ("Huhnmörder" is German for "chicken murderer") who resembles the "unmasked" Dr. Claw figure from the Inspector Gadget toy line. He forces Robot Chicken to watch a random selection of television shows as an act of 'torture' in parody of A Clockwork Orange. The main focus of the show is the "TV shows" Robot Chicken watches; the chicken story is not relevant to the sketches. However, in one episode a character yells out (apparently in desperation) that anyone watching the show "is the robot chicken".

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 infamous Muzak named "The Gonk" (famously used in George A. Romero's 1978 horror film Dawn of the Dead and also used in the film "Shaun of the Dead") clucked by a chorus of chickens.

Rating

Most of the Robot Chicken episodes are rated TV-MA due to mature humor and language (although strong profanity is censored). Some shows, however, are rated TV-14.

Key elements

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 G.I. Joe or Barbie, or vehicles such as the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard are also sometimes used.

A number of celebrities have done voice acting for the series (often portraying themselves), including the entire casts of That 70's Show, Family Guy and the Scooby-Doo films, as well as "Weird Al" Yankovic, Jon Heder, Ryan Seacrest, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone, Al Roker, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Michelle Trachtenberg, Mark Hamill, Phil LaMarr, Scarlett Johansson, Macaulay Culkin, Hugh Hefner, Don Knotts, Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Rachael Leigh Cook, Hulk Hogan, Bruce Campbell, Phyllis Diller, Conan O'Brien, Breckin Meyer, Alfonso Ribeiro, Amy Smart, Melissa Joan Hart, Jenna Jameson, Ginnifer Goodwin, Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, Jon Gruden, Donald Faison, Kelly Hu, Cameron Diaz, Elijah Wood and Pat Morita. Many of these are people that Seth Green has worked with in the past on other projects or that he knows personally.

Robot Chicken often uses extremely outrageous and twisted humor like changing up Dora the Explorer (Dora Behind The Scenes). One recurring theme is the "Hilarious Bloopers" guy, a parodies of the Bob Saget era of America's Funniest Home Videos. 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 Revolucion video game competition from Season Two). 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 or Optimus Prime contracting prostate cancer).

The show also features many copyrighted characters making "unofficial" appearances (unvoiced by their respective actor) and music or song parodies (which are slightly altered to avoid copyright issues).

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
• Erik Weiner

Episodes

Main article: List of Robot Chicken episodes

DVD releases

Trivia

• 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.
• Robot Chicken was not the first name suggested. Rejected names include "The Deep End", "Junk in the Trunk", "ADD TV", "Gold Dust Gasoline", "Toyz in the Attic", "Nightmare Generator", "Plastic Buffet", and "The Sack". All but one of these names has now been used as Season One episode titles.
• Even though the robot chicken is watching the T.V. shows, it has been seen in a few Cameo appearances. For example, one of the kids drew a doodle on the wall of robot chicken in the "Apocalypse Pony" skit, and the scientist and robot chicken actually appear on a segment called "You Can't Do That On Robot Chicken!" (an obvious nod to You Can't Do That on Television)
• Mila Kunis and Sarah Michelle Gellar get their names in the credits in every episode, often in nonsensical titles.
• The song "Work it Out on the Floor" a parody of DMX's "Get it on the Floor" used in the broadcast version of season 1 episode 5 during the Voltron skit is replaced by another song "Work it, Work it" in the DVD version. It is also on the "Strawberry Shortcake" parody of Season 1 Episode 18.
• The Voltron skit is also a bonus feature on the Voltron: Volume One (Blue Lion) box set.
• Rapper Snoop Dogg is frequently parodied in various episodes.
• In the Smurf skit, Papa Smurf says "Mother Smurfing Christ!" While the original airing of this episode didn't bleep out any words, the airings now bleep it out as follows: "(bleep) Smurfing (bleep)!". The DVD, however, remains uncensored.
• Calvin and Hobbes has appeared in the show; this is the first time Calvin and Hobbes has ever been professionally animated and parodied.

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