Robot Chicken: Star Wars – Episode II
Directed by Seth Green
Featuring the voices of Seth Green, Billy Dee Williams, Donald Faison, Carrie Fisher
Adult Swim

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Some things in life just go really well together. Peanut Butter and Jelly, and Chocolate Chip and Mints are just some of the prime examples, but now you can add Robot Chicken and Star Wars into the mix as well. When the popular stop-motion series Robot Chicken decided to parody the mega popular Star Wars franchise the first time around, the reviews for the show was overwhelmingly positive. Even George Lucas approved so you can only imagine that it wouldn’t be long until the sequel Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II showed up.

Nothing has changed much since the first special. The folks at Robot Chicken, led by bite-sized star Seth Green, are still offering up their hilarious and often times, insane, fanboy interpretations of key moments in the Star Wars franchise. Ever wonder what happens to Boba Fett moments after he meets his fate in Return of the Jedi or what was going through the mind of Luke during his key battle with Darth Vader? All those questions are answered and even some random ‘what if’ scenarios are touched on in this funny special.

I was actually very amused by the whole special. I am not a huge Star Wars fan by any stretch of the imagination nor am I a big fan of Seth Green, per se. I have passing knowledge of both and tolerate them to a certain degree but even I really had a blast watching the special. You can tell that the writers really do have a soft spot for the franchise. Any and all jabs at Star Wars were friendly ones and never made with malice.

The whole Robot Chicken writing staff really deserves a lot of credit for the skits. They are really funny and the humor is pretty smart at times as well. The writers never go for the easy joke and just when I think I know the punch line, the skit goes in a completely different direction that is funnier than I would have imagined. I especially liked the skit which throws out the idea of a Storm Trooper taking his daughter to work with him. It works on so many absurd levels, not to mention the Storm Trooper is voiced by Donald Faison (Scrubs), a very funny actor in his own right. All around, the voice work is pretty top notch as well, including some Star Wars favorites like Billy Dee Williams and Carrie Fisher, both reprising the roles that made them famous. Everyone sounds like they are having a great time doing this work and it shows in the final product.

A special hand needs to also be given to the stop-motion folks who created these incredible skits. I am not sure how many people know this but stop-motion pictures are incredibly hard to do. Not only do these people make small models and sets but also the characters you see on the screen are moved by a group of individuals, shot by shot. This means someone has to move all the characters by hand and capture each movement with a camera. That is a lot of hard work and it looks gorgeous.

Not only do fans of Robot Chicken get the original broadcast special on the DVD but they also get the uncut edition with over 10 minutes of additional skits not seen anywhere. Other DVD features include the making of featurettes, a short about the special being show at George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch, as well as many of the previews that were shown on Cartoon Network to hype the special. My personal favorite is the “deleted scenes” section. It is not what you expect and just highlights the writing staff’s humor.

Overall, I really enjoyed Robot Chicken Star Wars Episode II. The writing and voice work is top notch and funny. If you are a fan of either the show or Star Wars in general, there is no reason why you would not enjoy this DVD. If you are a fan of both, I defy you to resist the urge to buy this DVD.