Robot Chicken: Star Wars
Robot Chicken: Star Wars | |
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Created by | |
Written by |
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Directed by | Seth Green |
Starring | |
Theme music composer | Les Claypool |
Composers |
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Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producers |
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Cinematography |
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Editor | Chris McKay |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Production companies | |
Original release | |
Network | Adult Swim |
Release | June 17, 2007 |
Related | |
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II |
"Robot Chicken: Star Wars" (also known as "Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode I") is a 2007 episode of the television comedy series Robot Chicken, airing as a one-off special during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block on June 17, 2007 (released after the original Star Wars film's 30th anniversary). It was released on DVD on July 22, 2008.
Synopsis
The 22-minute episode's sketches all relate to Star Wars.
Chapter 1
- Opening sequence – Based on the end sequences of Mustafar and rebuilds him as Darth Vaderbefore forcing it to watch Robot Chicken.
- An AT-AT pilot sits on the toilet during the into the bathroom.
- Palpatine gets a collect call from Vader who tells him that the Rebel Alliance blew up the Death Star, leaving Palpatine in financial turmoil. This skit is recycled from the episode "1987," although the voice of Darth Vader heard on Palpatine's phone has been redone from the original.
- A .
- A janitor sweeps up the corpse of Darth Maul on Naboo, exclaiming that he's "gotta get that transfer to Coruscant".
- An advert for Admiral Ackbar's breakfast cereal.
- Evazan to the cantina at lunch and there asks Luke Skywalker a question (in non-human tongue). A drunken Evazan convinces Luke that this is actually a threat, and despite Ponda's friendly intentions, Obi-Wan Kenobislices his arm off. He returns to work, but is laid off as the chopped-off appendage was his drawing arm.
Chapter 2
- C-3PO sets off the metal detector going through an airport-like security screening and assumes that it's his keys.
- Trade Federationship; it slashes its way through the decks below.
- Vader's meditation chamber attempts to put his helmet on, but accidentally lifts him up.
- An Imperial officer explains to some new recruits that Vader does not actually have the power of Force strangulation, but that they should pretend to die anyway, so that Vader does not kill them with his lightsaber.
- After destroying the Death Star, Luke asks R2-D2 to call his aunt and uncle, before remembering that they are dead, and R2 was damaged during the fight.
- Tauntaun. After running into an army of fans, the nerd gives Lucas a "ride" to the speech platform on his back – which he later describes as the "greatest day of my entire life".
- Luke complains that with the blast shield down on his helmet, during his first lesson in using the Force, he cannot see. Obi-Wan takes advantage of this and knees him in the groin.
- A Chinese foodas an alternative with his space slug neighbor.
- The janitor sweeps up the corpse of Mace Windu on Coruscant, now claiming that he's "gotta get the transfer to the Death Star".
- After discovering he is a Jedi, Massage Chair".
Chapter 3
- A weather report reveals that Cloud Cityis currently "cloudy, followed by clouds".
- homelessman.
- Luke has a "Yo Mamma" fight against Palpatine. Palpatine loses and Vader throws him down the energy shaft as seen in Return of the Jedi.
- The janitor sweeps away Palpatine's corpse on the second Death Star, this time exclaiming "Oh, come on! What are they doing up there all the time?"
- During the attempt to rescue stormtroopersbeing sent to the prisoner control room by telling an Imperial officer that there is a reactor leak. The officer is skeptical, who eventually calls Vader, who decides that installing a reactor there would be a good idea.
- Anakin Skywalker after the prequel trilogy, although remains largely oblivious to the fact that he is now Darth Vader. Annoyed, Vader ejects him from an airlock. Later, however, as Vader prepares to sleep, he is woken up by Jar Jar, who has returned as a Force ghost.
- Luke enjoys the Tosche Station strippers called "The Power Converters". This implies the "true" motive behind Luke's claim to Uncle Owen, "But I have to go to Tosche Station to pick up some power converters" in A New Hope.
- carbonite-frozen Han Solo and begins to gloat at his superiority, which slowly turns into Fett coming on to the frozen Solo.
- Chewbacca goes to comb his hair, in a parody of Fonzie from the opening credits of Happy Days.
- In order to win Luke to the dark side of the Force, Darth Vader reveals many spoilers about Star Wars. These include that Vader is Luke's father, Leia is his sister, that the Empire will eventually be defeated by Vegetable Funfest", and is the only part of the special where Luke is voiced by Mark Hamill.
- As Palpatine tries to give an impassioned speech, he is continually interrupted by the ongoing construction of the second Clerks regarding private contractors and construction workers on the Death Star II.[1]
Chapter 4
- Lobot dances around the Cloud City corridors to an excerpt of the song Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band by Meco.
- A posthumous advertisement of "'N Sync's Joey Fatone.
- Mid-Night with Zuckuss - A parody of Late Night with Conan O'Brien (with the real-life O'Brien voicing Zuckuss), with guests including a Syncro-Vox Emperor Palpatine and "Darth Vader". The filming studio is visited and destroyed by the Death Star.
- Luke and Leia are shown in the aftermath of an incestuous night.
- The Empire on Ice! - An "On Ice" musical version of The Empire Strikes Back.
- End credits – The chickens "bawk" the Star Wars credits music.
- Following the credits, there is a continuation of the "Vader and Jar Jar Reunion" sketch, where the ghost of Jar Jar is still annoying Vader.
Voice cast
The episode features the voices of:[3]
- Space slug #2,[1] Qui-Gon Jinn
- Candace Bailey - Girl, Princess Leia
- Abraham Benrubi - Darth Vader
- Bob Bergen - Luke Skywalker
- Stormtrooper[1]
- Evazan, Mace Windu, Gary the Stormtrooper[1]
- Joey Fatone - Himself[1]
- Keith Ferguson - Han Solo, C-3PO, Imperial droid
- Mark Hamill - Luke Skywalker (Spoilers sketch only)
- Hulk Hogan - Abraham Lincoln[1]
- Tom Kane - C-3PO
- George Lucas - Himself[1]
- Seth MacFarlane - Emperor Palpatine
- Malcolm McDowell - Head Imperial officer
- Space slug #1[1]
- Dan Milano - Boy,[1] Cantina bartender, Luke Skywalker
- Chad Morgan - Laura Bush, Princess Leia Organa, Weather girl
- Conan O'Brien - Ponda Baba's boss,[1] Zuckuss[1]
- Robert Smigel - Emperor Palpatine parody[1]
- Adam Talbott - Jawa
- James Van Der Beek - Bush's aide
Production
Robot Chicken had previously featured several Star Wars parodies in standard episodes of the show. One such sketch from the second season in 2006 featured Palpatine receiving a collect call from Darth Vader informing him of the Death Star's destruction, shortly after the conclusion of A New Hope. The sketch was pitched by Doug Goldstein (with Palpatine originally portrayed as a Bob Newhart-esque character) and rewritten by Breckin Meyer. The skit became popular and was uploaded to YouTube until it was eventually seen by Star Wars creator George Lucas.[4][5] Impressed, Lucas invited the show's creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich to Lucasfilm for a meeting. They permitted Green and Senreich to produce a 30-minute full Star Wars parody.[4][5] Green noted "The people at Lucasfilm realized you could do a comedic take on Star Wars without compromising the integrity of any dramatic take."[5]
The duo and the rest of the show's writing staff then spent three weeks writing material for the episode, with it being twice the length of a standard episode.[5] The writers did not intentionally tone down their material as they knew that Lucasfilm would inform them of any items unsuitable for broadcast.[4] Lucasfilm's director of marketing Tom Warner noted that "There were definitely a few [sketches] I batted an eye at, and if I were producing probably wouldn't have put in. But they were having fun with it."[5] The writers decided not to choose "obvious" things to subvert so, for example, rather than just penning a sketch mocking Jar Jar Binks, had Jar Jar meet up with Darth Vader and react to the changes he has undergone since they last met. Goldstein noted "It was a wild challenge to come up with fresh, new stuff since Star Wars has already been parodied for 30 years now."[4] On the style of the humor, Green opined: "We love to emphasize the mundane in the extraordinary, and Star Wars was perfect for that. You have something that's intergalactic, and yet there's got to be some textural machinations of day-to-day business: How can you run an industry that large without paperwork? And where are the bathrooms?"[6]
From writing to animation, the episode took three months to produce. After the script was finished and approved, the animators
Green voices the majority of the characters, with others such as Mark Hamill, Conan O'Brien, Malcolm McDowell, Hulk Hogan, Ahmed Best, Joey Fatone as well as Lucas making appearances.[5] Goldstein wanted James Earl Jones to appear, but they were unable to get him.[4]
Reception
Green won the
A DVD of the episode was released on July 22, 2008.[15]
Sequels
Two sequels were created. The first was Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II, which aired on November 16, 2008.[16] The second, Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III, aired on December 19, 2010.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Robot Chicken: Star Wars video commentary". Archived from the original on 2007-06-20. Retrieved 2007-07-10.
- ^ a b Lewis, Tom (2008-11-14). "LAist Interview: Breckin Meyer of 'Robot Chicken' -- 'Star Wars' Special Airs on Sunday Night". LAist. Archived from the original on 2009-02-11. Retrieved 2008-12-12.
- ^ a b Lowry, Brian (2007-06-15). "Robot Chicken: Star Wars". Variety. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
- ^ a b c d e f g Enk, Bryan. "Doug Goldstein, Robot Chicken: Star Wars Interview". UGO.com. Archived from the original on 2009-08-23. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Snider, Mike (2007-06-13). "'Robot Chicken' digs its satirical talons into 'Star Wars'". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
- ^ Moore, Frazier (2008-07-25). "Seth Green's 'Robot Chicken' Shows His Comedic Force". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. D-5.
- ^ "Robot Chicken Answers". Star Wars.com. 2008-07-22. Archived from the original on 2008-12-13. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
- ^ "Legacy: 35th Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (2007)". Annie Awards. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
- ^ Giardina, Carolyn (2008-02-09). "'Ratatouille' wins big at Annie Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on May 28, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
- ^ "2008 Emmy nominations – part I". Variety. 2008-07-17. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
- ^ ""Simpson's" wins 10th best cartoon Emmy". Reuters. 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
- ^ Iverson, Dan (2007-06-15). "Robot Chicken: Star Wars Advance Review". IGN. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
- ^ D'Arminio, Aubry (2008-07-18). "Robot Chicken: Star Wars". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2008-12-31. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
- ^ Murray, Noel (2008-08-06). "Robot Chicken: Star Wars". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
- ^ "Robot Chicken: Star Wars on DVD". Star Wars.com. 2008-03-26. Archived from the original on 2008-11-10. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
- ^ "Robot Chicken Star Wars Episode II Preview". IGN. 2008-11-14. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
External links
- Robot Chicken: Star Wars at IMDb
- Robot Chicken: Star Wars at Wookieepedia
- Robot Chicken: Star Wars at AdultSwim.com