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Robot Chicken is an American stop motion animated television series created by Stoop!d Monkey and Sony Pictures Digital, currently airing as a part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup. 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. The show's name was inspired by a dish on the menu at a Chinese restaurant where Green and Senreich had dined.
Show 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. Its 'creator', a mad scientist named Fritz Huhnmorder ("Huhnmörder" is German for "chicken killer"; he resembles the "unmasked" Dr. Claw figure from the Inspector Gadget toyline), now forces Robot Chicken to watch a random selection of television shows as an act of 'torture' in parody of A Clockwork Orange, also similar to the tv series "Mystery Science Theatre 3000". The main focus of the show are the "TV shows" Robot Chicken watches.
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" from George Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978) clucked by a chorus of chickens.
Key elements
This show was inspired by the comedy antics of Twisted Mego Theatre (now called Twisted ToyFare Theater), which appears monthly in Toyfare Magazine, which is published by Gareb Shamus' company, Wizard Entertainment. The segment, "The Aussie Hunter" on FOX's tv show MAD TV is an early work of the fine group. Matthew Senreich currently still works in various capacities with Wizard Entertainment. 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).
A number of celebrities have done voice acting for the series (often portraying themselves), including the entire casts of That 70's Show and Family Guy, as well as Jon Heder, Ryan Seacrest, members of 'N Sync, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mark Hamill, Scarlett Johansson, Don Knotts, Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Hulk Hogan, Bruce Campbell, and Phyllis Diller.
Episode Guide
DVD releases
| DVD Name | Release Date |
|---|---|
| Season One | March 28, 2006 |
| This two disc boxset includes all 20 episodes from Season 1 in production order. While it contains deleted and uncensored scenes and the original Sony Screenblast webtoons, one particular segment that featured the Teen Titans meeting Beavis and Butt-head was omitted from the DVD due to legal problems. Also omitted was the song used in the Voltron sketch, it is replaced by a totally different song, also produced inhouse at Robot Chicken. | |
External links
- ADD TV: The Robot Chicken Wiki
- Adult Swim
- I Heart Robot Chicken: a Robot Chicken fansite
- Stoopid Monkey shop T-shirts for Stoopid Monkey, the production company Matt and Seth run
- Plastic Earth:Sculpts Character Likenesses for Robot Chicken
- Twisted Kaiju Theater - Inspired by and mentioned in TTT
Robot Chicken | 2000s TV shows in the United States | Animated television series | Shows on Adult Swim | Stop motion | Teletoon shows
"Robot Chicken"