February 24, 2005

Robot Chicken

Don't forget to catch Robot Chicken tonight at 12:00 p.m. on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

Here's the New York Daily News review:

Robot Chicken is the brainchild of actor Seth Green (Dr. Evil's son in the Austin Powers movies) and Internet stop-motion short filmmaker Matthew Senreich, and an outgrowth of their early, Sony-funded experiments with Internet animation.

The concept, fleshed out by head writers Doug Goldstein and Tom Root, is as weird as it is original: Imagine an SCTV sketch series poking fun at TV and film, but with animated action pictures and puppet likenesses playing all the parts.

The first Robot Chicken, co-created and co-directed by Green and Senreich, premiered Sunday night on Cartoon Network, and encores Thursday at midnight and 3 a.m.

Viewers may want to take a toy collector's approach to this show, by taping every one and trading with friends. This show's a keeper -- and definitely rewards repeated viewing, because some of the skits go by with such blinding speed, they're almost subliminal.

A puppet president doing a commercial that says, 'I'm George W. Bush, and I approved this message: Tacos rule!' -- five seconds.

The scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz, getting stabbed with a shiv in prison and bleeding straw -- eight seconds. The skit's title, which justifies the conceit: 'Oz.'

There are longer productions, too, ranging from a 'very special episode' of Transformers, which turns out to be a medical public service announcement starring Optimus Prime, to a delightfully accurate parody of the classic 'This is your brain on drugs' PSA spot, in which Rachael Leigh Cook trashes her apartment with a cast-iron frying pan.

In Robot Chicken, the real Cook provides the voice of her stop-animated puppet counterpart (cheaply superimposed cartoon mouths match up to the recorded dialogue), who continues her rampage outside the apartment -- for a very long, very funny drug-induced temper tantrum. It may be Cook's career-high performance, though that's not much of a compliment.

Other celebrity voices adding to the fun in the premiere include Macaulay Culkin, Seth Macfarlane, and lots of characterizations by Green.

i haven't seen the show, but this being Robot Week, i feel it is my duty.

Posted by: annika at 04:43 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 I saw the first episode last Sunday. It has my boyfriend(Prime) giving a public service announcement in it.

Posted by: GO GO GADGET DICK! at February 24, 2005 05:58 PM (ICWUG)

2 In the same vein of TV Guide blogging, Mark Steyn is on Washington Journal tomorrow.

Posted by: Casca at February 24, 2005 06:04 PM (cdv3B)

3 I only caught the tail end of last night's episode, basically the "Crotch-shot symphony" It was pretty frickin' hilarious.

Posted by: Trevor at February 28, 2005 11:40 AM (RwZxT)

4 I like the old school 80s stuff. Takes me back :-)

Posted by: Ron at February 28, 2005 03:38 PM (k0ZFh)

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