The force is still with Robot Chicken: Star Wars
“Robot Chicken,” Adult Swim’s stop-motion animation series, offers a second all-‘Star Wars’ spoof that’s nearly as funny as the first.
The Cartoon Network goes back “not long ago, in a galaxy not far enough way” with “Robot Chicken: Star Wars, Episode II,” the second all-Star Wars themed episode of the animated comedy series. Created by actor Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, “Robot Chicken” uses stop-motion animation — frequently of familiar action figures and product tie-ins — to lampoon pop culture. In 2007, “Robot Chicken’s” its first wide-ranging goof on the Star Wars franchise earned the some of the show’s greatest acclaim, and even an Emmy nomination.
Airing Nov. 16 on Adult Swim, “Episode II” offers more sketches and “one-liner” gags about Jedi, the Galactic Empire and even the maligned Ewoks (who someone escaped direct assault the first time around). In addition to comedy voice talents like Green and Bob Bergen, the special features cameos from Star Wars alumni, including Carrie Fisher and Ahmed Best (the voice of Jar-Jar Binks). Billy Dee Williams offers a particularly amusing lampoon of his own performance as Lando Calrissian. Part of what makes the “Robot Chicken” treatment so amusing is the way Green and company have such a good grasp on how to mock George Lucas’s iconic characters. Middle finger gags, for instance, prove hilariously “wrong” in a context of robots, Sith Lords and space stations. Evil Emperor Palpatine comes across like the most jerky, exasperated boss imaginable, while bounty hunter Boba Fett is like a cocky braggart at a sports bar. This new promo gives a taste of how the show treats Darth Vader.