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American adult animated stop motion sketch comedy television series From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robot Chicken is an American adult stop motion-animated sketch comedy television series created by Seth Green and Matthew Senreich for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The twelve-minute show consists of short unrelated sketches usually satirizing pop culture characters or celebrities. Toys are employed as the players, animated via stop motion and supplemented by claymation. The voice cast changes every episode, and features many celebrity cameos. The writers, most prominently Green, also provide many of the voices. Robot Chicken has won two Annie Awards and six Emmy Awards.[2][3]
| Robot Chicken | |
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| Also known as | Sweet J Presents (2001) |
| Genre | |
| Created by | |
| Voices of |
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| Opening theme | "Robot Chicken" by Les Claypool |
| Ending theme | "The Gonk" by Herbert Chappell |
| Composers |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 11 |
| No. of episodes | 220 (and 11 specials) (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Running time |
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| Production companies |
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| Original release | |
| Network | Adult Swim |
| Release | February 20, 2005 – present |
Robot Chicken was conceptually preceded by Twisted ToyFare Theatre, a humorous photo comic strip appearing in ToyFare.[4] Matthew Senreich, an editor for ToyFare, got in touch with actor Seth Green when Senreich learned that Green had made action figures of castmates from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and asked to photograph them.[5] Months later, Green asked Senreich to collaborate on an animated short for Late Night with Conan O'Brien, featuring toy versions of himself and O'Brien.[5] This led to the 12-episode stop-motion series Sweet J Presents on the Sony website Screenblast.com in 2001.[5] Conan O'Brien is voiced by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane in the first episode ("Conan's Big Fun").[5][6]
Continuing the concept of the web series, the show creators pitched Robot Chicken as a television series, the name being inspired by a dish on the menu at a West Hollywood Chinese restaurant, Kung Pao Bistro, where Green and Senreich had dined (other ideas for the series' name included Junk in the Trunk, The Deep End, and Toyz in the Attic; some of these would be reworked into episode titles for the first season.).[7] Some television networks and sketch shows rejected the series, including Comedy Central, MADtv, Saturday Night Live, and even Cartoon Network. However, someone at that network passed the pitch along to its nighttime programming block, Adult Swim, around the same time that Seth MacFarlane (various voices, 2005–2022) told Green and Senreich to pitch the show to the channel.[citation needed] On February 20, 2005, the series premiered on Adult Swim.
The show was created, written, and produced by Green and Senreich and produced by ShadowMachine Films (Seasons 1–5) and Stoopid Buddy Stoodios in association with Stoop!d Monkey, Williams Street, Sony Pictures Digital (Seasons 1–5) and Sony Pictures Television (Seasons 6–10).
The program aired a 30-minute episode dedicated to Star Wars that premiered June 17, 2007, in the US, featuring the voices of Star Wars notables George Lucas, Mark Hamill (from a previous episode), Billy Dee Williams, and Ahmed Best.[8] The Star Wars episode was nominated for a 2008 Emmy Award as Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour).
The series was renewed for a 20-episode third season, which ran from August 12, 2007, to October 5, 2008.[5] After an eight-month hiatus during the third season, the show returned on September 7, 2008, to air the remaining 5 episodes.[5] The series was renewed for a fourth season, which premiered on December 7, 2008, and ended on December 6, 2009.[5] In early 2010, the show was renewed for a fifth and sixth season (40 more episodes total).[9] Season five premiered on December 12, 2010.[5] The second group of episodes began broadcasting on October 23, 2011. The 100th episode aired on January 15, 2012.[5] In May 2012, Adult Swim announced they were picking up a sixth season of Robot Chicken, which began airing in September 2012.[10] The seventh season premiered on April 13, 2014. Season eight premiered on October 25, 2015.[11] Season nine premiered on December 10, 2017.[12] Season 10 premiered on September 29, 2019, containing the 200th episode.[13] Season 11 premiered on September 6, 2021.[14][15]
Following the 2020 cancellation of The Venture Bros., Robot Chicken became Adult Swim's longest running series, until it was surpassed by Aqua Teen Hunger Force after its renewal in 2023.
After not having released new episodes since April of 2022, Seth Green announced in a live-streamed interview that, while a new full season of Robot Chicken would likely not be ready in time for the following year, a new half-hour Robot Chicken special is slated to release sometime in 2025.[16] In a later interview, Green announced that Robot Chicken will be moving away from 20-episode seasons and towards doing specials.[17]
Robot Chicken employs stop-motion animation of toys, primarily action figures, as well as claymation and sometimes other objects, such as socks, paper bags, and popsicle sticks.[7] Custom action figures made in the likeness of celebrities are used to portray them.
Each episode is composed of short unrelated sketches varying from a few seconds to a few minutes long. Between each sketch is a moment of static, resembling the act of channel surfing on an analog TV.
The show mocks popular culture, referencing toys, movies, television, games, popular fads, and more obscure references like anime cartoons and older television programs, much in the same vein as comedy sketch shows like Saturday Night Live.[18]
A recurring motif involves fantastical characters being placed in mundane or adult situations (such as Stretch Armstrong requiring a corn syrup transplant after losing his abilities due to age, Optimus Prime performing a prostate cancer PSA, and Godzilla experiencing sexual dysfunction).[18]
Robot Chicken features a rotating ensemble cast of recurring performers and cameos. Its most frequent performers include Seth Green, Matthew Senreich, Breckin Meyer, Tom Root, and Dan Milano.
 | This section may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. (November 2024) |
For the first few seasons, the opening credits show a mad scientist reviving a roadkill chicken as a cyborg, then strapping it to a chair to watch an array of televisions. Later seasons iterate on this premise, such as having the Chicken and Scientist roles reversed. The original theme music is composed by Les Claypool.
In the episode "1987", Michael Ian Black claims in the "Best Robot Chicken Ever" sketch that the opening sequence tells the viewers that they are the chicken, being forced to watch the skits. The frame story of the Robot Chicken and the Mad Scientist would not continue beyond the opening sequence until the 100th episode, entitled "Fight Club Paradise", when the chicken finally makes his escape and later kills the Mad Scientist when he takes his hen wife in response, fighting and killing several characters from previous skits (most of them being implied to be the Mad Scientist's henchmen) in the process.
Beginning in the sixth season (after the events of the show's 100th episode), the opening sequence features a role reversal. The Robot Chicken comes upon the body of the Mad Scientist, which has been decapitated. He turns him into a cyborg with a laser eye (this time blue instead of red, reflected by a title background color change). The chicken then straps the scientist to the same chair he was strapped to and forces him to watch the same TV monitors while the chicken and his wife share a kiss.[19] In the seventh-season episode "Chipotle Miserables", the Mad Scientist's son rips out his father's remaining eye to open a door controlled by an optical biometric reader, then creates a posse of reanimated cyborg animals, as well as a cyborg homeless person. The posse then proceeds to kidnap all five then-living US presidents: Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. The Robot Chicken and the now-reformed Mad Scientist team up to rescue the presidents, after which, the Mad Scientist punishes his son by forcing him to watch the TV monitors and the Robot Chicken flies away, free.
Beginning in the eighth season, a new opening sequence features the Robot Chicken frozen in a block of ice under snow, being uncovered by robots. Taken to a futuristic laboratory, the Robot Chicken is taken out of suspended animation by a masked scientist, revealed to be a descendant of the Mad Scientist who first reanimated the Robot Chicken. The descendant mad scientist then proceeds to force the Robot Chicken to watch a wall of projected images with different shows. In an extended version (seen in the season 8 episode "Garbage Sushi" and the season 9 episode "3 2 1 2 333, 222, 3...66?"), the sequence begins with a destroyed Statue of Liberty buried in snow (a reference to Planet of the Apes) when two drones are flying together until one scans the frozen Robot Chicken.
In the ninth-season finale, the Nerd dies from a cliff-jump stunt in an attempt to get the show renewed. Beginning in the tenth season, a new opening sequence features the Nerd being turned into a cyborg by both the Robot Chicken and the Mad Scientist and being forced to watch the skits while they high five. The letters "TEN" in the title are highlighted to mark the show reaching ten seasons. In the 200th episode, as the title is shown, David Lynch shouts "Robot Chicken!" in an off-screen voice.
In the eleventh season, a new opening sequence features the Mad Scientist launching the Robot Chicken off a space station in a capsule. The capsule then crashes on the ground where the Robot Chicken meets another cyborg chicken, only in an elderly state (alluding to 2001: A Space Odyssey). The monolith-shaped TVs in the house show a baby Robot Chicken floating through space. Starting with the episode "May Cause a Whole Lotta Scabs", an extended version (set in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio) begins with a tribe of hominids watching the skits on the TVs while a hominid version of the Nerd bites a remote control to turn on the TV monitors. Suddenly, a hominid tries to take the remote, but the hominid Nerd kills it and gets the remote back, segueing into the opening sequence.
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| This section may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. (November 2024) |
While Robot Chicken primarily features satirical versions of celebrities and existing popular characters in its sketches, it has also debuted some original characters created for the show.
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 20 | February 20, 2005 | July 17, 2005 | |
| 2 | 20 | April 2, 2006 | November 19, 2006 | |
| 3 | 20 | August 12, 2007 | October 5, 2008 | |
| 4 | 20 | December 7, 2008 | December 6, 2009 | |
| 5 | 20 | December 12, 2010 | January 15, 2012 | |
| 6 | 20 | September 17, 2012 | February 18, 2013 | |
| 7 | 20 | April 13, 2014 | December 7, 2014 | |
| 8 | 20 | October 26, 2015 | May 15, 2016 | |
| 9 | 20 | December 10, 2017 | July 22, 2018 | |
| 10 | 20 | September 30, 2019 | July 27, 2020 | |
| 11 | 20 | September 7, 2021 | April 11, 2022 | |
All Robot Chicken episodes from seasons 1-11 are available on Max. The show is streamed censored on the service until Season 5.
The show aired on TBS for a short time in October 2014.
Robot Chicken has partnered with various brands to produce television advertisements, including KFC in 2015,[20] Burger King in 2017,[21] and most recently, Kellogg's Pop-Tarts in 2023.[22]
| DVD title | Release date | Ep # | Discs | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | |||
| The Complete First Season | March 28, 2006 | September 29, 2008 | April 4, 2007 | 1–20 | 2 |
| This two-disc boxset includes all 20 episodes from Season 1 in production order. While it contains many sketches that were edited from the TV airings, several of the original Sony Screenblast webtoons, and the words "Jesus" and "Christ" as an oath unbleeped (though "fuck" and "shit" are still censored out), the episodes are not all uncut. One particular segment that featured the Teen Titans meeting Beavis and Butt-Head was omitted from the DVD because of legal problems. The Voltron/You Got Served sketch shown on the DVD has a replacement song because of legal issues over the song that was used on the TV version. At a performance of Family Guy Live in Chicago, during the Q&A session that ends each performance, Seth Green was asked how they came up with the name Robot Chicken. He explained that the title of each episode was a name Adult Swim rejected for the name of the show. A Region 2 version of the set was released in the UK on September 29, 2008.[23] Three edited shorts from Sweet J Presents were included on the Robot Chicken Season 1 DVD boxset.[6] | |||||
| The Complete Second Season | September 4, 2007 | September 28, 2009 | November 11, 2007 | 21–40 | 2 |
| This two-disc boxset includes all 20 episodes from Season 2 in production order and uncensored, with the words "fuck" and "shit" uncensored (except for one instance in the episode "Easter Basket" in the Lego sketch). It is currently available for download on iTunes (though the episode "Veggies for Sloth" is absent because of copyright issues involving the "Archie's Final Destination" segment).[24] Seth Green stated at Comic-Con 2006 that the second DVD set will contain the "Beavis and Butt-Head Join Teen Titans" sketch, which had been removed from the first DVD set because of copyright issues. However, the sketch is absent from the DVD (although it is available on iTunes). Bonus features include the Christmas special. A secret Nerf gun fight can be found on the disc 1 extras menu and pushing "up" over the extras and set-up items on the menu reveals more special features. | |||||
| Star Wars Special | July 22, 2008 | August 11, 2008 | August 6, 2008 | 1 | 1 |
| This single DVD features the Star Wars special in its TV-edited version (i.e. with bleeps in place of profane words) and several extras about the crew and their work on the special, including a photo gallery, alternate audio, and an easter egg demonstrating the crew's difficulty in composing a proper musical score for the sketch "Empire on Ice". It also features various audio commentaries, featuring members of the cast and crew. | |||||
| The Complete Third Season | October 7, 2008 | January 25, 2010 | December 3, 2008 | 41–60 | 2 |
| This two-disc boxset includes all 20 episodes from Season 3 in production order. This DVD is uncensored, except for the "Cat in the Hat" sketch from episode 7 on Disc 1. It also intentionally censored in episode 5 in the "Law and Order: KFC" sketch. This DVD has special features such as deleted scenes and animatics. It also includes commentary for all of the episodes and has "Chicken Nuggets" commentary for episodes 1 and 3–5. The bonus features also include a gag reel and audio takes. | |||||
| Star Wars Episode II | July 21, 2009 | July 27, 2009 | August 5, 2009 | 1 | 1 |
| This single DVD features the main Star Wars special extras, including normal Robot Chicken episodes and common DVD extras; "The Making Of"; and deleted scenes. | |||||
| The Complete Fourth Season | December 15, 2009 | August 30, 2010 | December 2, 2009 | 61–80 | 2 |
| This two-disc boxset includes all 20 episodes from Season 4 in production order. The special features include "Chicken Nuggets", a San Diego Comic-Con '08 panel, "Day in the Life", a New York Comic-Con '09 panel, video blogs, "Australia Visit", alternate audio, deleted scenes, deleted animations, and commentary on all 20 episodes. | |||||
| Star Wars Episode III | July 12, 2011 | July 4, 2011 | August 3, 2011 | 1 | 1 |
| Interview with George Lucas, "Chicken Nuggets" (sketch by sketch video commentary), Behind the Scenes, Voice Recording Featurette, Star Wars Celebration V Robot Chicken Panel, Skywalker Ranch Premiere Trip, Writer's Room Featurette, Deleted Animatics w/video intros, Audio Commentaries. | |||||
| The Complete Fifth Season | October 25, 2011 | TBA | November 30, 2011 | 81–100 | 2 |
| This two-disc boxset includes all 20 episodes from Season 5 in production order. Nine of the episodes were previously unaired before the DVD release. The set includes commentary on all episodes, "Chicken Nuggets" on a few episodes and a featurette on episode 100. Deleted scenes and deleted animations are also included. Among the deleted scenes are the sketches "Beavis and Butt-Head Join Teen Titans" (deleted from Season 1 due to copyright issues) and the "Archie's Final Destination" sketch (deleted from Season 2 sets). | |||||
| DC Comics Special | July 9, 2013 | TBA | September 18, 2013 | 1 | 1 |
| The Making of the RCDC Special, RCDC's Aquaman Origin Story, Chicken Nuggets, Writers' Commentary, Actors' Commentary, DC Entertainment Tour, Stoopid Alter Egos, Outtakes, Cut Sketches, 5.2 Questions. | |||||
| DC Comics Special 2: Villains in Paradise | October 14, 2014 | TBA | February 18, 2015 | 1 | 1 |
| The second set of specials parodying DC Superheroes. Special features include the making of RCDC2VIP, "Bad Hair, Musical Numbers and Sequels", "The Ones That Got Away", "20 Questions", "Chicken Nuggets", cut animatics, cut sketches, actors' commentary and writers' commentary. | |||||
| The Complete Sixth Season | October 8, 2013 | TBA | November 20, 2013 | 101–120 | 2 |
| This two-disc boxset includes all 20 episodes from Season 6 in production order. Special features include commentary on every episode, deleted animatics, featurettes, deleted scenes, channel flips and "Chicken Nuggets". | |||||
| Christmas Specials | November 18, 2014 | TBA | TBA | 6 | 1 |
| This DVD contains 6 Christmas-themed episodes: "Robot Chicken's Christmas Special", "Robot Chicken's Half-Assed Christmas Special", "Dear Consumer (Robot Chicken's Full-Assed Christmas Special)", "Robot Chicken's DP Christmas Special", "Robot Chicken's ATM Christmas Special" and "Born Again Virgin Christmas Special". Special features include commentaries, deleted scenes, deleted animatics and "long-forgotten" promos. | |||||
| Star Wars Trilogy | TBA | December 4, 2015 | February 4, 2015 | 3 | 3 |
| The Complete Seventh Season | July 21, 2015 | December 11, 2020 | September 16, 2015 | 121–140 | 2 |
| This two-disc boxset includes all 20 episodes from Season 7 in production order. Special features include commentary on every episode, featurettes and cut sketches. | |||||
| Robot Chicken DC Comics Special (collection) | March 2018 | December 2, 2016 | June 20, 2018 | 3 | 3 |
| The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who's Walking | March 27, 2018 | TBA | August 15, 2018 | 1 | 1 |
| Inside the Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who's Walking, Cut Sketches, Commentary, Sketches to Die For, Bawkward, Behind the Screams. | |||||
| The Complete Eighth Season | TBA | March 26, 2021 | April 17, 2019 | 141–160 | 2 |
| The Complete Ninth Season | TBA | March 15, 2019 | May 22, 2019 | 161–180 | 2 |
Revolver Entertainment have released the first four seasons and all three Star Wars specials on DVD in the United Kingdom.[25] A box set including the first 3 seasons and a box set including all three Star Wars specials have also been released.[26] Madman Entertainment has released the first 9 seasons of Robot Chicken and specials on DVD in Australia and New Zealand.
Adult Swim released Robot Chicken: The Complete Series for digital purchase on iTunes and Vudu in July 2023.[27]
The series airs in the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of E4's Adult Swim block, in Canada on Adult Swim (previously Teletoon's Teletoon at Night block from 2006 to 2019) and also in Quebec on Télétoon's Télétoon la nuit block, in Australia on The Comedy Channel's Adult Swim block, in Russia on 2x2's Adult Swim block, in Germany on WarnerTV Comedy's Adult Swim block (previously TNT Serie's Adult Swim block from 2009 to 2017), and in Latin America on the I.Sat Adult Swim block (after the Adult Swim block was canceled from Cartoon Network Latin America in 2008). Many of the show's sketches from Sweet J Presents were redone for Robot Chicken.[5]
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