Robot Chicken Season 6 Blu-ray Review
Summary: For long time fans of the show grabbing this release will be a no-brainer and, aside from a few overlong sketches and some groan inducing sketches for which a healthy knowledge of obscure pop culture is a prerequisite, the quality of the show remains as easily some of the best material available from the [Adult Swim] line up. Recommended
3.9
Inspired Idiocy
Robot Chicken – Season 6
Distributor: Madman
Rating: MA15+
Reviewer: Sean Warhurst
Running Time: 220 Minutes
Genre: Comedy
After 8 years and 6 seasons of gleefully skewering beloved pop culture icons, it’s pretty safe to say that by this point you know whether or not Robot Chicken is your cup of tea or not; if you haven’t previously warmed to the inspired hijinks of Seth Green and Matthew Senreich’s creation then chances are that this latest release from madman isn’t going to go any way towards changing your opinion. If, however, you find countless hours of enjoyment from watching action figures act out some of the most depraved and ludicrous scenarios ever depicted on television, then you’ll be ecstatic to know that the sixth season of Robot Chicken is as hilarious and politically incorrect as ever.
One can’t really delve too deeply into the specifics of an episode of Robot Chicken as the show’s is comprised of a multitude of different sketches, some totalling a second or under, so by its very nature it’s hard to detail the content without resorting to describing the individual skits that make up a ten minute episode. What I can say is that this season as a whole, personally, seems much stronger than the previous two, although it never quite reaches the lofty heights of the first two; one could chalk this up to familiarity though. As usual there is the occasional joke or sketch that fails to work but the rapid fire succession of gags ensures that these misfires are almost instantly forgotten once the next sketch rolls along.
This season seems to have eschewed the overabundance of smutty and puerile jokes of the last two seasons (Not completely though, so never fear), allowing room for more structured and considered gags; while there are still a ton of poop and masturbation jokes they don’t seem to dominate proceedings to the extent that they used to. Another noticeable change is slightly less dependence on obscure pop culture skits, giving the writers a chance to create some original scenarios. With that said, there are still a plethora of Transformers, He-Man and Thundercats jokes to appease the long time fans.
It must also be mentioned that the opening of the show has been tweaked so that the titular reanimated chicken, after five seasons of being subjected to the A Clockwork Orange like torture session of forced television viewing, finally enacts his revenge upon the mad scientist by replicating the twisted experiment he was forced to take part in, bringing the scientist back to life and strapping him in for a protracted viewing session whilst the Robot Chicken and his Wife look on in glee.
Episode Listing:
– Executed by the State
– Crushed by a Steamroller on My 53rd Birthday
– Punctured Jugular
– Poisoned by Relatives
– Hurtled from a Helicopter into a Speeding Train
– Disemboweled by an Orphan
– In Bed Surrounded by Loved Ones
– Choked on Multi-Colored Scarves
– Hemlock, Gin and Juice
– Collateral Damage in a Gang Turf War
– Eviscerated Post-Coital by a Six-Foot Mantis
– Butchered in Burbank
– Robot Chicken’s ATM Christmas Special
– Papercut to Aorta
– Caffeine-Induced Aneurysm
– Eaten by Cats
– Botched Jewel Heist
– Robot Fight Accident
– Choked on a Bottle Cap
– Immortal
Audio/Visual
Madman’s Blu-ray transfer makes for a garishly colourful and visually pleasing experience, with every fibre of the hand-crafted clothing and sculpted figures looking as lifelike as the real thing. There is quite a bit of noticeable aliasing in certain segments, but given the source material this is forgivable and would only really be picked up upon by those of us who prize visual quality above all else. Robot Chicken Season 6 comes with a Dolby HD 5.1 audio track that, whilst flat in some areas, carries the show admirably for the most part.
The mixing between channels can be a little uneven and, although there’s no audible bleed through, it often feels as if the mix is predominately restricted to the tw front speakers, with little to no directionality. Dialogue is clean and the soundtrack is clear and it appears that these, admittedly minor in the long run, mixing issues are to be attributed more to the production side of things than Madman’s competent transfer.
Special Features:
As with the previous releases of Robot Chicken, Season 6 comes with more extras than you can poke a pointed stick at; from a multitude of animatics and deleted scenes in various forms of completion to commentaries on each episode and fifty minutes of featurettes covering everything from the guest stars making their first appearance on the show to interviews with the first female writers to join the show, there’s more than enough here to keep ardent fans amused for hours after they’ve devoured the episodes. Also making a return are the Chicken Nuggets, basically an interactive feature that runs throughout certain episodes where you press enter whenever the image of the chicken appears on screen to be whisked away to a short scene specific interview where Matt and Seth offer insight to the sketch.
List of Features:
– Commentaries on All Episodes
– Chicken Nuggets: Executed by the State, Robot Chicken’s ATM Christmas Special, Immortal
– Deleted Channel Flip Animatics (13:10)
– Deleted Scenes (2:40)
– Deleted Animatics (55:13)
Featurettes:
– Making Season 6 (10:06)
– They Came to Play (5:35)
– Our First Ladies (6:15)
– Kirkman on Kirkman (2:26)
– Outtakes! (3:53)
– My First Time… (1:43)
– The Dirt on Seth and Matt (2:23)
– The Inside Joke (2:00)
– The Wilson Identity – From People to Puppets (1:33)
– The Benefits of Robot Chicken (3:31)
– Who the F*** is Zeb? (6:14)
– Post-Apocalyptic Future of Holidays (4:54)
Final Thoughts
It’s been interesting to follow Robot Chicken from its beginnings as a jerkily animated stoner program to the slightly smoother animated stoner program it’s become. Jokes aside, I’ve always been surprised by the show’s wide-reaching popularity and the fanbase it’s managed to build from its esoteric fanboyish beginnings. This latest season proves that there’s still plenty of life left in this reanimated chicken corpse yet and the behind the scenes features show that the cast and crew’s unbridled enthusiasm for playing with action figures and making them perform vulgar actions remains unabated.
For long time fans of the show grabbing this release will be a no-brainer and, aside from a few overlong sketches and some groan inducing sketches for which a healthy knowledge of obscure pop culture is a prerequisite, the quality of the show remains as easily some of the best material available from the [Adult Swim] line up.
Recommended
About the Author
Sean Warhurst Avid gamer. Cinephile. Considerate lover. Neither the word Protractor or Contractor accurately conveys my position on how I feel about Tractors.
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