Robot Chicken Season 1 DVD

Written by Dr. Dib

Sunday, 07 September 2008 00:00

In late July Best Buy had a sale on both season of Robot Chicken. Being the bargain hunter I am, I decided to snatch them up as the show is pretty hilarious. If you have been living under a rock or don't get Cartoon Network, let me tell you a little about the show.

Robot Chicken is a 15 minute television show based on stop-motion animation named after a dish at a Chinese restaurant. The show was created by Seth Green (of Austin Powers fame) and Matthew Senreich (of Wizard Magazine). The idea for the show began at the turn of the century when Seth Green decided to make a short involving toy versions of himself and Conan O'Brien. The idea caught the eye of Matthew Senreich and they would both star an internet show called Sweet J Presents which later became Robot Chicken.

The show is pretty much about anything. The frame story of the show is that a mad scientist finds a dead chicken and brings him back to life via robotics so he can watch T.V. The show has little to do with this in way of content. It consists entirely of skits connected via "channel flips." Most of the skits are parodies, but some of them are original. Nearly all the skits are created with toys.

So let's get back to the DVD of season 1. The box art is not too fancy. It is just the chicken being forced to watch T.V. The rest of the case is put together with clips from the show.

The DVD menus are also pretty boring. While I do have to give props since the menus are made from the sets, it does get pretty boring to look at a non moving screen. There is also no build up getting to any menu. The song playing through the menu, the end theme, also gets annoying if you leave it up for too long. I'd prefer the main theme and that is included on a few other menus. Still, the simple menu may work for those just wanting to watch an episode and leave.

Now on to the meat of the DVD, the content. All the episodes of season 1 are on this set and remain untouched for the most part. One noticeable absence is the Teen Titans meet Beavis and Butthead sketch which was removed for legal reasons. The content is not uncensored which may be a reason not to buy the set for some.

Of course I couldn't finish this review without mentioning the reason everyone buys DVDs, the extras and there are a good amount. Disc 1 contains deleted scenes and animatics which unlike most deleted stuff are pretty good. It also has a photo gallery and some animation meetings which basically are laugh at Seth as he acts out the show. The second disc contains a few Sweet J presents episodes, a behind the scenes look of the show (with Macaulay Culkin in it!!!:P), some promos and Adult Swim bumps, as well as some other stuff that give you an inside look at the show. The extras probably make the DVD worth a purchase to a person who has seen the episodes a thousand times.

Overall, Robot Chicken Season 1 is worth a purchase for any fan of the show. I'd highly recommend that anyone into the show should buy it. Though the DVD is put together in a boring fashion, the content makes up for all this. So what are you waiting for? Go and watch some T.V.!

Set as favorite

Comments (0)