New 'Robot Chicken: Star Wars 3' special is out of this world good

Thursday, July 7, 2011
'Robot Chicken: Star Wars 3' is an hour-long spoof of the popular movie franchise and features more than six hours of special features on the Blu-ray to be released on July 12.

BY CAINE GARDNER

Film Critic

For a generation who grew up with George Lucas' space opera "Star Wars", finding new ways to enjoy the films and their impact on our society is a welcomed escape. Seth Green and the other masterminds behind Robot Chicken continue to deliver the goods this time with "Robot Chicken: Star Wars III".

For those of you who don't know about Robot Chicken, the show airs on Cartoon Network and consists of sketches using action figures and voice talents of actors including Green, Breckin Meyer and Seth MacFarlane as well as actors from the actual movies, most notably Lando Calrissian himself Billy Dee Williams. It's funny and totally not politically correct.

This installment of the Robot Chicken take on "Star Wars" is a little different. Where the first two spoofed "A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back" respectively, this one goes after the entire saga. The Blu-ray is filled with awesome sketches and equally awesome moments, my personal favorite an encounter between Luke Skywalker and a Wampa at a gas station. That sketch alone is worth the price of admission, folks.

If you're a fan of the previous two "Star Wars" themed "Robot Chicken" episodes, you'll love this. Plus Green and company don't' skimp on the extras. While the show itself is close to an hour long, the Blu-ray is packed with a whopping six and a half hours of extra goodies.

The disc boasts four commentary tracks featuring actors, writers and members of the crew. There's also the "Chicken Nugget" feature, which allows you to watch the show, and every time a chicken logo pops up and when clicked it gives behind the scenes scores of what into making the scene.

Then there are the featurettes. The Blu-ray featurettes consists of "For the Love of", "Skate Party Bus Tour", "Deleted Animatics" and the "Ranch Premier" which shows the cast and crew heading to Lucas' Skywalker Ranch to screen the show.

The highlight of the extra features is the "Sunday in the Boardroom with George Lucas". The featurettes shows there's more to the Lucas that his usual serious exterior.

Final Cut: "Robot Chicken: Star Wars 3" is out of this world good with a great show and drowning us with behind the scenes extras. Plus the cover of Darth Vader channeling John Travolta from "Saturday Night Fever" needs to be a poster on my wall.

5 out of 5 stars

Robot Chicken: Star Wars 3

Starring (voice): Seth Green, Breckin Meyer, Seth MacFarlane, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Tom Kane, Bob Bergen, Abraham Benrudi

Director: Chris McKay

Writer: Seth Green (creator), Matthew Senreich (creator), Douglas Goldstein (head writer), Tom Root (head writer), Matthew Beans, Hugh Davidson, Mike Fasolo, Geoff Johns, Breckin Meyer, Kevin Scinick, Dan Milano, Hugh Sterbakov, Zeb Wells