Robot Chicken - General Discussion

[David T. Cole]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from Robot Chicken.

[Lantern7]

Thanks to David for setting this up, though I originally pitched the thread with the title, "Toys In The Attic."

 

For the most part, the show can be hit-or-miss with me. It took a death in my family to realize that the show gets mired in death a lot, as well as sex. I mean, I'll keep watching, but I tend to expect more from the show.

 

Two questions:

 

1. This isn't trivia, because I don't know the answer: how many times has the show not gone for a pop culture-referencing episode-ending sketch? From memory, I know about three: the clown car collision, the Montage sketch ("boop-boop!!"), and the Mad Max-style holidays sketch. Can anybody else think of other instances? And the season finale sketches don't count.

 

2. What would you consider to be the darkest sketch in the show's history? The Tooth Fairy sketch from S1 set the bar damn high, but then came the Ducktails sketch (finding out about Huey, Dewey and Louie's mom), the one-armed Wampa at the gas station (which wasn't played entirely for laughs), and the last bit with the Bloopers host and his soul-crushing breakdown. Oh, and there was the recent sketch with Cinderella's Fairy Godmother using Satanic shit to get her to the ball.

Edited June 4, 2014 by Lantern7

[PrincessEnnui]

Can the Charlie Brown sketch where all his friends are dancing in Hell with the Devil count? And what about Fumbles?

[Galileo908]

Whoops, finally found this forum! I was on TWOP as InvaderNorbert, and now I'm here to give my two cents about tonight's episode.

 

 

Oh, and there was the recent sketch with Cinderella's Fairy Godmother using Satanic shit to get her to the ball.

 

That was more horrifying to look at than dark.

 

As for Darkest Sketch, I'd like to nominate a brief bit of people looking at a baby in a nursery, only for a nurse to cover it in a sheet.

Edited June 16, 2014 by Galileo908

[Lantern7]

Two things to start:

 

1. The show was nominated for a Best Short-Format Emmy. I don't know which episode was used for the submission.

 

2. The official panel for Comic-Con International is in two weeks, at 3:15 p.m. local time. And the kicker? There's a Bitch Pudding special in the works.

 

ETA: 3. There's also a voiceover category at the Emmys, and Seth Green was nominated for his work on Robot Chicken.

Edited July 12, 2014 by Lantern7

[Vikitty]

My favourite sketches are probably the Optimus Prime getting prostate cancer (when he transforms into the coffin, I cry with laughter) and the giraffe stuck in quicksand going through the 7 stages of grief.

 

And the Star Wars episodes.

[Lantern7]

Galileo908 . . . I was thinking more of feature-length sketches, as opposed to stuff that runs ten seconds or less. But damn, I feel bad about not including that one. I think that if one of us fans makes it to a Robot Chicken panel (at CCI or NYCC), that person should ask the panelists what the darkest sketch would be.

 

Valerie . . . technically, it was five stages of grief, but it was pretty funny. And the Optimus Prime sketch was funny, though I'd hate to think the show peaked in its first episode. I remember seeing Seth Green on Conan's show on NBC, and they showed "Best One-Sided Fights." I don't remember exactly, but I think that's when I started the RC thread on TWoP.

 

ETA: On the flip side, what would you consider to be the most disappointing sketches? On my short list: the recent "Nerd Meets Doctor Who" sketch, which just ragged about how lo-fi the original series was. Also, you can't just smack a Dalek. You just can't.

Edited July 16, 2014 by Lantern7

[Galileo908]

Also, you can't just smack a Dalek. You just can't.

 

 

Only if you're Ace and have a superpowered bat.

 

As for most disappointing? The past few seasons have been disappointing, but I'll say the third Star Wars special. Not as good as the first two.

[Lantern7]

You think so? I liked the hour-long format with mostly original material. I figure that if you cut out some extraneous bits, you could make a movie based on the third special, with stuff jammed into it from the first two. I still don't get the one sketch with Admiral Ackbar singing "It's a trap" and it being a fantasy sequence. Can anybody explain that to me?

[Lantern7]

Speaking of the Star Wars specials . . . CN/[as] will be running the first two tonight starting at 11:30.

[Lantern7]

Trailer for the next holiday special.

[Morrigan2575]

That looks funny

[Lantern7]

Here's the Robot Chicken panel from last Friday at NYCC.

[Lantern7]

Clip from the upcoming special, which airs this Sunday. Also, the [adult swim] YouTube channel has been promoting the Christmas DVD, as seen here and here.

[Lantern7]

Any favorite holiday-themed sketches? I'm fond of the Dragonball Z Christmas special, with the debut of Composite Santa. Also: mutated Mrs. Claus.

[Lantern7]

Here's a piece on RC, with a trailer for the third DC Comics special.

[Lantern7]

Here's the teaser trailer for "Magical Friendship," which airs next week:

[Lantern7]

Bumping up because few people hit the episode threads. Also, because the latest DC Comics special -- "Magical Friendship" -- will be running Sunday at midnight.

 

ETA: I feel that  may no longer be in the target demographic for the show. I'm also thinking that the episode may be more fun if I go over it carefully, picking out all the easter eggs. But then, I don't have the inclination to rewatch.

[Twilight Man]

Superman and Batman continue to fight over Batman's usefulness..............

 

and unleash a multiverse of heroes, including dancing Adam West Batman and JLApe.

[Lantern7]

Reminder: There will be no more individual episode threads. This will be the place for any and all Robot Chicken talk.

[Galileo908]

Last week was fantastic, especially once the characters from the Infinite Earths showed up. Adam West fighting the Arkham Asylum versions of his rogues gallery was what dreams were made of.

 

Only this show could we have Rob Paulsen voicing Jesus, Bob The Builder ratting on Handy Mandy's citizenship, and George Takei freaking the hell out over a Godzilla vs Jason mashup. Not to mention turning The Little Match Girl into a total badass. I so want a fight between her and Bitch Pudding to happen.

[Lantern7]

I'm still concerned whether I'm outside the parameters of the show, given the few laughs I had. On the other hand: anybody else remember the Bubble Tape commercials from the 80s? Anytime you figure the show has unearthed all childhood pop culture, they wind up digging a little deeper. 

[Matt K]

DCIII was okay, not a great as the other two specials.  Kept hitting the Batman is worthless joke instead of branching out.  And Lex II Men or whatever wasn't half as good as Sex Luthor.  

 

As for last week's, it's the first Robot Chicken I didn't really care for.  I don't think there was a single sketch that I liked (or found funny) or found memorable.  Hopefully next week is better.

[Galileo908]

I was sad that an "AAHH Real Monsters" sketch just led to a dumb runner with the Ring. And the Nerd is back to rip on CW's shows. I wish there was more of The Flash, though. I love CW's Flash series. At least Tom Cavanagh showed up.

[Matt K]

Didnt really care for this week's episode either. I'm not sure what the deal is. Did they have a big change over in writing staff? Even the Nerd dreams about CW was lame. Usually they're at least able to craft a decent joke even if you don't know the material. Only chuckle I had was him shooting goons in the eye (although I did watch 2 seasons of arrow).

At least Mike Tyson Mysteries started strong. So I guess I'll keep watching. Hopefully neXT week will be an improvement.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Matt K

[Lantern7]

I went into the show in a bad mood, what with the Mets blowing the everloving shit out of Game 5. Watching the Nerd take on the CW was fun, though, since I watch Arrow and The Flash. The sketch wasn't as lame as the Doctor Who bit from last season. And they used Kristen Kreuk as NotBelle, which was funny. Also, nice use of Cisco name-dropping comic creators, then winking at us.

[Lantern7]

There's an episode description  for this week:

 

Pluto goes to  great lengths to get away from his Dwarf Planet friends; there isn't an American Girl doll for everybody.

 

[Galileo908]

Among dwarf planets, Ceres and Eris are lame.

 

Okay, the cops raiding Pee-Wee's Playhouse was freaking great.

 

Out of many, many sketches on this show, the Wild Thornberries going "wild as fuck" with half of the cast reprising their roles was one of the most horrifying I've seen. Nigel Thornberry adjusting to Modern Discovery Channel is one thing, but then they all became nudists...

[Matt K]

Again not a fan. Is Zeb Wells gone from the show, didn't see his name in the credits.

I'll stop posting with this episode. The show just seems to have lost the spark. Pee Wee was decent but they've done better wih the same joke. The rest, I just didn't see the joke. Pointing something out isn't a joke.

[Lantern7]

I'm not feeling the show as much as I used to. I fear that I might be too old for it. Or maybe Steve Aoki's penchant for throwing cakes in adoring audiences isn't that relatable. Also, I never got into The Wild Thornberries. Aaah! Real Monsters, sure.

[Matt K]

I'm not feeling the show as much as I used to. I fear that I might be too old for it. Or maybe Steve Aoki's penchant for throwing cakes in adoring audiences isn't that relatable. Also, I never got into The Wild Thornberries. Aaah! Real Monsters, sure.

So I checked and Zeb Wells is no longer with the show.  Instead there are a bunch of brand new writers including the director who is also new.  

 

To some degree you might be right, I have no experience with Wild Thornberries (way after my time) or Steve Aoki (though he was fictional until the credits) but at the same time, I didn't have much experience with a few other things they've parodied, like Strawberry Shortcake, and they still managed to actually craft jokes that I found funny.  The sketches to me felt like they were all missing actual jokes.  The Pee Wee Playhouse thing seemed like a set up, not a joke.  

 

Take the James Potter sketch from last season.  You had the set up, them talking about boning animals, a few jokes including the end where the doe is Professor Mcgonagall.  Now that was funny.  All these sketches seem to be lacking punchlines.

 

I watched damn near every Robot Chicken the past few months (thanks to Adult Swim airing them back to back at Midnight) and it definitely seems that this season has had a huge drop in quality.  But I'll stop here since I feel like I'm beating a dead horse.  

Edited November 9, 2015 by Matt K

[Lantern7]

I'm a little nervous about the upcoming episode. I saw this on Time-Warner's schedule:

 

The Robot Chicken writers, and the Gargoyles, meet their ultimate foe: pigeons; naked Captain Picard wins it all; the Paw Patrol tries to rescue itself from the ultimate terror; the Animaniacs get sex-educational.

 

I saw Gargoyles back in the day. I thought it was the shit. Yet I fear that the sketch is going to bomb like the one on Doctor Who last season. On the bright side, we might have Patrick Stewart back as Picard, and that's always funny.

[Galileo908]

As how awesome it was, hearing Patrick Stewart's voice coming out of Goliath didn't sound right. Awesome, but not right. And how did they get Patrick Stewart but not Jonathan Frakes for Xanatos?!

 

The KITT/Lightning McQueen sketch was so stupid but funny.

 

Mashing up Paw Patrol and 9/11 was...a sketch that happened. Can't wait about 6 years and see the kids who grew up on Paw Patrol get traumatized by this sketch.

[Lantern7]

Still wondering if I've outgrown the show. Or maybe Zeb Wells was the glue holding the humor together.

 

Gargoyles sketch was kinda weak. Patrick Stewart as Goliath works on a few levels, but the bit was weak. I would've revisited Broadway accidently shooting Elisa rather than pigeon poop, but that's just me. Also: aren't Yakko and Dot siblings?  I guess the tower gets hella freaky. I think Wakko likes to watch.

 

ETA: Another thing . . . Doctor Manhattan doesn't give people cancer. And the hydrogen atom on his forehead wasn't visible. Maybe the writers didn't want Alan Moore to sic a snake god on them.

[Matt K]

Still wondering if I've outgrown the show. Or maybe Zeb Wells was the glue holding the humor together.

Having binge re-watched much of the series, I think the issue is with the show, not you.  It's just not very good this season.

 

THis week's long sketchs mostly had a decent set up but the problem ended up being the poor execution.  The Yakko one is a prime example.  Yakko reading sex positions isn't all the funny considering where the show has gone before.  And for the most part that's all it was, a character singing a list.  The pictures were completly irrelevant to the sketch (and even on my tv difficult to see). 

 

As for Dr Manhattan, I was wondering that too plus it wasn't really funny.  It would have been better if they cribbed from their previous I Dream of Genie wish fulfilment sketch.  Also Goliath seemed pretty off model as well, which is rarely an issue with this show.

[Galileo908]

Ghostwriter, Magic School Bus, Bananas in Pajamas, Teletubbies AND a Dream Phone sketch? Yep, we're into the 90s now. Yeah, whose mind immediately go to "creepy stalker call" whenever they saw that commercial?

 

It's weird to see Transformers from different toy lines interacting with each other, but we all played with them that way.

 

You know, writer of the Awkward sketch, admitting that you know as much about the source material as we do is not an excuse for poor writing.

 

It's been a long time since we saw an Archie sketch. Nothing will ever top the Final Destination sketch from years back, and making all the men gay just wasn't funny at all.

[Lantern7]

I thought the episode was an improvement. Or maybe I'm thankful they didn't try to rip on The Real World or The Challenge.

 

ETA: No new episode next week. That gives us time to think of better concepts for the show.

 

ETA2: Before anybody brings it up .. . it took a while for me to remember "The Real World: Metropolis."

[Matt K]

The planet of the Apes bit was decent and the Willy Wonka wasn't bad either.  That said, I didn't recognize most of the references.  Like Awkward (didn't have cable as a kid), or the banana guys or the animals in the wagon (although the "joke" there didn't require knowing who they were, which I guess is better).  The Transformers/Transparent joke though was pretty bad as was Ghost Writer and Arhcie.  

[Galileo908]

The animals in the wagon were the Wonder Pets, best known for the duck with the speech impediment. The past few weeks we've gotten sketches about recent(ish) children's shows and I'm pretty sure someone on the writing staff has some young kids.

[Lantern7]

In case you missed it last week, here's the commercial for Halo 5:

 

Aside from the holiday Quantum Leap montage and Obama pardoning the murderous turkey, have there been Thanksgiving sketches on the show?
 

[Galileo908]

50 Shades of Mr. Monopoly. Dear god. Oddly, I liked the sexual Mrs. Butterworth sketch much better.

 

Didn't need to see an incredibly long sketch about Hitler stealing a sandwich. Or King Kong filling an entire theater with pee.

 

But the mere presence of Bitch Puddin improves any episode, or a sketch about The Crucible. They need her to shoehorn her into more movies.

 

Karen Gillan and Lee Pace were in this?! Where?

[Lantern7]

Still not feeling the show. The episode wasn't even the best one to use Nazism tonight. On the bright side, the next episode seems to be Christmas-themed. The show always brings it's A-game for the holidays. Better holiday sketch: Goku and Gohan saving Christmas, or the race between Santa Claus and Superman?

[Lantern7]

Looks like we'll be having a Santa/Nerd team-up.

[Galileo908]

The Nerd's real father is...Krampus?! But that wasn't Tom Hanks as himself, that was his brother Jim Hanks.

 

Gotta love a show that combines the Polar Express, Planes Trains & Automobiles, Fred Claus and that movie where Chris Evans eats a baby? What was that one? Well whatever, I liked it.

Edited December 14, 2015 by Galileo908

[Lantern7]

Still not feeling it. Maybe the team decided to try one big story, as opposed to several bits. It was amusing in places, but there weren't any heavy LOL moments. And since Jim Hanks had been on the show before, I figured that was him voicing The Polar Express guy.

 

Favorite Nerd Holiday Adventure: going to Narnia or facing the inferior live-action Grinch?

[Matt K]

I'm out.  This week's I laughed once (on Hanks being immortal) but otherwise it was awful.  Really where was the joke on the train scene.  Saying "hey remember the movie Snowpiercer, that was a movie" is not a joke.  And it didn't even make sense in light of the story.  

 

 Last week's was pretty bad too.  I'm completely done with this show.  I gave it a lot longer than most but this season has been pure garbage.  It's a shame because I really like the show before this season.  Maybe I'll check it out next season (although I say that for a few shows I've dropped over the years and never came back to a single one).

 

Favorite Nerd Holiday Adventure: going to Narnia or facing the inferior live-action Grinch?

Probably Narnia.  Although for the Grinch I did enjoy the two different circle, one trying to summon the Spirit of Vengeance.  Although my favorite Nerd one is Game of Thrones.

[Lantern7]

I don't know when new episodes will air. In the meantime . . . what is your favorite Star Wars-themed sketch? "Empire On Ice"? Ahmed Best reprising his role as Jar Jar Binks? Any of the bits with Darth Vader and the Emperor? How about the fantasy sequences with Boba Fett? "BACK FROM THE DEAD, ASSHOLES!!!" Good times,

[Lantern7]

Bumping up because Adult Swim will be running the Christmas specials from tonight to Christmas Eve in the midnight-12:30 slot. From Goku & Gohan saving Christmas to the Nerd getting his own holiday adventure. Good times.

[Matt K]

I don't know when new episodes will air. In the meantime . . . what is your favorite Star Wars-themed sketch? "Empire On Ice"? Ahmed Best reprising his role as Jar Jar Binks? Any of the bits with Darth Vader and the Emperor? How about the fantasy sequences with Boba Fett? "BACK FROM THE DEAD, ASSHOLES!!!" Good times,

It's kind of difficult to choose.  Jar Jar with Darth Vader is definitely a favorite as is the Stormtrooper take your daughter to work.  Same with the Vader revealing all the prequel nonsense to Luke.  Oh and just remembered the one with the Emperor loosing his luggage, that was pretty funny.

[Lantern7]

The surfboard made the sketch a classic. "Wow, for real??"

 

Going through the Christmas specials. . . did the last episode suffer because Seth MacFarlane didn't reprise his role as Santa? I couldn't tell the difference either way. Maybe I'm just splitting hairs about how lackluster the show has become.