Robot Chicken is a late night television show that creates its humor a the expense of celibrities, other shows, and generally anything in the public eye. That being said the opening disclaimer is as follows, "Any actual names or likenesses of celebrities are used in a fictitious and parodic manner. The opening sequence and music is somewhat descriptive; comical visuals and music make for an indifferent opening even thought it has a very literal message; you are the robot chicken.
The medium robot chicken uses is like nothing before. In the opening sequence a mad scientist re-animates a dead chicken with robotic parts and forces it to watch 100 televisions at once, the idea being that this will have some sort of effect on the chicken; the latent idea being that we are the chicken. The television show itself comprised of sketches combined with a "change of channel" burr which links them all together. Each sketch is completely independent from the last aside from a few cross over jokes. one skit might be a dog getting steamrolled, and the next is Michael Jackson at a supper table. An important aspect of the show is that it is done through use of stop frame animation. They mostly use figurines of famous actors but also have a wide collection of Autobots (transformers), pedestrians, monsters, sets, vehicles, and last but not least, imagination.
Like a couch potato the robot chicken is forced to watch 100 televisions at once; the show is of the horrors that that chicken faces. What i mean is that the entire show is simply what this robot chicken has to watch, from the view point of him flicking through channels.; the idea that what he is watching is daytime T.V The entirety of the material for the show is nothing but satirical comedy that plays off anything we might find on T.V. It's a kind of idiocy that would lead one to watch a show that does nothing but make fun of other shows you watch; disturbingly half the time robot chickens satirical comedy is not far from the truth at all.
Heres how the show might progress:
sexually assaulted by a rhinoceros; the only thing they can do is whine about how big it is why one yells "why didn't we bring a gun!". Bleep, a parody of the hit T.V show "Surreal Life", but instead of famous actors it's Superheroes: Cat woman and Wonder woman freak out over someone having gone through Cat womans underwear drawer; Superman lays the blame on The Hulk (to the Hulk's discontent) but reveals in a personal interview that it was indeed himself who stole the underwear; Aqua man is arguing with Superman over the fact that Superman has neglected his vacuuming duties, Superman replies that he was simply "too busy re-aligning the planets", then asks Aqua man if he can do anything like re-aligning the planets; Afterwards Aqua man, in a personal interview, breaks down into tears over the fact that he has no useful powers. This skit continues with random scenes of various other superheroes all demonstrating their clear incapability of proper function.
The message conveyed in this sketch is one of ridicule. Robot Chicken demonstrates how unintelligent the superheroes (celebrities) are and draws attention to the fact that it is unintelligent even to watch them; this is something a robot chicken is being forced to watch to evil ends. In this sense T.V can be described as a stupefying box. This also seems to send a strange latent message that robot chicken is equally fruitless to watch, perhaps the underlying sarcasm of the shows concept. Nonetheless a hurtful swing is taken at these celebrities for the sake of entertainment. What's interesting is I like Robot Chicken's entertainment because I happen to agree with the jokes.
The next skit of interest features a show called "2 Kirks a Khan & a Pizza Place" starring Admiral James T Kirk, Kirk Cameron, and Khan Noonien Singh. It's a short lived sketch in which Khan is working the cash register when he knocks over a glass of soda. James T Kirk quickly yells, with familiar gusto, "KHAAAAAAAAAAAN"! Several times, clearing out the horrified pizza shop patrons. This skit is also endowed with cheesy "feel good" music and soft tones of yellow; the kinds you would hear and see from an 80's feel good sitcom. The message of this skit seems to be about the recyclable nature of entertainment. Far too many times have we heard that horrible excerpt of captain Kirk screaming Khans name; Far too many times has Williem Shatner sold out. This skit, though short, makes for interesting entertainment due to its relatable subject matter combined in a goofy satirical way. "You loved your favorite actors as stars, now love them as the butt of our jokes"; in my opinion this is the attitude of Robot Chicken.
Any single episode usually consists of 2 or 3 larger skits spread out and joined by many smaller, perhaps less meaningful skits. Every skit is designed to be humorous in some way, and that effect is very well achieved. The show is done using stop frame animation which seems to be no hindrance. There is a great attention to detail and their style of animation is comical within itself, but the detail overtly renders each of their skits incredibly entertaining.
My favorite skits usually involve President Bush. The First Lady asks President Bush if he remembered to pack his teddy bear "Hop-along", and he replies "I couldn't oversee the middle eastern peace operation without good old Hop-along!". Then he points a toy gun at his wife and says "bang bang!!.... your dead woman!... After which he runs back and fourth in the oval office saying "zoom Zoom ZOOM!... zoom Zoom ZOOM!", pretending to be an airplane. This skit needs no analysis besides the conclusion that Bush is mentally deficient.
The aim of Robot Chicken is first and foremost to be funny. Their preferred road to that end is by making fun of things we all know about or can relate to. Common topics for skits include: Psychology, Society, Politics, Entertainment, George Bush and basically anything which they can give an absurd twist. Some skits don't even have content: A very senior citizen is in a park with a walker, then suddenly has a heart attack and collapses. A second senior citizen, this time with a cane, stops, points, and laughs at the fallen man but then also has a heart attack and collapses. The single thread of content i can construe from this sketch without over analyzing it is that humans are ignorantly cynical.
The concept of the show seems contradictory itself. "A show making fun of how stupid shows are" is a bit moronic, yet it works. They even go so far as to make fun of themselves with "we're kicked off the air skits" even using dolls of themselves (usually Seth Green).
The shows premise (the robot chicken) seems to idealize their comical view that television is detrimental (there is alot of truth in that view). The idea being that we are the chicken, and there is some mad scientist forcing us to continue watch. Like i said before it seems kind of silly to make fun of all T.V shows with a T.V show. But what the show tries to demonstrate in every episode is simply that humans are dumb, not necessarily that T.V is bad. Whether it be Cat woman topless at a party or Bush studdering on a tough word at a podium, Robot Chicken is there to make fun of it.
But does that really speak to their ideology? Are they simply trying to say that people are stupid? Perhaps we are stupid for watching it? If anything, they say that producers, actors, politicians and pedestrians are indeed invariably stupid, they leave the audience alone simply forcing them to watch; trapped like the chicken.
One skit that is frequently repeated (redone in numerous episodes) a "Bloopers" sketch. It is a parody of Americas Funniest Home Videos hosted by a superficial jerk in a suit with a smile that makes you hate him. The "jerk" (as is easily perceived) constantly talks with his hands while spouting weak jokes before showing the clips (the clips are also animated with figures). The skit goes on for a good length of time but at the end (at the end of the entire episode with the blooper sketches), the host commits suicide in some way after saying goodnight. The meaning of this is somewhat cryptic to me; I conclude it is a reference to the fact that Bob Saget makes a jackass of himself in the opening of AFV and especially at the end.
By analyzing each skit we can gain partial insights into the motivations of the producers, but what is Robot Chicken as a whole? In its entirety, Robot Chicken is the critique of television and all that it entails, from the view point of the producers. That view point is one of resentment... Robot chicken is like one big sarcastic skit of what one might see on television at any given time, oriented from the opinions of Seth Green and his fellow writers. It is interesting to see what someone so completely immersed in Hollywood thinks about himself. Robot Chicken is in actuality Seth Green's critique of the very same shows and movies he takes part in. This relative view might result in some differences in opinion, but the humor of the show remains universal.
The fact that it is a T.V show, making fun of T.V shows, on T.V, doesn't seem to take away from its credibility. Most people I have spoke to regard Robot Chicken as the ultimate comedy as well as the ultimate educator. There are no commercials during Robot Chicken, instead you get to watch the Skit commercials that are actually part of the show itself. It's running time is around 12 minutes which doesn't surprise me due to the time consuming nature of production. This might also be so due to the nature of the show; Personally i would become very irritated and bored with watching someone flick through T.V stations with nothing but nonsense on. For the first 12 minutes it's funny, but for the latter it would become tiresome; i would end up changing the channel.
The theatric device of "changing the channel" is their most valuable tool. With this they can pretty much make a skit about anything they like with no need for relevance or storyline; they are free to make fun of hot topics without sincerity. Sincere? they are not... Sarcastic? A little... Mean? It's all in good fun, though I think I have demonstrated that they are meanest to the viewers. You could say that Robot Chicken is a show that makes fun of us for watching what we watch, we are laughing at outselves; only a robot chicken who is forced to would watch that junk....