Robot Chicken: Star Wars is a 2007 special of the television comedy series
Robot Chicken. This episode aired on Canada's Teletoon Detour block on February 29, 2008, and is available to view for free with video commentary extras at AdultSwim.com for those in the United States. It was released on DVD on July 22, 2008.
Episode Summary
The episode is a 22-minute extravaganza of sketches all related to
Star Wars. The episode was nominated for an
Emmy (Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) in 2008.
One skit, produced to promote this episode but not actually in it, involves George Lucas at his therapist discussing his hatred for The Star Wars Holiday Special and claims he has now made the same mistake with letting Robot Chicken do a full special.
List of sketches
Intro (Star Wars Styled)
...Not long ago, in a galaxy not far enough away... The opening credits are done styled after various scenes from the end of
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Mad Scientist is patterned after
Darth Sidious and the Robot Chicken is
Darth Vader. Sidious grabs the burning chicken from the volcanic planet Mustafar and takes him to the
Death Star. He uses the Force Lightning to revive the chicken and rebuilds him as Darth Vader. Sidious grabs the Vader Chicken and straps him into a chair, where the latter is forced to watch Star Wars stop motion spoofs.
Inside the AT-AT
We find out that the AT-AT's are equipped with a bathroom during the Hoth Battle at the beginning of
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
Luke Skywalker throws a grenade through an opening in the hull directly into the bathroom that is being used by an AT-AT pilot reading a magazine titled
Naboobies. He just has time to exclaim "What in the fuck is -" before the grenade detonates.
Darth Vader's Collect Call
While
Emperor Palpatine is in his office with some friends in Coruscant, he gets a
collect call from
Darth Vader who tells him that the
Rebel Alliance blew up the
Death Star and that he's been floating in space for two weeks trying to establish contact. Palpatine snaps at this and criticizes Vader for his incompetence and the financial hazard incurred by this, briefly interrupted by someone calling him about a lunch order.
- The phone call at the beginning has the same ring tone as those used on 24 at the Counter Terrorist Unit.
- This skit is taken from the episode 1987
Jawa in the Mos Eisley Cantina
A
Jawa places a drink order at the
Cantina, screaming "
Martini!" instead of the Jawa's usual call of "ootini!".
The Aftermath of Darth Maul's Death
The first in a series of skits featuring a janitor sweeping up a floor after the deaths of
Darth Maul,
Mace Windu, and
Darth Sidious, all falling from high distances. In this episode he says he's "gotta get that transfer to
Coruscant".
Admiral Ackbar Cereal
Admiral Ackbar interrupts 2 kids as they are about to eat oatmeal, shouting, "It's a trap!" In a parody of many children's cereal commercials, he introduces the new
Admiral Ackbar Cereal. The Admiral's tag line is: "Your tongues can't repel flavor of that magnitude."
A Day in the Life of Ponda Baba
Ponda Baba, here an
architect, awakens one day highly
optimistic. At lunch time,
Evazan talks him into going to the new
cantina for a drink. While there, he addresses
Luke Skywalker with a harmless question (in non-human tongue), but a
drunken Evazan convinces Luke, who cannot understand Ponda's language, that this is a threat. Just as Ponda tries to apologize for Evazan's rudeness (again, unintelligibly for Luke), he has his arm sliced off by
Obi-Wan Kenobi's
lightsaber. Returning to work, he is fired because he can't continue designing with just one hand (despite his claim that he is 'ambidextrous').
Droids X-ray Machine
C-3PO sets off the metal detector going through an airport-like security screening, thinking it must be his keys (not realizing that he is, in fact, entirely made of metal), whereas
R2-D2 is simply put on the conveyor belt and passed through the
X-Ray machine like luggage.
Lightsaber Problems
Qui-Gon and
Obi-Wan find out what happens when a
lightsaber is dropped: it continues to slash its way through the decks below.
Helmet Stuck to Vader
As
Darth Vader's helmet is being removed, Vader is lifted out of the chair and left dangling, still attached to the machine that has risen to the ceiling.
Orientation Day
The workers on the
Death Star get their orientation. The boss tells the underlings that, first, Darth Vader "thinks he has the power to strangle us", which in fact he doesn't. In order to avoid the alternative of being executed by lightsaber, the boss instructs the new officers in playing along with the ruse and what will actually happen to them after their "demise".
Luke is Alone
After destroying the Death Star,
Luke asks
R2-D2 to call his aunt and uncle, but remembers that they are dead.
George Lucas at a Star Wars Convention
George Lucas (voiced by himself) attends a
Star Wars Convention in which he attempts to escape a
nerd dressed as a
Tauntaun and runs into an army of similarly dressed fans. To escape, the nerd offers Lucas a "ride" to the podium on his back, and upon arriving gets to join in Lucas' opening line. Flashing back to this moment as an old man, he muses that it was the best moment of his life. When confronted with the birth of his son as another moment, he frankly replies, "Not even close."
It should be noted that the nerd is the same nerd who was in the Unicorn sketch in the 2nd season Robot Chicken episode "Suck It" (the first episode of the 2nd season, #21). A picture is clearly seen in the background showing the nerd on the Unicorn. The same nerd appeared in other episodes as well.
Learning The Force
Luke Skywalker has his first lessons in using the
Force and a
Lightsaber, where he puts the blast shield down on his helmet, thus leaving him unable to see.
Ben Kenobi takes advantage of this and repeatedly
knees him in the
groin.
Space Slugs Order Chinese Food
A
space slug, after failing to catch the
Millennium Falcon, decides with another space slug to order a
large supply of Chinese food instead.
- They order five million tons of rice, a line from the original cinematic Casino Royale.
The Aftermath of Mace Windu's Death
In the second of the series the janitor sweeps up a floor after the death of
Mace Windu, whose last words were, apparently, "that mother...!". This time he says he's "gotta get the transfer to the Death Star".
Jedi George Bush
George W. Bush discovers that his
midichlorian count is extraordinarily high, and thus he has
Jedi powers. He uses his newly-found powers to convince
Laura to have a "threesome" with
Condoleezza Rice, to throw
Bill Clinton's car into a pond over a parking place dispute at
McDonalds parody, and to deface the
Lincoln Memorial. The memorial, however, is the home to
Abraham Lincoln, a
Sith - and they battle throughout the
National Mall.
In the closing sequence, Bush reveals to Jenna Bush that he is her father, but she flips him off and replies, "That's impossible! My real father would let me go clubbing as late as I want!" Bush then cuts off her middle finger, and she promptly falls, telling her father "[he] suck[s]" as she falls farther down. He wakes up from his daydream to see his advisor telling him they have not found any WMDs in Iraq. Bush attempts to use Jedi Mind Control to convince him otherwise, failing. However, he does succeed in getting a taco for himself.
- This skit is taken from the episode Massage Chair
- Abraham Lincoln was voiced by Hulk Hogan.
- The Vietnam Veterans Memorial lists names of the Robot Chicken staff, including Seth Green and Matthew Senreich. Green is also seen in a portrait hanging over the fireplace in the Oval Office, replacing the portrait of George Washington.
Weather on Cloud City
The weather report on
Cloud City. According to the weather lady, Cloud City is currently "cloudy, followed by clouds". A bar at the bottom of the screen reads: "Weather Update-
Tatooine: Hot...
Hoth: Cold...
Endor: Cuddly...
Kamino: Rainy..."
Taken Tauntaun
When Han is cutting open a
Tauntaun to save Luke and stay alive inside it, the Tauntaun is found to already be 'occupied' by a drunken
bum who tells him to "get your own Tauntaun".
"Yo Momma" Fight
Luke Skywalker is having a
"Yo Mamma Fight" against
Emperor Palpatine.
Darth Vader announces the fight to others and keeps score. Memorable snaps include:
- The Fight starts after Vader brings him to Palpatine. Luke says "Your overconfidence is your weakness," then Palpatine says, "Your faith in your friends is yours." As Palpatine turns to his chair, Luke quietly replies, "Faith in your mama." Palpatine turns and says "What was that?" The fight commences with the following phrases:
- "Yo momma so fat, Jabba the Hutt said, 'Daaaamn!'" (Luke)
- "Your mother's so ugly, she put the 'ug' in Ugnaught." (Palpatine)
- "Yo Momma so stupid she spent all day saying 'Am not!' to R2!" (Luke)
- "Your mother is so fat that Ben Kenobi said 'That's no moon ... that's yo momma!'" (Palpatine)
- "Yo momma so dumb, she thought Jar Jar comes with Pickles Pickles!" (Luke)
- "Your mothers so stupid, she thinks a Lightsaber has fewer calories!" (Palpatine. This was considered a dud by the onlookers)
- "Yo momma so stupid, she went to Bangkok to get a TIE Fighter!" (Luke)
After Luke follows up on Palpatine's dud, Palpatine loses and gets thrown down the energy shaft as seen in Return of the Jedi.
The Aftermath of Emperor Palpatine's Death
In the third of the series the janitor sweeps up a floor after the death of
Emperor Palpatine. This time he says, "Oh, come on! What are they doing up there all the time?" This is the first sketch to be shown directly after its main source.
During the attempt to rescue
Princess Leia,
Han Solo mutters excuses regarding a reactor leaking in the prisoner control room. He exclaims to the sceptical officer, grabbing a Death Star
Yellow Book, that there is in fact a reactor in the cell block. This in turn triggers a call to
Darth Vader, who approves the idea of installing a reactor in that location. Han finally shoots the communication device with the famous line, "boring conversation, anyway", then joyously exclaims, "Okay, let's build this reactor!"
Vader and Jar Jar Reunion
Jar Jar Binks (voiced by
Ahmed Best, who portrayed the character in the prequel trilogy) meets up with
Anakin Skywalker after the
prequel trilogy to find he is no longer the boy he knew, although he remains largely oblivious to this. He annoys Vader to no end, mostly by calling Vader by his childhood cosename "Ani"; in order to get rid of him,
Vader throws him out an airlock into space. Later, however, as Vader prepares to sleep, he is woken up by Jar Jar, who has returned as a Force ghost.
- At the beginning of the skit, Vader is addressing "Private Perkins", the officer from the "Orientation Day" skit who has been "strangled" over 30 times.
Toshi Station Strippers
Luke enjoys the
Tosche Station strippers - "The Power Converters", implicating the "true" purpose behind Luke's claim to Uncle Owen, "But I have to go to Toshi Station to pick up some power converters" in
A New Hope.
Boba Fett with Carbonite-Frozen Han Solo
Boba Fett walks up to a frozen Han and begins to gloat. He does show-off moves like pulling out his blaster rifle and engaging in mock fisticuffs, then proceeds to lust over a
carbonite-frozen
Han Solo.
Chewbacca Hair-Do
Chewbacca realizes that its hair is ok as it is, parodying
The Fonz.
In order to win Luke to the Dark Side of the Force, Darth Vader reveals many secrets, including not only that Vader is his father, but also that Leia is his sister, that the Empire will eventually be defeated by
Ewoks, that
C-3PO was built by Anakin himself (as a child, no less), and that the Force is merely a side effect from having too many midichlorian bacteria in your body. With each spoiler, Luke's scepticism grows, and he finally leaves in annoyance saying, "Look, if you're not going to take this seriously, I'm out of here".
- This sketch is taken from the episode "Vegetable Funfest", and is the only part of the special where Luke Skywalker is voiced by Mark Hamill.
Interruption by Death Star II Construction
As the Emperor is trying to make an impassioned speech, he is continually interrupted by the ongoing construction of the
Death Star II. This was partially inspired by a conversation in the movie
Clerks regarding private contractors and construction workers on the Death Star II.
Lobot's Personal Time
Lobot dances around the Cloud City corridors to the
Meco disco remix of the
Star Wars theme.
"Max Reebo's Greatest Hits"
This skit is a posthumous advertisement of "
Max Rebo's Greatest Hits", which includes a list of "hits" which all stress that while he looks like one, he is really
not an
elephant (In Star Wars mythos, Max Reebo had escaped Jabba's sail barge before the explosion and thus survived).
Mid-Nite with Zuckuss
Mid-Night with Zuckuss is a parody of
Late Night with Conan O'Brien (Zuckuss was actually voiced by O'Brien himself). Guests include a
Syncro-Vox Emperor Palpatine (voiced by
Robert Smigel, the same person who does the Syncro-Vox segments on Conan O' Brien), and "Darth Vader". As the show is ending the Death Star can be seen in the window and fires on the studio due to the broadcast's highly disparaging remarks about the Empire. The beam is seen hitting Zukuss' head, and then cuts to static.
This segment also shares some similarities with the film "V for Vendetta". In the film, the host of a late night show, Gordon Deitrich, is murdered due to his televised mockery of High Chancellor Adam Sutler.
Luke and Leia in Bed
A short moment with Luke and Leia in the aftermath of an
incestuous night.
The Empire on Ice!
The Empire Strikes Back is now "On Ice" as a musical. Various characters reenact episodes from the series:
- *Luke and Han astride Tauntauns
- *Luke and a Wampa
- *Han and Leia's courtship
- *R2-D2 and C-3PO calculating Luke's survival
- *Chewbacca and Han destroy an Imperial "Probe"
- *Finale - including all the cast
End Credits
The Chickens are "bawking"
Star Wars credits music.
Vader and Jar Jar Reunion redux
Following the credits, there is a continuation of the "Vader and Jar Jar Reunion" sketch, where the ghost of Jar Jar is still annoying Vader.
Cast / Voice actors
- Seth Green - Announcer, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Homeless Guy, Imperial Officer, Jenna Bush, Max Reebo, Nerd, Ponda Baba, Space Slug #2, Qui-Gon Jinn
- Candace Bailey - Girl, Princess Leia Organa
- Abraham Benrubi - Darth Vader
- Bob Bergen - Luke Skywalker
- Ahmed Best - Jar Jar Binks, Stormtrooper
- Donald Faison - Evazan, Mace Windu
- Joey Fatone - Himself
- Keith Ferguson - Han Solo, C-3PO, Imperial Droid
- Mark Hamill - Luke Skywalker (Spoilers sketch only)
- Hulk Hogan - Abraham Lincoln
- Tom Kane - C-3PO
- George Lucas - Himself
- Seth MacFarlane - Emperor Palpatine
- Malcolm McDowell - Head Imperial Officer
- Breckin Meyer - Admiral Ackbar, Announcer, Boba Fett, Janitor, Space Slug #1
- Dan Milano - Boy, Cantina Bartender, Luke Skywalker
- Chad Morgan - Laura Bush, Princess Leia Organa, Weather Girl
- Conan O'Brien - Ponda Baba's Boss, Zuckuss
- Robert Smigel - Emperor Palpatine parody
- Adam Talbott - Jawa
- James Van Der Beek - Bush's Aide
Sequel
A sequel titled
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II will premiere on
November 16, 2008.
See also
References
External links