Robot Chicken - Season 5

I guess this was the year I got tired of Robot Chicken. This season won't finish airing until early next year, but the whole thing is already on DVD, and I rented it on Netflix so I know what's up. And yeah... I was watching it, and waiting for it to make me laugh, and it just didn't really happen. There's a few things about the show that have always been abrasive, and gotten in the way of what works about it. It relies on violence an awful lot, and that seemed particularly true this year, with many sketches lacking any real punchlines at all, resorting to just going through various action/thriller/horror cliches with out of place characters in hopes that the novelty would be enough. But it's not really novel anymore. There have been 100 episodes of this, and I'm not even counting the Star Wars specials. A lot of the other humor is just unusual swearing that never seems particularly memorable, or typical gross-out stuff. In the past the show has been clever when the writers really tried, but I'm not really seeing that effort anymore. And the frat mentality is there more than ever. One thing I did like was the season finale, which actually turned the intro featuring a cyborg chicken and his malevolent creator into a story, but even that couldn't avoid certain issues. Seriously, if I have to hear one more "my one weakness!" joke any time soon, I'm gonna flip out. I don't know if they plan on bringing the show back, but if they do, I don't think I'll be making sure to catch it every time a new episode's on.

Television Update 7: Holiday Specials

There seemed to be an unusual amount of special episodes of shows I watch around the Holiday season this year, so I thought I'd go over them. To get here, the episode didn't have to be Christmas themed, but it did have to be separate from the standard season airing schedule for the show.

Doctor Who - "A Christmas Carol"

Hey, an episode of Doctor Who actually aired in America on the same day as in England! It's a Christmas miracle! While Russell T. Davies' Who Christmas specials tended to at least acknowledge the existence of the Holiday, they also tended to be about everything except it. Now that Steven Moffat's in charge of the show, he's put the Christmas back in Christmas Special with one of his better episodes, and definitely the most holiday-themed Who I've seen. The episode is obviously a take on a story that's been retold countless times, but Moffat and the cast make it work surprisingly well. Michael Gambon plays a man in control of a planet's dangerous cloud layer who takes family members for collateral on loans, and is very much a future version of Scrooge. Needing his help to save a ship full of people including Amy and Roy, the Doctor takes the role of the various Christmas ghosts and creatively uses the TARDIS to try to change his mind. The time travel twists on the classic story freshen it up quite a bit, and there's a lot here to justify Moffat's conception of the show as fairy tale more than science fiction. A very fun, very British hour of television.

Futurama - "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular"


This special is a lot like the Anthology of Interest episodes from the past, showing three silly short films within the Futurama framework, although this time there's nothing to frame the different stories and everyone dies at the end of all three, making them decidedly out of continuity. They're all based on a different holiday and also have sneaky environmental themes attached, providing a Christmas story about seed contamination, a Robanukah story about the depleting Petroleum reserves, and a Kwanzaa story about honey bees disappearing. It's far from one of the best episodes the show has done, with many of the jokes falling flat and yet another Al Gore appearance feeling a bit redundant at this point, but I'll give it a pass because each segment made me laugh out loud at least once. A bit scattershot, but they were probably constrained by the short running time for each bit, needing to hit multiple themes in each one, and finding a way to kill off the cast at the end each time, so the end result is respectable if not outstanding. A decent hold over until the next season starts.

Robot Chicken - "Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III"


There was actually a proper Christmas episode that aired before this, but it appears to be part of the regular fifth season which is starting up soon, while this is definitely a special. While the Family Guy Star Wars tributes have a clear purpose to go on for three episodes, retelling the story of the original trilogy, the Robot Chicken Star Wars episodes have been all over the place with all six movies, making a third seem less necessary. And at an hour long it could have easily dragged. Luckily the writers saved it with a real concept this time, going forward chronologically through the whole series, following Emperor Palpatine's ascent to the throne. It's still just an excuse for a lot of random gags and jokes, but the general progression makes it more interesting than it could have been. Their take on Palpatine is still pretty funny, and a lot of the sketches are among the best and most elaborate they've ever done. It's still definitely just more Robot Chicken in places, but I liked the episode more than I expected.

Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! - "Chrimbus Special"


The Awesome Show's apparent ending earlier this year was a surprise heartbreak, though they've changed that sentiment in the last couple months with a new tour (that I missed getting to go to), a new hour long episode, and an announcement of a coming movie as well as the possibility of more seasons if they feel like it. That's all great news, and the holiday "Chrimbus" episode was hilarious as expected. Chrimbus is a warped version of Christmas much more focused on the receiving aspect of the holiday than the giving side, and it's an opportunity for more awkward audience reactions, mildly disturbing song and dance numbers, and one off sketches. The episode works as an excuse to bring back all of the old favorite guests, from known celebrities like Zach Galifianakis to fan favorite oddities like Ben Hur. There's a couple more ridiculous Cinco products to throw on the gigantic pile, and a multi-part arc with Carol and Mr. Henderson that wasn't exactly necessary but still pretty outstanding. More fun for Tim and Eric fans, and if it had ended up as the last thing they did, it would have been a nice send off.

Robot Chicken - Season 4

It's hard to differentiate seasons of Robot Chicken mentally because each episode is such a grab-bag of random jokes and references. I enjoy watching the show, but its various bits rarely stick out significantly. I wouldn't even be sure they've actually shown all twenty episodes (besides this year's biannual Christmas special) if the Internet didn't tell me so. Just skimming a list of sketches from this season, here are the ones that jump out at me. The premiere where the show gets canceled and the two creators go to various famous producers for help was funny, though while Seth Green has direct connections to both Joss Whedon and Seth MacFarlane, I couldn't find any such link between either of them and Ron Moore. An episode of Hannah Montana that turns into Weekend at Bernie's was pretty good. Billy Dee Williams getting fed up with people trash-talking Lando was good. Uh... you know, man. It's a show where action figures and clay sculptures make fun of old cartoons and assault each other violently. You know if you like it.

Robot Chicken - Season 3

Not many shows have a season DVD come out two days after the finale first airs, but I guess that's what happens when you don't show any episodes for eight months for no apparent reason. If you haven't seen it before, Robot Chicken is the logical extension of Family Guy's plot-irrelevant pop culture cutaways, in that it is nothing but strung together stop-motion vignettes that rely on either parody, violence, or farting to get their laughs. You get the feeling that creator Seth Green was inspired heavily by that other show he works on, and it's reinforced by its stars doing voices for him too. Lots of people do voices for the show, which is surely one of the benefits of being a recognizable actor. This aspect reached its zenith when the finale had a rap song about King Arthur's round table to the tune of "Baby Got Back", and I realized during the credits that it was actually performed by Sir Mix-a-Lot. There will never be a better celebrity appearance on anything else, ever.

Robot Chicken is generally a pretty low-brow show, but it occasionally shows some real wit and is almost always worth a chuckle. It only fails when it's just referencing things for the sake of it, but usually there's at least a bit of creativity behind whatever mash-up of 80's cartoons and art house films they're currently throwing on screen. They also do a fair amount of meta-humor too, which is always cute in small doses. It's one of only two Adult Swim shows animated with stop-motion, and as is usually the case when it's done well, it's enjoyable to look at even if you don't like the comedy. They did win an Emmy for the animation, after all. I think it's a little overrated by a certain crowd, but I do like Robot Chicken quite a bit.