I’ve been a fan of Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken from the very beginning, when it was done in comic strip form in the pages of ToyFare Magazine as “Twisted Mego Theatre.” The show comes from a number of talents who all seem to be around my age because they find humor in the exact same pop culture.
Season 7 hits DVD this week with a 2-disc set that feels like it has as many bonus features as it has episodes. Here’s a review.
The Episodes: Again, these people must have grown up the same time I did, because who else would find humor in DinoRiders? Are the Sky Commanders next, or have they already tackled them? This set includes sketches that know what a “Pimp Daddy Destro” is, and they make fun of that Man of Steel sequence where a young Clark just stands there. Don’t get me wrong; Robot Chicken sketches are very random and at some times the humor doesn’t always land. But when it lands, it really lands.
I will have to say that these episodes are uncensored and the show is certainly not for children. There’s a lot of use of the F-word within, and you might even see some unblurred toy genitalia.
The set includes all of the episodes from Season 7 including the “B!tch Pudding Special.”
For those not familiar with Robot Chicken, basically it’s a sort of animatronic puppet show often done with action figures. That, too, makes me happy, when I see toys I had growing up in my youth.
The Extras: There’s commentary on almost everything as far as I can tell, and between the commentaries and the extra features, you can tell that the people who work on Robot Chicken identify with their audience and their “brand” almost seems like it is that they’re just like us. These are people who do challenges with each other about eating sugar free gummy bears and then put it on the DVD feature for posterity. People who will get their beards shaved off in order to meet their childhood heroes. They’re fun. The commentaries are like that, too: You can hear what they think of, say, The Mike Tyson Mysteries or other things while you listen. Which is not to say they aren’t informative — they are — but it feels like you’re spending time with friends, not just people who are pretending to care so you buy their DVD.
The DVD extras feature some talk about sketches that didn’t happen, a look at the Robot Chicken gang’s visit to Nerd HQ at Comic-Con, and more. Lots of good stuff that will take hours to go through.
Menus: The menus look like a map you’d go through when either visiting the mall, but they have an interactive quality similar to a menu of a video game, where you choose your own adventure. Unless you select “Play All,” the option is always given to play an episode with commentary before you check it out.
Is It Worth It? Absolutely. Robot Chicken is a show that I feel is best to have at your fingertips. All of the DVD commentaries and extras make the set worth actually purchasing rather than finding a way to watch on a streaming service.
Robot Chicken Season 7 hits stores July 21. Order yours from Amazon.com and support this site! As a bonus, here’s an exclusive clip from the DVD feature about Robot Chicken at Comic-Con:
Excerpt from a special feature from the Robot Chicken Season 7 DVD set, posted with permission. Season 7 is now available on DVD!
