Adult Swim's hit series Robot Chicken returns to that galaxy far, far away for a brand-new Star Wars-themed special premiering December 19, Sunday at 11:30 p.m. (ET/PT).
This third installment in the Robot Chicken: Star Wars trilogy follows the two previous specials, which resulted in multiple Emmy nominations and numerous Annie Awards for both specials, the writers, Ahmed Best for voice actor and Seth Green for directing.
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III, directed by Chris McKay, combines the satirical sensibilities of Green and Matthew Senreich's (Stoopid Monkey Productions) Robot Chicken with characters of the Star Wars universe. The specials and the Robot Chicken series, the highest-rated original program on Adult Swim, are created in conjunction with ShadowMachine Films' Alex Bulkley and Corey Campodonico.
StarWars.com chats with Robot Chicken co-creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich about why Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III is different from the rest, why Prune Face is the new breakout star and whether or not they got Zac Efron to sing about the dark side.
Why is Robot Chicken: Star Wars: Episode III special going to blow all the other ones out of the water?
Seth Green: In the second one we tested the storytelling format and saw what it would look like if we followed a couple of key characters and see who they progress through a whole episode going around all different things in cannon. Matt had this idea to tell the entire story of Star Wars from before the Prequels to after Jedi through a couple of key characters. He kept saying he wanted to do it like Crash.. That's why it's going to blow people away. It's an hour-long special that tells the entire tale of Star Wars from perspectives you might not have seen before.
Matthew Senreich: Before the Emperor's rise to power to even after where Return of the Jedi ends.
Out of all the sketches in the new special, which ones do you predict fans will love the most?
Matthew: I think our break-out sketch of the special will either be the one with the wampa or the Prune Face sketch.
Seth: If people want a hot collector's tip, I say buy up all the Prune Face action figures. We have the untold story of Prune Face! He's one of the more important characters of the Star Wars universe; you can tell because he's got an action figure with an eye patch, cape, hood and gun!
How long did it take this time to write and shoot this episode?
Seth: It feels like we've been working on this forever.
Matt: That first one took about 14 weeks. Double that.
Which guest stars can fans look forward to in this special?
Matt: Zac Efron is playing Anakin Skywalker which is pretty awesome. He's one of those guys you want to hate but end up loving him more when you meet him. He's too talented and good looking. We have man-crushes on him! Billy Dee Williams came back. Anthony Daniels came in to do C-3PO for us.
Is this the first time Anthony Daniels has done C-3PO's voice for Robot Chicken?
Matt: Yeah! Shockingly enough, we haven't done many C-3PO sketches, and the one we've done it felt silly to call him in to do three words. So this is our first time where he actually has a big chunk to say.
Seth: I'd gotten to hang out with Anthony at Celebration and it was the first time I'd gotten to meet him. When he recorded his C-3PO lines for Robot Chicken he was just so playful and everything I wanted him to be.
Matt: I actually knew Anthony Daniels from my Wizard days. When I did an interview with him for ToyFare magazine -- and he did a gust column -- he was kind enough to do my voicemail message, which I think he regretted ever since. It was such a brilliant message too. It was, "Hi this is C-3PO. Matthew Senreich can't come to the phone right now. And say goodbye Artoo..." and our beep was a double beep at the end of it. And he timed it out perfectly. I kept it for like 8 years when I was at Wizard. I might have to get a new one now.
So with Zac Efron on the special, does that mean we get to hear Anakin sing?
Seth: Nope. Anakin doesn't sing. But we did take advantage of Seth MacFarlane's vocal stylings though. He's the Emperor.
And the awesomely funny Dan Milano is in the special too, right?
Seth: Yes! He plays Yarael Poof, as we delve into the 12 Jedi of the Council. Who are those other 12 Jedi? Who's that dog-faced guy? Who's that guy with the really long neck and tiny head that might have been in Close Encounters? Who are those people?!
Are there any behind-the-scenes stories about this episode that you want fans to know about?
Matt: Of all the stuff we recorded, I've got to give Breckin Meyer kudos. We had so much Boba Fett dialog that got cut. And it is so entertaining to listen to. That character, if you don't handle him right, can be really irritating. That said, Breckin does an amazing job of making that character lovable.
Are there quit a few sketches that didn't make the final show?
Matt: Since we only had an hour, we cut a lot. So there are tons of deleted animatics that will end up on the DVD.
You realize that your value-added material is longer than the actual special, right?
Matt: We're almost there! We over-write, that's the problem.
Seth: There's only so much that you can do that's supportive, but when you're limited to a certain format then you have all this extra stuff that's way over the time limit, but it's really fun content. The first one was just sketch-based; water-cooler conversations nerds have been having for over 30 years. In the second special, we honed in on a particular tableau. We were fascinated by those bounty hunters and how they all came together, and what that story was, and who hired them and what their competition was like. This special is very much a departure. It's its own entity. It doesn't have anything to do with the other specials, but we tried not to do anything that conflicted with our own timeline in the Robot Chicken: Star Wars universe.
You don't want to mess up your own continuity. Fans would never let you forget it!
Matt: I think we step on our toes occasionally, which is weird to say especially since we're sketch-based. We should be able to take the same moment and do it six different ways. But for Star Wars fans, we need to have continuity. Honestly, the biggest issue is that we have this wampa sketch and in the timeline we were like "Where does this fall? Which visit to Dagobah does this happen on? Is it Luke's first visit or second visit?" And that was a big conversation.
So in a few years, does this mean we'll be getting a re-release of all the Robot Chicken: Star Wars specials in 3-D?
Matt: If George Lucas wants it... and pays for it. (laughs)
Seth: Our glory is 2-D.
Be sure to visit the official Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III site on Adult Swim for more info.
