Robot Chicken Season Two: Uncensored

Those afflicted with hyper-ADD, requiring constant stimulation and/or immune to all but the highest doses of caffeine rejoice, the second season of stop-motion animation series Robot Chicken is here. The brainchild of Seth Green (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Family Guy) and Matthew Senreich, Robot Chicken deals in bit-sized morsels of pop culture skewering hilarity, combined with the love only a true geek can have of just about everything ever considered, well, geeky, from the ’80s up until now. Each episode runs less than 15 minutes and features a number of sketches, channel flips and an anchor, or "tent pole,” piece that’s a little longer/coherent to end it. In season two, nothing from your (well, okay, my) childhood is safe, as Inspector Gadget goes on a Terminator-inspired "go, go Gadget rampage,” The Neverending Story is transformed into The Neverending Party, Vader has to break it to the Emperor that the Death Star was destroyed by a bunch of kids with an "Aluminium Falcon” and My Little Pony becomes the four ponies of the apocalypse. In terms of extras, there are commentaries for all episodes, featuring Green, Senreich and various writers, animators and guests. They get a little, well, muddled but are brief glimpses into the disturbed worlds of the creators. Also, there’s a "Making of a Sketch” featurette that documents the incredible amount of work that goes into creating just a couples minutes of stop-motion animation comedy. As well, there’s the Xmas special, featuring the "A Very Dragon Ball Z Christmas” sketch (Composite Santa!!!), also included in season two, and the brilliant "Kill Bunny” from the first season, and a few other extras (deleted scenes, promos, etc.). However, fans hoping for the Star Wars special will most likely have to wait for season three, or its own release. True, critics may dismiss Robot Chicken as crass, juvenile, violent, or stupid (which it can be, at times, and is probably why it’s so funny) but the amount of affection for the objects of their skewering, and knowledge of all the geek universes (a Rom Spaceknight sketch? Captain Planet?), is undeniable and what makes Robot Chicken so great.