I love Robot Chicken; everything from the concept to the stop-motion execution. I watch the show religiously (even the repeats) and I own all the Blu-rays – their Star Wars parodies are unrivaled – so I was eager to check out their newest DC Comics Special. I was always a big fan of the old Super Friends cartoon that ran from 1973 to 1986, but once that series ended I defected to Marvel, and even though I’ve enjoyed the Dark Knight trilogy I had lost complete touch with DC characters until a few months ago when I started playing Injustice: Gods Among Us on the Xbox 360. With a fresh updated knowledge of every DC character from Aquaman to Wonder Woman I was anxious to see Seth Green’s spin on the franchise.
Seth recruited an all-star cast for this special with talent like Nathan Fillion, Alex Borstein, Matthew Senreich, Alfred Molina, Neil Patrick Harris, Tom Root, Paul Reubens, and many others to portray multiple characters. Sadly, Robot Chicken: DC Comics Special is an all-too brief collection of hilarious skits that poke fun at several DC favorites, with a few reoccurring gags like Bane always sneaking up on Batman and breaking his back, and one overarching plot that has the Justice League totally picking on Aquaman until he can’t take it anymore and defects to the Legion of Doom. There are moments of hilarity and other gags that fall completely flat.
The technical aspects of this Blu-ray are acceptable for the format but unnecessary for the content. There is an expected amount of “amateur production value” that goes with animating action figures and toys. Colors are vivid and pop off the screen in true superhero fashion, but there is some banding in the solid background colors and aliasing issues; none of which detract from the experience. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix is pretty weak, but again, this is a sketch comedy TV show being shot one frame at a time with toys. There is virtually no surround activity and LFE is rarely utilized. Dialogue is front and center and perfectly balanced, which is all that really matters.
The rapid-fire presentation of skit after skit has the whole episode flying by way too fast. I keep forgetting these are only 12 minutes on TV, but when you pay $15+ for a DVD you expect something a bit longer and more substantial. Even the extras are barely enough to make this a recommended purchase to all but the die-hardest of fans. There are two commentaries; one with the writers and another with the actors, neither of which was particularly informative or even entertaining. The writers would continually ramble on about any old topic and only occasional reference what was happening on screen.
There is a ten minute special on how the Robot Chicken: DC Comics Special was made; everything from writing to animation and voice acting, but again, ten minutes is a fraction of the time we should have gotten on a DVD purchase. Chicken Nuggets is a potentially cool feature for those with the observational skills and reflexes required to hit the remote whenever you see a chicken icon. This will stop the feature and play some video commentary with the creators of the show – easily the best extra on the disc if you can tolerate the interface. I found no way to watch these video snippets outside the Nugget option.
Moving on we have 15 minutes of cut sketches in various forms of incompletion that could have added tremendously to the value of this DVD had they been finished and included. Some of these unfinished bits were better than what did make the final cut. Next was my favorite feature where Seth Green gets a tour of DC Entertainment; everything from the library to game testing to an awesome merchandise vault. Talk about a kid in a candy store. Another two-minute feature deals with how Aquaman became the focal point of the special then you have four minutes of amusing footage from a costume party where all the staff dressed up as their favorite DC characters. Two more minutes of Outtakes and two minutes with the creators answering some questions and you are finished with the disc.
As much as I love Robot Chicken this is their first Blu-ray offering that has disappointed me, and sadly I can’t really recommend it to any but the most hardcore of fans who don’t mind tossing premium dollars at non-premium content. The Blu-ray technical presentation is barely average and the dialogue is still censored, so you may as well just watch this on TV unless you really want to invest another two hours in the poor selection of bonus features. Robot Chicken: DC Comics Special is great fun and a must see special – I just wouldn’t pay for it.
