The Star Wars franchise is, for me, well and truly exhausted. When it comes to Star Wars parodies, it's a different story, particularly when the task is in the hands of the team from Robot Chicken.
This inventive TV series, created by Matt Senreich and Seth Green, is made up of sketches: sly, twisted takes on popular culture that use stop-motion animation techniques and action figures, and draw on a star-studded voice cast. Their Star Wars special (with guest voices George Lucas and Mark Hamill) is a loving, obsessive collection of riffs on Star Wars absurdities that grew out of a sketch from season two, which featured an irate Emperor taking a phone call from Darth Vader informing him of the destruction of the Death Star.
This disk consists of the special (which comes in at less than half an hour), and more than two hours of extras. Highlights of the former include a Star Wars on Ice routine and Luke's discovery of the preposterousness of his backstory.
The extras are a mixed bag: some of them feel like padding, some give intriguing glimpses behind the scenes, some fall flat and some are hilarious.
- Review by Phillipa Hawker for The Age.
Here's a clip: