Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III shows the Stars Wars universe through the eyes of Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader, Boba Fett and Gary the Stormtrooper -- all people who just want to rule the universe. The final installment in the beloved saga features first-time appearances by Zac Efron as Anakin Skywalker, Anthony Daniels (from the original Star Wars films) as C-3PO, Mike Henry and Donald Glover.
Also returning from the previous specials are: Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian and Ahmed Best as Jar Jar Binks, as well as Green, Senreich, Breckin Meyer, Seth MacFarlane, Dan Milano, Abe Benrubi, Donald Faison, Rachael Leigh Cook, Adrianne Pallicki, Eden Espinosa, Hugh Davidson, Bob Bergen, Keith Ferguson, Tom Kane and Zeb Wells.
The Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III DVD and Blu-ray Disc is packed with three hours of bonus material including:
- Sunday in the Boardroom with George Lucas
- Chicken Nuggets (sketch by sketch video commentary)
- Behind-the-Scenes
- Voice Recording Featurette
- Skywalker Ranch Premiere Trip
- Star Wars Celebration V Robot Chicken Panel
- Writer's Room Featurette
- Deleted Animatics With Video Intros
- Audio Commentaries
StarWars.com chats with Robot Chicken co-creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich about their favorite bonus features on the Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III DVD and more!
Every time you release a Robot Chicken: Star Wars special on DVD, you end up having more behind-the-scenes footage, than you do of the actual show!
Seth Green: Matt has this idea for a really long time to retell the movies across one story. We put in everything we wanted to, and still had a lot of extras available.
You have some great extras on this release including a really funny skit with the Maker called "Sunday in the Boardroom with George Lucas." How did the idea for that come about?
Seth: We saw that Seth MacFarlane had interviewed George Lucas for the Family Guy Star Wars special DVD, and we were like, "Why can't we interview George?" Instead of doing a sit-down interview with him, we decided to have a round table discussion with him. He's a really funny and sarcastic and clever creator. And no one ever gets to see that side of him. So we asked him really silly questions. We were in a unique position because we represent the fan base and we understand the things that fans want to see.
Matthew Senreich: It was the most informal meeting I've ever had with George. There was slapping.
What can fans expect to see in your Chicken Nuggets -- the sketch by sketch video commentaries?
Matt: Going back and watching these sketches has been interesting. The Wampa sketch in particular was such a different shift in tone, especially in context with the rest of the episode. It's slow-paced, so it slows everything down and then it snaps you right back in, right after. I didn't know if that was going to work, and in watching it again it actually works even better than I imagined. And we talk a lot about that sketch in the Chicken Nuggets.
Seth: Hugh Davidson came to write on the special, and he's not as familiar with Star Wars as everybody else is. So his perspectives on it are just so fundamental and basic. He's like, "Oh that guy doesn't have an arm, that's gotta suck." In addition to the Wampa sketch, his Max Rebo stuff was great too. He described Max as this guy who plays the same crappy place day in and day out, and the band's got one or two songs. He's like this journeyman jazz musician who's out there to please the people and make the money, and he's not sacrificing a gig just because the skiff blew up.
One of the extras is called "Skywalker Ranch Premiere Trip." Is this where you all run around Skywalker Ranch and end up for a midnight swim in Ewok Lake?
Seth: We re-enact some critical scenes from Friday the 13 on that little dock by the lake.
Matt: No, it's just a fun bus ride trip!
In the Writer's Room Featurette do we get to see writers fighting over which sketches get cut?
Matt: It does show some sketches making the cut and getting rejected, so you have a little bit of both sides of it. We definitely point out that if there wasn't a camera in the room, we'd be a lot meaner. I remember the Max Rebo sketch coming in and we all rejected it flat out. Hugh got really upset with us, and then he had to act it out for us which won over the room.
Do you have a favorite deleted animatic from the extras?
Seth: There was one where we just cut the ending of it out because everyone thought it was disconnected. It was this weird thing where we trying to make this correlation between Boba Fett as a little boy throwing this ball at his dad's helmet and that being the way he plays catch. And what Mace Windu, who beheaded Boba's dad, is up to at the moment was him enjoying a delicious bowl of ice cream. Because our show is so short-form with quick clips, they assumed that the Mace Windu thing after the cut was a different sketch. So we had to cut that because it didn't make sense to anybody.
Matt: There was one that got cut I really liked about the Emperor having security cameras everywhere and it recorded the moment when Darth Vader revealed to Luke that he was his father. The Emperor has a talk with Vader about all the things he did right and wrong, and it's like a job performance review. Fans will also see the cut sketch of Mara Jade!
So what's your favorite highlight in the Audio Commentaries with this release?
Matt: There's a great commentary with Billy Dee Williams and Ahmed Best. Billy Dee talks about what he really thought of the prequels.
Seth: Billy Dee was not aware that Ahmed played Jar Jar when he started talking about how much he disliked Jar Jar.
Matt: But then Ahmed told him and it went on from there.
Seth: It's really funny. And it actually turns into a delightful conversation.
Because you have so many fans online, we asked our Star Wars Twitter followers if they had any questions for you. The first one is from Dex1138 who wants to know if you are planning a boxed trilogy of all the Robot Chicken: Star Wars specials?
Seth: Hey, that's not a bad idea!
Matt: We would love to!
Fan shirejedi wants to know what you do with all of the Star Wars figures when you're done with them. Are they destroyed or saved for a future Robot Chicken museum?
Matt: If they're not destroyed during production, they go into storage so we can use them again when we write more sketches for them.
Seth: All that stuff is stored and preserved as well as it can be. When things get animated, they get really worked over. One of the Emperor puppets was bought at a charity auction by Steve Sansweet and as a gift I gave him the Robot Chicken nerd in the Boba Fett T-shirt. Other than that we have all of them.
You guys have a Robot Chicken panel coming up at this year's San Diego Comic-Con International this month. What can fans expect to see?
Matt: We'll talk about the Robot Chicken: Star Wars III DVD at the panel, but ultimately we'll be showing off Season 5: Part 2 stuff.
Your DVD has footage of the hilarious Robot Chicken Panel at Star Wars Celebration V. Will you be attending the next Star Wars Celebration in 2012?
Matt: Yes! Worst case scenario is that we'll be attending just as fans. We still have our Yoda hats!
Seth: I had the best time at the last Celebration! That was some of the coolest stuff we've ever gotten to do -- from the Main Event with Jon Stewart interviewing George Lucas, then getting to ride the last Star Tours and see that fireworks display, that was just an awesome time.
Be sure to visit the official Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III site on Adult Swim for more info.
