Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Robot Chicken season 2 ::
by William the Bloody
Robot Chicken, in case you don't know, is a series which has nothing to do with chickens OR robots. Well, not much, anyway. The brainchild of Seth Green (re: Scott Evil from the Austin Powers films and Oz on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to name some of his more prominent acting roles), this show is a stop motion cartoon which uses action figures and Barbie-type dolls to act out various short clip gags and various parodies. There is no plot, it's more of a sketch comedy sort of thing. If the film The Kentucky Fried Movie were a stop motion 11 minute television show, it would be Robot Chicken.
The Good: This. show. is fucking. awesome. Seriously. If you can get on board with the stop motion (an even if you can't, the writing will more than make up for it), you're bound to find something that's going to make you actually laugh out loud. Due to the nature of the series, a joke can be a 15 second bit, or go on for half the episode. Sometimes it's all rapid fire gag after gag in different settings with different characters spoofing something completely different every 60 seconds. No topic is safe from their ridicule either. Everything from fast food and film advertisements to comic book characters to cartoons and TV will all get their due. But, be forewarned! Even something as cuddly cute as the Care Bears can take a horrifying turn. Yes, violence and bizarre sexual situations are around every bend, and the more unsuspecting you are of it's approach, the more hilarious it will be. Let me give you an example:
Two parents call their daughters outside:
Mom: Sarah! Margaret! Come
outside!
The daughters: It's a
pony! A pony!
(the young girls laugh excitedly
and fawn over their new pet)
Mom: Yes, but only one of
you will get a pony. The other will get a whipping!
Dad: So let's see those
report cards!
Ah, dark humour. Now that's the good stuff. Yes, even something as beloved as Calvin and Hobbes, the Super Mario Brothers (who take a wrong turn into Vice City), The Flintstones, The Archie characters (who get mixed up in Final Destination), Rainbow Brite, and others get a ghastly makeover into the sick and twisted side for your amusement. I would also like to point out the number of celebrities they get on this show to do not only just to do extremely short clips, but also in order to make fun of themselves (Hulk Hogan? David Hasslehoff??) Oh, and they did the absolute GREATEST Star Wars spoof I have ever seen.
The Bad: It's a damn shame that each episode is so short, but I guess that's part of what gives it it's charm. It's too bad that Seth Green himself winds up having to do a great deal of the voice work himself, but he's not too bad at it. Also, the term "douche bag" gets used pretty darn frequently. Must be the writers' favourite insult.
Overall, this series makes me want to just sit back and watch them all in one go, and due to their length and quick bits, it's really quite doable. My only wish is that there were more of them.
A+
