Robot Chicken

EXCLUSIVE Q & A with stars of Robot Chicken: Star Wars The stars of Robot Chicken: Star Wars series will be at the Armageddon Expo in Auckland this Labour Weekend.

Before they hit New Zealand, we caught up exclusively with Seth Green, Matt Senreich & Tom Root to chat about the latest DVD release, Robot Chicken Star Wars Episode II and plans for the future.

tvnz.co.nz: Have you been surprised by the success of the Robot Chicken Star Wars series?

MATT SENREICH: We've been so happy with the reaction by fans. Our Emperor Phone Call sketch set the bar high and it's been just about maintaining that quality.

TOM ROOT: I'm not surprised that our Star Wars episodes have been more popular than our regular episodes. That just makes sense. I'm still just surprised we got to do them in the first place!

SETH GREEN: You have to understand, this was just a goof with friends. It's like putting on a play in your basement for your aunt and uncle, and winning a Tony Award. It's nuts and we're thrilled.

tvnz.co.nz: Is the creative process for this difficult and did you have any input from George Lucas at all?

MATT SENREICH: It's the same creative process as all our Robot Chicken seasons. Our writers throw out a ton of ideas and we are just brutal to each other in the writers' room. But everyone stepped it up because it was Star Wars and brought their "A" game. Then we presented everything to George Lucas who had to approve everything. The greatest part was that George seems to have a similar sense of humor and liked it. We loved that he was laughing at all the same things we did.

TOM ROOT: From the writing standpoint, I think we almost had to forget George would eventually read these things. We were slaying a lot of sacred Star Wars cows.

tvnz.co.nz: Are there more planned and how much do you leave it for each episode and why?

MATT SENREICH: We'll just have to see now, won't we?

TOM ROOT: Hey, they announced a third Star Wars episode on Adult Swim, so I guess we're doing one! Someday.

tvnz.co.nz:Are there ever any parodies which you would consider would go too far?

SETH GREEN : Nothing that we'd avoid as a rule, but we're really good at self-censoring.

MATT SENREICH: Always, but we monitor it in the room ourselves. But we like to push the bar every so often and hold back when we feel it's inappropriate.

TOM ROOT: It's timing, too. No 9/11 jokes on 9/12, that's a pretty good rule.

tvnz.co.nz: Tell us a bit more about Titan Maximum, your new stop motion project?

MATT SENREICH: It's our version of a giant robot fighting force show. What if the universe decided to give the most powerful weapon to a bunch of idiotic teenagers to save them? We find that premise ridiculous and love playing with that concept.

SETH GREEN: This show is so much fun. All the Japanese standards have these teenage archetypes: roguishly handsome firebrand, all-American goodie two shoes, fat guy, nerd, and some kind of comedic animal. If the galaxy's police force was really made up these famous unreliable kids- that's where the show starts.

TOM ROOT: I like to think of it as the show I wished was around when I was a kid. I loved Tranzor Z and Voltron and Transformers and Battle of the Planets but none of those shows were very funny, and the violence never went far enough. Our show is like Transformers if the robots made obscene gestures and Spike Witwicky experimented with autoerotic asphyxiation. Maybe I just gave away the plot to Transformers 3. I hope not.