REVIEW: ‘Robot Chicken’ sends up ‘Walking Dead’ in special
Photo: Negan stands with his prized possession, Lucille. Photo courtesy of Adult Swim / Provided with permission.
The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special, now available on DVD , is a 22-minute satire of the successful series The Walking Dead. The jokes are nonstop, which is per the usual for Robot Chicken, and the zombie blood and guts spill effusively. Although the special is not as humorous as other iterations of Robot Chicken (Star Wars, DC Comics), there is enough funny to go around.
The premise for The Walking Dead sendup revolves around a zombie-themed museum that looks back at the early days of the infection that has sent the world into a tailspin. The characters that fans have come to know and love have their portraits on the walls, and tour guides offer up hilariously wrong facts based on the information they are able to piece together.
Carl, for example, is portrayed as Rick’s daughter, Carla, because of his longer hair. When the real Carl, now a grizzled old man, emerges in the museum to tell the real story, Robot Chicken sets out to parody the highlights and lowlights of the first few seasons of the AMC series.
Most of the jokes land, especially for devoted fans of Robert Kirkman’s creation. It’s always nice when they have the original actors record the characters’ voices in these specials; there’s a certain level of authenticity when one can hear Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus and others.
It should be easy to tell if a TV program called The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special seems worth the time. The comedy bits within these 22 minutes are for certain types of fangirls and fanboys; anyone who doesn’t follow TWD, might want to look elsewhere for the laughs. Anyone who knows that Lucille is a barbed-wire bat, then this special is worth checking out.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special is now available on DVD. Features include Inside the Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who’s Walking, cut sketches, commentary, sketches to die for, Bawkward and Behind the Screams. Click here for more information.
