Robot Chicken: Season 4 review (DVD) ★★★★

Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
Stars the voices of Seth Green, Breckin Meyer, Dan Milano,
Tom Root, Chad Morgan, Matt Senreich, Jamie Kaler, Seth MacFarlane,
Mila Kunis, Zac Efron, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Neil Patrick Harris, Hulk Hogan | Written by Various
UK Certification 15 | UK RRP £19.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 225 minutes | Created by Seth Green & Matt Senreich

Zac Efron, Lee Majors, Hulk Hogan, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Christian Slater, Tila Tequila, Ron Perlman, Joss Whedon, Billy Dee Williams, Mark Hamill, Nathan Fillion, Triple H, Jean-Claude Van Damme, David Hasselhoff, Neil Patrick Harris, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Hudgens. It may sound like a star-studded battle royal, but these names are actually guest stars in the rampant ruckus of laughs that is the fourth season of Robot Chicken.

Seth Green and Matt Senreich's crazy creation is on the same warped wavelength as Family Guy and American Dad!, only without a narrative. Each 15-minute episode is a series of satirical sketches that parody pop culture in ways that you've never seen before, all involving action figures, dolls, claymation and other toys brought to life by the iffy magic of stop-motion.

Robot Chicken's fourth season is a barrel of laughs filled to the brim with a rainbow-coloured confetti of blood, guts and sheer hilarity. It really is quite violent, but in the funniest, obscurest of ways. Never short of profanity, lacking in utter randomness, nor devoid of energy, this crooked assembly of cartoon chaos is the cream of the crop of Adult Swim programming.

If you've ever fancied seeing the G.I. Joe Team blown apart by a certain vengeance-fueled sniper who is bitter for his 'Fumbles' nickname, MTV's The Hills turn into The Hills Have Eyes, or if you've taken an interest in discovering what Jason Voorhees does when it isn't Friday the 13th, Robot Chicken is so wonderfully weird and strikingly funny that you're sure to love it if you're a fan of real late night loony toons.

EXTRAS ??? Chicken Nuggets: sketch by sketch video commentaries on four select episodes; San Diego Comic-Con 2008 panel; Day in the Life: short clips of several crew members working on the season; New York Comic-Con 2009 panel; audio commentaries on every episode, a few of which feature guest stars; four alternate audio clips; Australia Visit: snippets from the press tour as well as a few promos for the Comedy Channel; ten deleted scenes; and five video blogs featuring the likes of Nathan Fillion and internet star Tay Zonday. Although most of the extras are pretty short, it's a well-stocked package.

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