Bring on the Parodies

By 2007 the hope of new Star Wars movies was dead. The prequels had come and gone and Lucas had announced that he was so bitter about people not liking his films, that he would not make anymore and nobody else would either. Yet, by no means was Lucas done with Star Wars. He had other plans up his sleeve.



If you've never heard of the show Robot Chicken it's because you probably watch higher-brow television on cable networks. Mad Men. Downton Abbey. Breaking Bad. If you haven't heard of Robot Chicken it's because you've never been over to Seth Green's house to watch him play with action figures in his basement. In case you have missed the show... I just described the show. It's Seth Green literally playing with action figures that he most-likely bought in the 80's.

It's a Trap!

It just so happens that Seth Green is a Star Wars fan and included several parodies of Star Wars in his Robot Chicken show. Some of said sketches got really popular on Youtube. And here is where A-plot meets B-plot- ready for it? George Lucas watched such Star Wars sketches, called up Seth Green and asked him to do a double-sized Robot Chicken episode all about Star Wars. Yes, 30-minutes of non-stop Star Wars romp! (30-minutes is double-sized because Robot Chicken is a 15-minute television show. Apparently without Star Wars that's as long as anyone can stand to hear Seth Green's voice.)

One of the funnier bits. Poor Wampa.

Now Seth Green spared no expense putting this thing together. He assembled as many voice actors he could find including Mark Hamill, Hulk Hogan, Seth McFarlane, Ahmed Best (who voice Jar Jar in the prequels), Conan O'Brian, and George Lucas (as himself).

In the Summer of 2007, "Robot Chicken: Star Wars" premiered and it was a glorious day in the Star Wars fan-verse. Not only are the jokes funny, they are Laugh-Out-Loud-Rolling-On-The-Cargo-Bay hilarious. The episode was even nominated for an Emmy. Now the show is funny because unlike George Lucas, Seth Green actually understands humor (but more on that later).

What? You never watched Muppet Babies?

This certainly wasn't the first show to have a full-length Star Wars parody episode. Muppet Babies did the same thing in 1984. They cast Kermit as Skywalker, Piggy as Leia, and Ralph as Obi-Wan. It's quite a good Muppet Babies episode and worth the watch. But because Robot Chicken parodied Star Wars in a way that was both popular and profitable, the parodies kept coming.

My favorite scene in the Family Guy Star Wars Trilogy

By the fall of 2007 Family Guy released their own Star Wars parody. The project has been officially sanctioned by Lucasfilm under the condition that the characters looked similar to the characters that they were parodying. Therefore Peter was cast as Han Solo, Chris as Luke, Lois as Leia, and Meg gets to be... the garbage monster. 



Guest Stars include Chevy Chase, Rush Limbaugh, Tom Selleck, Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, Carrie Fisher, and Anne Hathaway.

Unlike Robot Chicken, the Family Guy take on Star Wars followed the story of the film's exactly. In fact, If you ever want to have a quick Star Wars Marathon, Family Guy Star Wars is the way to go. You can get through the whole trilogy in a little over two-hours and get the same, classic Star Wars story, but funnier.



By the Summer of 2011 the cycle was complete. There were three Robot Chicken Star Wars specials and three Family Guy Star Wars Specials. Unfortunately Lucas was not satisfied. It wasn't enough for actual comedians to parody his work, he wouldn't rest until he had parodied his own work. Therefore "Star Wars: Detours" was put into production.


NEXT TIME: The story of Star Wars Detours and why Disney may or may not have cancelled the project.

Star Wars: Detours, the official Star Wars Parody