A wise man once said that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view. Every story has multiple perspectives. Take the groundbreaking story “In a Grove” by legendary Japanese writer Ryūnosuke Akutagawa. This short story is generally considered the best of Japanese literature, and it’s not hard to see why, as it presents a murder to the reader from the perspective of every single person involved in it, including the victim, without ever revealing the murderer. The point of the story is to show you that our perspectives and biases screw with us and make the truth an evasive and cloudy concepts in many situations when we would prefer to think of the truth as an inflexible line dividing right and wrong, black and white, regular and unleaded, skim and whole milk . . .
Today’s Fun Friday is about alternate perspectives. Things that make you think, think hard, and then think again. Because today’s Fun Friday is about . . . .
Execute Order 67!!
THE SUPER COOL RELEASE OF STAR WARS ROBOT CHICKEN III, now available literally everywhere! (Yes, literally everywhere! Ask random people on the street–look in your refrigerator–there is no place you can’t buy it! I recommend Amazon.com, though.)
This is the absolute best of all the Star Wars Robot Chickens, though it builds on the first two and so you should’ve seen them, too. In a more or less cohesive storyline, it tells you Palpatine’s own story of his rise to power and eventual defeat, revealing the hidden stories of such famed and supposedly evil Star Wars personalities as Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and the Wampa from Episode V! The brilliant Seth Green and Breckin Meyer join up with Seth MacFarlane for a third go at the Star Wars universe, an hour-long special so funny, I have watched it pretty much every single week on the DVR since it came out in December. The DVD promises all sorts of extras, including an interview with George Lucas, and if the first Robot Chicken Star Wars taught me anything, it’s that Seth Green special features are not to be missed! 26 deleted scenes, including one of Mace Windu eating ice cream, which I think will be pretty worth it.
Also, Amazon will let you buy all three specials for $32, which is pretty cool and just about $10/pop, so now you can hang out and watch limitless funny Star Wars.
There are some awesome answers to burning questions I know you were afraid to ask nestled into this 45-minute long special: how Boba Fett really escaped the Sarlaac pit, what the first 65 orders were, who is really responsible for the downfall of the galaxy, how Palpatine got into politics in the first place, plus rare glimpses into Boba Fett’s childhood after his father’s death and his later struggles with alcoholism! Your biggest question answered? The super-duper secret title to Episode VII!
The special is pretty much chronologically set up and therefore starts with a lot of prequel stuff before moving into the original trilogy. As always, the stop-motion animation is mesmerizing, the voice acting is brilliant, the details flawless, and the humor 99.95% of the time spot-on, die hard funny. The Star Wars films paint Palpatine with a pretty bleak brush, but he actually imparts some rare pieces of wisdom, including “Choose your apprentice in haste, repent in leisure” and “Live big, dream big, love big, fall to your death down a giant freakin’ hole.” Watch my favorite of the promos here ([Adult Swim] won’t let me embed — sigh!) and then go buy the DVD from Amazon! Bonus points: Read the bizarre review that complains that some of the scenes “MADE NO SENSE,” which is ironic because “no sense” is what that review made!
MTFBWY, and if you can get Seth Green to read this review, tell him I think he’s a hilarious and gorgeous man who should recommend my blog to people!
