The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who's Walking Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who's Walking Blu-ray Movie Review

Which came first: the Chicken or the Dead?

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 14, 2018

Robot Chicken has a spotted history on Blu-ray. Mid-run seasons five and six are available on the high definition format, as are a pair of specials, but Warner Brothers has not seen fit to release any Chicken content on Blu-ray since late 2013. Half a decade or so later, though, and here's The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who's Walking. The show's riff on The Walking Dead is a light-speed, 22-minute recap of AMC's popular zombie apocalypse program. It's the short, short, short...short version of the story, going all the way back to the beginning and following on through to season seven. Of course, there are major spoilers for the show herein (in the show and in this review), so those inclined to someday watch The Walking Dead but have yet to do so...be forewarned. Even as most all of it takes a very comic bend, it hits various character fates along the way and takes its time soaking in the makeshift humor by focusing on a few key deaths along the way.

In the future, the dead infestation is a thing of the past. Society has largely returned to normal, and any and all traces of zombified people have been relegated to the Museum of the Walking Dead, a place to remember the heroes who saved humanity from walkers that nearly wiped out the human race. Of course, the museum doesn’t get all of the facts right, misremembering truths, misidentifying the heroes. The one-eyed Carl, perhaps the last survivor of Rick and the Gang, arrives to set the record straight. This Robot Chicken special looks back at highlights from the show while making its own little ideas and gags as it fills in some blanks, albeit largely blanks of its own making.

At 22 minutes long and spanning seven seasons and many characters, Robot Chicken's Walking Dead special barely has time to breathe, and the viewer barely has time to absorb any details, all of the fine little recreations, adds, and plays on various elements form the series. It's not so much a recap as it is a very crude comical lightning round game of "riff on the big moment." Along the way, the folks at Robot Chicken have fun with...spoilers...Rick's wife's death, Carl's missing eye, and Glenn's mashed-in head. It hits various other bits, too, but those are the big guns that have some staying power beyond bite-sized, seconds-long bursts of Walking Dead mischief. There's a fun zombie point of view segment, one of the longest skits in the show, that allows the viewer to get inside the head of an undead walker. There are zombie brides, a zombie locksmith, unicorns, and a Super take on Lucille’s origins. It's fun but too fast. This special certainly hits many of the highlight moments from the series. It's fun, it's also absurd, and it moves too fast, but as a silly aside to The Walking Dead, it's healthy, often hearty, entertainment.

The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who's Walking Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The stop-motion The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who's Walking is presented on Blu-ray in 1080i high definition. The image never excels in any area but holds firm and presents various details with relative ease and textural efficiency. Clothes are the highlight, with various fabrics making some impressive showings, while the character textures and various environments are nicely complimentary and complex. Colors are neutral. The palette is never striking, and it's never dull, either. Problems do creep in from time to time. There is some aliasing throughout, a rooftop scene around five minutes in being a good example of the problem's intensity and visibility. Some mild macroblocking across the museum's backgrounds is also evident. Nevertheless, the good outweighs the bad, and while this is certainly not a legendary Blu-ray image, it texturally holds its own and handles core colors well enough.

The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who's Walking Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who's Walking features a fairly simplistic Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The show's sound needs are not intensive. Surrounds don't engage with any regularity or stage-commanding intensity. Music plays with decent energy, good essential clarity, and front-end width. Various sound effects never want for significantly heightened volume or clarity. Dialogue is well prioritized, clear, and center-focused.

The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who's Walking Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who's Walking contains two commentary tracks and several featurettes. A digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Inside Robot Chicken The Walking Dead: Look Who's Walking (1080p, 7:28): This supplement explores writing the episode, discusses folding in as much as possible into 22 minutes, recaps this short's plot, and hits on voice casting, 3D printing models, and more.
• Cut Sketches (1080i): Deleted scenes by another name, presented in hand-drawn sketch form, and preceded by brief introductions. Included are The Best Medicine (1:01), La La La I Can't Hear You (0:41), Tara Through the Sand Castle (0:15), Daryl in Terminus Room Bath (0:24), Patches (1:01), Michonne Double Dutch (0:29), That's Entertainment (1:09), and The Barn (0:37). Note that there is no "play all" option in the menu for these.
• Behind the Screams (1080i, 1:41): The crew that worked on the show describe their jobs and are in for a little surprise.
• Sketches to Die For (1080i, 4:31): Crew and voice cast try to select their favorite sketch form the special.
• Bawkward (1080i, 0:50): Cast and crew impersonate the chicken...in undead form.
• Audio Commentary: With Seth Green, Josh McDermitt, Tom Root, and Tom Sheppard.
• Audio Commentary: With Matthew Senreich, Scott M. Gimple, Robert Kirkman, Tom Sheppard, and Seth Green.

The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who's Walking Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who's Walking could just be remanded The Robot Chicken Mouthful...of Brains!. Its title takes nearly as long to say aloud as the show lasts on the screen. It moves very fast and it's going to go way over the heads of anyone who isn't familiar with The Walking Dead, who hasn't been with the show from the beginning until the end of season seven. On the flip side, fans who aren't familiar with Robot Chicken but who love The Walking Dead should find this an agreeable aside to AMC's hit show. Its is, in a word, random, but it's well-versed in the Walking Dead universe and offers a lightning-quick parody thereof. Warner Brothers' Blu-ray delivers solid enough 1080i video and a decent 5.1 lossless soundtrack. A handful of extras are included, highlighted by a pair of audio commentary tracks. Recommended, and hopefully this paves the way for more Robot Chicken on Blu-ray; the show has been on format hiatus for far too long now.