The Walking Dead is a rather bleak show about a future where the dead rise from the grave and eat those unfortunate enough to be living. Even more depressing is that humanity has turned to its worse elements. Survivors are heartless prone to preying on the weak and even cannibalism. Rarely do the characters crack a smile and laugh unless it’s in a cruel vicious way. Thus its a bit of relief to watch The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who’s Walking which mines the humor trapped beneath the rotting flesh.
The special opens up with a museum that pays tribute to the time of The Walking Dead as if the Earth did have a real zombie issue. The nerdy character with the glasses joins a tour group. But the facts given by the over zealous guide don’t quite match with the history in the show. Luckily a mysterious stranger is ready to set the record straight. And it’s not merely a busybody. This is Carl (Chandler Riggs) and he’s ready to tell the truth. He recounts everything from the start of the show until the start of season 8 (currently airing on cable). Although it’s not in the way a fan remembers it.
In as sense the jokes that highlight the big events remind me of classic Mad Magazine spoofs. There’s no need to give away the jokes, but they include a musical number with Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter and….) as part of the Terminus crew swearing he won’t eat Rick and the Gang. There’s even Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) introducing his new dance to the world. The fact that the cast contributes their voices to the stop-motion dolls adds to the humor that normally can’t be presented on the show except when Negan is trash talking.
The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who’s Walking is the perfect piece of humor for fans of the show. The humor gets twisted and weird. There’s a series of jokes involving Negan and Carl’s missing eye that goes to the heart of what’s missing on the series.
The video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The resolution lets you see how the doll heads look like the various characters. They aren’t just modifying a G.I. Joe head anymore. The audio is Dolby Digital 5.1. The mix is right to hear zombie heads getting popped. The episode is subtitled.
Audio Commentaries include one with Matthew Senerich, Scott M Gimple, Robert Kirkman and Seth Green. It’s interesting since this is Kirkman’s baby and such a serious show. But he doesn’t get offended at the joke. There’s a second track with Seth, Josh McDermitt, Tom Root and Tom Sheppard.
Inside Robot Chicken The Walking Dead: Look Who’s Walking (7:28) goes into the process of how the show came about including getting the cast and crew of The Walking Dead to play along. The dolls look more like cast members because they now use a 3_D printer for the heads.
Cut Sketches features eight snipped moments at various levels of production. There’s a warped take on what if Rick woke up to the zombie apocalypse by Patch Adams.
Sketches to Die For (4:31) are the favorites chosen by the folks who worked on the show.
Bawkward (0:50) is folks guessing what Robot Chicken character would sound like as a walker.
Behind the Screams (1:41) is a zombie prank on Robot Chicken crew members.
Adult Swim & Warner Home Video present The Robot Chicken Walking Dead Special: Look Who’s Walking. Voiced by: Seth Green, Andrew Lincoln, Jeffery Dean Morgan,Danai Gurira, Melissa McBride, Lauren Cohan, Steven Yeun. Running Time: 22 minutes. Released: March 27, 2018.
