Very few shows cram as many laughs into as few minutes as “Robot Chicken” manages on a weekly basis, so when Adult Swim announced the latest stop-motion project from two of the show’s creators – Matt Senreich and Tom Root – it looked like the late-night network had another hit on its hands. But despite pooling the talent of several “Robot Chicken” all-stars (including Seth Green and Breckin Meyer), “Titan Maximum” falls flat on its embarrassingly unfunny face. Unlike the sketch comedy format of its predecessor, “Titan Maximum” features a contained narrative about a group of heroes called the Titan Force Five that pilot the titular robot in order to protect Earth from a never-ending onslaught of danger. It’s essentially a parody of every giant robot show ever made – although as a child of the 80s, it’s hard to compare it to anything other than “Voltron” due to the color-coded cast of characters.
But while the show shares the same comedic flavor of “Robot Chicken,” it’s just not as funny in an extended format. Unable to draw on decades of pop culture, the writers are forced to rely on the interactions between its characters, which are pretty one-dimensional. Heck, one of the newest recruits is a monkey who doesn’t even speak, and although it’s funny the first couple times they cut to him for a reaction shot, the gag get old really quick. Meyer and Green both have fun in their respective roles as the narcissistic team leader of Titan Force Five and his former right-hand man turned adversary, but the rest of the cast is more annoying than anything else. At least Warner Bros. was kind enough to load up the DVD release with lots of extras – including commentaries on all nine episodes, cast and crew interviews, production featurettes and more – because it would have been hard to even recommend to fans of the show if they hadn’t.
A few scenes later, it’s worse, with Ari and Vince now down more than $200k apiece. There was no official Ari Moment this week because he spent most of the episode spittin’ fire at the tables, cursing out dealers and fellow players as he watched his cash get sucked down the drain with each hand. He even took a couple shots at Seth Green, who was in town with his own entourage and, whenever possible, ribbing E about Sloan. The guys assume that Seth’s been with Sloan, which gets E all riled up. Meanwhile, Drama’s getting exactly what he wanted out of his weekend: he’s loose, limber and feeling fine after an afternoon with Ken. He’s also sending poor confused Ken, an ex-NFL receiver, mixed signals, and when Ken winds up naked in Drama’s bed, Drama snaps, leaves the room and heads for the stripper contest. Just in time, as it turns out, because Seth won’t drop the Sloan issue and E snaps too, only when the shit hits the fan, an amped-up Drama is the one who throws the first punch, knocking one of Seth’s boys to the ground while Turtle takes another and Eric drops Seth. That ought to help repair Vinnie’s rep, huh?
