I think we can all agree that the Robot Chicken Star Wars specials are pretty fantastic. The jokes are spot on, the characterization is flawless and the voice work is superb. The team that made those specials are back with a new animated series that focuses on what made the Robot Chicken specials so funny – looking at the daily life of characters like Darth Vader or Ben Kenobi.

The new series is called Star Wars Detours and it’s hard to describe. The humor of Robot Chicken is still there in some parts, but it feels like it’s been toned down for a younger audience. That wouldn’t be such a bad thing if the animation itself was decent, but they went with a super deformed CG animation style.

Anyways, formulate you own opinion. Check out the lengthy trailer below:

The best part about Star Wars Detours is that it brings back many of the voice actors from the Robot Chicken specials. Breckin Meyer, who voices the best Boba Fett in existence, is back in the role. Seth MacFarlane will also be reprising his role as Emperor Palpatine.

From there, we’re left with a few good jokes, but it just feels far too tame. The Robot Chicken specials were, well, special because they didn’t pull any punches. They took the more morbid and serious parts of the Star Wars films and made them funny. Star Wars Detours just takes the characters and puts them into situations of physical comedy. I love physical comedy as much as the next guy, but it’s just not working here.

To be fair, the show isn’t out yet and it could redeem itself. After all, the new Clone Wars animated series has proven to be quite good even if isn’t quite as good as Genndy Tartakovsky’s original Clone Wars series. Star Wars television series have always been hit or miss, but the recent series have been hits. Maybe Star Wars Detours will prove to be a hit as well.

[h/t: E! Online]