Vol-Pr0n: Giant Robots For Big Boys Only
TV-MA: Program may contain one or more of the following - (PB) plastic boobs
When you watch Titan Maximum on TV, you get bleeps and blurs. With the series 1 DVD release, the censor gloves come off, and the saucy stuff comes out on full display. That includes verses of curses, many middle fingers, and perky (plastic) boobs that would make Barbie cry in her prissy little bra. Entertainment for kiddies this is not.
GCD got together with Matt Senreich and Tom Root (both Robot Chicken collaborators, and show runners of Titan) to talk about being professional geeks, and the magic of hugging bro-hugging Billy Dee Williams.
BONUS FEATURE: Visit our Facebook contest to win one of five free copies of Titan Maximum on DVD.
GCD: When it comes to models, what's different with the art direction of Titan Maximum as opposed to Robot Chicken?
Matt Senreich: It's different than Robot Chicken because we shot everything in twelve inch scale as opposed to eight inch scale. We had bigger toys and bigger sets, and were able to give more expression to the characters because of that. Special effects-wise, we've worked a lot more with digital effects.
GCD: Billy Dee Williams plays the team's manager/father figure. It's hard to imagine him being as outrageous as he is on your shows. Is he game for anything?
Tom Root: I think the first time he came in to work on a show, he was a little hesitant. But he saw how much fun it was coming in for Robot Chicken and playing with us. Now, every time he comes back, he pushes the limits of what even he wants to do. He tries to make us, and himself, laugh. Plus, doing Titan, he's trying to do something different. He's not the suave hip guy he played on Robot Chicken. This time he's more the over the top @$$hole.
GCD: When Lando Calrissian walks into the voice booth, is it surreal, or just another day at the office?
Tom: There's always the excitement of working with these people who you grew up idolizing. At the same time it's work, and you have to keep a professional attitude. But there are moments when you reflect on it. And it's always a bit surreal that you can hug these people hello when you see them.
Matt: I'll be honest. Sometimes I'm watching Billy record and I think to myself, "He blew up the second Death Star. That's the guy." But you can't stay in that mode for more than a second.
Tom: We have a lot of sympathy for that character because he hast to corral these idiots. I think the viewers see him as the boss you don't want to have, but that you completely emphathize with him and what he has to go through to save the universe using only these five jerk-offs.
GCD: Being fanboys yourselves, what's it like to take your enthusiasm for toys and these kinds of stories to the world at large?
Matt: When you come to quote-unquote Hollywood, what you find is that really all the top creative people out here started as being fans of some really geeky, nerdy stuff. Look at Joss Whedon. He's one of the guys that we like to work with most, and he comes from exactly the same origins as we all do.
Tom: Everyone we brought in for the show, we're fans of. Kurtwood Smith (That' 70's Show), Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights). We even brought in Frank Welker (the voice of Megatron). He's a legend for nerds; his IMDB page is like a mile long. I mean, he was Dr. Claw on Inspector Gadget.
GCD: Were you guys big Voltron fans growing up?
Tom: We loved Voltron. We watched Battle Of The Planets. We watched Tranzor Z. We watched all the giant robot stuff.
GCD: When will we see Season 2 of Titan Maximum?
Matt: We're in production on Robot Chicken Season 5, and Robot Chicken Star Wars 3 right now. We've got a lot going on in the Robot Chicken universe. But it's definitely our desire to do another.


