Long before producers Alexander Bulkley and Corey Campodonico began working on the Robot Chicken: Star Wars special, they remember searching for Wicket and the gang as small kids growing up in Marin, Calif.

"Corey and I have known each other since Little League Baseball days and we both grew up within two miles of Skywalker Ranch," Bulkley says. "I always wondered what was on the other side of that fence but security would never let us wander around."

"Having grown up in that area near Skywalker, you're always looking for the Ewok forest," Campodonico smiles. "You were always aware that Star Wars was partially inspired by those same surroundings."

"When Star Wars debuted in 1977 it was a different time in pop culture, you weren't bombarded right and left by so many things," Campodonico adds. "Seeing Star Wars was a whole experience from waiting in the long line around the block to being excited to see the first mega movie. It was an original and everything since then has been a copy of it."

The movie had profound effect on the duo, so much so that the two seemed destined for careers in the entertainment industry. In 1999, Bulkley and Campodonico established the film and TV production company ShadowMachine Films in Los Angeles. It was during their move into a new office space that they met their future collaborators, and the idea of "Robot Chicken" was hatched.

"We met Seth Green about six or seven years ago as he and Breckin Meyer were moving out of an office we were taking over," Campodonico recalls.

"We started talking about stop-motion and the show idea came up," Bulkley says. "Then enter Matthew Senreich, who was working at Wizard at the time, and had worked with Seth on possibly doing a show which was called 'Sweet J Presents' for 'Late Night with Conan O'Brien.' We ended up working with them to try to get this show out there and eventually get a series made out of it. Sony Screenblast was interested, and basically offered us funds back when the Internet companies were throwing out money left and right to bolster online content."

"We created 12 five-minute episodes with Screenblast, but it didn't quite launch, but became more of a calling card to take around to the networks," Bulkley continues. "Adult Swim really liked the show idea and saw the clips and jumped right in. We did 20 episodes right out of the gate in 2004. It really took off and became a project that grew from the basements to a real operation."

As the producers for "Robot Chicken," Bulkley and Campodonico are responsible for everything from legal issues to hiring employees. "ShadowMachine is an animation and production studio that houses 'Robot Chicken' and other shows," Bulkley explains. "We produce the show -- handling all the legal and financial aspects which is a large task considering the cutting edge parody of 'Robot Chicken.' And on top of that we hire all the talent and we've been very successful in bringing on an incredible list of celebrity talent and participation for the show."

Such celebrities who have offered their voices for sketches include Ashton Kutcher, Topher Grace, Seth MacFarlane, Sarah Michelle Gellar, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Jon Heder, Ryan Seacrest, Lance Bass, Christian Slater, Joey Fatone, Donald Faison, Scarlett Johansson, Macaulay Culkin, Hugh Hefner, Peter Gallagher, Don Knotts, Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, Rachael Leigh Cook, Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper, Bruce Campbell, Phyllis Diller, Conan O'Brien, David Hasselhoff, Charlize Theron and Elijah Wood, to name a few. Of course, most notably for fans, the Robot Chicken: Star Wars episode will feature voice work from actor Mark Hamill and filmmaker George Lucas.

"People forget that stop-motion in particular is exactly like live action in the sense that you've got a live stage, and instead of actors you have puppets," Campodonico explains. "You have camera action in 3-D, so we have 15 stages at one time shooting on any given episode. It's all in miniature, but still the same amount of work."

"Seth and Matt come up with great ideas with our talented pool of writers, and we help execute their vision," Bulkley adds. "There's also a cool factor in how this show works. It's not typical in that there's not a whole lot of ego flying around the show. There's quite a bit of synergy and collaboration whether it's in the voice recording or the work on the stages."