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The Main Characters
The main cast stays the same as last time. Peter is Han Solo and Brian is Chewbacca. Stewie is Darth Vader, Lois is Princess Leia, Quagmire is C-3PO, and Cleveland is R2-D2. Making their first appearances this episode are Mort Goldman as Lando Calrissian, The Chicken as Boba Fett and Chris’ boss Carl as Yoda, as well as other cameos from Family Guy greats.
The Setting
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Main Program (54:38)
If you’ve seen Empire Strikes Back then you know what the plot of this program is. We have the evil empire, led by Darth Vader and they find the Rebels on the ice planet Hoth. They have a big fight and the Rebels escape to Cloud City as Luke heads to Dagoba to train with Yoda. This leads to Skywalker getting to Cloud City in time to battle Darth Vader, who has taken Han Solo prisoner. This leads to their epic confrontation (with Luke, I am your father and all) and we have an open ending leading to the third part of the trilogy.
Episode Review
I loved Blue Harvest but I couldn’t put my finger on why I did. After watching this three times I figured out why these Star Wars episodes have been so good. First of all, the story is based on Star Wars and the story for the original trilogy has always been strong. So the story itself lays a very nice foundation to a TON of jokes about obvious things in Star Wars that provide an opportunity for humor. First, it’s funny to see Stewie as Darth Vader and Chris as Luke, etc. The cutaways (if you can call them that) are all Star Wars related and don’t detract from the actual movie the way that it can sometimes take you out of the cartoons. Some of the better ones are flying through the asteroid field instead of the Strawberry Field (with the Beatles showing up and making fun of Paul’s attraction to one-legged chicks) as well as the All State guy AND the Legion of Doom at the swamp. At its heart it is an homage to Star Wars, and a hilarious one at that. Another great thing about these two movies so far is that the animation is the best you’ll see on a Family Guy episode. All the scenes of them flying through space, all the Destroyers, the AT-AT Walkers and the Millennium Falcon are beautifully presented on screen. I don’t think it was all computer animation, either. Another thing that’s great are the little Family Guy trademarks that make it into the film. For example, the AT-AT Walker is tripped and it goes into the “Peter when I hurt my knee” motion. Another call back to the original Blue Harvest is the opening with the lights going out and the ending conversation with Chris and Peter about Family Guy and Robot Chicken that was actually funnier than Blue Harvest! It’s really well-crafted the way this plays out and there really are laughs all through the 50 minute running time. I don’t know if I’d call it better than Blue Harvest, but it is certainly close.
DVD Features
A) Extras
1) Feature Commentary
The commentary was recorded by executive producers Seth MacFarlane, Mark Hentemann & David Goodman, writer Kirker Butler, director Dominic Polcino, and actor Seth Green. With the two Seth’s on here this should be okay. I love Family Guy but they’ve had some pretty damn boring commentaries. Green starts this off by asking if anyone’s seen this. He’s a funny guy. Green has not seen it yet, he admits. This was the last FG episode to be penciled on paper, as they are now done on tablet that is put right into a computer. David mentions that the Cookie Monster is now the Veggie Monster. The Seth’s say they would storm the place if that was true. Green talks about Robot Chicken while Seth questions when this DVD is coming out. Goodman notes it is right in time for Christmas. They joke about the Teen Wolf with the guy’s dick hanging out, something I never knew. Seth mentions something about an Agatha Christie hour-long episode of FG in the works. September 2010 is when Clue comes out. I can’t wait! Green doesn’t even remember recording for that show. One of them wonders aloud why Paula let them use the song. “Because we paid her.” Good answer! Green praises Seacrest for working a lot and then Seth says he works more and they have a pretty funny “argument.” This was a decent commentary and they kept it moving for the entire 54 minutes with really only a couple moments of silence.
2) Family Guy Fact-Ups
This is a pop-up trivia type deal that plays during the movie. This keeps track of how many times Seth does a voice in this episode, which I’ll tell you the final tally at the end. The mention the opening crawl had to go way up the chain at Fox in order for it to be approved. The character of the Emperor was first written for Death but David Goodman thought that Carter’s voice would be better and so it was changed. The face inside the Vader mask after Chris beheads it was originally Homer Simpson but none of the writer’s laughed when it was screened so it was changed. The fighting chicken’s name is Ernie. I never knew that, thanks pop-up facts! Seth originally wanted a character from the Cleveland Show as Lando but the show hadn’t yet started when this was written so it wasn’t included. Another idea was to use Magic Johnson but obviously that didn’t happen, either. A John Mayer song and a Carrie Underwood song were originally used in the torture scene but they couldn’t get cleared. Seth ended up with 25 voices in this episode, which is quite a lot. This was a really fun pop-up trivia and well worth a look.
3) The Dark Side of Poster Art (9:17)
We meet with Mick Cassidy (the character designer) and Joe Vaux (the painter). This talks about the poster itself. Mick lays down the layouts while Joe painted it. This mimicked the original Empire Strikes Backs poster and the original artist, Roger Kastel, gives his stamp of approval. We see a time-lapse of Joe painting and sometimes he’s sans shirt. In fact, he does some of the interview with his shirt off. Roger talks about drawing the original poster and George Lucas requesting an homage to the Gone with the Wind poster. This was a really cool featurette and it’s nice that these guys get some time on a DVD release.
4) Animatic Scene to Scene with Commentary by Dominic Polcino (6:39)
Dominic basically takes us through a trip of animatic scenes (the pencil-drawn rough) compared to the finished colored product. We look at the Cookie monster getting his arm cut off, the Juicy Fruit commercial and other scenes. It’s just too many to name. The animatic and the actual scene were pretty similar and I wish they would’ve just shown an act in animatic like they did last DVD.
5) Family Guy “SSSDS” Table Read – Acts 1 & 2 (49:24)
This is introduced as the final table read for Season Six. There’s like a million people here for the read. The TV show is different in the table read (Black Guy who must be doing well because everything he owns is white). There’s a Frosty the Snowman reference in here when Luke falls prey to the Cookie Monster as well as Perfect Strangers gag featuring C-3PO and R2-D2. There’s a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang joke that was cut, as well as a JFK Jr joke that met with groans. This was interesting, especially to see all the re-writing that took place between the table read and the final product, as there was a lot that was never used in the film.
6) Sneak Peak of “Family Guy: Episode VI: We Have A Bad Feeling About This” Table Read (2:25)
Wow. Based on these two minutes the third episode will be awesome. I can’t wait for it!
B) Audio/Video
The audio is presented in English 5.1 Dolby Surround and the video is shown in fullscreen 1.33:1. The video looks very nice, a huge improvement over earlier DVD releases of the series. The sound is an improvement, too.
C) Liner Notes/ Packaging
There is a four-page sheet promoting various Family Guy related things as well as shiny slip-case that mirrors the DVD cover.
D) Easter Eggs
None
Overall Review
We have some previews to start: Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy & Family Guy Volume Seven which runs 1:08 as well as The Marine, Jennifer’s Body, and a terrible movie called Gentlemen Broncos that runs 4:43. Once again Family Guy has shown that within the confines of a well-written story they can really thrive. The episode itself was great. I don’t think I’ll put it as better than Blue Harvest but it was close. The extras included were all worthwhile as well. I had a blast listening to the table read, especially picking out jokes that weren’t even used, and the commentary was fun to listen to as well. The poster segment was really cool but the preview was just cruel. How long until Episode VI? Definitely a recommended set for any Family Guy or Star Wars fans!
Overall Rating
9.5
10.0 Perfect
9.0-9.5 Near Perfect, Highly Recommended
8.0-8.5 Really good disc, Recommended
7.0-7.5 Good DVD, Mildly recommended
6.0-6.5 Above Average DVD. Mildest of mild recommendations
5.0-5.5 Decent all around disc, but catch it on TV
4.0-4.5 Great Movie but horrible DVD
3.0-3.5 Horrible movie but great DVD
2.0-2.5 There’s at least some merit to this DVD, but not much.
1.0-1.5 Horrible DVD, don’t even bother
0.0-0.5 Worst DVD ever
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