Family Guy returns to the Star Wars universe in their newest Direct to DVD/Blu-ray release: Family Guy- Something, Something, Something, Darkside. This latest installment parodies the events of Star Wars – Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, featuring Chris as Luke, Peter as Han, Lois as Leia, Stewie as Darth Vader and The Giant Chicken as Boba Fett. The rest of the Family Guy gang is around too making surprise apperances as other classic Star Wars characters. The jokes are nerdy as hell and any fan of Star Wars will love this new adventure!
This review will only contain minor spoilers about Family Guy: Something, Something, Something, Darkside (such as: Vader is Luke's father, Han gets captured by Boba Fett, the green creature on Dagobah IS Yoda.)
The story once again begins with the Grifin family home losing power and the gang resorts to story telling for entertainment. We then cut to an amazingly written scrolling title screen that once again shows that this show isn't opposed to mocking FOX outright…Then the rest of the hour long special is dedicated to re-creating Empire and pointing out some of the comedic flaws of the original movie.
Family Guy situational humor is very much apparent throughout the movie, returning to old gags to play up certain situations (ie: the falling and over exageration of being injured bit). The best part about any Family Guy episode is when they really come out and surprise you with some new popculture reference or just random hiliarious cameos…and luckily this film has tons of these. It has a lot of "blink and you will miss it" moments as well with some hidden easter eggs throughout the story. I also feel that it is impressive when the cast and crew feel comfortable with mocking themselves and their projects with such ease (the Robot Chicken vs Family Guy fight at the end of Blue Harvest is revisited).
Special Features:
-Audio Commentary by Seth MacFarlane, Mark Hentemann, David A. Goodman, Kirker Butler, Dominic Polcino and Seth Green- You can probably figure out by watching any episode of Family Guy that these guys are funny, but just listening to the banter between them is hilarious. After you watch the movie, go back and listen to the commentary. It is entirely worth it.
-Family Guy Fact-Ups
-The Dark Side of Poster Art
-An animatic version of the episode
–Family Guy – "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" Table Read- Table reads are an entirely different beast than the final product. Watch as the cast and crew try to make their way through the script without bursting into laughter.
–Family Guy – Episode VI: "We Have a Bad Feeling About This" Table Read (sneak peek)
-Digital Copy- As soon as the movie was over, this immediately went onto my iPhone for future viewing.
-1080p Video
-English 5.1 DTS Audio
Overall:
I think that I enjoyed watching this more so than some of the recent Family Guy stories. While a portion of the episode relies on old jokes like a crutch, there are moments that truly stand out as being original and memorable. This will definitely go over well with Family Guy and Star Wars fans alike. This release also contains a great preview for the next installment titled "We Have a Bad Feeling About This" which will feature a parody of Star Wars- Episode VI Return of the Jedi.
ComicsOnline gives Family Guy- Something, Something, Something, Darkside 3.5 out of 5 Star Wars Parodies
Buy Something, Something, Something Dark Side on Blu-ray at Amazon.com now
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