Family Guy: Blue Harvest

Rating NR Formats DVD Genre comedy Starring Seth Green, Seth McFarlane, Alex Borstein, Mike Henry Directed by Dominic Polcino Publisher 20th Century Fox External Links Official Family Guy Website

Family Guy and Star Wars are two pop culture phenomenon's, with each having incredibly rabid fan bases who worship at the feet of Seth McFarlane and George Lucas, respectively. Bringing them together could either be a recipe for total disaster, or sweet success. Well, rabid fan bases, come satisfy your sweet tooth: Family Guy: Blue Harvest is absolutely awesome.

Through the years, Family Guy has done Star Wars gags in episodes; about 10 minutes worth, based on the special feature on the disc which has them all run in a row. But Blue Harvest is the first time that the series has done a whole episode based on it. Blue Harvest is a retelling of A New Hope, with Family Guy characters playing each of the roles. Chris is Luke, Lois is Leia, Peter is Han Solo, Brian is Chewbacca, Stewie is Darth Vader, Quagmire is C-3PO, Cleveland is R2-D2, and the Creepy Old Guy is Obi-Wan Kenobi. The casting choices are inspired, as each Family Guy character is able to offer a new take on their Star Wars role. My only knock is that the Creepy Old Guy can be a little obnoxious; his bits in the episode works well because they are short, but this is a bit too much of him, as he is a lead role. The interactions between C-3PO and R2-D2 are hilarious; having Quagmire and Cleveland pair up allows for some genius comedic moments.

Blue Harvest manages to effectively tell the story of A New Hope. So many times, Family Guy episode plots are merely excuses for trying to fit in sight gags, cameos, and random moments. But Blue Harvest manages to have a cohesive narrative and still fits in the normal gags, cameos, and randomness the show is known for, including references to Deal or No Deal and a moment involving Dijon mustard between Jawas. The opening paragraph that opens every Star Wars movie gets mocked here as well.

One of the best parts of the episode is that fact that, since Family Guy and Star Wars are both owned by Fox, they were able to get the actual music from the films.

The special features on this disc are a little slim. There is the usual commentary, a conversation between Seth McFarlane and George Lucas, a Making of Blue Harvest, an animatic version with storyboards, all the bits from the show where it references Star Wars, and a pointless 30 second promo for Family Guy, Sunda nights on Fox. The other issue is that this is really just an episode of Family Guy that is individually put out on DVD. Yes, it is an “event” episode, and it is a bit longer than normal, but I feel as if Fox saw a chance to sell it individually instead of with the seasons and jumped on it. I would still highly recommend picking it up, both for Family Guy collectors and casual fans alike, as the episode is hilarious, and the conversation between George Lucas and Seth McFarlane is interesting, but it still stings a little to pay normal DVD price for just the one episode. However, the DVD is still worth picking up; the episode is awesome. Recommended for fans of Family Guy and Star Wars.

Sidenote: Blue Harvest was the code name for Return of the Jedi, used so that fans would not constantly storm the set for glimpses of the making of the movie. Also, a sequel mocking The Empire Strikes Back has already been written, called “Something, Something, Something , Dark Side.”