I’m guessing that most people reading this review will be
very familiar with the Family Guy world. For those that aren’t, we’ll have a
brief review. Family Guy is an animated cartoon comedy series based on the
dysfunctional Griffin
family. Head of the family is Peter Griffin, a non-PC bumbling working class
man. His wife Lois was originally from extremely wealthy stock and inexplicably
turned her back on a life of privilege to marry Peter and become a housewife
who teaches piano on the side. Peter and Lois have three children, two
teenagers Meg and Chris and an evil genius baby called Stewie (the funniest
thing in the series in my opinion). Add to that a talking dog called Brian who
walks upright and drinks Martinis and you have a great mix for some animated
comedy.
The Family Guy universe was created by Seth MacFarlane, who
you might also know as the creator of American Dad. It seems that Seth is
multi-talented, originally trained as an animator he’s now also listed as a comedian,
actor, screenwriter, producer, voice actor and composer. Originally aired in
the states in September 1999, the series hasn’t had a smooth ride. To date it’s
been cancelled twice and is the first series to be recommissioned due to DVD
sales. Having survived these scares, the series has gone on to great success
and now consists of six seasons totalling 106 episodes.
It seems that, like me, Seth is a big fan of sci-fi, and
particular Star Wars. In the first five seasons of Family Guy there are a number
of Star Wars gags that eventually led Fox to insist that MacFarlane open
dialogue with Lucasfilm in case they got sued. Thankfully George’s sense of
humour, teamed with a son who loves Family Guy lead to a relationship
developing between the two teams. Eventually MacFarlane pitched the idea of
doing an entire Star Wars themed Family guy episode, and amazingly it got the
green light, and so we come to Family Guy Presents Blue Harvest. Blue Harvest
is a reference to the code name used for the production of Return of the Jedi.
Apparently when people heard that locations were to be used in a Star Wars
production, people would turn up in there thousands potentially ruining shots
that were supposed to be in deserted forests. The Return of the Jedi the
production was therefore called ‘Blue Harvest’ instead so no-one would know.
Family Guy Presents Blue Harvest was originally an hour
long episode. With the adverts removed and some footage restored that was too
risqué for television, it now runs at approximately 48 minutes. That’s pretty
short for a DVD with a retail price of £15.99 for the standard edition. On
initial screening this episode was the second most-watched Family Guy episode
ever behind the episode ‘North by North Quahog’ which is included on the DVD as
an extra, and it does really need it to make it a more substantial release.
On to the main feature itself. The episode starts with the
family watching TV when there’s a power failure. What to do with no TV! It’s
suggested that they sit and tell stories and so Peter offers to tell the story
of Star Wars, Family Guy style! We then cut to the familiar Star Wars back
story rolling up the screen, only it’s not the text we know and love, it’s a
new humorous Family Guy version. We then cut to the blockade runner being
pursued by an imperial star destroyer over Tatooine. The animation of the space
shots is impressive and is obviously CGI, which makes it stand out from the
normal character animation. It does serve to give the episode a grander feel
though, setting it apart from other episodes.
The story unfolds just as the original Episode IV story
does. We’re introduced to all of the main characters that we know and love, but
this time they’re played by Family Guy characters. Most of the main Star Wars characters
are played by Griffun family members Princess Leia is played by Lois, Luke
Skywalker by Chris, Han Solo by Peter, Chewbacca by Brian and an excellent
piece of casting sees Stewie as Darth Vader. Lesser family guy characters take
on the other major Star Wars roles, Glenn Quagmire as C-3PO, Cleveland Brown as
R2-D2 and Herbert (commonly known as Herbert the pervert, who secretly lusts
after Chris) as Obi-Wan Kenobi. The only really missing main character is Meg,
who makes a very brief appearance as the monster in the garbage shute.
The plot follows the film pretty accurately but can shoot
off at a funny family guy tangent at any time. It never really shoots off on
too much of a tangent and the funny bits are brief diversions from the story of
Star Wars as we know it. You do get the feeling that they could have pushed the
envelope a bit more, but as this was a Lucasfilm approved project they probably
didn’t want to bite the hand that feeds them. Due to the ratings success that
Blue Harvest proved I’m sure they want to do parodies of the other films in the
series at a future date.
We’re certainly not short of funny moments in this extended
episode and I can think of several laugh out loud moments. Watch out in
particular for the scene where Luke first meets Leia in the detention block of
the Death Star and the escape from the garbage compactor, this time with an
extra item! The animation of the space sequences stands out, as does the music
score. As an officially sanctioned project MacFarlane also got permission to
use the original music score, which as a Star Wars fan, makes it an even better
parody. Whilst sticking to the main plot like glue, they also managed to work
in a good number of jokes, so you’re never far from another laugh, chuckle or
chortle.
Whether this warrants a separate release is another thing.
This episode aired as the 1st episode of the sixth series (televised
series, not DVD box set seasons. For some reason what’s sold as season 6 DVD is
actually season 5). What I don’t know at this point is whether the version in
the series box set will have all the additional footage added in, or whether
it’ll be the originally screened version. Big Family Guy fans will buy the
series box set. This release does include a lot of extras that won’t be on the
series release, but whether that warrants an extra purchase I’ll leave up the
individual fan.
The extras included in this release are:
- Commentary by Seth MacFarlane, Patrick Clark, Mike Elias,
David Goodman, Joseph Lee, Dominic Polcino, Danny Smith, Alec Sulkin, and Kara
Vallow
- A conversation with George
- Once in a lifetime: the making of blue harvest
- Family Guy Star Wars clip show
- Something Something Something Darkside teaser
- Introduction to Family Guy
- Bonus Family Guy Episode: North by North Quahog
I’m not a particular fan of commentaries, but I’m not
against them either. With the unwatched stack of DVDs I’ve got at the moment I
rarely find the time to watch a film through once AND then go back and watch it
again with some people talking over the top. Whilst there are a couple of
interesting things mentioned in the commentary, in my opinion there are too
many people involved which makes it difficult to determine who’s saying what.
There’s some repetition of things said in the conversation with George Lucas as
well, which is well worth watching. Other extras that stand out are the making
of Blue Harvest, which is a half hour feature with interviews from the major
people involved in the project, and the bonus family guy episode North by North
Quahog.
Overall as both a fan of Star Wars and now Family Guy I
have to say that I loved watching Blue Harvest. I’m not sure how much replay
value it has, the jokes are great the first time round, but less so the second.
I think I maybe need to wait a while before watching it again so I can forget a
few of the gags. The picture quality is great, the original Star Wars score and
sound effects make the audio fantastic and the extras were pretty good. If
you’re going to buy the DVD box set (should be season 7) that contains this
episode then you’ll have to decide whether or not it warrants the extra
purchase or whether you can wait ‘till the season 7 box set is out (could be a
while, as it’s been affected by the writers strike). For me it was the best
Family Guy episode I’ve seen.