Family Guy prides itself on doing things that its audience doesn’t expect. Whether that’s telling shocking jokes or swearing at the most inappropriate moment, the show always takes its fans by surprise. In 2007 the animated show decided to spoof Star Wars with its special Blue Harvest. Based on Stars Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, the feature-length episode delighted fans with its attention to detail and subversive take on the sci-fi classic. Two years later the show is at it again with Something, Something, Something, Dark Side which spoofs Stars Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
Something, Something, Something, Dark Side finds Luke (Chris Griffin) trying to track down Yoda (Carl) after having a vision of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Herbert). As he tries to find the wise green one, Luke fears that the Empire has captured his friends and decides to veer away from his Jedi training in order to save them.
As with Blue Harvest, this instalment sees your favourite Family Guy characters like you’ve never seen them before. Lois returns as Princess Leia, Peter as Hans Solo, Stewie as Darth Vader and neighbourhood paedophile Herbert as Luke’s guiding light Obi-Wan Kenobi. For this instalment Mort Goldman makes his debut appearance as Lando and the Giant Chicken takes on the infamous role of Boba Fett.
Family Guy’s Star Wars spoofs are fun to watch but unfortunately they don’t reach the dizzy heights of an average episode from the series. Whilst they are funny, they never manage to be as laugh-out-loud funny and had this reviewer pining from a normal episode of the show.
Extras on the DVD include a commentary by Seth MacFarlane with contributions from the cast and crew, an animatic scene-to-scene featurette, a look at the poster art for the release, a featurette titled Family Guy Fact-Up and the table read for the next instalment We Have A Bad Feeling About This. There’s also a bonus digital copy of the feature-length episode. This release also marks Family Guy's debut on Blu-ray.
Something, Something, Something, Dark Side is an entertaining, if slightly under-whelming, 52 minutes of animated comedy. Family Guy is at its best when it’s parodying popular culture rather than something as specific as Star Wars. It’s still a must for all Family Guy fans but we like our Family Guy straight-up with no filler.
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