Swank-Mo-tron:Last night I finally sat down and watched the Family Guy Star Wars special Something, Something, Something Dark Side on Blu-ray.

I’m not the worlds largest Family Guy fan and didn’t have very high expectations for this special, but I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.

It’s obvious that a lot of love and attention went into creating this special for fans of Star Wars.  All of the music cues and sound effects were in the right spot and I think one of the funniest gags in the piece was that Lois almost never deviated from the actual Star Wars script.

Sure, some of the jokes were really easy to reach for (like General Riekkan’s Purina logo) and some made no sense (The Cookie Wampas Monster Ball…?), but overall it was a generally funny special.  And correct me if I’m wrong, but did seem as though they were animating entire recreations of scenes from Star Wars in the Family Guy animation style just so they could have it?  There were scene recreations shot for shot out of the movie that were re-rendered and it seems to me that the Family Guy crew was just geeky enough to want for their own pleasure.  And I can’t argue with that.  I’d do the same thing.

Really, there’s not much to say.  I found it a lot more funny than the first Family Guy Star Wars special (Blue Harvest), which I found to be not as well thought out or well done.  It’s humerous and worth watching at least once.  And if you’re a Family Guy fan, I think it would be worth watching a lot more often since I think the quality of these shows is a marked improvement over the show proper.

Now, I’d like to see a more family-friendly franchise do the same thing, but keep it G-rated with their sense of humour since I’m sick of my kids asking me if they can watch it.  I’d love to see a Simpsons or Futurama take on Star Wars like this…  When I was a kid, recreations of Star Wars were always my favorite episodes (like Muppet Babies), and I think it’s a way to retell the story without defaming the source material.

Arse-Bot: A few weeks ago, Fox Home Entertainment unleashed upon the world the follow up to their hit Star Wars spoof, Blue Harvest, on DVD and Blu-ray! Family Guy Presents: Something Something Something Dark Sideis a parody of the second of the Star Wars original trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back – but you already knew that.

I was lucky enough to receive a review copy of Dark Side from Fox and amidst the Holiday season found some time to sit down and watch it with some fellow Star Wars / Family Guy fans. I can honestly say he laughed through the entire 44 minute run time.

Seth MacFarlane and the writers of Family Guy have taken great care to walk a thin line. That line is doing an honest to goodness funny parody of a Star Wars film while remaining “respectful” to the source material. This works greatly in their favor. If they are too harsh on the source material, then the hardcore fans that are over defensive about their precious Star Wars will hate it; if you are too kind about it, then the Family Guy fans and general audience won’t find it funny. What we have with Something Something Dark Side is something Family Guy fans, Star Wars fans, Family Guy and Star Wars fans, and everyone in between will likely find funny.

Of course, Dark Side more-or-less follows the same plot as Empire Strikes Back. In fact there are some shots that are frame for frame animated versions of scenes from Empire Strikes Back. Of course though, everything has a Family Guy spin to it. Joe Swanson is a probe droid, a black Mort Goldman shows up as Lando, and the Giant Chicken is Boba Fett. While there are too many good gags to cover them all, some of the funniest moments come when the characters break the 4th wall. At one point, Peter just laughs at the point that the Giant Chicken is Boba Fett and Brian takes a minute to point out some plot/movie flaws from Teen Wolf and Star Wars. Another liberty that theFamily Guy creators took was the fact that Dark Side is a straight to DVD release. The film is unrated so they can get away with a little more – but they don’t get carried away. There are three instances in which obscenities are used, but they are used in a perfectly humorous way.

If you are a Family Guy fan, Something Something Something Dark Side will not disappoint you. It is filled with classic Family Guy gags that are all related back to Star Wars. I’m not sure if there will be any Star Wars fans out there that don’t like Family Guy that are going to hate this, but even if you aren’t a fan of Family Guy and just like Star Wars I’m sure you will find this to be a solid and enjoyable parody; the creators of Family Guy are obviously big fans of Star Wars and know their stuff. One interesting fact I want to point out though is that I find it a bit humorous that Family Guywas able to summarize the entire plot of Empire Strikes Back in 44 minutes.

Something Something Something Dark Side is an easy recommendation and comes with several special features (see full specs below). It’s a funny, well done, and respectful spoof of Star Wars. I am definitely looking forward to the third and final installment from Family Guy with a parody of Return of the Jedi. Even if you don’t like Family Guy you should give this a chance if you like Star Wars, I guarantee you will at least find it mildly funny.

Something Something Something Dark Side is available now on DVD and Blu-ray from Amazon.com!

“Family Guy: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side” Synopsis
The story of The Empire Strikes Back is retold. Darth Vader (Stewie) is hunting the rebel Luke Skywalker (Chris) and his troops relentlessly across the galaxy. On the ice planet Hoth, Luke has a vision of his late mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Herbert), telling him to go to the Dagobah system to learn the ways of the Force under Jedi Master Yoda (Carl). Meanwhile Princess Leia (Lois) finds herself taking a shine to the scruffy pilot Han Solo (Peter) and, against all odds, the two soon fall in love. But an encounter with Han’s old friend Lando Calrissian (Mort) lands them in the clutches of the Empire. Envisioning this, Luke chooses to forgo his Jedi training to save his friends. It all comes to a head in a climactic confrontation with Darth Vader himself…

Two-Disc Blu-ray With Digital Copy Specs:
The “Family Guy: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side” BD is presented in full screen 4×3 aspect ratio featuring English 5.1 Dolby Surround, Line 21, English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, English, Spanish, and French stereo and subtitles. Special features include:
• Digital Copy
• Audio Commentary
• Deleted Scenes
• Behind-The-Scenes Featurette – “The Dark Side of Poster Art”
• Animatics
• Pop-Up Video

DVD Specs:
The “Family Guy: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side” DVD is presented in full screen aspect ratio featuring English 5.1 Dolby Surround, Line 21, English for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, English, Spanish, French, and Brazilian stereo and subtitles. Special features include all those listed above except Digital Copy.