Jackson Booth-Millard
In Britain this two-part Family Guy special, celebrating the 30 year anniversary of the first in the Star Wars Trilogy, was released separately (not in a season box set), and what a special it is. When the TV stops working, the Griffin family: Lois (Alex Borstein), Stewie (MacFarlane), Chris (Seth Green) and Meg (Mila Kunis); listen to Peter (Seth MacFarlane) tell the story of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, and this is when the story sees the fantastic spoof of the first great movie. You probably know the story: R2-D2 (Cleveland, voiced by Mike Henry) and C-3PO (Quagmire, voiced by MacFarlane) escape an attacked ship. Princess Leia (Lois) is kidnapped by Darth Vader (Stewie) and Governor Tarkin (Adam West). Luke Skywalker (Chris) dreams of leaving home, and when his Uncle Owen (Lois's dad, voiced by MacFarlane) and Aunt Beru (Lois's mum, voiced by Borstein) are killed by stormtroopers, Obi-Won Kenobi (Herbert the old paedophile, voiced by Henry) takes him to become a Jedi, and get off the planet with the help of Han Solo (Peter) and Chewbacca (Brian, voiced by MacFarlane) in the Millennium Falcon. Obviously they go on the Death Star, Obi-Won is killed by Vader, and the Rebels get together against the Empire to destroy the space station. Oh, and Meg by the way is the creature in the garbage shoot. Phew! Also starring MacFarlane as Tom Tucker, Lori Alan as Diane Simmons, Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold, Beverly D'Angelo as Ellen Griswold, Mick Hucknall, Phil LaMarr as Ollie Williams and Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson. For anyone that doesn't know (apart from maybe the mega Star Wars fanatics), Blue Harvest was the fake working title for Return of the Jedi. The jokes, including a mock of Dirty Dancing's "I've Had the Time of My Life", the music of John Williams (and Danny Elfman), quotes in the film, and some cool animated effects, this is an essential spoof for any fan of Star Wars and/or Family Guy. Very good!
RainDogJr
Han Solo is in an extremely dangerous mission, helping Luke Skywalker to save the Princess Leia. He must deal with many Stormtroopers and at the very same time, he is trying to steal a couch that he found in the garbage.That's just one of the many hilarious situations that we can find in this unique version of "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope". "Family Guy" is just one of my favourites shows and although I haven't watch all the episodes I'm related to must of the secondary characters knowing their behaviour and how they are related to the Griffin family. I said that because in this special episode most of the main characters of the "Star Wars" universe are represented by most of the main characters of "Family Guy": Chris is Luke Skywalker, Peter is Han Solo, Brian is Chewbacca, Lois is Leia, Quagmire is C-3PO, Cleveland is R2-D2 and Stewie is Darth Vader. But Obi-Wan Kenobi is represented by Herbert, a pedophile who loves Chris. This character is not very important in the show but is just hilarious to see a Kenobi who's "inspiration" is Luke.Well all the characters are just like in the show and the gags are hilarious, making funny of Lucas and pals. Another thing that I really like is that the animation, when is pure "Star Wars", is really great and the explosions too.Conclusion: I think that if you love "Family Guy" but you don't know a lot of the "Star Wars" universe (only if you're a child because every adult most know about it) you will love this special tribute/parody but if you're a big fan of "Star Wars" but you don't know/like "Family Guy" (like in the case of my father) you won't, probably, laugh as I did so I recommend that you first check some episodes and if you like them (I'm pretty sure you will) then check this special episode. Of course if you love both (like me) you probably have already checked it.Region 4 DVD: the single disc edition is great. It has a lot of extras but my favourites are the interview made by Seth MacFarlane to George Lucas, a feature with the references to "Star Wars" from the show and the hilarious introduction to the episode. Also contains one complete episode of the show, "North by North Quahog", that is just hilarious.
mithgon
Okay, most people seem to like Season 6's Ep. 1; and being one of the kids how grew up with SW in the 80's, there is nothing I enjoy more than a good comical shot at SW. I can waste hours watching parodies on YouTube.Having said this, you may understand that I was excited about this Episode, with the fanboy/insider title "Blue Harvest". Yet, after watching the 45 min version on DVD, I feel disappointed and annoyed.Why? The parody has no respect for the original material! You might say that this is the whole point, but no, the best spoofs and parodies emerge from love for the original material. Here, we observe a desire to ridicule it and rip it apart. Many scenes (and especially the score) are perfectly recreated. I was stunned by the accuracy. But mix that with Obi-Wan being a horny, child-molesting pervert, a talking R2-D2 and too many random family-guyesque (for lack of a better term) scenes (e.g., the couch steeling? almost like Hitler on a one-wheeled bike juggling fresh fish; indeed, that is seen in FamilyGuy), and you get this mess.Put another way, a line as "The Force penetrates us!" is only funny when the surroundings are not so perfect that we feel we see the actual thing. Then it is not poking fun at good old memories, it violates these memories. Here, the technical perfection actually hinders the cause (to make fun and entertain) To be fair, there are redeeming moments and ideas: Stewie as DV was awesome, as was the whole discussion about fixing the DeathStar's weakness ("Okay, we get contractors' offers."). Also the cantina dialog "Isn't a parsec a measure of distance?" - really funny.However, if one screws up the final fight between OW and DV that badly (Obi gets an erection and is killed a second later?! What the ...), the overall verdict must be: Almost the worst SW parody ever! (Worst: the Simpsons' Duel of the Fates)
sternn01
This was nothing short of TV gold.Every once in awhile I see something on television that is pure magic from start to finish, and this particular show was one of them...This episode was an homage to the film, and even though they "Family-Guy'ed" it with their edgy humour, it was still a brilliant piece of work, with some of the scenes being almost shot-for-shot from the movie. It is obvious that Seth MacFarlane and the rest of the creators are die-hard Star Wars fans.And it was neat to see they went with the original version, not the George Lucas-ized, Greedo-shoots-first version.
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