Family Guy: Something, Something, Something Dark Side

Fox network's Something, Something, Something Dark Side is the second part of Fox's Family Guy spoof on the original Star Wars holy trilogy, this time parodying The Empire Strikes Back, with the animated-series characters portraying the movie cast. Once again Chris Griffin is Luke, Stewie is Darth Vadar, Lois is Princess Leia, Brian is Chewbacca, and Peter is Han Solo. Some interesting stunt casting has nebbish Mort Goldman as Lando Calrissian and the Giant Chicken as Boba Fett, while Meg is once again reduced to embodying a hideous space creature, although at least she gets a line of dialogue. The animation is more impressive than the jokes, which are scattered all over the galaxy—the good (an Empire recruitment film), the bad (Yoda's teachings revolving around guy-movie trivia), and the ugly (wholly gratuitous—and unedited—profanity). Devoted viewers will catch in-jokes within other in-jokes (the title here actually comes from the show's season five episode “Barely Legal,” in which the Emperor discovers the formula for great Star Wars dialogue). Look for celebrity cameos by James Caan, George Takei, and Don Knotts, among others. DVD/Blu-ray extras include lively (and at times slanderous) audio commentary by creator and costar Seth MacFarlane, costar Seth Green, writer Kirker Butler, director Dominic Polcino, and others, as well as a script table read, and trivia pop-ups. Exclusive to the Blu-ray edition is a bonus digital copy. Optional. (D. Liebenson)