By Fred Topel | Image property of respective holders
Something, Something, Something Dark Side
If Empire Strikes Back is possibly the best Star Wars movie, Something, Something, Something Dark Side could be the best of Family Guy’s spoof trilogy. Hopefully they’ll still top it with their Jedi spoof, but they definitely took Blue Harvest to the next level.
Something, Something, Something Dark Side
The opening scroll calls out Fox stockholders. That’s way bolder than the Angelina Jolie thing. It’s not even just in the Simpsons way of “Oh, isn’t Fox stupid.” It’s vicious, and it’s right.
They’ve got details down to how Luke’s wounds look, and then just random stuff like Don Knotts showing up. It seems like having a story established gives them the freedom for pure irreverence. They don’t have to worry about the plot. That’s taken care of.
They do sexism, racism and just plain immaturity. Darth Vader farts. They’re mean to celebrities and they use the ability for full profanity sparingly and effectively. The AT-AT provides the best payoff to a running joke ever, and Cleveland gets to reprise his too.
Showing the empire having normal social conversations is never not funny. The “I Love You” moment is great, as is the carbonite imprint, which we’ll get to see again in Jedi. They even pointed out something I never noticed in all the times I’ve seen Empire.
It’s not just Star Wars. They hit American Idol, The Real World, Van Wilder, Teen Wolf, Back to the Future Part II and old gum commercials. You can actually hear the hiss in the old Juicy Fruit jingle.
I was just disappointed in the casting of Yoda. I don’t even recognize the Family Guy character, and I certainly would have liked such an important figure to be played by someone more integral to <B>Family Guy</b>.
The Blu Ray looks fantastic, even though it’s not widescreen HD. The colors are so bright, the shading provides distinct hues, the lines are sharp yet it has dimensionality within 2-D animation. The thruster lights and laser blasts glow like old blue opticals did. The orange clouds and red sky of Cloud City look beautiful.
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