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Family Guy: Something, Something, Something Dark Side
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (25th January 2010). |
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The Film
 What's great about "Family Guy" (1999-Present) is that it's endlessly quotable, I can't even remember specific episodes anymore, it's just about the lines and scenes that stick out the most. To be honest it all melds together into one long endless series of flashbacks, endless pop-culture references and over-the-top sight gags and humor. Taking its usual formula, they apply it to the "Star Wars" series (1977-2005) with great affection to its source and an equal amount of funny. Like any show of its ilk, there are great episodes and not so great, as well as ones that fall in the middle with a mixture of gags that work and gags that don't. Luckily for fans the "Star Wars" episodes are filled to the brim with hilarious doses of comedy only geeks could love. The usual "Family Guy" episodes are filled with numerous "Star Wars" references the producers just decided to go ahead and create their own "Star Wars" parody episodes all with the blessing of George Lucas. The first installment, "Family Guy: Blue Harvest" parodies "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope" (1977) and this, the second, parodies "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back" (1980), a third which parodies "Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi" (1983) is on its way entitled "Family Guy: We Have a Bad Feeling About This." The "Blue Harvest" episode was wonderfully filled with all the flaws and ill-logic that many fans have pondered over for years, and the gags reflected these flaws. A personal favorite is Darth Stewie (Seth MacFarlane) questioning the vulnerability of the exhaust port on the Death Star... that scene is brilliantly funny. While no new ground is broken here, the episode covers everything fans have shook their heads at but that never let it get in the way of the awe-inspiring adventure tale that the original trilogy was for so many. While this installment does some of that, the overall humor doesn't focus on the flaws of "Empire" playing out instead as a play-by-play of the film with some jokes thrown in, many of them taken from the "Family Guy" world of re-usuable jokes (the hurt knee gag is one that instantly comes to mind). For every "Star Wars" geek based joke there's a typical "Family Guy" joke thrown in. The Hoth sequences were among my favorites of this episode, Chris (Seth Green) crawling into the Tauntaun, the cookie monster as the Hoth Wampa and the invasion of the rebel base are faithfully recreated and highlight some ludicrous moments as well. Some geek in-jokes and sound effects add to the whole "Star Wars" experience, tying it all nicely at the end. There's not a whole much one can say about this, other than it's a cool way to pay homage to the series and offers up some tried and true gags that have become a recurring thing in the regular series of "Family Guy." If you liked the first installment and are a big enough fan of both "Family Guy" and "Star Wars" then it's a no brainer purchase especially considering the wealth of new quotes you'd get from watching this, newcomers might be a little put off by the specific humor.
Video
Presented in the show's original full screen ratio of 1.33:1 this high-definition image is 1080p 24/fps and mastered using AVC MPEG-4 compression. The show's animation style is slick and colorful, like many animated shows of its like, the animation process and technology improves and this image is about as solid as they come. Lines are bold and show no pixelation, colors are bright and vivid, especially blacks which are deep and bold. There aren't any noticeable artifacts, compression issues, blurred lines or edge-enhancement. The image is crisp, clean and wonderfully presented here.
Audio
A single English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track mixed at 48kHz/24-bit is the only audio option available here. The audio is not as broad reaching as most action or sci-films, and considering they're parodying a "Star Wars" films, but the audio track is suitable with recognizable sound effects, ample music cues that use the surround channels effectively and clean and distortion free dialogue which is expected. The mix is a 50/50 mix of front heavy audio and surround activity, but it's still a far more complex audio mix than most animated shows are afforded. Optional subtitles are included in English with hearing impaired, Dannish, Finnish, French, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Cantonese and Mandarin.
Extras
This 2-disc set is packed with an audio commentary, a trivia track, three featurettes, an animatic scene-to-scene clip, bonus trailers and a digital copy of the film. Below is a closer look at these supplements. DISC ONE: The first supplement we've got is a feature-length audio commentary by executive producers Seth MacFarlane, Mark Hentemann and David Goodman, actor Seth Green, writer Kirker Butler, and director Dom Polcino. The usual gab-fest is presented here, the participants joke around, talk about who cool this project was to work on, their love for the "Star Wars" series, they comment on some key scenes, go on more than a few tangents but overall provide a neat, humorous and entertaining track to listen to. I'd have like to hear some more from the technical side regarding the animation and perhaps more from the voice cast but this is suitable. Next you can view the episode with the "Family Guy Fact-Ups" pop-up trivia track, this track offers up some more funnies, as well as info on the "Family Guy" series as well as "Star Wars" it's definitely worth checking out if you're a fan... but then again if you're a big enough fan of either then you'll likely already know what's presented here. "The Dark Side of Poster Art" is a cool featurette that runs for 9 minutes 18 seconds and takes a look at the creation of the poster and box art for this release. I love clips that focus on the creative aspects of productions as they take a closer look at emulating the classic original one-sheet poster for "Empire." Animatic scene-to-scene comes with audio commentary by director Dom Polcino and runs for 6 minutes 36 seconds. This is a comparison of the early pencil sketch animation (rough animation) and the final output and provides viewers with a chance to see the development of a scene as the director talks us through it. "Family Guy: Something, Something, Something Dark Side Table Read" featurette runs for 49 minutes 27 seconds. Before every episode is recorded the cast get together for a table read as they literally read the script together for the first time. This allows the writers and directors to flesh out bits that didn't quite work, add new jokes and get a chance to hear the script come to life. This is a cool look into the process of putting together an animated show and features the whole cast doing their thing. "Sneak Peak of Family Guy: We Have a Bad Feeling About This Table Read" featurette runs for 2 minutes 26 seconds, much like the previous clip this is a short clip from the table read of the next installment of these "Star Wars" parodies. Rounding out the extras are a collection of bonus trailers for: - "Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy" - "Family Guy: Volume Seven" - "The Marine 2" - "Jennifer’s Body" - "Gentlemen Broncos" DISC TWO: This second disc is a digital copy of the film.
Overall
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