Something, Something, Something, Dark Side

Another power cut hits the Griffin household leaving them devoid of any form of media to distract them from one another. Faced with the horror of family conversation, Peter tells a story that follows on from his previous tale, following the young Jedi Luke and the Rebellion as they fight the forces of the Empire in a galaxy far, far away.

As with Blue Harvest before it, this "film" was promoted on DVD in the UK despite being less than an hour long. With my experience from Blue Harvest (where it screened for free on the BBC a few days after DVD release) I didn't buy it but did watch it for free when I got the chance because I did find that the previous Star Wars episode was very funny indeed. Ironically (considering they contrast with it), "Dark Side" echoes the second Robot Chicken Star Wars episode by managing to be both very funny but at the same time not quite as good as their first attempt.

The Family Guy special has the additional assistance of having the structure provided by Empire Strikes Back itself, rather than being all gags like RC was, and this does sustain it. Part of this is the value of Fox's FG being able to utilise the film and music as much as it does, so even if a specific moment isn't particularly funny, there is still the novelty value of it having the look and feel of the film itself. Of course this is not enough and it does help that, while not as rapid fire as Robot Chicken, this special is still very funny thanks to the usual Family Guy sense of humour and lots of clever gags at the gentle expense of Empire. Given that Family Guy does pop culture reference jokes, this is quite the partnership and does work well. I noticed more misses than in Blue Harvest, moments where I wasn't laughing, but the hits still outnumber these by quite some degree. The characters are well used as before and I was quite pleased that Herbert/Obi-wan had significantly less time here, since I thought he was overused in the first special.

Generally the film (extended episode) works well because the target audience will love the film and also get the sense of humour with which Family Guy affectionately spoofs it. This does have more misses in it than Blue Harvest but it is still very funny and worth seeing (although not worth the full cost of a DVD). Biggest laugh is saved for the end, with a repeat of the ribbing of Seth Green (Chris) really hitting the mark.