Family Guy: Something Something Dark Side [Blu-ray] [US Import]

Family Guy is back with a second Star Wars Episode. Honestly, it shouldn't matter if you are a fan of The Empire Strikes Back or not (I don't care much for A New Hope but loved the FG episode). Here is what you need to know: Is it funny? Sure, there are some laughs. Could it be better? I think so. Was it as funny as the last one? In my opinion, no.

Is it funny?-The fact that the episode had me laughing in the first few minutes was a good sign (the probe droid scene was probably my favorite scene in the episode). They do well to incorporate characters into funny yet familiar roles in the most random of times. You will laugh at this episode, so that should be worth something.

Could it be better?-Well...that is kind of my whole point here. There are so many missed opportunities in this episode to poke fun at Star Wars or other actors/actresses that are not taken advantage of. No Luke kissing Leia jokes...no Lando crossing his friends...no jokes about the Ugnaughts (pig people)...come on! Is it too predictable? Maybe...but it still deserves a shot. Besides the missed jokes, some parts were just not too funny, like the AT-AT jokes on Hoth.

Was it as funny as the last one?-I have my criticisms about Blue Harvest and they transfer over to this one too, but Blue Harvest just seemed to have the classic Family Guy humor to it whereas this one didn't.

In the end, I am glad they made this one, hopefully learned some lessons for when they make Return of the Jedi. If you are a Family Guy Fan, definitely buy it as it is worth seeing. Rewatch value is not as good as Blue Harvest, but still a worthwhile investment.

Thanks again for the laughs, Family Guy!!!

I'm assuming the majority of people reading this are familiar with Family Guy, and presumably Blue Harvest, and are therefore looking to see how this episode compares to Blue Harvest. Simply put, if you enjoyed Blue Harvest, rest assured you're likely going to enjoy this episode as well. My initial impressions rate this as comparable in quality to Blue Harvest, with enough "freshness" to keep it from feeling like a stale rehash, yet enough references to the first episode to hold the story together.

If by chance you haven't seen Blue Harvest, I'd recommend you see it first, as much like with Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, this episode continues the story and references previous jokes and plot points.

The Blu-ray edition comes with a digital copy of the episode, and is presented in 1.33:1 ratio (regular/full screen/standard/whatever you prefer to call it). The run time is between 54 and 55 minutes (the digital copy shows as 54:41), putting it 7 minutes, 8 seconds longer than Blue Harvest.

It's no secret that Star Wars had a big impact on Seth MacFarlane, as evident throughout the entire series run of Family Guy, which more often than not is loaded with Star Wars-related references and gags. Blue Harvest, the first Family Guy/Star Wars mash-up was a blast, as is Something Something Something Dark Side, which this time around finds the denziens of Family Guy riffing and paying homage to The Empire Strikes Back. Like Blue Harvest before it, Something Something Something Darkside is surprisingly faithful to the source material, and is very, very funny to boot (seeing Mort dressed up like Lando is hilarious on its own, and Peter/Han's retort to Lois/Leia's declaration of love is even more so). Even though this installment is a little longer in running time compared to Blue Harvest, as a whole it's still too short, but the end result still packs enough laughs for your time and attention.