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Now back to our regularly scheduled Blogging.
If you were to make a pie graph of all the bloggers in America, a small sliver of this absolutely tasty mathematical representation have never seen Star Wars.
"I stole this off of a window like in the old Tom & Jerry cartoons"
Seriously, at what point hasn't a blog had even a loose reference to the Holy Trilogy? An observation about a bit of casting in a new movie: "I have a bad feeling about this..." or comparing any number of political figures to the Evil Galactic Empire or even the millions of fanboys bleeding their love for slave costume-clad Leias. It's out there, and love them or hate them (re-releases and all) every fan of the series has wanted to create Star Wars in their own image.
But working part-time at the Game Stop and paying your mom rent and half the total for this month's groceries doesn't allow for the expendable cash to make your dream reality. It's sad, but we've all had to face this truth.
Enter Seth McFarlane.
"Artist's Rendering"
The man, the myth. The heart, soul, cock and balls behind Family Guy. A show that's been killed and resurrected more times than Caprica 6... A show that quickly found that PC barrier we all hate and smashed it like the Berlin Wall. A show that speaks to and for it's loyal viewers. And that is what I'm getting to. What better show to take the King of Trilogies and make it it's own?
This movie (let's admit it... it was a movie, more so than the Stewie Griffin 3 episode arc) had everything that a Star Wars and Family Guy fan could want! It had the sillyness of Family Guy, the appeal of Star Wars and the testicles to poke fun at everything. The Family Guy fan will enjoy the pot jokes, the outside-the-box references, and, for my money, the best Meg insult to date. The Star Wars fan will enjoy the incredible visuals (or recreations, masterfully done) and awe of the original movie and the one scene that defines every Star Wars fan: The TIE Fighter attack where Peter starts singing the John Williams score. We've all done it, admit it. If you love both, the beautifully intertwining of the styles, stories and characters makes you appreciate each separate entity on an entirely new level. And if you don't like either... you should not be reading this blog site... Go away.
There are 2 aspects of this movie that I believe make Family Guy Blue Harvest stand out as a truly genius piece of art, and they are none too subtle.
1) The entire running gag with the couch. Everyone in this world has either attempted to move a couch through a door that is way too small for it fit through without some sort of quantum physics (or just unscrew the legs) or seen someone attempt said action in person. If they would have ended the joke after they try to load the couch into the Millennium Falcon while still doing the "turn it this way, turn it that way" bit and being fired at by the ever-expert shooting of movie bad guys, I would have felt a little letdown. But they took it the next level with the escape from the Death Star flying shot. For anyone who has had the misfortune of helping someone move a piece of furniture in a vehicle that was too small or ill-equipped for such an act, ie college, they appreciate the swing shot of Peter still on the outside of the Millennium Falcon, holding the couch in place and saying in a half irritated, half scared shitless tone "Easy!" Classic "funny because it's true" moment. And like any good comedy, the comedic red herring makes a comeback in the most unusual and non-foreshadowed scene possible... The couch becomes the new seats in the cockpit of Peter and Brian's space ship. Classic and brilliant.
2) The writers of this parody realized that every Star Wars fan both loves and loathes these movies. Even the Sacred 3... not as much as the prequels, but they hate these movies. They nitpick everything. They know the movies so well, they find the faults that scream at them every time they watch it. It's like that stain commercial (...you know, that one) and it's so obvious and annoying to them, the average person thinks this little Jedi fiend is batshit crazy because they're convinced that the mouse droid sounds completely different in the re-released version than the 1977 original. But the writers KNEW this and they went with it. They had George Lucas' blessing and free run of all things Star Wars, so they just took off and did what the Hell they wanted. "A long time ago, but somehow in the future..." Awesome! "My God! You shoot small animals for fun? That's the first indicator of a serial killer, you freak!" So true! "Great kid! Don't get penis-y!" Pure comic genius... Dick and fart joke comedy, but genius nonetheless!
So all said and done, the "episode" was fantastic, and the special features are gold mines too. I'd recommend the commentary for Star Wars geek-out sessions. And I don't f around when it comes to DVDs, so the special edition came with a shirt, 3D glasses for the TIE Fighter scene and trading cards in the style of the old 1977 Star Wars Topps cards. Non essential, but fun to have.
Overall rating: 8 out of 10
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEnter Gus Shakey, official DVD reviewer of p0pcult. If we had the organization for a command hierarchy like that.
ReplyDeleteI loved this episode, but this Sunday's episode was probably the best thing I've seen out of family guy in three years.
What is the most unattractive male name in the English Language?
...Keith.