Family Guy: Blue Harvest

(2007)

directed by Dominic Polcino

reviewed by Jonathan Rocks

02.05.2008

In the history of pop culture cross-promotion, there may not have ever been a more successful convergence of two more hugely popular and vastly disparate entities such as "Star Wars" and "Family Guy." "Star Wars", the much venerated, fiercely defended brainchild of director George Lucas, is no doubt the more widely known of the two. However, it is not necessarily the title that wields more power over the current generation of the money-spending public. And thus we have "Blue Harvest", successfully planting the Star Wars seed in the minds of a new generation of fans, while proving that Lucas and Co. are not above poking fun at themselves.

"Blue Harvest", named after the working title of "Star Wars IV", is a direct remake of the first film, insofar as it crams all of the main beats of the Star Wars film into a neat, 48 minute package. It's all here-- the Cantina, the Death Star, and of course Darth Vader. The jokes are about as spot on as Family Guy has been in years, proving Seth McFarlane and his writers must have been eager to deliver not only for George Lucas, but also the legions of die-hard Star Wars fans out there. The only hiccup I found in the entire film was a musical scene between Obi-Wan (Herbert) and Luke (Chris Griffin.) I didn't think that it fit in with the rest of the film, and music cues seem to be a Family Guy staple when they need about a 5 minute scene to fill out one of their scripts.

Overall, "Blue Harvest" was hilarious. It was incredibly successful in lampooning the film, while making sure never to venture into flat out mockery. Given the track record of this show, that is a feat that must have required an incredible amount of restraint. It's rumored that the next few seasons of Family Guy will each begin with a different Star Wars themed episode, following the same order that the films were released. Truth be told, I hope they make it all the way to the prequels, because I'd really like to see what they could do with everyone's favorite character, Jar Jar Binks.

Score: 4.5 out of 5

Purchase this DVD at Amazon.com: Family Guy: Blue Harvest