Family Guyspoofed the originalStar Warstrilogy with three hilarious special episodes. InFamily Guy’s early seasons, every other cutaway featured aStar Warsreference; it was clear that the writers were big fans of George Lucas’ space opera. It was a stroke of genius to do a whole episode set in a galaxy far, far away, castingFamily Guycharactersin all the iconic roles and retelling the classic story with ZAZ-style cinematic satire. The ensuing episode, “Blue Harvest,” quickly became a fan-favorite, so, naturally, two sequels followed, tacklingThe Empire Strikes BackandReturn of the Jedi.
The producers even struck a deal with Lucasfilm to use all the right sound effects, design elements, and John Williams music, soFamily Guy’sStar Warsparodieshave an authentic feel that makes their tongue-in-cheek comedic content even funnier. Known collectively asLaugh It Up, Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy, these threeStar Warsparodies marked a high point inFamily Guy’s history. But some of these episodes were better than others.
3It’s A Trap!
By the time theFamily Guywriters parodiedReturn of the Jediin “It’s a Trap!,” their heart wasn’t in it anymore. They openly admit in the opening text crawl that they didn’t want to do a thirdStar Warsparody, but Fox wouldn’t let Seth MacFarlane take the time off to makeTedunless they finished the trilogy. So, they spoofedReturn of the Jedibegrudgingly, which is never the formula for great comedy. “It’s a Trap!” isFamily Guy’s most rote, uninspired, and by-the-numbersStar Warsparody by far.
As a half-hearted effort, “It’s a Trap!” is botha lacklusterFamily Guyepisodeand a massively underwhelming conclusion to the show’sStar Warsparody trilogy. But, while the behind-the-scenes doom and gloom shows in the laziness of the writing, there are still some really funny moments in “It’s a Trap!” In order to goad Luke into taking up his lightsaber, the Emperor roasts his voice actor Seth Green’s career. Plus, there’s a searing line about how few female characters there are in the originalStar Warsmovies. Even when it’s not really trying,Family Guycan deliver some laughs.
2Something, Something, Something, Dark Side
Family Guylampooned what is widely regarded to bethe bestStar Warsmovie,The Empire Strikes Back, in “Something, Something, Something, Dark Side.” And while it wasn’tFamily Guy’s bestStar Warsparody, it did come close. It’s hard to make fun of a perfect movie, because there are no obvious flaws to exploit, butFamily Guy’s writers still managed to come up with plenty of great gags. When Leia turns the Falcon back to pick up a one-handed Luke, “Turn the Ship Around” — a parody of Vicki Sue Robinson’s “Turn the Beat Around” — plays on the soundtrack.
A lot of the episode’s funniest moments come from recreating classicEmpiremoments withFamily Guy’s signature raunchy shock humor. When Leia tells Han, “I love you,”Family Guyreplaces Han’s “I know” with a much more direct “F*** off.” “Something, Something, Something, Dark Side” brilliantly subvertsEmpire’s iconic cliffhanger ending by replacing it with the cliffhanger ending of a different hit sequel,Back to the Future Part II.
1Blue Harvest
“Blue Harvest” isn’t justFamily Guy’s bestStar Warsparody; it’s one ofthe bestFamily Guyepisodes, period. Over the course of theLaugh It Up, Fuzzballtrilogy, the writers slowly became disillusioned with the additional workload of producing special hour-long episodes and lost their passion for spoofingStar Wars. But when they covered the original 1977 movie in “Blue Harvest,” that passion was alive and well. They were genuinely excited to reimagine their favorite movie as aFamily Guyepisode, and that enthusiasm shines through on the screen.
This episode is a non-stop stream of great gags. These gags range from spot-on lampoons of moments from the movie, like the cantina band playing the same song over and over again, to delightfully random non-sequiturs that have nothing to do withStar Wars, like Han and Chewie trying to get a second-hand couch from the Death Star’s trash compactor back to the Falcon. “Blue Harvest” isFamily Guyat its best: wonderfully absurdist, shockingly dark, and pop-culturally pitch-perfect. The show’s subsequentStar Warsparodies had their fair share of laughs, but they never reached the heights of “Blue Harvest.”
Family Guy
Cast
Family Guy is an animated series following the eccentric Griffin family. Led by bumbling patriarch Peter and long-suffering Lois, the family includes the sadistic baby Stewie, unpopular teenager Meg, dim-witted Chris, and Brian, their talking dog. The show explores their outlandish adventures in the fictional town of Quahog.
