Family Guy takes on Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in "Something, Something, Something Dark Side"

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With the success of the 2007 Star Wars parody episode Blue Harvest, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, writer Kirker Butler, co-developer David Zuckerman and director Dominic Polcino returned to that galaxy far, far away to skewer the second entry of the Star Wars Classic Trilogy, The Empire Strikes Back.

The result: Family Guy's 148th aired episode, Something Something Something Dark Side, which mixes a condensed retelling of George Lucas's Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and the sometimes tawdry humor of the animated comedy series which Fox has canceled - and renewed - twice.

As in both Blue Harvest and It's a Trap! (the concluding chapter of Laugh It Up Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy), Something Something Something Dark Side begins with the Griffin clan (voices of Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green and Mila Kunis) losing their electricity while watching television and paterfamilias Peter telling wife Lois, sons Chris and Stewie, daughter Meg and dog Brian the story of The Empire Strikes Back.

What follows is a hilarious yet faithful spoof of what is considered to be the best entry in the Star Wars saga, with the Griffin family and supporting characters recast as the heroes and villains of The Empire Strikes Back.

Peter and Lois pair off as Han Solo and Princess Leia, Chris steps into the role of Jedi-in-training Luke Skywalker, baby Stewie plays Darth Vader, Meg gets a brief cameo as the space slug and Brian the dog is Chewbacca the Wookiee. R2-D2 and C-3PO are portrayed by Cleveland Brown (Mike Henry) and Quagmire. Lando Calrissian is performed by Mort Goldman (John G. Brennan), while Yoda is played by Carl (Jon Benjamin).

As in Blue Harvest, Something Something Something Dark Side closely resembles the look of The Empire Strikes Back; the CG and hand-drawn animation looks almost as though the artists rotoscoped actual footage from the original 1980 film but in fact they did not use this effects cheat.

This being Family Guy, the humor is - especially in the Blu-ray/DVD edition which was released before the edited version aired in 2010 - a mix of silly cultural references (when the Empire launches probe droids to find the Rebels, we see Elroy Jetson rocketing to his elementary school), bad puns (the Rebels on Hoth ride "dondons") and sardonic comments, some of them which point out flaws in the movie's logic:

Lois Griffin as Princess Leia: May I have everyone's attention, please? We're evacuating into outer space, with literally infinite directions in which to flee. However, we have decided that our transports will travel directly toward the fleet of Star Destroyers. Any questions?

Rebel Pilot: Yeah, um, is there someone from the military we can talk to? A man, perhaps?

This Family Guy presentation is not for everyone: the uncensored edition has adult-oriented humor, while overly sensitive Star Wars fans may be offended at the ribbing the saga is given here.

Nevertheless, as far as parodies of Star Wars go, this one is almost pitch-perfect and bitingly funny.

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