Family Guy Presents Blue Harvest DVD Review

Posted by George H. Sirois on 01.14.2008

"Princess Leia was coming back from buying space groceries when this happened…"




Back in 1982, when Lucasfilm Ltd. was busy shooting the third installment of the Star Wars saga, Return of the Jedi, the production staff felt it necessary to use a fake name to limit fan interference and also not get ripped off regarding the supplies they needed. If materials for props were purchased from a company that knew they’re for a Star Wars film, then the costs would have been more expensive than if they were just for an ordinary film with no history.

So the production team shot the film under the name Blue Harvest with the tagline: “Horror Beyond Imagination.” This trick worked until Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher showed up on the set, but at least the new name served its purpose at the beginning.

This story is well-known among many different Star Wars fans around the world, and it just so happens that some of those fans work as writers, directors, designers and voices on Fox’s hit show “Family Guy.” Throughout all six seasons, there have been numerous pop culture references that have to do with Star Wars, and Fox felt that in order for those gags to continue on the show, creator and executive producer Seth McFarlane had to get permission from Lucasfilm.

Not only did Lucasfilm approve the use of the references, but it turns out that George Lucas is a big fan of the show. So Seth took the opportunity and asked if it would be okay if they did a full episode dedicated to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Lucas gave his blessing – and even approved the use of the original John Williams score – and lifelong Star Wars fan Alec Sulkin was tagged by the staff to write the hour-long episode. (Sulkin is notorious in the writers’ room for putting in the most Star Wars references on the show.) Sulkin knew of the “Blue Harvest” story and used that as the title for the episode.

Which brings us to this DVD: “Family Guy Presents Blue Harvest.”

Whether or not you’re a fan of the show or of the original movie, Blue Harvest is one of the funniest episodes in the entire run. Part of the fun is seeing all of the characters playing the different characters in the movie, and seeing their own personalities come out. Chris Griffin plays Luke Skywalker, Peter Griffin plays Han Solo and Lois is Princess Leia (which makes it even creepier than the original films, since while they learn that they’re brother and sister after they have a kiss in Episode V, Chris and Lois play mother and son on the show). Stewie makes a perfect Darth Vader, Mayor Adam West is Grand Moff Tarkin, and Quagmire & Cleveland are great as C-3PO and R2-D2.

The writing in this episode is top-notch, since McFarlane, Sulkin and the rest of the production staff are such big Star Wars fans that they pack the episode with tons of in-jokes and also apply character traits to each character that is being interpreted here. C-3PO makes sure to get some sex while on the Jawas’ Sandcrawler. Chewbacca (as played by Brian Griffin) is the real brains of the Millennium Falcon while Han Solo is insistent on taking a couch out of the Death Star trash compactor. Obi-Wan Kenobi (as played by Herbert, the old pedophile on Spooner St.) immediately takes an uncomfortable liking to Luke. And Darth Vader… well, there’s not much of a difference between him and Stewie.

The designers are just as much fans of the film and they have tackled this project like a labor of love. So many sequences are such an exact match with Episode IV that, when the episode first premiered, everyone (myself included) thought that the designers just roto-scoped the film and animated over the frames. According to everyone involved with the production, that was not the case. Everything in this is hand-drawn, believe it or not! And it all looks fantastic. As a Star Wars fan, you couldn’t ask for a more faithful parody.

If all of this was released as a standard Family Guy DVD, it would still be worth the price, but not only was the execution of the episode a labor of love for all involved, the DVD was as well. Just looking at the opening of the main menu shows this, since it opens exactly like a regular Star Wars DVD starts. The music kicks in, the title recedes into space with images of the film inside the title logo, and then it moves on to give you the menu options. (The font for the options is exactly the same as the Star Wars DVDs as well.)

After you watch the episode – and keep in mind that there are several added scenes that you didn’t see on either the Fox or Cartoon Network broadcasts – the extras will keep this disc in your player for at least another hour. There’s a great commentary track with McFarlane, Sulkin, director Dominic Polcino, and other crew members where they talk about how this episode came about, who contributed various gags, and they even bring up a potential gag planned for their parody on The Empire Strikes Back.

The animatic version of the episode shows the animated storyboards and an earlier draft of the script. There is “Once in a Lifetime: The Making of Blue Harvest,” a 20-minute long featurette that covers the production of the entire episode and makes mention of the various Star Wars gags used on the regular show. And speaking of those gags, another extra shows us a package of those gags that lasts about five minutes.

Out of all these extras, the one I was most looking forward to was Seth’s conversation with George Lucas. Seth asks him about his time as a younger filmmaker and the friendly competition he had with Spielberg, De Palma, Milius and all the other filmmakers of that era. He talks about his downtime and how he likes spending it with his kids, his Tivo that is filled with episodes of Family Guy, and Lucas knocks down a rumor about the production of the original film that Seth’s friends in college insisted was true. Lucas and Seth come off in this interview as old friends and out of all of Lucas’ interviews, here he comes off as more likeable than any other time.

The extras end with a promo for the show and a quick glance at some upcoming episodes. Here is the real disappointment because it was earlier promised that we would get an early look at Family Guy’s sequel to Blue Harvest “Something Something Something Dark Side” and a table reading of the completed script. Unfortunately, that’s not here.

You have the option of getting either the regular disc or the special edition, which has the disc, some extra 3-D sequences, a pair 3-D glasses, a T-shirt, trading cards, a letter from McFarlane and a brochure. The special edition is priced at only $10 more than the regular edition.

The 411: A fantastic parody from start to finish of Star Wars, “Family Guy Presents Blue Harvest” is the perfect addition to your DVD collection. Its writing, the performances and the design are all spot-on, and the DVD allows you to hear the uncensored audio track and a slew of extras that show just how much love for Star Wars these people have. I would have loved to have seen the preview of the second take on the original trilogy, but that omission shouldn’t keep you from enjoying everything here. Highly recommended!

Final Score:  9.5   [  Amazing ]