Coming Up on DVD: Something Something Something Darkside

Family Guy: Something Something Darkside comes to DVD and Blu-ray on December 29th.  The following contributed article previews what you can expect from the DVD release!

That’s right: it’s the intergalactic story of the Empire Strikes Back, as re-imagined by Peter Griffin and his motley crew!
The Griffin clan are off on yet another adventure in this latest new release DVD, and this time, they’re taking it to the next level – outer space.
Something Something Something DarkSide is the official sequel to Blue Harvest, the season six episode of Family Guy had Peter Griffin telling the Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope story to his family during a blackout.

Family Guy writer Kirker Butler confirms that the minds behind the hilarious animated sitcom are Star Wars fanatic, hence the frequent references.
“There are a few huge Star Wars nerds on staff:” [creator] Seth [MacFarlane], David Goodman, Alec Sulkin (who wrote Blue Harvest) and myself are easily the biggest,” he tells GalacticBinder.com.

“So, it was just a given that if Blue Harvest was successful, we’d do an Empire episode, and I just happened to be fortunate enough to get the gig. But because all of our shows are so collaborative I can in no way take full credit for the episode. That being said, all the good jokes are mine!”
He adds, “The Empire Strikes Back is by far my favorite movie ever, so to be able to have my name on this episode is without a doubt a career high.”

Naturally, the role of Darth Vader is filled by young Stewie, who spends every waking minute hunting the galaxy to find rebel Luke Skywalker (Chris) and his troops.

Luke, meanwhile, is safely hidden away on the ice planet Hoth, where he has a vision of his late mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Herbert). Obi-Wan tells him to go to the Dagobah system to learn the ways of the Force under Jedi Master Yoda (Carl), so Luke quickly heads in that direction – until he learns that his friends are in trouble.

Princess Leia (Lois) and Han Solo (Peter), who are taking a romantic shine to one another, have landed in the dangerous clutches of the Empire, forcing Luke to intervene. It all comes to a head in a climactic confrontation between the young Jedi and Darth Vader himself…

It almost seems that you need to be a Star Wars buff to even be considered for a job working with Seth MacFarlane, as Butler reveals, “Our animators are some of the best in the business, and most of them are also huge Star Wars fans, so their contributions have been invaluable. They deserve as much credit for the success of these shows as the writers do.”

MacFarlane also confirms that it’s not just the Star Wars trilogies that he adores.

He reunited the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation for a special ep in season seven. In this episode, Quahog hosts its annual Star Trek convention with cast members of The Next Generation as guests. Stewie is desperate to ask his favorite stars about the show, but when he’s unable to talk to them during the Q&A session, he builds a transporter to beam the cast to his bedroom so he can spend the day getting to know them.

“We’d also love to do the Indiana Jones series, at least the first three,” MacFarlane tells CraveOnline.com. “I guess Peter would be Indy. Lois would be Marion. And Stewie would be Short Round!”

It’s no wonder that Butler enjoys his job. When a hard day at the office involves kicking around ideas for future film parodies and working out how the squeeze in yet another controversial gag, it’s clear that the team behind Family Guy have plenty of fun making the show.

“We do have a really good time, but there’s always a lot of work to get done – that is, if you consider sitting around all day making each other laugh, work,” Butler says. “There’s not a lot of practical jokes but there is a lot of ball busting. Usually it’s pretty good-natured!

*This sponsored article is provided courtesy of Ultimate Magazine for Sanity Entertainment, the place to buy DVD box sets and the best selling TV shows.

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