Something, Something, Something, Dark Side

“Let’s see Robot Chicken top this one.”

Swift shot: Star Wars and Family Guy lovers will be thrilled – Fox removed their censors this time – so, you actually get your money’s worth.  You won’t hear any beeps except for R2D2’s beep boop beep.  Using classic parody, creator Seth MacFarlane fires his own blasts at George Lucas in not so subtle criticisms of The Empire Strikes Back. Enjoy this one, you will.

What does the force mean to you?  To Seth MacFarlane it means watching the unrated version of Van Wilder with all the frat stuff in there – and knowing that Kathy Bates or the naked old ghost in The Shining were the worst on-screen nude scenes Hollywood has to offer.  Who is the best naked on-screen scene?  You will have to pop this baby into your DVD or Bluray player to find out.  Oh, sure, you could probably google the whole damned film – but that wouldn’t be much fun – and would clearly lead you on a path to the dark side.

So, the story begins a long time ago, when the gays weren’t all in your face about it.  The rebel alliance has set up shop on a distant planet hoping to evade imperial detection, but, you know this story . . . and if you don’t, what, you live in a cave that isn’t a cave?

What you don’t know is how much fun you are going to have watching this for the first time.  The whole menagerie of Family Guy cast members make an appearance in Dark Side – some cameos will flat out surprise you – I know they shocked me with some of the choices.  As with Blue Harvest (A New Hope parody), Mila Kunis as Meg has a minor appearance.  But, the rest of the primary cast are back with a vengeance.  Trying to guess which Family Guy character will portray certain Empire Strikes Back characters is fun too.

The attention to detail and the graphic representation and care shown to the original Empire Strikes Back is noteworthy at times and downright silly, or stupid, at others.  With  most comedies, I am always wary to point out what you will think is funny, because I don’t know you.  You could be a fucking lunatic clown killer or a closeted Amish butter churner stashing your laptop under your floorboards.  But, I can say without a doubt that you will enjoy all the little pop-culture references tossed into Dark Side.

At times you may find yourself rolling your eyes, and if you aren’t a fan of Family Guy to begin with, you may not get some of the more subtle or older referenced themes.  And, they do go back to some of the older material in Dark Side.

I don’t want to reveal too much in the review, because as with most Family Guy episodes the left-field references really drive the humor – and I don’t want to put a dampener on your experience. I watched it twice now, and the second time I watched it the comedy was a little flat, because I knew what was coming.  Though, you won’t.

And simply put, you MUST see this with a friend – watching it alone is like masturbating to Van Wilder on Comedy Central – yes, I went there – it’s 2010 – DEAL WITH IT!  Just enjoy this one and don’t you dare watch it censored!