This uncensored feature puts the cast of Family Guy back into a galaxy far, far away where Chris (Seth Green) as Luke Skywalker begins his true Jedi training under Yoda/Carl, while Peter (Seth MacFarlane) as Han escapes from the ice-world of Hoth with Lois (Alex Borstein) as Leia, Brian as Chewie and Quagmire as C-3PO (both voiced by MacFarlane), with Stewie (also MacFarlane) as Darth Vader hot on their heels. Quite frankly, I don't feel like going through the plot of Empire in this review. If you aren't familiar with it, then this movie probably isn't going to appeal to you anyway. Suffice it to say that every major (and most minor) plot points from the original feature make it into this spoof, and Something, Something, Something, Dark Side still manages to put in tons of digs into the movie, as well as punching hole after hole in the plot.
The show is also filled with inside jokes that both fans of the movie and series will love. Between inserting Family Guy running gags (like Peter grabbing his knee and gasping), the rivalry between Peter and the Giant Chicken (who takes on the role of Boba Fett, of course) and Stewie's closet homosexuality, the show feels like a lengthy Family Guy episode. This special hasn't aired yet, and it will be interesting to see how the movie gets broken up and edited when it does hit the air-waves since there are quite a few bits of foul language that are sure to be bleeped out or dubbed over as this release's "Uncensored" rating is well earned (well... mostly in the language department. It's not like there is any nudity or anything - it is still a Family Guy production).
The movie's special features include a documentary on what went into painting the movie poster which is just as much a spoof of the original Empire Strikes Back poster as this movie is. The movie also comes with an amusing fact pop-up feature as well where you not only get a running count of the number of voices MacFarlane does, but also notes about the various running gags and inside notes about the production in general. Since the movie itself is worth multiple watchings just to get all the jokes, you might as well turn on this feature during one of those run through just to get the added humor. The bonus features I really enjoyed though were the two table reads as the actors sat around and went through the script in-voice. Not only is there almost an hour of Something, Something, Something, Dark Side done in this manner, but a couple of minutes of the next feature, We Have a Bad Feeling About This, which has Leia rescuing Han from his carbonite prison and being cornered by Jabba. What makes this so enjoyable is seeing MacFarlane switch between his many voices on the fly.
Needless to say, I really enjoyed this movie and can't wait for the new one to come out. If you are even a casual fan of either Family Guy or Star Wars, then both this movie and Blue Harvest belong in your collection. As for the Blu-ray version of Something, Something, Something, Dark Side, the animation was crisp and clean in HD and of course the boosted fidelity in the surround sound doesn't hurt either.
