Despite the fact that the creators of Family Guy are pretty much writing the gags for themselves these days (by their own admission) Something, Something, Something, Dark Side still lives up to its genius potential. Loaded with in-jokes and great references to the original film, The Empire Strikes Back, it’s a perfectly pitched parody that will be watched over and over again. Fans of both the original film and the TV series won’t be disappointed with the level of detailed parallels that have been wedged between the cheeks of a slightly chubby Han Solo.
However, these days with DVDs it’s not just the film that has to be good, it’s all of the add-ons, commentary, out-takes, interviews etc. that take a film from good to cult status. With Something, Something, Something, Dark Side, the extras are a little bit rubbish, which is a big let down. The commentary gives you a chance to find out about the in-jokes you’ve missed in the film and the poster art adaptation is interesting and disturbing all at the same time, but it just feels like the producers of the DVD missed out on an opportunity to do some really cool things.
That’s not to say that it isn’t worth buying, because if we were back in the old VHS/Betamax days we wouldn’t have anything to say about it other than how class the film is. The animation is stunning, bringing in a little computer animation without necessarily losing Family Guy’s classic hand-drawn look and feel and there are a lot of laughs that tie in to the TV series as much as they lampoon the George Lucas movie behemoth.
The way that Something, Something, Something, Dark Side manages to cleverly mix the storyline of Star Wars with the characters of Family Guy is nothing less than brilliant. Meg is one of the funniest, both in terms of her conspicuous absence from the majority of the film and her brief appearance with comic genius, but we’re not going to give it away.
On top of that, the whole production has been put together with so much love and attention to detail that it looks genuinely impressive. The fight scenes with light sabres, the Millenium Falcon and the Imperial Fleet are stunning considering they’re all animated creations. It’s lucky for us that Fox didn’t cancel the show for good back in 2002.
Family Guy Something, Something, Something, Dark Side DVD review: 3.9/5
