| "Blue Harvest" | |||
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| Family Guy episode | |||
 Episode poster parody ofStar Wars "Style C" originally byTom Chantrell | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 6 Episode 1 | ||
| Directed by | Dominic Polcino | ||
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| Original air date | September 23, 2007 (2007-09-23) | ||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| Family Guyseason 6 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Blue Harvest" is the hour-longseason premiere of thesixth season of the Americananimated television seriesFamily Guy, and the first part of the series'Laugh It Up, Fuzzball trilogy. It originally aired onFox in the United States on September 23, 2007. The episode is a retelling andparody of the 1977 blockbuster filmStar Wars, recasting the show's characters asStar Wars characters, created with permission fromLucasfilm on the condition that the characters look exactly as they do in the movies. The plot followsPeter as he retells the story ofStar Wars while the electricity is out in their house.
The title is a reference to the working title ofReturn of the Jedi. The episode was written byAlec Sulkin and directed byDominic Polcino, and guest-starsChevy Chase,Beverly D'Angelo,Mick Hucknall,Rush Limbaugh, andJudd Nelson. The episode also includes recurring voice actorsLori Alan,Adam West,Ralph Garman,Danny Smith,John Viener,Steve Callaghan,Kirker Butler,Mark Hentemann,Johnny Brennan,Jon Benjamin,Phil LaMarr, andWally Wingert. It was viewed by 10.86 million viewers on its original broadcast.
The power goes out while theGriffins are watching television, and they are left with no other form of entertainment. While they wait for the power to return,Peter decides to retell the story ofStar Wars, beginning with "Part IV".
ARebel ship is captured by aStar Destroyer. On the ship are thedroidsC-3PO (Quagmire),R2-D2 (Cleveland) and the rebel leaderPrincess Leia (Lois). While the ship is boarded bystormtroopers, Leia tries to send anMPEG toObi-Wan Kenobi through R2, but encounters so many complications that R2 offers to deliver the message himself. Leia is captured byDarth Vader (Stewie) while R2 and 3PO flee toTatooine in an escape pod, where they are captured byJawas (one of whom isMort).
The droids are sold to a family of moisture farmers, whose nephewLuke Skywalker (Chris) wishes to join theRebellion and fight theEmpire. While cleaning the droids, Luke stumbles upon Leia's message inside R2, who later decides to leave the farm. Luke and C-3PO pursue him, but are attacked by Sand People. Luke is knocked out by one of them (Opie) and is found byObi-Wan Kenobi (Herbert), who takes them to his hut. Leia's message explains that R2 contains the plans to theDeath Star, which must be sent to her father on her home planet ofAlderaan and asks Obi-Wan to help. Obi-Wan tells Luke that he must learn the ways ofthe Force and accompany him to Alderaan, and gives him his ownlightsaber. Realizing that the Empire must be looking for the droids, Luke returns home to discover that his home has been destroyed and his aunt and uncle killed, along withJohn Williams.
Luke, Obi-Wan, and the droids travel toMos Eisley to find a pilot to take them to Alderaan. At a local cantina, they hire smugglerHan Solo (Peter) and hisWookiee co-pilotChewbacca (Brian), who agree to take them with their ship, theMillennium Falcon. The group is soon spotted by stormtroopers and they flee into space, evading the pursuing Star Destroyers before jumping intohyperspace. Leia is imprisoned on the Death Star, where commanding officerGrand Moff Tarkin (Adam West) has Alderaan destroyed. TheMillennium Falcon exits hyperspace and is captured by the Death Star's tractor beam and brought into its hangar bay. Disguising themselves as stormtroopers, Han and Luke along with Chewbacca set off to rescue the captive Princess while Obi-Wan goes to shut off the tractor beam and R2 and C3PO stay behind. Han, Luke and Chewie rescue Leia, and the four of them dive into a garbage chute to escape stormtroopers and find a couch in the garbage masher below. As they flee the Death Star, Obi-Wan turns off the tractor beam before being confronted by Darth Vader in a lightsaber duel. Vader strikes Obi-Wan down as the others board theFalcon, taking the couch with them.
TheFalcon journeys to the Rebel base atYavin IV, where the Rebels analyze the Death Star plans and find a weakness. Luke joins the assault team while Han collects his reward for the rescue and prepares to leave. The Rebel fighters (who also includeSimply Red,Helen Reddy,Redd Foxx,Red Buttons, theRed October and an anthropomorphic pack ofBig Red gum) attack the Death Star but suffer heavy losses during the assault. During his run, Luke hears Obi-Wan's voice telling him to use the Force, and he turns off his targeting computer. Vader appears with his own group of fighters, and is about to fire at Luke's starfighter when Han arrives in theFalcon and attacks Vader and his men, sending Vader's ship off into space. Guided by the Force, Luke fires into the port, destroying the Death Star, and he returns to the Rebel base with his friends to celebrate their victory.
Back at the Griffins' home, Peter wraps up the story as the power comes back on. Everyone thanks Peter for keeping them entertained, although Chris points out thatRobot Chicken already toldthat story. Peter dismisses and mocks the show, and Chris storms off.
"Blue Harvest" originally aired on September 23, 2007, as the premiere for thesixth season ofFamily Guy.[1][2] The episode was written byAlec Sulkin, who has been with the show since the fourth season.[2] It was directed by series veteranDominic Polcino, who has been directing for the series since its first season.[3] Series regularsPeter Shin and James Purdum served as supervising directors.[2] The episode's music was composed by Walter Murphy.[2]
Family Guy creatorSeth MacFarlane explained that the reason they made a parody ofStar Wars in particular was because the show's staff members were huge fans of the films.[4] They also choseStar Wars becauseLucasfilm allowed it.[4] MacFarlane stated that creating parodies based onRaiders of the Lost Ark orStar Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was originally considered, but they assumed they would be unable to gain permission from the owners of those properties (in this caseParamount Pictures).[4] Lucasfilm gave only one condition: that the characters had to look exactly like they do in the films.[4]
Clips of the episode were shown to audience members atStar Wars Celebration IV, where a panel was hosted by MacFarlane, Sulkin and Polcino, and executive producerDavid A. Goodman.[5][6] The episode was also previewed at the 2007Comic-Con International.[7]
In addition to the regular cast, actorsChevy Chase,Beverly D'Angelo, andJudd Nelson, musicianMick Hucknall, singerHelen Reddy, and political commentatorRush Limbaugh made guest appearances.[2] Recurring guest voice actorsPhil LaMarr,Johnny Brennan,Jon Benjamin,Lori Alan,Adam West,Ralph Garman, writerDanny Smith, writerJohn Viener, executive producerSteve Callaghan,Kirker Butler, executive producerMark Hentemann writerWally Wingert and Alec Sulkin also made minor appearances in the episode.[2]
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"Blue Harvest" contains many references to popular culture, particularly to theStar Wars film series. Most of the episode itself is a retelling of George Lucas' filmStar Wars.[8] The episode's name is a reference to the fake working title for the production ofReturn of the Jedi.[8]
When Peter is about to begin telling the story he says that it is about "love and loss, fathers and sons, and the foresight to retain international merchandising rights", a reference to the fact that20th Century Fox gave those rights to Lucasfilm.[4] During the text scrawl actressAngelina Jolie, her filmGia, and the television channelHBO are mentioned.[8]
One of theStar Destroyers displays a bumper sticker reading "Bush – Cheney" a reference toUnited States PresidentGeorge W. Bush andDick Cheney's2004 re-election campaign.[8] When Luke is watching the sunset, hebreaks the fourth wall by introducingStar Wars composerJohn Williams and theLondon Symphony Orchestra, who have been scoring the scene, in a parody of a scene fromBlazing Saddles featuringCount Basie and his orchestra.[8] Luke then asks the orchestra to play the theme ofThe People's Court.[8] Later in the episode when Luke finds his uncle and aunt murdered, he also finds that Williams and the entire orchestra have been killed as well; this saddens Luke, since the episode will now have to be scored by composerDanny Elfman before Luke decapitates him with his lightsaber.[8] While searching for R2-D2, Luke listens to conservative political commentatorRush Limbaugh'sradio show, in which Limbaugh says that the "liberal galactic media is saying that the planetHoth is melting".[8]
One of the band members that plays at the cantina asks for any song request and then he subtly responds to his own question by saying "play that same song," a reference to the fact that the song being played in the film scene lasts a long time.[9]
Obi-Wan sings a rendition of "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" from the filmDirty Dancing, in case he never sees Luke again.[8] In a fight with a group ofTIE fighters, Luke asks the origins behind their name; the following scene then shows that the pilots are from Thailand. Leslie Nielsen's character from the movieAirplane! wishes Han good luck during their encounter with the TIE fighters.[9] When seeking how to destroy the Death Star, the rebels look at an instructional video hosted by basketball playerMagic Johnson.[9] Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo's characters from theNational Lampoon's Vacation films appear driving by the Death Star.[8] Chris, who is voiced bySeth Green, points out thatRobot Chicken already did aStar Wars parody (Green is the creator ofRobot Chicken).[8]
In its original broadcast on September 23, 2007, "Blue Harvest" was viewed by 10.86 million viewers. The episode acquired a 5.5Nielsen rating, theaudience measurement systems developed to determine theaudience size and composition oftelevision programming in the United States, in the 18–49 demographic.[10]
Reviews of this episode were positive.Common Sense Media gave the episode three out of five stars, calling it a "racy but often hilarious satire of a fantasy favorite".[11] Brad Trechak ofTV Squad also praised "Blue Harvest", stating that it "was a fun episode to watch"; he thought that "MacFarlane kept to the story pretty well, and there were enough corny jokes to make it amusing".[8] Ahsan Haque fromIGN gave it a score of seven out of ten, criticizing the selection of Herbert as Obi-Wan, but did say that the other choices were "spot-on"; he ended his review by stating, "as a tribute toStar Wars, this episode succeeds, but you can't help but wish that there was a bit more to it, considering the nature of the source material".[12] In a later review of the season as a whole, Haque said that the episode was "generally entertaining, but certainly wasn't as great as it could have been".[13] In 2019, however, Jesse Schedeen, also from IGN, placed "Blue Harvest" as the second best episode in his list of the 20 bestFamily Guy episodes, to celebrate the show's 20th anniversary, stating that it "wasFamily Guy's first attempt at devoting an hour-length episode to lampooning theStar Wars franchise, and it remains the best."[14] Daniel Fienberg ofZap2it also gave it a positive review although he stated that it was released soon afterRobot Chicken'sStar Wars special and it fared worse because of it.[15] Tom Eames of entertainment websiteDigital Spy placed the episode at number three on his listing of the bestFamily Guy episodes in order of "yukyukyuks" and described the episode as "pretty much the same [as its sequel] but better."[16]
Newsday's Diane Werts rendered a more mixed verdict, saying the episode "veer[s] wildly from bull's-eye satire to gotta-fill-time-now exposition", and was not as enjoyable for non-Star Wars fans.[17] Robin Pierson of The TV Critic also gave it a mixed review, criticizing the writers for using the character of Herbert and the episode's musical moment which he called an "un-amusing waste of time", although he did praise the way that the episode satirized theStar Wars universe; he ended his review by saying that "Chances are the more you likeStar Wars, the more you will enjoy this. For those of us who knowFamily Guy better thanStar Wars, there is plenty of bad material here to remind us that nothing much has changed". He gave the episode 65 out of a possible 100.[9]
TheParents Television Council, a group that has been a frequent critic ofFamily Guy, criticized the episode for a perceived frequent use of sexual dialogue, enough for the episode to have an "S" content descriptor for sexual content (the episode was rated TV-14-DLV on Fox).[18]
In 2009,TV Guide ranked "Blue Harvest" #99 on its list of the 100 Greatest Episodes.[19]
The episode was released on January 15, 2008 forDVD and on August 7, 2012 forBlu-ray inRegion 1.[20][21] It was issued on January 21, 2008 for DVD in Region 2,[22] and on February 6, 2008 DVD and on August 24, 2011 for Blu-ray in Region 4.[23][24] "Blue Harvest" was also released as part of theLaugh It Up, Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy which was released on December 21, 2010 for DVD and on December 21, 2010 for Blu-ray in Region 1.[25][26] It was issued on December 27, 2010 for both DVD and Blu-ray in Region 2.[27][28] Its release date in Region 4 was December 22, 2010 for DVD and January 12, 2011 for Blu-ray.[29][30]
"Something, Something, Something, Dark Side", which parodiesThe Empire Strikes Back, and "It's a Trap!", which parodiesReturn of the Jedi, originally were releaseddirect-to-video on December 22, 2009 and December 21, 2010 then later aired on Fox May 23, 2010 (season eight, episode 20) and May 22, 2011 (season nine, episode 18) respectively.[31][32]
| Season 6 | |
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| Themed episodes | |
