Incest is weird. That's not how I wanted to start off this review but I'm really starting to ponder the relationship pre-revelation of Luke and Leia and a line from Return of the Jedi that now sticks out to me. If you think about it hard enough then you'll get it.

Seth MacFarlane is an interesting character. A comic genius, richest cartoonist in Hollywood quite possibly, he's completely turned the world of American animation on its head with his flagship series, the invincible Family Guy. Canceled once, revived and stronger than ever, the series has been criticized by many animation masters for relying on cheap humor and it has equally been praised for its commentary; ironically enough sometimes the very people that put the man on blast utilized his many talents for their own projects.

Seth MacFarlane, the 100 million dollar man; the success of his show can be attributed, more than likely, to two reasons. One is Stewart Gilligan Griffin, the sexually ambiguous toddler and breakout character whose matricidal ambitions made him funny but whose homosexual tendencies made him a star, and the other is the what I like to call the "QTTV factor". That acronym stands for "Quentin Tarantino for Television" factor. See, Quentin Tarantino is a lot of things but one thing all, I repeat, ALL of his movies display is a slick homage to pop culture. Seth MacFarlane does this flawlessly with his infamous cartoon. Every episode is filled to the brim with jokes and insults that reflect the general ideas of whats going on in the world. Case in point, Seth MacFarlane knows pop culture and he uses that knowledge well. He uses it to the point where it gets him three shows on FOX and the occasional "almost live" special. So, we've explored Seth MacFarlane a very little bit. But he has a bit of a hiding place, I guess you could call it, a constant source of jokes and humor that he utilizes often and possibly unnecessarily. That source is the brain child of George Lucas: Star Wars.

I'm not going into the story of Star Wars; that's a post for a later day. I love Star Wars though and I try to keep up with the canon. The original trilogy (episodes 4 through 6 for those that don't know) is easily my favorite trilogy of films ever (The Godfather would have that crown if that bitch Coppola didn't fuck up the third one... *shakes fist*) and I take all spoofs, homages, tributes, parodies and half hour specials related to it seriously. That is except for Blue Harvest. The first Family Guy spoof of Star Wars, based on Episode 4: A New Hope, was a very tongue-in-cheek miniature remake of its origins. It followed the story great and inserted appropriate humor in all facets, even breaking away from the cutaway gags that made the show so popular/hated, save for a single one but it was so well integrated into the story that it almost didn't count.

I loved this parody for a lot of reasons but the main reason was that it did something I didn't expect: it pointed out the flaws. Seth MacFarlane actually pointed out the inconsistencies and stupidities of Episode 4: A New Hope and did it with perfect style. You might be asking, "DiZ, you carnal nerf herder you, what do you mean?" Well, here are some examples. When Han Solo was getting away from Star Destroyers and said he knew some maneuvers to get away, why did he just lazily veer to the left? If parsecs are a unit of distance, how can someone get there in less than 12 parsecs? These are things that made no sense and they were on the forefront in Blue Harvest. Now that I've talked for five paragraphs about everything but this special. Let's get into it now.

I can't tell you the story so much because the story is already known: it's Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back as told in the humor of Family Guy. Peter plays Han again, Lois plays Leia, Chris is Luke, Brian is Chewie, and Stewie is, of course, Darth Vader. The humor spread throughout is classic, perfectly fit into the situations. There are more cutaway gags but they play into the story integrally, not just for the sake of humor for humors sake. The number of inconsistencies mentioned, which was massive in Blue Harvest, was cut down in this one. That was a little strange to me but the bulk of the humor came from the blending of Family Guy canon and the Star Wars canon. I like how the rebel base was contradictory in itself because the electricity was plugged into ice. That's one of the few contradictions the movie shows. I like even more how the many, MANY secondary characters have prominent roles in the story, and by prominent I mean more than five seconds of screen time.

Much like Black Dynamite, this homage is great in the simple fact that it does nothing to take away from Star Wars and equally adds to the legendary series. Sure, I have my gripes. I felt it was a little too short, but it was only supposed to be about an hour long so I can't fault it for that. Sometimes the story moved a little too quickly and sporadically, much like Black Dynamite once again, but again this is somewhat attributed to time constraints. Not all of the characters fit into the mold as well as they could have (Carl as Yoda is a strange but mediocre choice for him in my eyes and Mort as Lando Calrissian was necessary but stupid) and Meg's lines, though very brief, were VERY unwelcome. Now that I think about it, that woman that voices Meg (Mila Kunis) is too damn sexy to be voicing such a lame character. She needs a new character, like a new sister older than Chris but younger than Meg, who actually inherited Lois' looks. And another thing: why did George Lucas make the Force scientific? I know MacFarlane didn't really care (he's an atheist) but dammit, when you take the supernatural mystery of religion out of Star Wars you make it less fun...

Wait, I was reviewing a parody. Right, uh, this was good, almost as good as its predecessor but not quite reaching the same greatness. I can say I enjoyed this one more but I don't consider it as good. So, onto the score:

The DiZ Score: 4 out of 5 stars

Now give Mila Kunis a better character, Seth MacFarlane, you nerf herding bastard!