The laughs come full "Force" when the Griffin clan puts a freakin' sweet spin on the greatest sci-fi saga ever told. With Peter playing the swashbuckling Han Solo, Lois as the sexy Princess Leia, Chris as an adolescent Luke Skywalker, Brian as a well-spoken Chewbacca and Stewie finally embracing his dark side as Darth Vader, who knows what will happen?...

Family Guy Presents Blue Harvest finds Peter, Lois, Chris, Stewie and some of Quahog's other familiar characters in the middle of George Lucas's beloved sci-fi epic. The "Blue Harvest" of the title is a nod to the secret working title of Return of the Jedi.

Family Guy parodies Star Wars best when it's done in shot blasts. To be honest, this double length episode just doesn't have the same ingredients that make a Family Guy episode so enjoyable to watch. There are few near-the-knuckle jokes... in fact there are few jokes, period. Instead, what we are subjected to is 40 minutes of great animation which follows the plot of the original Star Wars movie so closely that somewhere along the line the powers that be forgot that this was supposed to be funny.

So what we are left with are scenes that take the Star Wars script and repeat it word for word and then, almost as an after thought, a joke is thrown into the mix. To be honest, this just feels forced (no pun intended) and even worse, about 50% of the gags are so lame they're embarrassing. For every joke that works (the reveal of a certain Sandperson or Meg's quick appearance) there are twenty gags that fall way short (John Williams conducting the orchestra and Peter shouting: "Great Kid! Don't get penisy!" Come on - what were the writers doing? It felt like they weren't even trying).

As a faithful recreation of Star Wars: IV: A New Hope, but with the Family Guy characters and some substandard jokes thrown in, this works a treat. As a hilariously wicked wicked Family Guy send up of Star Wars, it falls flat on its face.

This DVD is available in two editions. There's the Standard Edition (RRP: £15.99) and the Special Edition (RRP: £25.99). Both contain the same DVD content, but the Special Edition also includes collectable packaging (whatever that means); 3-D fight scene; 3-D glasses; T-shirt; trading cards and exclusive brochure. I can't comment on the quality of the Special Edition items, as we were only sent a review disc, but I suppose that if you're happy handing over £16 for the Standard Edition, then an extra £10 isn't too much to pay for the other extra material.

Extras on the disc include audio commentary with Seth MacFarlane and various crew members; A Conversation with George (12 minute featurette which sees MacFarlane interviewing George Lucas); Animatic Version (rough pencil sketches for the entire episode); Family Guy Star Wars Clip Show (10 mins clip selection of all the Star Wars references in Family Guy - although I must admit I never picked up on the Star Wars reference in the Luke Perry clip until it was included in this batch. And to be honest there are more laughs in these 10 minutes than there is in the main feature); 3D Blue Harvest Scene (2 min 3D version of the Tie (or should that be Thai?) Fighter attack); Something Something Something Darkside Trailer (20 sec trailer for the follow up to Blue Harvest); Introduction to Family Guy (6 min introduction to the main characters, including lots of great gags from the show's first six seasons); and Bonus Family Guy Episode: North by North Quahog (which is already available in the Family Guy: Season Four DVD box set).

Personally, while I love Family Guy (I've actually bought the first six seasons on DVD), I'd have a hard time trying to justify spending £16 on a not very funny double length episode (and another episode I've already got). You're probably better off waiting until the box set for Season Seven is released - which if previous season box sets are anything to go by, will be available from most online stores for under £20 anyway.

5

Darren Rea