Cool News
Fox’s FAMILY GUY Eyes An EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Parody!!
I am – Hercules!!
Sunday night’s “Star Wars” edition of “Family Guy” was the series’ highest-rated installment since returning to Fox in 2005, and a parody of “The Empire Strikes Back” “seems likely,” a Fox source tells TV Week’s James Hibberd exclusively.
(Producers will likely first want to secure again the cooperation of Lucasfilm -- which allowed the use of the original sound effects and John Williams’ music but requested that the show tone down the Luke and Leia incest jokes, among other changes.)
The same piece suggests the “Star Wars” parodies could become an annual tradition much like the “Simpsons” Halloween specials.
Hibberd’s article also notes that there are no plans to repeat the episode, and it will not be available for download via Fox.com, XBox or iTunes. Read all of TV Week's story on the matter here.
60% Off Justice League & More!!
$19.99 Smallville!! (67% Off!!)
-
+ Expand All
-
And Last And Always: what a great album that was.
-
Family Guy rocks, eat it South Park.
-
Guess this means I'll have to YouTube the damn thing... since I missed it last night
-
Didn't see it last night.
-
Talk up how great it was and then not air it or make it available for sale? Lame, Fox.
-
Not.
-
There would be worse ways to do it. And better...
-
Adult swim had a bump last night that said they'd be showing the episode in "about three weeks"
-
Glad I tivo'd the fucker then.
Meg as the compactor monster = comedy gold! -
Cleveland was already wasted as R2D2 in an interminable series of shitty jokes. I can't wait for the film version of the musical of the original film version of Mel Brooks' Spaceballs 2 which parodies Family Guy's parody of Star Wars. In 2022.
-
Jesus, give people no legal way to acquire your product and people will still acquire your product. Who knows what else they may get while they aer at it. Maybe you will open them up to a whole new world, and they will never pay for anything from you again.
Sometimes I think the networks are run by autistic drunken monkeys working out of sensory deprevation tanks. . . -
Always distracted by buxom women.
-
They'll make it for sale, just not by itself. They want to leverage the demand for that episode to make you buy the whole season on DVD when the time comes. Which, like most seasons, is about 30% funny, 70% crap....kind of like that episode last night. Funny in parts, but a lot of filler and unfunny jokes.
-
which Family Guy is and always was. Oooh, those kids on South Park swear and call each other down! Thats soooo funny!
-
was when Seth Green (Chris) pointed out that Robot Chicken did this like 3 months ago, and much funnier. Family Guy is a show that is only occasionally funny, and the fact that they are now going to mine this Star Wars thing over and over again is just further evidence that they have no originality.
-
Has to be played by the giant chicken Brian keeps fighting. There is no other choice!
-
For FG, that was a lame parody.
-
If by annual you mean every year for the next 5 years, then sure.
-
Or these boards are headed towards real trouble. And that's coming from a long-time ALL CAPS lover.
-
Please, for the love of Eli Roth's prosthetic appendage, don't run that big font again, and don't tell that Gabrielgraywanks in your face TB'er how you did it. It will be a disaster around here.
-
Those Manatees think they can get away with this?.... Family Guy is just one random interchangeable joke after another, with no emtional context. You Manatees live in the shadow of the god that is Cartman. Worship your god!!!
-
Seems like nobody else has figured it out in all these months (years?) since the redesign. Heck, I can do colors, boldface, borders, backgrounds, the whole 9 yards. But with great power comes great responsibility.
-
I don't want to get banned!
-
Been on the site before the redesign, and I"ve never seen it done. We're through the looking glass here people.
-
You'd think that a full hour replicating Star Wars VERBATIM would be enough, but nooooooooooooooooooo, McFarlane has to do TESB the same way? The man is seriously afflicted with OCD, there's no other way to explain his disturbing obsession with all things Lucasfilm. Hey, when are the episodes replicating Howard The Duck and Radioland Murders going to air?
-
Peter, not Brian, fights the giant chicken. But as you suggested the giant chicken would be a good choice for Boba Fett
-
I felt like I was watching a summer stock version of the actual films. Comedy? More like imitation.
-
Except for the couch thing, which I admittedly found funny, the episode lacked laughs. We should have had much more Stewey and much less of the old guy with the limp piece.
Oh, the lightsaber cheese knife was funny. -
even a season10 episode of the simpsons is funnier than that crap family guy tried to pass off as funny last night. the scene from simpsons season 10 episode 'mayored to the mob' when homer saves mark hammil at the scifi convention is a funnier take on star wars than any combination of rehashed unfunny shit in that episode of family guy last night.
why do people still watch that shit? -
It wasn't that funny. I expected WAY more. Most of it was word-for-word from Star Wars - and despite the Family Guy characters in it - what the hell's funny about THAT? The parsec comment was good though - normal people wouldn't get it, but I did.
-
Ignore me. I'm just trying out something.
-
although i laughed my ass off when Peter was singing along with the attack of the TIE Fighters theme, and the opening crawl was funny, but some parts were predictable.
-
Yes, I'm abusing this Family Guy talkback, since it's worth for nothing else. Wow...Star Wars parody.
-
Now that I managed to make it work, I swear I will never do it again.
-
Those manatees must be on Ambien, because that was the laziest, dullest SW parody ever.
Formula: take ANH scene, recreate it verbatim with Family Guy characters, have them repeat their stock catchphrases, and add something randomly "wacky". Comedy gold! Nope. -
OK - I watched it last night - and I kind of hated how they just animated over the prints...that was not original. The railing joke by the death star guys was pretty funny, and the couch was pretty funny...but it was mostly shit. Chris pointing out robot chicken was expected, because I too thought that was funnier than this half assed shit. I stopped liking Family Guy after season 3, but I watch it now because I really do not have anything else better to watch as I currently do not have cable (again) - but I am 100% sure that Matt and Trey will have something to say about all this fucking shit. You know, I do wish Seth MacFarlene didn't miss his flight on Sept 11 2001...the fucker has ruined one of the best movies there was - hell, he fucked up Star Wars more than George Lucas could ever do. Seriously, what was so funny about this episode other than a few good points...
-
Everyone is downloading it via bit torrent anyways, might as well sell an official download to make money off the few chumps who will pay.
-
he must have an advanced copy of halo 3 or something...
-
This show was always derivative, but after a couple of seasons the jokes won me over. I was genuinely enthused before last nights episode. One hour of slavish mimicry later, I'm over it. We know the Star Wars story. Everyone knows it. Which made the show so painful to sit through. What good is parody if you're more interested in repeating iconic lines than making us laugh? I thought the episode would skewer SW (something it intermittedly and half-heartedly attempted). Instead it wanted to canonize probably the last movie that's in need of such worship. Way to go, guys. Although I can see why they were so afraid of deviating from the source material. Look what happened when they reimagined Obi Wan: a character so obnoxious and pointlessly stupid it put my TV in a mental institution. 10 minutes into the episode I realized this was gonna continue with ESB and ROTJ. You don't really have to look that hard for signs of the apocalypse.
-
So don't ya'll be dissing one of the funniest shows on television.
"Why'd you throw that rock at me!!"
"Becuase you rolled the window up on the General Lee" -
Wishing death on someone you know because he makes a cartoon you don't like? Are you serious? That's pretty fucked up. Especially since some people actually didn't miss their flight and died horribly as they smashed into a building.
Anyhow, the episode didn't do it for me. But that could be because I am not a big "Star Wars" fan. My friend that is a fan laughed hysterically. I don't find that fucking old pedophile funny, they should kill him off. -
I guess it was inevitable, but I do feel a certain amount of regret.
-
Typed too fast.
-
those are harmless enough.
-
time to share big fella. I've tried that a thousand times to no success. email me at infitior@gmail.com
-
...if last night's episode was actually FUNNY.
*Yawn* -
all of you. Including South Park. Yeah, I said it - South Park.
-
like the ten minute dirty dancing thing...
but overall it was very funny..
parodied the right things...
little moments...
family guy has always been about the quick hits...so it did what it always does....very well..
and they did it very well last night...
"now we have to listen to Danny Elfman...NOOOO..." hehehe -
from Home Movies?
-
I've hated the show since it started. It's pithy and idiotic. Random flashback humor done by monkeys on sugar-highs. Rarely is the humor rooted in character or plot, and rarely is it funny despite Stewie (who is the lone decent idea in the show). There are much better shows to watch. I sure as hell don't plan on watching a retarded parody of Star Wars (hell, the muppets did it first--and better).
Put this show to sleep. Please. -
i thought it was funny
-
I forced myself to finish watching it, hoping for something REALLY funny to make up for the hour long blowjob the writers were giving George Lucas. Alas, all we got was Seth Green's Robot Chicken reference. At least they killed Danny Elfman.
-
Last night's episode was great fun! And is their any doubt that Paddy Tanninger The Caddy Manager will play Yoda? "Yeah I'm Yoda. Big Whoop. Wanna fight about it?" I wonder who will play the Emperor. That I could not work out. And Lando. Cleveland should have been Lando and Joe should have been R2-D2 in my opinion (the wheels), but who knows. I am trying to think of more reoccurring characters for roles---maybe The Evil Monkey in The Closet for The Emperor? Heh.
-
I was expecting more from Family Guy, but I guess if Lucas asked them to dial it back, that makes sense. It was a very light parody, though, I thought.
-
I wouldn't mind a sequel next season. Like others have already noted, some jokes worked, others didn't.
Doctor Who in hyperspace, Han's evasive maneuvering, a reference to the original scene that was cut where the group tiptoe around the Death Star, classic. R2-D2's jokes, not so much. -
Could someone please point out where it is written that jokes must have some sort of plot and/or emotional context? I must have missed that day of Comedy Law 101 class.
-
that's okay, i watched it off tv-links at work this morning.
-
I didn't know humour had to follow a formula. You fucking idiot. go listen to your shitty formulaic pop music, your head would probably explode listening to mogwai or the dillinger escape plan. "I don't understand, no verse verse chorus verse chrous out"
-
You got a real sense (in the space scenes anyway)of what a GOOD animated SW show could be, free of all the excessively exaggerated Gendy Tartosvky bullshit.
-
I thought it was pretty funny, but why DID they use so much of the exact dialogue? Not to mention all of the EXACT samee "shots"; they must have roto-scoped the film for the animation, which looked pretty damn good, btw. I hope it does become an annual event. Nice of them to acknowledge that Robot Chicken did it first. (how could you avoid it with Seth Green in the FG cast, though?) Good thing I recorded the show...
-
Exactly as it ought to have been... although, it would've been fucking hilarious if Chris called out "Lois!" after hopping out of his X-Wing having blown up the Death Star. I was really hoping for that. And then I got a 3-minute digression on Robot Chicken. Which was funny. But not as funny.
-
there were some good things, but mostly it had my eyes rolling. i can't believe they stretched out that ridiculous john williams bit at the expense of a "these aren't the droids you're looking for" scene! they touched on every other memorable line from the movie, but skipped that one? come ON.
-
All of the space shots were just fancy traces THAT'S ALL IT WAS. They animated NONE of those space shots. I bet they just asked good ol' Georgy for prints so they can trace over them. I actually had high hopes for this, but this proves that MacFarlane and crew are only good at one thing: being UNORIGINAL. Somethings were funny, but most of it not so much. I wish Lucas would wake up and realize he should be the only person to bastardize his properties.
-
Is that on the short-lived Clerks animated series. Smith makes fun of mcfarlene even before Family Guy was a hit or even on tv. Check it out. Its small but its there. He (smith) even mentions him by name on the commentary as being a hack and not knowing how to write anything.
I thought Family Guy was good when it came out but its gone down hill. And played out in syndication sooooo much even more so then the simpsons. That is probably why most people are so critical about it cuz u know the jokes even b4 they come.
And what is the wacky wavy inflatable tube man? It wasn't funny on madtv or the first time I saw on family guy. -
Okay, I think we know each other well enough to say FAMILY GUY SUCKS. True, last nights ep was good, that doesn't change how bad it sucks. They're lucky r2 didnt say "bite my shiny metal ass" or it woulda been jihad. If you aren't smart/funny enough to be able to say that you could write an episode, then MY HATS OFF TO YOU DIPSHIT!!!
-
David Goodman is the Star Wars fan. Seth is a Star Trek fan. Seriously; I will never get how AICN of all places, is so anti-Family Guy. As always... FUCK SOUTH PARK!
-
Sorry you haters.
-
the "hold your fire, there are no life forms aboard.." "hold your fire? what are we playing by the lazer now?" line was pretty damn funny. (although they should have ended it there.. they didnt need to through in the "hey i see the budget" line.)
-
we sure are getting a lot of new talkbackers, especially with handles based on last night's episode, like "Peter Shoots First."
Why the cries of unoriginality? What about the 100+ non parody episodes that came before last night? What about the 20+ non-parody episodes the rest of the season?
I have to admit, I'm a new FG fan which may explain why I'm not afraid to admit that last night's episode was hilarious. People just don't watch shows that they don't like. I don't like Ghost Whisperer so I don't watch it or talkback about it. Anyone pretending to hate last night's FG is giving themselves away when they admit that they still watched the whole hour. As if they absolutely had nothing else to do. -
dot dot dot
-
Here's my go: Lets see, umm...Stewie decides it's his destiny to go on American Idol. He goes to the audition, someone mentions Milla Jovovich, and stewies says "She has more bush than Justin Guarini's hairdo" cut to Justin's hair in between Milla's legs, and a corny exchange happens between the two. Stewie gets rejected and devastates him, until he ends up on "america's got talent" some crap happens which allows them to cut to a mixed scence of David Hasselhoff drunk on camera talking to his kids/on the set of baywatch.
Cut. Print. Broadcast. -
Wow, they are CRACKIN' with fresh ideas, huh?
-
Wow, that's totally crazy. You know, the Secret of Bold was cracked several months ago. However, it was a much more involved process than what you guys appear to be doing. People have tried simple tags for ages. What the hell?!
-
It'll be like the Star Wars Christmas Special. Everyone didn't believe me there was one and I remembered it.
-
The STAR WARS parody was fuckin brilliant! Hilarious! Its my favorite episode. Yeah, I know, another STAR WARS parody, but thats just cause STAR WARS rulez! Its iconic geekery; power cosmiced geekery; the ultimate poptastic geekery shared experience. Is there anyone on earth who hasn't seen them all at least once? Pretty much can be riffed on forever and still be funny. Classic.
-
OK....when Family Guy first came out I FREAKING HATED IT! Like, alot, but then I eventually started to sort of like it, and then became a "fan". Then I saw the "Cartoon Wars" episode of South Park and...I totally agreed with them. After that it was kind of hard to like Family Guy. Unlike The Simpsons or South Park, Family Guy's humor is for the most part, completely UN-related to the plot, the jokes don't move the story ANYwhere and have little or NOTHING to do with the actual PLOT of the show. Not to say that FAMILY GUY isn't funny, because frankly it is. I LOVE THE CHCIKEN FIGHT JOKE. But it's for the most part an animated SKETCH show. Last night to me, was the saving grace of Family Guy. I AM A GEEK and no geek cannot NOT like Star Wars (sorry but it's true) and bravo to the "writers" for putting on tv what all of my friends and I have been saying to each other during our oft repeated viewings of the "Holy Trilogy" But no matter how gag funny Family Guy can be it will NEVER EVER EVER come close to capturing the SATIRICAL (SATIRE being the key word. If you don't know what it is look it up in Webster's) GENIUS of The Simpsons (how bout that nod to the movie in the opening sequence??) or South Park. EVER.
THE END. -
1) Think up a ten minute plot.
2) Fill in the rest with random YouTube clips, animated with FG characters inserted. -
veryone in the world knows there was a Star Wars Holiday Special. It's been legendary since the day it aired. Even when there weren't rampant bootlegs available, people had heard of it, and if they were Star Wars fans at ALL, they had seen it.Your circle of friends, it seems, have been living in isolation for a looooong time.
-
Sep 24, 2007 9:40:59 PM CDT
*oops, that would be **HELLKING** who didnt believe you
by shiftyeyeddog2
sure would be nice to be able to edit your own posts instead of having to make "correction" posts. But then, AICN's talkbacks (and site) have always been a shining example of half-assed, basic-as-it-gets web design.
-
...was funnier than this shit, mainly because it had actual JOKES. "Hey Leia, you're my sister and Darth Vader's my dad and Han's my brother and Chewie's my dog and Artoo's my old Hoover vaccumn cleaner, and..."
-
Then I lost interest.
-
those who car about the reprecussions of telling them "this is what we want". You would doom not only yourself but everyone one else to a fate of them switch up the variables in generic formulas. Black weather man: funny when he said "it's gonna rain" never agin. Old fuk funny once: first time but not even then,
-
Sure meg is depressed, desperate and has a poor self image, but you only know that because thats what she said, not because she has a personality. Stan Marsh: Most dull kid in the world, but he has a personality. A highly developed one. And you can identify with him. All that needs to be said. I would check back, but probably won't. Try and air out your counter-arguments.
-
Seriously, a Grey Poupon joke? I think I saw the same thing on fucking Hee Haw 20 years ago. Embarrassing.
-
Robot Chicken had better jokes, but I was impressed with the quality of the 2D and 3D animation. I saw this as less of a "parody" of Star Wars and more as a re-enactment with the FG characters. I wouldn't mind them doing this every season for each of the other five movies. Maybe it will be the Screaming Black Weatherman who will be Lando.
-
To be fair, the amimation might have improved after I stopped watching it, but the enemic weed jokes and Grey Poupon nonsense ended that right quick.
-
don't want.
-
the p class="site-name" thing?
-
Enough with this fucking shit already. It is time to move on.
-
Over half the episode was just tedious repetition of the exact same lines and scenes from the movie. Just with cartoons. Snooze. You had to sit through them to get to any damn jokes, 99% of which fell flat. Stunningly poor.
-
The show was too much like star wars and not enough like family guy
-
I watched it this afternoon, and I have to say a lot of the times it felt like a huge rehash of jokes that were done infinitely better in other movies, for example, Spaceballs, Robot Chicken, Simpsons, Futurama, all the Kevin Smith movies, and the many stand up comedians that have made similar jokes about the trilogy in the past.
The only thing that made me smile was the line ‘are we paying by the laser?’ Other than that South Park were right Family Guy is written by Manatees. -
Seriously, if I want to see clever and well done Star Wars refrences, I'll watch an episode of Spaced instead.
-
I got two laughs from Family Guy, the rest was filler material. A wasted opportunity riding on the Star Wars name, which is exactly what The Prequel Trilogy will be known as.
-
i'm with you. i thought the same thing!
-
sure the Dirty Dancing thing was unnecessary, and the Grey Pupon joke was odd - but other than those two it was a pretty solid effort all around.
-
I agree it's awesome but, I worry they will lock down the html somehow; preventing us from useing the more mundane and practical stuff like paragraph.
-
Go home to momma. Television sucks, and Family Guy is the only show that doesn't give a shit if it pisses people off or not. In fact, they push it as far as they can. I love it. I love knowing that there are some fragile mommas boys out there that actually get offended by this funny shit. Go home and cry you bitches! God! I want to kick all your sorry asses.
-
when he gets out of the X-Wing after destroying the Death Star, please note that is a myth. Mark Hamill does not yell "Carrie." He says "Hey..." I think Mr. Lucas would have corrected that amidst all of his tinkering if in fact it were true.
-
with his fat hanging off the sides and Boba Fett trying to get him through the door of Slave I. And if they get to Phantom Menace they will have a field day-if Lucas doesn't hold them back that is.
-
what is shit and what isn't. family guy, is shit. the CRAP that comes out of my ass isn't. simple as that.
-
They really do push that envelope. They push it right into the same mail slot that everyone else uses. Being offensive isn't edgy or new. Actually WRITING is how you make good comedy. Something with substance.
-
"Hoth? It should be called Coldth" "Over my burned carcass!" ahhh good times
-
There was time virtually no one heard of it. I'd tell them about it and they never saw it or don't remember. Was I imaginging it? Then TV guide use to have a Q&A from readers and someone wrote in asking the very same thing I said. Yes now because of the internet people talk about it and you can see on the web now, but before... I knew only one person who remembered seeing it too as a kid.
-
You talk about how much you hate the show--but you've seen every episode of it! You're like PC gamers who hate on Halo to prove to the other nerds how cool you are. So lame. And since when did liking Family Guy preclude the ability to enjoy South Park? You can watch and like both shows, folks. It's not mutually exclusive. If you really wanna hate on something, talk about last Sunday's Simpsons episode. That was painful to watch. I'm afraid it's time for that once great show to finish it's run.
-
...where Family guy used the same setup over and over and over and turned a 10 minute story into a 22 minute suckfest of whatever the manatees found nostalgic on that particular day.
-
Ignoring the typical talkback goon who logs on only to say how much they hate (fill in the blank) show.
This family guy was ok. I could have been better.
But come on, the "red squadron" role call was very funny.
As was the Porkins joke. -
Who's the more hater? The hater or the hater who hates on the hater?
-
Rehash 80s movie plot outline. Have one joke. Repeat joke ENDLESSY for 30 minutes -- (such as "Smug liberals smell their own farts!" Over and over and over and over and over again.) Montage scene. Again. Have Cartman say stuff in a funny voice. Repeat.
-
I am a fan of FG, but the Star Wars episode was just okay. It was to tame and finding out lucasfilms had them tone it down makes sense. A much better parody was the Willie Wonka episode and that only lasted about half the show.
-
I dig Family Guy, but I think the whole concept of the "Star Wars Episode" just wasn't that funny. Just because they did shot-for-shot and word-for-word renditions of movie scenes doesn't make it funny. They actually tried to take a lesson from the, "Not Another Teen Movie," book on comedy, and it sucked.
Readers Talkback
User Login
Top Talkbacks
- To Commemorate The 3D Release Of STAR WARS EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, George Lucas Wants You To Know...Greedo Shoots First!! -- 339 total posts 339 posts
- SPACE 2099!! -- 141 total posts 141 posts
- Quint travels to Barsoom and visits the John Carter set!!! -- 116 total posts 116 posts
- Crom! Grant The Behind the Scenes Pics of the Day revenge! And if you do not listen, den to Hell witchu! -- 67 total posts 67 posts
- The Sensorties Revisit The Friday Docback (And Still Smell)!! DOCTOR WHO Story #7 Again, The Coming Of Season/Series 7, And More!! -- 51 total posts 51 posts
- Friday Brings SWEEPS DAY NINE!! Gab Here About Tonight’s FRINGE!! Plus Einstein on TIM, Wiig On PORTLANDIA, MAHER, CLONE, GIFTED, GRIMM, SPARTACUS, SUPERNATURAL, GOLD RUSH And More!! -- 65 total posts 50 posts
- Rest In Peace Bethesda’s Adam Adamowicz -- 45 total posts 45 posts
- SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD is something I'm very anxious to see! -- 43 total posts 43 posts
- Capone found nothing mysterious or good about JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND!!! -- 40 total posts 40 posts
- OK. So Harrison Ford Isn't In Talks For The New BLADE RUNNER. But... -- 145 total posts 39 posts