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BLUE HARVEST!! INDY JONES!! ROCKFORD!! CHEERS!! EXTRAS!! Herc’s Season-Box DVD Vault!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
I am – Hercules!!
“Blue Harvest,”
easily the best episode of “Family Guy” I’ve seen to date, is an hour-long affair that mocks mercilessly the lapses in logic attending the original “Star Wars.”
It’s fair to say that Alec Sulkin (“The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn”), who scripted the episode, and Dominic Polcino (“King of the Hill”), who directed, share a far more intimate understanding of the 1977 movie than did “Spaceballs” masterminds Mel Brooks, Thomas Meehan and Ronny Graham.
Polcino apes the details of “Episode IV” meticulously, to the point where at times it feels like we’re looking at rotoscoped footage of the movie itself. The actual John Williams movie score is employed so liberally one wonders if producers squandered half the season’s budget on it.
A lot of the jokes are what some have come to describe as “Family Guy awful,” as when the rebels’ X-fighter “red team” turns out to be comprised of Red Buttons, Redd Foxx and Helen Reddy. A pointless and laugh-free “Deal or No Deal” sequence arrives out of nowhere. And tellingly, there’s a lot of audience-pandering nonsense about R2D2 and what looks like a bag of pot.
Some of the best scenes, though, are hilariously pointed, as when one Death Star officer complains to another about his station’s lack of railings. And when Darth Vader points out the ease with which the Death Star’s lone point of vulnerability could be eliminated. And when Luke makes sport of Han’s Empire-vexing “maneuvers.”
Other great gags deal with Watto’s encounter with a lightsaber, Aunt Beru’s noisy tenants, the Blues Brothers movie, Magic Johnson’s oratory, and the Robot Chicken Star Wars episode of three months ago (co-created, of course, by “Family Guy” regular Seth Green).
There are loads of “Airplane” references, and Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo inexplicably reprise their roles from “Vacation”! “Family Guy: Blue Harvest” is far from perfect, but also can’t-miss TV.
If you want to spend another $11.50, you can get Family Guy: Blue Harvest Special Edition. Extras include:
* An episode-length commentary with writer Alec Sulkin, director Dominic Polcino, music editor Patrick Clark, editor Mike Elias, executive producer David Goodman, actor Seth MacFarlane, assistant director Joseph Lee, and producers Danny Smith and Kara Vallow.
* An episode-length animatic presentation.
* "Once in a Lifetime” (18:58) is a making-of mini-doc.
* "A Conversation with George" (12:26) features MacFarlane, virtually indistinguishable as always from a small-market morning-zoo deejay, chatting with patient “Star Wars” mastermind George Lucas.
* "The Star Wars Clip Show" (9:17) strings together references to the film series from earlier episodes of “Family Guy.”
* A 3D “Blue Harvest Fight Scene.”
* 3D glasses.
* A black “Blue Harvest” T-shirt.
* 12 “Blue Harvest” trading cards.
* A 20-page “Art of Blue Harvest” booklet.
The Rockford Files’ 1978-1979 fifth season featured the introduction of Tom Selleck as Lance White, the luckiest private investigator alive. The episode “White on White and Nearly Perfect,” rare in that it was directed (as well as written) by series mastermind Stephen J. Cannell, was so well-received that Selleck was asked to reprise the role the following season. These episodes led to Selleck being cast as the lead in the long-running “Magnum, P.I.” (“Magnum,” in turn, led to George Lucas’ desire to cast Selleck as Indiana Jones in “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but Selleck wasn’t available because of “Magnum.” So I guess that makes him only slightly less lucky than White.)
Besides “Almost Perfect” (5.4) Cannell scripted:
* “Heartaches of a Fool” (5.1): Jim helps a Jimmy Dean-like recording artist who looks like Don Berry but sings like Willie Nelson when the warbler runs afoul of a Chinese mobster (played by “Die Hard” icon James Shigeta).
* “The Empty Frame” (5.6): Ne’er-do-well Angel Martin starts peddling influence and ordering perpetually angry Lt. Chapman around when Martin’s brother-in-law is suddenly appointed the new Los Angeles police commissioner. (Stuart Margolin won an Emmy that season, and I’m guessing it was his work in this installment that sold the Academy.)
* “The Return of the Black Shadow” (5.18): Jim’s new lawyer Cooper (Bo Hopkins) dusts off his old motorcycle and gang duds when sadistic bikers beat Jim, steal Jim’s car and gang-rape the car’s occupant: Cooper’s sister.
“Sopranos” mastermind David Chase wrote his share of episodes that season, including:
* “The Jersey Bounce” (5.3): East Coast mobster wannabes frame Jim for murder.
* “A Three-Day Affair With a Thirty-Day Escrow” (5.7): Jim is hired to find a missing girl, much to the surprise of her angry Arab family.
* “The Black Mirror (5.9/5.10): Jim falls for a blind psychologist (the fabulous Kathryn Harrold, just months before she cavorted nakedly in Albert Brooks’ “Modern Romance”) tormented by a psychotic patient.
* “The Man Who Saw The Alligators” (5.17): Jim has to go into hiding after a vengeful, California-hating East Coast hit man Jim helped send to San Quentin is paroled. One of the best and most memorable “Rockfords” ever.
Other notable fifth-season guest stars included Ed Harris, Abe Vigoda, Robert Loggia, Rene Auberjonois, Hector Elizondo, James B. Sikking, Erin Gray, Steven Bauer, Frank McRae, Sorrell Booke, Alan Arbus, Carl Franklin, Michael Des Barres (!), Glenn Corbett, Walter Olkewicz, Dennis Burkley (playing a biker of course), Julie Parrish, Mary Frann and Reni Santoni.
The season picked up an Emmy nomination for outstanding drama. Besides Margolin, cast members nominated for their work on the show that season included James Garner, Joe Santos, Noah Beery and guest star Rita Moreno, reprising her Emmy-winning role as motormouth vixen Rita Capkovic.
The bad news is the fifth season was the first to make do without Gretchen Corbett as Jim’s hot lawyer Beth Davenport. It was also the last full season; season six featured only 12 episodes, then Rockford disappeared for 15 years, re-emerging for eight TV movies airing in the late 1990s.
Herc’s Popular Pricing Pantry
Fox and MGM have knocked 48-50% off a number of their series titles, including:
$15.49 The Die Hard Trilogy
$30.99 Rocky: The Complete Saga
$34.99 The Addams Family: The Complete Series
$69.99 Angel: The Complete Series
$74.99 Family Guy: Party Pack
$119.99 Land of the Giants: The Complete Series
$145.99 The James Bond Ultimate Collector’s Set
$164.99 Stargate SG-1: The Complete Series
TWILIGHT ZONE: THE COMPLETE SERIES!!
$169.99!!
That works out to $34 Per Season!!
The extras-crammed Definitive Editions!!
They were going for close to $100/season not too long ago!
TV-on-DVD Calendar
Last Week
The All-New Superfriends Hour 1.x. Vol. 1
All-Star Family Feud
Between The Lions 1.x
Bramwell 3.x
Clifford: Playtime With Clifford
Gunsmoke 2.x Vol. 1
Happy Tree Friends: The Complete Series
Jupiter Moon Vol. 2
Lovejoy 2.x
MI-5 Vol. 5
The Naked Brothers Band 1.x
The Riches 1.x
Rides 4.x Vol. 1
Rob & Big 1.x/2.x
Tropical Heat/Sweating Bullets 3.x
Tropical Heat/Sweating Bullets: The Complete Series
Two and a Half Men 2.x
Two and a Half Men 1.x/2.x
The Waltons 6.x
What's New Scooby-Doo 3.x
This Week
The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin: Six Crystals
Alex Haley's Queen
All Creatures Great & Small: Complete Collection
'Allo 'Allo 7.x
Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown: Deluxe Edition
Bump: Northeastern USA
Bump! Southern California
Extras: The Complete Series Gift Set
Family Guy: Blue Harvest
Family Guy: Blue Harvest Special Edition
Medabots 1.x
The New Adventures of Old Christine
The Rockford Files 5.x
Royle Family 2.x
Sabrina The Teenage Witch 3.x
Storm Hawks: Hawks Rise Again
Storm Hawks: Tales From The Atmos
Next Week
Avatar 3.x Vol. 2
Banacek 2.x
Barney Miller 2.x
Criss Angel Mindfreak 3.x
Edge of Darkness: The Complete Miniseries
ER 8.x
The Girls Next Door 3.x
Hawaii Five-0 3.x
Hustle 4.x
The Jeff Corwin Experience 1.x
Make Room For Daddy 6.x
The Odd Couple 3.x
The Simple Life 5.x
Swamp Thing 1.x
Thunderbirds: The Complete Series
Torchwood 1.x
January 29
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Vol. 5
Blue Murder Vol. 2
Chancer 2.x
Curb Your Enthusiasm 6.x
Damages 1.x
Damages 1.x [Blu-ray]
Emergency 4.x
Hannah Montana: One In A Million
JAG 5.x
Pioneers of Television
SpongeBob SquarePants: To Love A Patty
February 5
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations Vol. 2 <--- NEW!!
Beauty and the Beast 3.x
Brotherhood 2.x
Charlie & Lola Vol. 7
The DL Chronicles 1.x
Jerry Springer: Undressed, Unleashed And Uncensored Vol. 1
Jerry Springer: Undressed, Unleashed And Uncensored Vol. 2
Jerry Springer: Undressed, Unleashed And Uncensored Vol. 3
Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 2
McLeod's Daughters 5.x
Mystery Science Theatre 3000 10.2 <--- NEW!!
Perfect Strangers 1.x/2.x
Rides 4.x Vol. 2
Rosemary & Thyme: The Complete Series
Route 66 1.x Vol. 2
Slings & Arrows: The Complete Series
Soul Food 3.x
Strictly Confidential: The Complete Series
Third Watch 1.x
The Whitest Kids U Know 1.x <--- NEW!!
Wire in the Blood 4.x
February 12
Academy Award Animation Collection: 15 Winners
Academy Award Animation Collection: Winners & Nominees
The Beatrix Potter Collection
Blade: The Complete Series
Bump! Florida
Bump! Gold Coast North America
Chris & John To The Rescue 1.x
Chris & John To The Rescue 2.x
Dallas 8.x
The Equalizer
Family Ties 3.x
General Hospital: Night Shift
George of the Jungle: The Complete Series
Girlfriends 3.x
Hotel Babylon 1.x
Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive Vol. 4
Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive Vol. 5
Tell Me You Love Me 1.x
This Is Tom Jones Vol. 2
February 19
Coach 3.x
Cops: 20th Anniversary Edition
Dragonball Z 4.x
Father Ted: The Complete Series
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Vol. 1 (2002)
It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown: Deluxe Edition
Lillie: The Complete Miniseries
Rides 4.x Vol. 2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2.x Vol. 1
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+ Expand All
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My first first!
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I found this and had to share it - this is the infamous deleted scene from E.T. with Harrison Ford as Elliot's principal which Spielberg did not want us to see, and did not even include on the DVD: http://tinyurl.com/ypgufc
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And deserves the Golden Globe award which makes me laugh when I hear TBers shouting "WTF is Extras!?!". its like when The Office (original British version) won the Golden Globe and same thing happened "WTF is the Office ?!?".
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Cheers season 9 finally coming out. About damn time.
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Terry Farrell is still the hottest Star Trek woman ever!
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is a steaming bowl of elephant piss.
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Bump! is the greatest, as evidenced by the exclamation mark.
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FYI BLUE HARVEST.... then Magic Johnston, Aunt Beru's Neighbours, Blues Brother's Ref and the Dirty Dancing sequence were tumbleweed moments.... if you thought they were highlights... jeeeezzus.!!!
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A horrible show that never should have made it past the pilot; unlikable, annoying characters, humorlous, and just embarrassing. In real life nobody would put up with Danson's awful main character.
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If it hadn't been for the news of The Mole returning, I'd say this is the craziest news I'd hear all year.
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Topping Spaceballs (and that's open for debate) is not an accomplishment. After all, the FG people even used the same light saber = penis joke. That's gold, Jerry! GOLD!
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i'm not the biggest Family Guy fan in the world but i do enjoy the show. but nothing i saw in the starwars spoof was remotely new or funny. pretty bland, which is the one thing i didnt expect. Family guy had a couple of great seasons but now its pretty bad.
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at least when i was 8. havent seen it in awhile
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Family Guy is only funny in small doses, that is why I have never bought the box sets.
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Jan 15, 2008 8:59:51 AM CST
ANYONE UP FOR KILLING ADAM SANDLER... HEY JUST AN IDEA..!!
by greigy just wanted to say
"Just planting seeds"
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Jan 15, 2008 9:32:18 AM CST
Do they ask Lucas if he understands BH is better than ep I-III?
by uss cygnus
Obi-Wan is holding me back! Spinning's a good trick! I HATE YOUUUUU!!!NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
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Season 1 coming in June!
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is like saying "Runniest dogshit ever".
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That’s what I thought but they’re at pains in the commentary to point out that it’s all been redone in CG and that the ships are shorted and fatter than the original footage.
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The Melissa Joan Hart/ Paris Hilton eye thing.. Uma Thurman has it too.
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how about a change of price.
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You get a digital copy to use on you iPod too. This is the first title, but from here on out all Fox dvd are supposed to have the feature. Neato.
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And always has been!
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That'll hella rocj
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Actually.. that clip was on the special (limited) Laser Disc edition.. just like the full casting session with Henry Thomas (on the DVD it's been cut!)
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Warners and Fox taking bribes from Sony to use Blu-ray?
http://tinyurl.com/yocyef
and WB,Fox, etc. terminates the showrunners'contracts?
Where are the talkbacks? Is AintitCool ignoring these issues?
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I think Live Free Or Die Hard was the first.
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"As seen on network TV!"
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You will see early precursors of "Sopranos" characters, along with many "Tony-isms" of destroying the English language. When that guy sued Chase saying he helped to create "The Sopranos" I just laughed. All Chase had to do was show his episodes of Rockford and the original "Night Stalker" to prove he's been playing around with the characters for almost 35 years.-----later-----m
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I have to wait until April, plus the two years in between DVD releases of Cheers seasons 8 and 9. Not cool!
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in Family Guy's long tradition of bad episodes. So far in the run, South Park is the only one of the bunch that can still delivers in a regular basis.
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but it's just too mean spirited now. Family Guy has moments of brilliance, but it relies more on pop culture references than a genuine story.
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The episode itself is just the usual Family Guy garbage. But the fact that they are giving this piece of shit a deluxe DVD launch is beyond insulting. Remember how Moriarty was bizarrely offended that Lucas released the original versions of Star Wars in none-restored discs in 2006, (and singlehandidly delayed the 30th anniversary boxed set?) This thing is way, way the hell worse. And the producers say there gonna give all the Star Wars movies this treatment! Come on people! Vote NO on Family Guy!
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Is just a phase someone goes through where they think it's funny, then they grow up and realize it's not. I know, I used to like Family Guy. Then I grew up and saw that it, in fact, sucked. But that's not the worst of it. I was one of the people who bought Family Guy Volumes 1 and 2 during that time it was off the air. I mean, buying those DVDs was the movement that got the show back. I'm responsible in a small way for bringing that shit back to TV. I mean, when I die, I gotta stand before God and answer for that. *shudders*
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If I'm going to be stuck on a Desert Island for a few months, give me one season of Rockford and some of the Colombos. I'll be happy till the ship arrives.
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But it's not funny either. Kinda like the time I was in that Three's Company spinoff. Or that time I was stuck in an elevator with Dana Carvey. Yeah, remember that?
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Sniff. At least I didn't bring back Futurama though.
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...is that you could probably string together all the Star Wars references from previous Family Guy episodes (at least one per show) and recreate the ENTIRE TRILOGY. McFarlane has a serious case of Lucasfilm OCD.
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Me and my wife had a agreed once there are three unfunny "Remember that time?" jokes, we change the channel. Rarely have I seen an episode w/o any of those jokes.
Remember that time we helped Harry for Snow Boarding?
Oh, just like that time Capone was our camp counselor?
Yeah, you remember that one time Moriarty got us tickets to see Cats?
I can do this all night people. -
where we all repeated all of those horrible Indy IV fake movie titles?
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Maude Flanders died by getting hit by a t-shirt cannon?
Oh, sorry, wrong T.V. show. -
G'night folks!
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(insert random dated pop culture references here) Attention everybody, there are two significant truths here: One, Family Guy is not funny. Two, CHINA BEACH BELONGS ON DVD DAMMIT! Fucking BECKER is on dvd and we can't get China Beach?
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Terry Farrel. That's it. Why did she quit being Dax anyways?
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This isn't the first time it's happened with one of these release calendars from Amazon. What's the scoop? Do they have no clue as to the audience they're trying to sell to? Why push these particular titles so prominently on AICN?
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And gruntybear, you must be delusional if you think no gay people come to this site. Herc has always been *ahem* gay-friendly and it is certainly WELCOME!
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but no Maverick. What gives?
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gruntybear,
Maybe because gay people like DVDs and aintitcoolnews as much as any other person might. Fuckin moron. -
I don't go on the South Park talkbacks and slap Matt and Trey's cocks out of your mouth, now do I? Okay, maybe I do...anyway, first person who tries to reverse this dis into a Seth McFarlane cock joke earns their mother a facial, courtesy of yours truly...
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I agree Blue Harvest was a bucket of shit. Pretty much all scenes verbatim with no creativity. The show needs to stop its crack addiction to pop culture asides, other than that their dialogue exchanges are pretty good or when things spiral out of control
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ALL THE SHOW DOES is pop culture riffing, ergo it's NEVER good. Oh, wait, sometimes they mix things up a little with some grotesque sex/fart/drug references for the kiddies.
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The commentary sucked, though. The interview with Lucas is pretty funny. And the animatic version of the show is great to view.
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And it is okay....certainly not woth spending this kind of money on. Reall, this is a fucking ripoff. Wait for the season disc if you really want it or steal it off the internet.
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So I can feel like its 2:30am any time of the day!! Actually I thought Shawnee Smith was the fuckable one on that show. Wheres the HD/Blu Ray talkback fight? Bought a HD-D3 with 300 & Bourne & HDMI cable included at Costco for a cool 129. Watched a standard copy of King Kong to test the upscaling, and it looks great..I don't care about the BluRay/HD debate, I figure I got a top notch DVD player that upscales standard discs for under 100 bucks..and watch those HD Disc prices plummet.
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CarmillaVonDoom & mayorofsmpleton: go google "gay bear" sometime. Then get back to me about those "moron" comments.
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I thought that show could do no wrong? Everyone was nuts about it and that's how I ended up watching. Now they've all jumped off the bandwagon.
Maybe it has a built in time limit... -
we were sucking on Matt and Trey's cock and discussing how watching an episode of Family Guy was kind of like eating the corn and peanuts out of a homeless person's bowel movement?
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Still pretty far off. What are they taking a page out of BSG?
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Actually, you're both wrong - I have the DVD set and the Harrison Ford outtake is on it. I've watched it with my own two eyes and shown it to others.
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It's BACK ON, Herc. You give us news when Joss Whedon takes a crap, but you can't be bothered to whip up a talkback for Torchwood? Fie On You!
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...That a South Park fan would eat the corn and peanuts out of a bum's BM just to establish the comparison? But hey, maybe that could be the basis of South Park episode...how the kids eat the corn and peanuts out of a BM, then (for the 5000th fucking time) the parents find out and start a crusade against it, and then lawyers and hollywood stars get involved (for the 5000th fucking time) and there's a big wrap-up lecture at the end about how parents, lawyers and hollywood stars are out of control (for the 5000th fucking time). Matt and Trey, get on it!
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I seriously don't get the anger/conflict between the FG, SP, and Simpsons camps. At each of their primes, all 3 shows are/were worthwhile.
Anyway, I think Blue Harvest is the best FG episode since at least the season 4 premiere. And it's easily the best Star Wars spoof I've seen (better than Thumbwars and Troops).
BTW, Ernie the Giant Chicken plays Boba Fett in the upcoming FG Empire Strikes Back spoof.
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