Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Family Guy – Something, Something, Something, Darkside (Blu-ray)

David Vaughn  |  Dec 24, 2009

May the laughs be with you as (Chris) Skywalker joins forces with (Peter) Solo and Princess (Lois) Leia to battle (Stewie) Vader and his Imperial minions. A host of new characters come along for the wild ride, including Mort Goldman as Lando Calrissian, Chris' boss Carl as Yoda, and the Giant Chicken as the nefarious Boba Fett.

Through the years I've seen maybe 15 minutes of the Family Guy on Fox, but when I saw the press release for this parody, I couldn't pass up the chance to give it a spin. I can't say I was overly impressed. Sure, there were a few laughs, but I don't think the "F" word has a place in the Star Wars universe (maybe I'm a prude). Granted, there were a few laughs with the interplay between Solo and Leia, but the miniature Vader stole the show.

The AVC encode is solid with excellent color saturation and adequate black levels. There's some occasional video noise and interlace artifacts on the star destroyers that may be source related. The animation won't blow you away, but it's fun to see how they translate the film to cartoon.

Surprisingly, the score is filled with actual music from Empire and the John Williams music has never sounded better. Dialog is intelligible and stereo spread across the front speakers is wide and dynamic. Frequency response is very strong and the surround speakers are filled with activity.

Supplements include an audio commentary from the creators, writer, and star Seth Green, a couple of featurettes, a sneak peek at Family Guy-Episode VI: We Have a Bad Feeling About This, and a digital copy of the parody for portable media players.

Parodies can be tough to pull off, especially of a popular franchise. Space Balls did a decent job on Star Wars and this Family Guy production is virtually equal in entertainment value. Frankly, the score alone is worthy of one viewing, but I couldn't see myself watching it again—I prefer the original. Rent it.

Release Date: December 22, 2009
Studio: Fox

Movie: 5/10
Picture: 8/10
Sound: 9/10

Review System

Source
Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player

Display
JVC DLA-RS1 projector
Stewart FireHawk screen (76.5" wide, 16:9)

Electronics
Onkyo Pro PR-SC885 pre/pro
Anthem PVA-7 power amplifier
Belkin PF60 power conditioner

Speakers
M&K S-150s (L, C, R)
M&K SS-150s (LS, RS, SBL, SBR)
SVS PC-Ultra subwoofer

Cables
Monoprice HDMI cables (source to pre/pro)
Best Deal analog-audio cables
PureLink HDC Fiber Optic HDMI Cable System (15 meters) from pre/pro to projector

Acoustical treatments from GIK Acoustics

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