For the past six seasons various episodes of Family Guy have had numerous references to the Star Wars Saga. The cast and crew are big fans and after having to get permissions from Lucasfilm numerous times, the people at FOX told creator Seth MacFarlane to see about just doing a full episode.
MacFarlane took that opportunity and as it turns out, Lucas is a big Family Guy fan so not only did he approve it, he let them use John Williams' original score. The result is Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest; the name is a nod to Star Wars fans. Back in 1982, when Lucasfilm was shooting the third installment of the Star Wars saga, Return of the Jedi, they used a fake name to limit fan interference. The production team shot the film under the name "Blue Harvest" with the tagline: “Horror Beyond Imagination.” This trick worked until Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher showed up on the set, and their cover was blown, but the name worked in the beginning.
This show was Family Guy’s highest rated episode to date, and just as The Simpsons have The Treehouse of Terror as an annual tradition, Family Guy may have found its annual tradition. Plans are already underway to adapt The Empire Strikes Back and it will be called "Something, Something, Something Dark Side", which is a reference back to one of the gags in a previous episode.
Blue Harvest is great; it was a labor of love for everyone involved and it shows not only in the episode itself, but watching the extras and listening to the commentary, it's apparent that the show's team are big Star Wars fans. The roles they put each of the Family Guy cast in is great; you also get to see each of their own personalities come out. Chris Griffin plays Luke Skywalker, Peter Griffin plays Han Solo, and Lois is Princess Leia (this is especially disturbing because in the movies, Luke and Leia are siblings; on Family Guy, Lois and Chris are mother and son). Stewie makes a perfect Darth Vader, and Quagmire and Cleveland are great as C-3PO and R2-D2. What’s even funnier is in the unrated audio, R2 has a potty mouth!
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