WITI Research Guru Blog

Let me preface this my admitting that I am a big fan of both "Family Guy" and "Star Wars."  So it was probably a foregone conclusion that I would like last night's season premiere titled "Blue Harvest."  Side Note - "Blue Harvest" was the name they shot "Return Of The Jedi" under to keep plot points from getting out.  Well this episode FAR exceeded my expectations and had me laughing out loud several times throughout the hour.  I could never really do the episode justice by trying to recap the whole thing.  So let me just list a few shining moments off the top of my head...

The references to Angelina Jolie during the openning crawl
Princess Leia trying to download the message into R2
Switching John Williams for Danny Elfman
The lack of railings on the Death Star
The "Doctor Who" clip
Sneaking by stormtroopers to "Minnie The Moocher" ala "The Blues Borther"
Han Solo trying to get the couch off the Death Star
The other members of "red team"
"Airplane" references
An appearance by the Griswolds
The "Robot Chicken" discussion

Now get this.  Aintitcoolnews.com is reporting that there might be an "Empire Strikes Back" parody in the works!  Here are the details...

Sunday night’s “Star Wars” edition of “Family Guy” was the series’ highest-rated installment since it returned to Fox in 2005, and a parody of “The Empire Strikes Back” “seems likely,” a Fox source tells TV Week’s James Hibbard 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.
Hibbard’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.

Speaking of "The Simpsons," last night's show open was a great bridge from the movie.  Long live Spider Pig!