Blue Harvest

With "Something, Something, Something Dark Side" due out next week, I think it would be appropriate to review the previous installment of Family Guy's homages to the classic Star Wars trilogy.

The title of that first installment already gives cause for a nit: based on the first episode to be released, Episode IV, A New Hope, the Family Guy homage is titled "Blue Harvest," which was the code-name for Return of the Jedi, not A New Hope. Do you buy Seth MacFarlane's explanation that they didn't know if their homage would be successful and if then they would have to make the other two installments? Heck, they'll probably even have to make installments for the prequel trilogy. But at this point, the only previous material unquestionably suitable for reference in nitpicking is the film A New Hope itself.

After that there is the matter of assigning Family Guy characters to Star Wars characters. The most obvious choice for Luke and Leia are Chris and Meg. However, the Family Guy writers are so dead set on using Meg for a punching bag, that Meg couldn't be Leia, she had to be a monster in the trash compactor. Instead, Lois is Leia. So family correspondence does not matter for the choice, fine. Still, I was troubled by the choice of the pedophile Herbert for the noble Obi-Wan Kenobi. And I think a fat Darth Vader (Peter) would've been funnier than a short one (Stewie), but I have to concede that Peter makes an excellent Han Solo.

There is also the matter of which version of the movies to use as the source text: the classic edition of 1977 or the Special Edition of 1997? The decisive question of who shot first in the cantina provides the answer: Han/Peter shoots at Greedo first, as in the classic edition, which makes more sense to a nitpicker anyway. Greedo must be a real retard to shoot first and miss! How can such a lousy shot make it as bounty hunter worthy of being hired by Jabba? (To refresh my memory on Greedo's background, I went to starwars.com; I wouldn't trust Wikipedia or even the Wookiepedia—ugh! But note that starwars.com emphasizes that Greedo shot first and missed.)

The following are from the IMDb, at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0888817/goofs. I will give my running commentary as I go along.

"Continuity: A cloud appears in front of one of Tatooine's twin suns too quickly (possibly a deliberate error since the same thing happens in the actual movie.)" OK, whatever. I've never noticed that and it probably wouldn't bother me if I did.

"Revealing mistakes: When Peter [Han] and Chris [Luke] are getting the couch out of the trash compactor, Brian [Chewbacca] and Lois [Leia] are standing on top surface of the garbage water." Didn't notice that either but that's a worthier nit.

"Continuity: At the Cantina bar, Han Solo is the last character to leave for the Millennium Falcon, but somehow manages to get there before everyone else." Whatever.

"Continuity: When Peter (Han Solo) and Chris (Luke Skywalker) attempt to get the couch out of the trash compactor, somehow Chris gets his end of the couch out but Peter can't get his." I'm willing to give a pass on this one.

"Continuity: During a light saber duel between Obi Wan (Herbert) and Darth Vader (Stewie), Darth Vader uses a red light saber. After killing Obi Wan, Darth Vader is seen with a blue light saber as stormtroopers fire on the Millennium Falcon as it departs. In the next shot that shows Darth Vader, he is again holding a red light saber." That's a good one.

"Continuity: After the light saber duel between Herbert (Obi Wan) and Stewie (Darth Vader), Brian (Chewbacca) and Peter Griffin (Han Solo) run out with the couch. When they are arguing with each other on how to get the couch into the Millennium Falcon, the laser blasts are actually going the wrong way. The Storm Troopers are on the right of them firing to the left, but the the laser blasts are coming from the left of them and going right. You can clearly see there wasn't any Storm Troopers on the left of them as they were running to the ship." Fine, I'll accept this one.