Star Wars Family Guy
June 3, 2007 9:12 AM   Subscribe

Family Guy does Star Wars A ten minute sneak preview of an upcoming special, shown at the recent Star Wars Celebration IV convention in Los Angeles.
posted by Turtles all the way down (86 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
Probably all the dead chickens hanging upside down.
posted by L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg at 9:34 AM on June 3, 2007


Your favourite reference-laden animation sucks.
posted by autodidact at 9:39 AM on June 3, 2007


Oh, I get it! Peter, see, he does things that normal people do. Only, he's doing them in extraordinary circumstances. So, it's funny, right?
posted by ford and the prefects at 9:41 AM on June 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


I want so much to love this but I keep missing jokes because the audience laughs over them and that's driving me nuts.

Also, I was struck by the huge laugh the Bush/Cheney bumpersticker gag got. I remember a time when fandom was allergic to (non-theoretical) politics, and I'm not that old. I think it's a combination of the widespread bad feeling about the current US administration and the politicization of the internet. Maybe it's something else, but that was what sprang first to mind.
posted by Kattullus at 9:44 AM on June 3, 2007


Seeing things you recognize from other movies and TV shows is HA HA HILARIOUS.
posted by autodidact at 9:45 AM on June 3, 2007


Family Guy sucks.
posted by sharksandwich at 9:45 AM on June 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


The audience reaction to the Alderon joke fucking killed me...

And reading the miserable comments in here makes me like it even more.
posted by slimepuppy at 9:51 AM on June 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


I guess I'm just not hip enough to bring myself to dislike it. More, MOAR!

The creepy old man as Obi Wan was hillarious.
posted by kryptondog at 9:58 AM on June 3, 2007


As an immigrant with a pending application with DHS-USCIS to have the conditional status on my green card removed, I have no opinion as to the moral status of the present administration.

Oh, the reason I couldn't enjoy the video, slimepuppy, is that I have a slight hearing problem, which makes it very difficult for me to pick out the human voice from other noise. I love Family Guy, especially now that I live in Providence.
posted by Kattullus at 9:59 AM on June 3, 2007


Funny
posted by ob at 10:02 AM on June 3, 2007


Oh and Kattullus, I'm in the same position as you (although I'm a little behind as we don't file to remove conditions until next year) and thus your comment really made me laugh.
posted by ob at 10:04 AM on June 3, 2007


The Alderaan joke was awesome. (I'm ashamed that I didn't have to look up the spelling on "Alderaan.")

The couch joke is the reason why Family Guy tries my patience.
posted by ColdChef at 10:13 AM on June 3, 2007


I thought it was great, but my mind has been so fried by years of Adult Swim that I've forgotten that liking Family Guy is uncool now.
posted by Benjy at 10:14 AM on June 3, 2007


Also:
Boogie Wars- "Boogie Nights" meets "Star Wars."
posted by ColdChef at 10:20 AM on June 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


Your favourite reference-laden animation sucks.



What he said.
posted by wfc123 at 10:32 AM on June 3, 2007


Let me get this straight.

LucasFilm, not a group of fans, throws a "celebration" which is essentially ANOTHER huge over hyped advertiesment for their own fucking product and we aid in the viral promotion of it?

A product, that through their own revolting commercial greed, they have strained any of the originating artistic merit from by milking it over and over in mindless bland sequels that the average 10 year old didn't even like all that much. Said formulaic sequels being what alienated the fan base and generated negative reviews in the first place. Thus hampering long term sales.

So they return to "celebrating" the original. In hopes to pump a few more 30th Anniversary DVD sales though the gate via nostalgia? The same they shit on with the sequels.

What balls.

Jesus Christ. Does Karl Rove run Lucasfilm now?
posted by tkchrist at 10:39 AM on June 3, 2007


I'm sorry, but that was funny as hell.

Even the couch gag.
posted by empath at 10:59 AM on June 3, 2007


LucasFilm, not a group of fans, throws a "celebration" which is essentially ANOTHER huge over hyped advertiesment for their own fucking product and we aid in the viral promotion of it?

Fanboys always believe commercial efforts are more appropriate than non-commercial ones, and always prefer the officially approved to the non-approved.

This is what days of hearing people laugh at fandom (and specifically fanfic, which is of course unapproved and non-commercial, and totally coincidentally more popular with women than with men) over the LJ/Six Apart fiasco.
posted by watsondog at 11:08 AM on June 3, 2007


Even the couch gag.

My kids didn't get that part, but I was on the floor, laughing. After moving from apartment to apartment and house to house, I've had those sorts of conversations over and over in my life.
posted by thanotopsis at 11:17 AM on June 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


tkchrist - are you saying that it's not funny, or that it is funny but it's immoral to laugh at it?
posted by muteh at 11:25 AM on June 3, 2007


Family Guy is derivative, repetitive, and overhyped--but, as Paulene Kael said of Mel Brooks, it can make you laugh helplessly.
posted by Phred182 at 11:26 AM on June 3, 2007


The couch gag made me think of Douglas Adams.
posted by tommasz at 11:51 AM on June 3, 2007


The couch gag would have been funny for about 10 seconds the first time and maybe 3 or 4 the second.

Some of the jokes I didn't get because I'm not that familiar with family guy. Who was the guy in the suit talking to peter during the tie-fighter battle?
posted by delmoi at 11:57 AM on June 3, 2007


What's next? South Park doing Lord of the Rings?
posted by pmbuko at 12:04 PM on June 3, 2007


Who was the guy in the suit talking to peter during the tie-fighter battle?

Shirley you must be joking...

It was a reference to Airplane!, where Leslie Nelson's character periodically pops into the cockpit during moments of high stress to wish everyone good luck.
posted by Benjy at 12:09 PM on June 3, 2007


Delmoi: that was a reference to "Airplane!".
posted by parilous at 12:09 PM on June 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


...advertiesment for their own fucking product and we aid in the viral promotion of it? etc. etc.

So much cranky dyspeptic outrage over a little cartoon!
posted by Turtles all the way down at 12:16 PM on June 3, 2007


Our popular culture is about earlier popular culture.
This leads me to two (2) conclusions:
1. Pop will eat itself
2. This post is eponysterical
posted by Eideteker at 12:20 PM on June 3, 2007


I only watched the first couple of minutes, but what I saw was friggin hilarious.

Looking forward to the "upcoming special."
posted by jaronson at 12:26 PM on June 3, 2007


(runs to burn DVDs immediately)

Burn as in make copies or burn as in dispose of?
posted by Eideteker at 12:35 PM on June 3, 2007


I was thinking the same thing about the couch gag. I've had that conversation dozens of times. I loved Meg as the creepy creature in the garbage chute, too.
posted by emelenjr at 12:39 PM on June 3, 2007


I don't really like Family Guy but I did laugh at most of this . . . especially the couch joke. *shrugs* humor is a fickle mistress.
posted by nola at 12:47 PM on June 3, 2007


Ashamed to admit it, but I laughed hard at this. I found myself enjoying the audience's reaction as much as the silly Family Guy jokes themselves. I can't remember the last time I went to see a movie and the audience had that terrific, uproarious, shared vibe.
posted by HeroZero at 1:01 PM on June 3, 2007


The audience reaction to the Alderon joke fucking killed me...

Same here, and the couch joke... oh man. This was excellent. Great find!
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 1:19 PM on June 3, 2007


Christ that was funny as hell.
posted by vito90 at 1:26 PM on June 3, 2007


Wow. That was hilarious.

(I was kind of expecting Stewie and Peter to have their roles flipped, y'know, for geneaological purposes. Of course, that would mean Stewie and Chris would be competing for Lois' romantic attentions. . .)
posted by Ndwright at 1:43 PM on June 3, 2007




Damn! If they'd've done Episode I some of the reaction here would have been even funnier.
posted by i_cola at 2:05 PM on June 3, 2007


I stand by my assessment of the couch joke. Far too long for such a brief medium. It's like the awful "chicken fighting" joke from the series. It goes on and on and on and on...And what was briefly funny becomes nothing but filler. I am prepared for people to say that the "chicken joke" is hilarious. You are wrong.
posted by ColdChef at 2:08 PM on June 3, 2007


ColdChef, I respect you and stuff but you are talking out of your arse. That chicken joke was funnier than you offering to go down on MetaFilter.

But thanks for reminding me of it...
posted by i_cola at 2:14 PM on June 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


What balls.

Space Balls?
posted by zarah at 2:19 PM on June 3, 2007


*furiously shakes cane at MetaFilter*

Overall, I enjoy the family guy series. I like the tasteless stuff, the "inside" jokes, the cheap jokes, the brainy jokes. But for some reason, that "keep on beating the dead horse" joke is like Kryptonite to me. There's the "chicken fighting" joke, the "stubbed my toe (knee?)" joke, this couch joke, and I'm sure there are others like it that I've just blocked out. Am I the only one who hates these jokes? Is it just me? Hello? Is there anybody out there?
posted by ColdChef at 2:32 PM on June 3, 2007


And, yes, I understand the irony of ME (of all people) bitching about a certain joke going on and on forever, long past the point of being funny. Still don't like it. No, sir.
posted by ColdChef at 2:34 PM on June 3, 2007


The couch gag isn't overly long- by Family Guy standards. Remember when Peter tripped and skinned his shin. He sat on the sidewalg holding his shin and grimacing for a good minute and a half... The overdone 'bit' is an FG trademark.
posted by Gungho at 2:36 PM on June 3, 2007


So when does this air for real? In the fall as part of the new season?
posted by smackfu at 2:43 PM on June 3, 2007


which is essentially ANOTHER huge over hyped advertiesment for their own fucking product and we aid in the viral promotion of it?

Yes. Because Star Wars really need 'em some viral marketing.
posted by Cyrano at 2:51 PM on June 3, 2007


For the record, Family Guy has never been relevant to me. It's on FOX. Why are people still clicking to FOX?

Star Wars stopped being relevant somewhere after Darth Vader told Luke he was his father and before Lucas retconned that Han Solo didn't shoot first.

I know that's terribly geeky of me. Read the above with a braces lisp if it helps you.
posted by ZachsMind at 2:57 PM on June 3, 2007


Also, this did get me thinking...

That "Hold your fire," guy is at least somewhat responsible for the downfall of The Empire.

Think about that the next time you say, "Hold the green peppers..."

(No, I'm not stoned.) (Or drunk.)

(Yet.)
posted by Cyrano at 3:02 PM on June 3, 2007


It's things like this that make my internet bill seem worth it so much more than my tv bill.
posted by furtive at 3:08 PM on June 3, 2007


One minute, forty eight seconds on that fucking couch. That's over 15% of the entire clip. I'm just sayin'.
posted by ColdChef at 3:15 PM on June 3, 2007


XQUZYPHYR that really cracked me up.
posted by nola at 3:16 PM on June 3, 2007


as a former professional furniture mover, that couch gag was the best thing in a pretty funny clip. and i say that as someone who's not really a family guy fan.
posted by Hat Maui at 3:42 PM on June 3, 2007


"One minute, forty eight seconds on that fucking couch. That's over 15% of the entire clip. I'm just sayin'

The bit that just goes on and on, to the point of sort of making the audience uncomfortable, is a standard move in the modern comedic tradition...

These aren't great examples, but they're the first off the top of my head...

Think Paul Reubens in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer getting staked through the heart, and going "oooh, aaaaah, ow, aaugh," for like a minute straight...

It's the whole idea of funny, then not funny, then it's gone on so long that it's hilarious again...
posted by stenseng at 3:44 PM on June 3, 2007


Y'know what's relevant to me at the moment? David Armand and Natalie Imbruglia performing together to her song "Torn" at last year's Secret Policeman's Ball. And that was almost a year ago, but still, it's relevant to me cuz I saw it for the first time only a couple days ago.

So. Relevancy is relative. I'm sure Star Wars is still relevant to George Lucas. I'm happy for him.
posted by ZachsMind at 3:46 PM on June 3, 2007


Guys could we please stop arguing what should or shouldn't be funny and go back to talking about why youtube sucks

I also can't help thinking the target audience for this will make it the most bittorrented thing ever
posted by churl at 3:56 PM on June 3, 2007


"The couch gag would have been funny for about 10 seconds the first time and maybe 3 or 4 the second."

I disagree, in this sense at least: the length *is* the gag. If it's not *way too long*, it's not the couch gag as they conceived it. Of course, the whole "this joke is *way* too long" concept is only funny if you're in the right mood for it, so I can understand people not liking it. I'm not going to attempt to defend it; for my part I find it pretty funny if used sparingly. If it's an episode I've already seen, that might be when I take a short break to see what else is on TV...

Anyway, this looks like it's going to be a truly classic episode...
posted by uosuaq at 4:09 PM on June 3, 2007


I laughed at a lot of that. I especially liked the commentary essentially asking, "why the hell wouldn't you shoot the escape pod?" (even though the joke itself wasn't exactly hilarious).

Oh, and I sometimes like when Family Guy does the awkwardly long joke thing to which stenseng alludes, but they really, really need to kill the chicken joke (which really isn't even of the "awkwardly long variety, and more of the "running in joke" variety.
posted by the other side at 4:27 PM on June 3, 2007


Everything that isn't completely funny sucks.
posted by Clave at 4:35 PM on June 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


It's the whole idea of funny, then not funny, then it's gone on so long that it's hilarious again...

I'm familiar with the concept. The Paul Reubens thing in "Buffy" is a good example of it working.* I was just saying that, in my opinion, Family Guy uses it entirely too often, and to diminishing results.

*Two other times I think the funny-notfunny-then funny again works: Austin Powers taking a piss in the first film, Spinal Tap getting lost under the stage.
posted by ColdChef at 6:03 PM on June 3, 2007


Anybody else want some of these delicious beans?
posted by ColdChef at 6:03 PM on June 3, 2007


Everything funny also sucks.
posted by signal at 6:04 PM on June 3, 2007


Oh, man! They actually took the fucking couch!!!! PERFECT!

* falls over laughing, dies *
posted by yhbc at 6:25 PM on June 3, 2007


* falls over laughing, dies *

See, there's proof right there that you're all wrong. Wrong, I tells ya.
posted by ColdChef at 6:30 PM on June 3, 2007


One minute, forty eight seconds on that fucking couch. That's over 15% of the entire clip. I'm just sayin'.

It's the whole idea of funny, then not funny, then it's gone on so long that it's hilarious again...


1) Though it's surely older than this, the "overextending a gag till it loops back into funny again like a snake feasting upon its tail (or an ADHD kid upon Ritalin)" gag can for convenience be dated to the I think 11 rakes Sideshow Bob steps on and is thus thwacked in the face by in the Simpsons "Cape Fear" parody. (This using the academic standard of dating all things prior to the Simpsons' debut as BCE - Before the [modern] Cartoon Era.)

2) I'm hit and miss with the Family Guy, but this I liked. Especially the couch gag.

2a) Kind of like that chicken fight. One of the show's finest moments. Gutsy. Stoopid. Awesome.

3) ColdChef taking the time to measure the length of that couch gag? Turns the couch gag up to at least 11.

Laughing not at you but near you, ColdChef. I feel your pain, but it's a chacun-a-son-gout thing, and you belabouring it makes it, y'know, awesomer.
posted by gompa at 7:38 PM on June 3, 2007


That was sweet!
posted by squidfartz at 7:46 PM on June 3, 2007


Clip: funny.

Couch gag: funny.

ColdChef timing the couch gag to illustrate that it's not funny: comedy gold.
posted by danb at 8:01 PM on June 3, 2007 [1 favorite]


I just watched and the couch bit wasn't even that long?! It wasn't just repeating something for over a minute, like I had been led to believe by some unnamed people here. (Not that family guy hasn't done that before.)
posted by smackfu at 8:29 PM on June 3, 2007


It's far too long. You bastards won't sway me. I stand alone against the hurricanes of your collective ignorance.
posted by ColdChef at 8:34 PM on June 3, 2007


*trembles at the sight of Hurricane Squidfartz*
posted by the other side at 9:19 PM on June 3, 2007


* falls over laughing, dies *

See, there's proof right there that you're all wrong. Wrong, I tells ya.


I think you're just looking at that purely personal commercial terms...
posted by i_cola at 5:58 AM on June 4, 2007


"...at that in purely..."
posted by i_cola at 6:01 AM on June 4, 2007


There are two kinds of people in this world. Those that think Family Guy is hilarious, and the sane.
posted by mcstayinskool at 7:01 AM on June 4, 2007


I'm with ColdChef on the couch gag. Although it was better than I expected, given my waning enthusiasm for Family Guy in general.
posted by AV at 7:01 AM on June 4, 2007


It's the whole idea of funny, then not funny, then it's gone on so long that it's hilarious again...

See Also: David Letterman.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 7:13 AM on June 4, 2007


What's next? South Park doing Lord of the Rings?

They did do that. And it was hilarious.
posted by Ber at 7:23 AM on June 4, 2007


Family Guy seems to have run its course recently, but this was fucking hilarious. I think it caps off all their star wars references in all the other episodes quite nicely.
posted by pepcorn at 7:59 AM on June 4, 2007


I decided to watch the whole thing and try to reserve judgement. I laughed at the couch joke, and "Don't get penis-y". The couch joke is actual humor, not a lame reference. I found the "Deal or No Deal" and "Airplane" references to be total groaners and the exact reason I think the show sucks and don't enjoy watching it.
posted by autodidact at 8:54 AM on June 4, 2007


It occurs to me that this thread is exactly like an overlong Chicken Fight-ish "Family Guy" gag.
posted by blucevalo at 10:27 AM on June 4, 2007


Kattullus:...I was struck by the huge laugh the Bush/Cheney bumpersticker gag got.

Family Guy has been laying the anti-Bush on pretty thick lately. I'm not sure how to feel about this.

Oh, and they also addressed the origins of the Chicken Fight.
posted by LordSludge at 11:13 AM on June 4, 2007


And since you're all such big fans, here's the Complete 10 Minute Chicken Fight Compilation.
posted by LordSludge at 11:17 AM on June 4, 2007


News Flash: Some MeFiers lack a sense of humor. Story at 11.
posted by Dantien at 11:27 AM on June 4, 2007


Huh, first time on MetaFilter I've been accused of lacking a sense of humor. Yeah. Those clips weren't dull and repetitive at all.
posted by ColdChef at 12:19 PM on June 4, 2007


The important question nobody seems to be asking is, how are they going to work the chicken fight into Star Wars?
posted by Uncle Ira at 2:55 PM on June 4, 2007


Yeah. Those clips weren't dull and repetitive at all.

Nope. Not at all. It's the recursive future of comedy.

I wanted to laugh. I will laugh at anything. I think Benny Hill slapping that old bald guys head in fast motion is a laugh Olympics. But this shit was so forced. I sounded like half those people were paid to laugh " HA. HA. HA."

My first comment was more about the number of posts here and everywhere about this stupid fucking Anniversary. Which is all marketing hype I'd rather not participate in - not without a check from LucasFilm anyway. You'll get another chance to help out Lucas in five years for the 35th Anniversary release.
posted by tkchrist at 8:57 PM on June 4, 2007


That was awesome.

Suck it, haters.
posted by The Monkey at 11:54 PM on June 4, 2007


Star Wars Meets Robot Chicken (no, not THAT chicken...the Seth Green show)
posted by ColdChef at 5:40 PM on June 5, 2007


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