The Correct Viewing Order Of Family Guy's Star Wars Episodes
"Family Guy" has been on the air for nearly 25 years (with a couple of brief breaks in the early days) with 400 episodes — and counting — to its name. The show has become such a staple of television at this point that it's hard to picture pop culture without it. In all of the years of adventures with Brian and Stewie, cutaway gags, and buffoonery with Peter, few things have ever made as much of an impact as the "Star Wars" parody episodes. Dubbed the "Laugh It Up, Fuzzball" trilogy, the episodes parodied George Lucas' original trilogy in a fashion that was both hilarious and loving. For those looking to revisit these gems, we're here to give you a very easy viewing guide.
It may seem a bit silly, but in the vast cavern that is streaming television, it can be a little bit annoying to search endlessly for what it is you want to watch, and in what order to watch it. So far as the "Family Guy" trilogy goes, it's pretty simple. The episodes were released in chronological order, with parodies of "A New Hope," "The Empire Strikes Back," and "Return of the Jedi" airing across several seasons. All of the show's episodes are streaming on Hulu, and they were also released on both DVD and Blu-ray for physical media collectors out there. We're going to make it very simple. Here are the episode titles, in order, along with the season they're in and the episode number:
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"Blue Harvest" – Season 6, Episode 1
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"Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" – Season 8, Episode 20
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"It's a Trap!" – Season 9, Episode 18
Simple as that. But it's worth remembering that "Family Guy," in part, only did these parodies because they had been making "Star Wars" jokes for years. So for those who would like a little more fun involving a galaxy far, far away from the Griffins, we've got you covered there as well.
Other Family Guy Star Wars bits to seek out
While I'm not going to go over an exhaustive list of "Star Wars" gags from throughout the show's history, I am going to recount a few personal favorites, in addition to the episodes they can be found in. First up, there's a great bit involving Carter Pewterschmidt and an attorney who shows up at his house trying to sue him. Carter promptly throws him into a Rancor pit, but the lawyer thwarts the beast like Luke did in "Return of the Jedi." Carter responds with the excellent line, "I didn't realize Greenberg was a Jedi name." The bit is in the episode "Peterotica" from season 4, episode 24.
Another bit from season 4 occurs when Peter is upset that he got passed over for employee for the month at the brewery, at which time, he recounts a bad job he had as the conductor of the Sand People choir. Obi-Wan Kenobi shows up to riff on a classic line from "A New Hope," serving as a nice button to the gag. The bit appears in the episode "The Courtship of Stewie's Father," the 16th episode of season 4.
Lastly, we get to a lesser-discussed but arguably an all-timer "Star Wars" bit from the show. In season 5 episode 7, "Chick Cancer," Stewie sets up a cutaway gag where we see the Rebels planning the assault on the Death Star. When Luke suggests to a fellow Rebel pilot that it is possible to hit the exhaust port with proton torpedoes, as he used to bullseye Womprats in his T-16, he full-on sandbags the guy in the process. It leads to a very funny exchange as well as a brilliant take on a classic "Star Wars" moment.
Will Family Guy ever do the prequels?
One of the bigger questions on the minds of fans ever since the original trilogy wrapped up more than a decade ago is whether or not "Family Guy" will tackle the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy. Unfortunately, that seems unlikely for the time being, with much of that having to do with Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm back in 2012.
One of the show's key producers, Alec Sulkin, addressed the topic at San Diego Comic-Con in 2016 about a year after "The Force Awakens" came out. Sulkin, in response to a fan, didn't seem optimistic about the prospect.
"We like the first three but by the time we were done with the third one I think we were about ready to kill ourselves. The new regime at Star Wars slash Disney is a little more difficult to deal with. Before we were just dealing with Lucasfilm and Seth had a good relationship with them... I just think that [Disney's] a little more rigid."
Meanwhile, series creator Seth MacFarlane also addressed the topic on his own and was quick to shoot down the idea of doing their take on "The Phantom Menace," "Attack of the Clones," and "Return of the Jedi." The reason? It comes down to cost. "I don't think we'll be going that route. They're just too expensive. Lucasfilm has been really great to us," MacFarlane said. So there we have it. For now, at least, it seems like it's only going to be the original trilogy. But hey, at least those are readily available and easy to watch.