Thursday, June 24, 2010

FAMILY GUY - Volume Eight

Written by Pirata Hermosa

The Griffin family is back for another 15 episodes on DVD. No, it’s not a full season. It’s the last seven episodes from season seven and the first eight episodes from season eight, a little frustrating for some fans that like to purchase and collect entire seasons at once. There are still plenty of episodes on the discs and each one can be played in either the original-airing mode or the uncut version.

People can argue about whether or not Family Guy is a good show, or that it’s lost that special magic it once had before its original cancellation. Even so, it’s still entertaining millions of people and on this DVD release has at least three standout episodes worth having.

“Not All Dogs Go To Heaven” reunites the entire original cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation after Stewie builds a working transporter and beams them all into his bedroom. Not only is this fun for fans of both shows, but it’s truly awesome to see Patrick Stewart slapping Wil Wheaton around and saying, "F*ck you" to Michael Dorn.

“Road to the Multiverse” follows Brian and Stewie as they journey through alternate realities entering worlds created by Disney as well as the world of The Flintstones, Robot Chicken, and many more. While other shows have had similar storylines, this episode is one of the best.

“Hannah Banana” is when everyone finds out all of the secrets about the evil monkey who lives in Chris’ closet and why he is really there. As an added bonus you also get to watch a cyborg Miley Cyrus get shot down off a skyscraper in homage to the famous King Kong films.

Along with the two versions of each episode, many of them have the usual director’s commentary. There is a deleted scenes section that contains several clips that could have just been added to the uncut versions. There is a karaoke feature that contains many of the various Family Guy songs throughout the entire series, a small booklet that contains the entire script to the “Road to the Multiverse” episode, and finally a featurette that discusses the making of that same episode.

Fans will be happy to add this three-disc set to their collection as it continues with its normal formulaic style and trademark stream-of-consciousness brand of humor.


Article first published as DVD Review: Family Guy - Volume Eight on Blogcritics.