Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise conceived by George Lucas. The first film in the franchise was originally released on May 25, 1977, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, spawning two sequels, released at three-year intervals. Sixteen years after the release of the trilogy's final film, the first in a new prequel trilogy of films was released, again released at three-year intervals, with the final film released on May 19, 2005. Director J.J. Abrams was tapped for the seventh installment of the Star Wars franchise in 2013.[1]
Many Star Wars characters and references are seen throughout all the Family Guy series.
Stewie freezes an airport security officer named Henry in carbonite in "Chitty Chitty Death Bang".
Jabba the Griffin appears in "He's Too Sexy for His Fat".
The Griffins use an escape pod in "Holy Crap" that is similar to the pod used in Star Wars.
The binoculars Stewie uses to watch Janet from the ladder in "Dammit Janet!" are the same Luke Skywalker uses in The Empire Strikes Back.
In "And the Wiener is...", an Imperial Stormtrooper is seen shooting a cardboard cutout of Luke Skywalker.
Stewie’s air battle in "Emission Impossible" with Peter’s sperm parodies that of both Luke Skywalker in A New Hope and the Millennium Falcon attack in Return of the Jedi with one of Peter’s testicles representing the base.
After Lois asks Peter if he gave away the family’s Christmas presents in "A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas", Peter responds: “Lois, if you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” This is almost an exact quote of Obi-Wan Kenobi in his climactic duel with Darth Vader.
Brian slices open the camel’s belly to save Stewie from the cold, much like Han Solo did with his Tauntaun to warm Luke in The Empire Strikes Back.
When Peter imagines the baby birds as his children in "Brian Wallows and Peter's Swallows", the third bird wears a purple version of Boba Fett’s helmet.
In "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein", Luke Skywalker is used by Lois Griffin as an example as to why laser eye surgery is so dangerous.
While Joe Swanson chases the Griffins through the sewer in "Breaking Out is Hard to Do", Tie fighters appear and Joe destroys them.
In "Chick Cancer", Luke is called out for embarrassing a rebel trooper by saying it was possible to shoot a proton torpedo into a two meter hole.
The final scene in "Blind Ambition" in which Peter receives his award is a reenactment of the ending of the original Star Wars film', complete with John Williams’ music, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2. In the same fashion, the credits were done to the Star Wars theme and style.
In "The Cleveland-Loretta Quagmire", Emperor Palpatine tried to make Cleveland Brown so angry he'll beat up Glenn Quagmire for sleeping with Cleveland's wife.
In an installment of "What Really Grinds My Gears" for Quahog 5 News in the first Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story segment, "Stewie B. Goode", one of the things that irks Peter Griffin is not being able to find the droids he's looking for. A couple of Stormtroopers viewing the telecast agree.
In the second Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story segment "Bango Was His Name Oh", Stewie Griffin shoos Jawas away from the car he was using to track down a man he believes is his father.
In "You May Now Kiss the...Uh...Guy Who Receives", Peter saves Luke Skywalker's life by filling in for the Tauntaun that Han cuts open.
In "The Courtship of Stewie's Father", Kenobi warns Peter Griffin that the Tusken Raiders will return after storming from choir practice in greater numbers.
In "Barely Legal", Stewie proclaims that discovering Brian and Meg kissed at the dance was a bigger jackpot than when the Emperor discovered the key to great Star Wars dialogue.
Attorney Scott Greenberg battles the Rancor in "Peterotica" when he represents the plaintiff who is suing Carter Pewterschmidt.
In "Mother Tucker", Darth Vader is seen working as a meter maid writing a parking ticket, then being insulted on his narrow life and lack of vision by the business man whose car is involved
Nien Nunb is Glenn Quagmire's co-pilot in "Airport '07".
In "Brian Sings and Swings", Meg sees Chris putting on his hair and hat the same way Vader has his helmet put on in The Empire Strikes Back". It shows Chris' scarred head as the "Imperial March" is played.
With support from Lucas, Seth MacFarlane created Blue Harvest, a whole Family Guy extended episode which is a retelling of Star Wars Episode IV.
Another episode of Family Guy dedicated to Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back titled Something, Something, Something, Dark Side was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 22, 2009. The title came from a Star Wars related "Barely Legal" cutaway.
Yet another episode of Family Guy dedicated to Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, It's A Trap!, was released on December 21st 2010, as was a box set for the trilogy, known as the Laugh it Up, Fuzzball trilogy.
In "It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One", Mayor Lois Griffin claims that Darth Vader is buying yellowcake uranium from unwed teenage mothers in order to get money from the taxpayers to support Lake Quahog.
Peter quotes Vader's line "They are a part of a rebel alliance and a traitor!" in "Padre de Familia".
Hayden Christensen identifies who he is, with intention to go into character, when he shows up to join the spirits Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and Francis Griffin, in their attempt to encourage Peter Griffin to prove himself to his biological father Mickey McFinnigan in "Peter's Two Dads".
Emperor Palpatine is also seen in "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing," at the Quahog Cabana Club as the only audience member when Frank Sinatra, Jr. and Brian become the new owners. He requests they play "On the Dark Side".
In "Three Kings", Peter as Andy Dufrense has several Star Wars figurines in his cell including Vader and General Grievous.
Chris uses two logs to crush Peter's head while they are mad at each other in "Hannah Banana". The scene is reminiscent of Return of the Jedi when the Ewoks use two logs to crush an AT-STs head.
In "Family Goy", the ghost of Francis Griffin appears before Peter and orders him to stop supporting the Jewish faith. When Peter agrees, he asks Francis to quote Obi-Wan's quote from The Empire Strikes Back: "You must go to the Dagobah System".
The producers of the films decided to make James Earl Jones's role as Vader voice-only after seeing that he could barely fit in the suit, as seen in "Go, Stewie, Go!".
The Death Star appeared in "Brian Griffin's House of Payne" in the shape of Peter's face in Stewie's imagination.
In "Back to the Pilot", Future Joe's body below the head is a copy of that of IG-88, the assassin droid bounty hunter from Star Wars.
Peter makes the creators of Mad Men make Jon Hamm's character a Star Wars Jedi in "Ratings Guy". KISS guitarist Ace Frehley appears and plays the Star Wars theme.
Chris believes that Peter is about to launch into another Star Wars story in "Jesus, Mary & Joseph".
When Peter has a severe accident while skydiving in Las Vegas in "Turban Cowboy", he says he saw his life flash before his eyes and admits they did way too much Star Wars stuff. Peter also mangles "Allahu Akbar" as "Admiral Akbar" while dining at The Chaste Camel with Mahmoud.
Peter tries to make a Star Wars reference to Kimi in "Take My Wife" but she doesn't get it. Lois does, but refers to the film as The Star Wars as Peter corrects her.
Peter's temper tantrum in "Follow the Money" parodies that of Kylo Ren from The Force Awakens, including the two stormtroopers who decide not to intervene.
In "The Woof of Wall Street", Brian quotes Darth Vader's line in A New Hope "When I left you, I was but the learner; now I am the master" before igniting a red lightsaber and shouting "hy-yah!" Stewie points out that no one makes that shout.
God notes that Peter has always been a Star Wars guy in "Are You There God? It's Me, Peter" after he makes a comment about Tatooine.
Stewie and his new friend Hudson get toys of Kylo Ren and Forrest Whitaker from McBurgertown in "Pal Stewie" and proceed to choke on them intentionally.
Peter's eulogy for Angela in "Pawtucket Pete" contains references to Star Wars.
As Donald Trump tries to force himself on Meg Jabba the Hutt-style in "Trump Guy", Mike Pence sits at his elbow and cackles in a parody of Salacious Crumb.
In "Family Guy Lite", Horatio, who has learning disabilities, wears a Darth Vader cape from an old costume. In addition, the Rancor is trapped, along with Peter, in Quagmire's basement as part of a weight-loss program.
Peter, or rather, an ice cream replica of Peter, recreates Han Solo frozen in carbonite by using Smucker's Magic Shell in "Girl, Internetted".
Meg visits several shopping malls with pun names in "Christmas is Coming" in search of a Santa Claus that gave her her first orgasm, including "Darth Mall."
When Brian and the kids file a report after Peter and Lois vanish in "Cutawayland", Joe uses his notepad to draw Tie fighters instead of taking the report.
When ranking Star Wars films for a website in "Pawtucket Pat", Brian admits he never saw the original or The Empire Strike Back.
Quagmire uses the name 'Obi Wan Quagmire' on eBay in "And Then There's Fraud". Peter wonders if they mean 'Old Glenn Quagmire', mimicking a quote from A New Hope.
Lois compares the chip in her credit card to "living in The Star Wars" in "Customer of the Week".
During a parody of American Beauty in "Oscars Guy", Frank (Joe) says he doesn't like what he saw When he believes he saw his son Ricky giving oral sex to Lester (Peter), Lester believes him to be talking about The Phantom Menace which came out the same year.
Peter's secret agent character in "Take This Job and Love It" uses Kylo Ren's lightsaber to defeat the villain.
Films
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
- Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
- Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)
- Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
- Star Wars: Rogue One (2016)
- Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)
- Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
- Star Wars Episode IX: Rise of the Skywalker (2019)