Starting with the iconic opening crawl, writer Seth MacFarlane “discloses” that neither he nor the Family Guy team really wanted to make this third installment because they were “exhausted” – this apparently was not a joke. The 56-minute episode plays out as the other two have, reliving the original Star Wars films with Family Guy characters in their place. Han Solo is frozen in carbonite at Jabba’s palace as Luke, Leia and Lando try to rescue him. The story needs little review as virtually anyone interested in this spoof would at the very least be aware of the story in The Return of the Jedi; this of course means execution is the key.
The execution is precisely where It’s a Trap! falters. Filled with more chuckles than audible laughs, the jokes seem lazy, as if the writers took one swipe at the original script and never attempted to edit or re-write any of the jokes. A few moments in the episode land a solid belly laugh but never enough to feel that this was the best the Family Guy team could put together. For a franchise built off it’s “outside the box” self-aware style humor, It’s a Trap! takes it a step too far – with constant references to other Seth MacFarlane creations, overly repetitive sight gags and even another Conway Twitty appearance, there are simply too many instances where it appears that the writers are just killing time.
In fact, this episode is so far beneath even the current wavering standard of the television show that it begs the question: Is Seth MacFarlane trying to wage war with Fox in plain sight by releasing sub-par material such as this…why else would he have picked such an obscure and otherwise irrelevant line from original film to name this episode after or is Mr. MacFarlane simply trying to see how much he can get away with…unfortunately it seems either is possible.
Worth your money
Not worth your money
-Worth somebody else’s money-
Love the episode? Hate it? Leave your comments below.
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After just finishing "It's a trap", watching the special features, and listening to the commentary, I fully agree with your sentiments. This is by far the laziest Family Guy ever. It is so blatantly apparent that Seth MacFarlane and crew didn't have their hearts in this one. (spoiler) In the commentary Seth actually leaves half way through. The special features are thin at best. You can really tell this was thrown together to make Fox happy. They did retell the Jedi story, so it does round out the trilogy, but it is clear this will be the last Family Guy - Star Wars episode (no prequel SW). It there were indeed some laughs, but most of the jokes were predictable MacFarlane humor.
Over all I say it's worth a watch. I feel I got my $30 worth with the "Laugh it up, fuzzball" BluRay set containing all three episodes on BluRay as well as digital copies. But if you can borrow it from a friend or get it on Netflix, that may be the best way to see it before you spend your money.