Animé and Toons
Family Guy Volume 9
By Hervé St-Louis
December 28, 2011 - 11:24

Studios: Twentieth Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox's parent company News Corp supports SOPA
$39.99 US
Starring: Seth Macfarlane, Alex Borstein, Mila Kunis, Seth Green
Running Time: 384 minutes
Release Date: December 13, 2011
Distributors: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment



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Here’s a very unscientific observation. Women hate Family Guy universally. Guys love Family Guy universally. I’ve witnessed this when starting discussions on Family Guy several times. Women will express disdain. Guys will express adulation. My whole point is if you’re still looking for a gift for that special guy, Family Guy is a sure hit. There’s something about Peter and his idiotic antics that just speaks to the primal male brain that I suspect most women just don’t get. Family Guy Volume 9 continues the long running release of past seasons and episodes for home viewing.  The theme of this release is  murder mystery taken from the episode “And Then There Were Fewer.” The three-discs set includes episodes from season eight and nine.

As to be expected each story is a standalone with some vague continuity, like a quick cameo by Cleveland plugging his new series. Speaking of Cleveland, some of the special features include an entire episode of Cleveland to entire viewers to check out the sister series begun last year. The closest to an iconic episode like one of the famous chicken/Peter fight or the Star Wars spoofs is the one where Stewie and Brian are locked in bank safe for over a day. The pair bonds, fights and gets involved with lots of dirty business I’ll skip here although it made me crack up. Speaking of cracking up the best joke overall was Brian’s reaction after he learned he had slept with Quagmire’s father after the latter had a sex change. I’m not a frequent viewer of Family Guy, so I was surprised to see that now the whole family understand Stewie when he talks. I thought only Brian, the family dog, and non family members knew he could talk. Also the subplot where Stewie tries to murder his mom and take over the world wasn’t used anymore. Seems like his scope of activity has been increased which is cool. One thing  I did like though, is how Meg, the teenage daughter is still the family reject.

Animation-wise, nothing has changed with Family Guy, except more use of 3D animation for objects such as cars or jets. The integration is of course smooth. Some of the episodes are in HD format for larger television monitor. That’s a welcome upgrade. I haven’t listened to the commentaries. For some series and film, it makes sense, but for Family Guy, it feels like it would kill the mood and the fun of the series to hear the director Seth MacFarlane and other staffers try to outperform the actual jokes on screen. A note of warning, News Corporation, the parent company of the shows’ producing company Fox Television is a proponent of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

Extras
Rating: 8/10

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