Review of Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story

Introduction

`Family Guy`s relationship with our beloved digital format is one that is best depicted by the image of two figures running naked through a cornfield to the sounds of a chamber orchestra, whilst holding out their arms to feel the imminence of a beautiful and tearful embrace. After cancellation by the FOX network following the third season, it was the overwhelmingly high DVD sales which saw it, in time, reinstated to television`s main table.

That it was ever removed from the schedules in the first place was, of course, a heinous act of misjudgement. From the outset, `Family Guy` provided audiences with a clever, disgusting and incredibly funny adult cartoon featuring evil monkeys, fighting chickens, talking alcoholic dogs, and a more than a few characters based on real life humans too!

`Stewie Griffin: The Untold story` is the first feature length DVD outing for the Griffin clan, clocking in at around 88 minutes. Or so it would suggest. Further inspection actually reveals the disc to be three episodes from the forthcoming season 4 with a bit of extra padding to make up the minutes. This may seem like a bit of a cynical stab at the Christmas market, but, hey, can you actually wait `til the next season hits the shelves? Thought not

Following in the tradition of the `Road to Rhode Island` and `Rhode to Europe` episodes from seasons 2 and 3, in which Bing Crosby and Bob Hope`s hapless adventures were so acutely spoofed by baby Stewie and Brian (the dog), `The Untold Story` is essentially a three part `Road to…` episode. As such, the twosome who resemble an intoxicated Snoopy and Charlie Brown, leave the safety net of the American North East and head to San Francisco with the sole purpose of tracking down Stewie`s real father. That this presents a multitude of problems and opportunities for dry wit and filthy observation (including a non-more-surreal visit to the future!) should come as no surprise to anyone already acquainted with Quahog`s finest.

Video

Presented in Fullscreen 4:3 aspect ratio, just like the Series Boxsets, `The untold story` looks exactly like the TV show. Many might judge this to be a bad thing, but it reveals itself to be the complete opposite. There`s nothing worse than when shows step up the animation for a full length outing, and in the process shed all the character that was originally there. Remember the Tom and Jerry movie? Rugrats the movie? The attempt to make things `3D` with only the use of increased shading for help, pretty much ruined the look compared to their TV counterparts.

Thankfully, Seth McFarlane and the other FG creators have stuck to what they know - and that`s how to produce a top notch comedy with a crisp visual dimension.

Audio

The use of show-stopping musical-type songs and spoofs of popular music from the past twenty years have, in the past, helped to define the `Family Guy` persona (or should that be cartoona?). Once again, they come up with the goods, with a diverse and exciting soundtrack which matches the changing moods of the main action, and expertly reflects the mayhem within.

Features

The DVD claims to feature Commentaries, Deleted scenes, Stills, Galleries and Animatics. However, I could only find some trailers (including for the creator`s other project - American Dad) and the aforementioned Commentaries and Animatics.

The original season box sets came with no extras at all, so it`s pleasing to know that they`ve thought about the fans a bit more with this particular release but, having said that, they`ve hardly piled this ice cream to the top with sticky fudge sauce and sprinkles. The Animatics are somewhat interesting, at first, but the rest just seems to be here to make up space. I`d be hoping for a better showing when season 4 hits the shelves.

Conclusion

With the knowledge that `Family Guy` is, at this point in time, the biggest selling TV show DVD in the world … ever, whatever opinions I pass on the latest pin to its hat are rendered completely redundant. The simple fact is that, with the goodwill already in the `Family Guy` brand, this Disc will sell like the proverbial hot cakes - no matter how earth-shatteringly abysmal it is. Thankfully, you may breathe a well earned sigh of relief because it really is very, very good.

Let`s face it, the idea of making Stewie the official star of something Family Guy related has been a long time coming. A not-so-subtle blend of Eric Cartman and Niles Crane (Frasier), his unmatchable use of sarcastic nuance, coupled with his evident Machiavellian bent makes him one of the small-screen`s greatest ever characters. Evidently heeding the advice of the loyal FG fanbase, Macfarlane & co have chosen to place him top of the bill yet again - only for much, much longer than ever before.

It should come as an additional relief and/or source of excitement to know that the rest of the `cast` are in no way ignored during this outing. As ever, dad Peter is on hand with the fart-gags, Lois is still the sexiest drawing since Bugs Bunny dressed up as a girl bunny, and Neighbour Quagmire`s pervery once again gets the better of him. In other words, it`s just like one Loooooooonnnnnng episode of Family Guy!

The sceptics amongst the audience will, of course, immediately jump on this as being the big flaw in the rugby-ball- headed tapestry; it is nothing more than a few episodes stitched together with a themed intro and outro especially for the DVD market. That`s as may be, but it certainly doesn`t make the action any less pant-wettingly hilarious. When a show is as freakin` sweet as `Family Guy`, you have to just forget about your wallet and ENJOY.

So ENJOY!