Season 8 · Episode 20 · First aired 23 May 2010
Something, Something, Something, Dark Side
Episode 20 of Family Guy season 8 (S08E20), the 146th Family Guy episode overall. Written by Kirker Butler and directed by Dominic Polcino. First broadcast on 23 May 2010.
Story
A power cut prompts Peter to retell The Empire Strikes Back, with the family and their neighbours in the roles. Probe droids locate the Rebel base on Hoth, where Luke Skywalker, played by Chris, is dragged off by a snow beast and then recovered by Han Solo, played by Peter. The Empire attacks and the Rebels scatter. Luke trains with Yoda on Dagobah while Han, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and C-3PO hide in an asteroid field and then reach Lando Calrissian on Cloud City, where Darth Vader, played by Stewie, has Han frozen in carbonite. Luke breaks off his training, duels Vader, loses a hand and is told that Vader is his father. Leia has him rescued from beneath the city, and the power returns as Peter finishes.
Production and reception
- Part two of the show's three Star Wars parodies, released under the banner Laugh It Up, Fuzzball. It went direct to DVD and Blu-ray on 22 December 2009 and only reached Fox on 23 May 2010. Wikipedia, Something, Something, Something, Dark Side
- Kirker Butler wrote the first draft in four weeks with guidance from Seth MacFarlane, ahead of the 2007 Writers Guild of America strike and his own departure to work on The Cleveland Show. Wikipedia, Something, Something, Something, Dark Side
- It was the last episode to use hand-drawn animatics, after which the series moved to computer-designed ones. Dominic Polcino directed, having also directed "Blue Harvest". Wikipedia, Something, Something, Something, Dark Side
- The title quotes a line given to the Emperor in the fifth season episode "Barely Legal", which Butler also wrote. Wikipedia, Something, Something, Something, Dark Side
- Nielsen recorded 6.13 million homes for the first half-hour and 6.39 million for the second, ahead of the season finales for The Simpsons and The Cleveland Show. Wikipedia, Something, Something, Something, Dark Side
Voices
| Voice | Characters |
|---|---|
| Seth MacFarlane | Peter Griffin as Han Solo, Brian Griffin as Chewbacca, Stewie Griffin as Darth Vader |
| Alex Borstein | Lois Griffin as Princess Leia, OnStar Voiceover, Empire Member's Wife |
| Seth Green | Chris Griffin as Luke Skywalker |
| Mila Kunis | Meg Griffin as Giant Space Slug |
| Mike Henry | Cleveland Brown as R2-D2, John Herbert as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Bruce the Performance Artist as Captain Piett |
| H. Jon Benjamin | Carl as Yoda |
| John G. Brennan | Mort Goldman as Lando Calrissian |
| John Bunnell | Sheriff John Bunnell |
| Kirker Butler | Kirker Butler |
| James Caan | James Caan |
Principal voice credits as recorded by IMDb, which lists up to ten credits per episode, so recurring characters can be missing here. Guest voices below come from Wikipedia and TVmaze.
Guest voices
- Jon Benjamin as Carl/Yoda
- John Bunnell as himself
- James Caan as himself
- Jackson Douglas
- Joe Flaherty as Western Union worker, Western Union Man
- Phil LaMarr
- Dolph Lundgren (live action)
- Brigitte Nielsen (live action)
- Michael Pataki (live action)
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Strong Black Man
- George Rogan
- Tom Selleck as himself (live action), Phil Blackwood
- James Woods as himself/General Veers
- H. Jon Benjamin as Yoda
- Johnny Brennan as Lando Calrissian
- Patrick Warburton as Probe Droid
- Dolph Lundgren as Ivan Drago
- Mark Hentemann as Holden Caulfield
- Brigitte Nielsen as Ludmilla Vobet Drago
Season 8: episode 20 of 21
- E1Road to the Multiverse
- E2Family Goy
- E3Spies Reminiscent of Us
- E4Brian's Got a Brand New Bag
- E5Hannah Banana
- E6Quagmire's Baby
- E7Jerome Is the New Black
- E8Dog Gone
- E9Business Guy
- E10Big Man on Hippocampus
- E11Dial Meg for Murder
- E12Extra Large Medium
- E13Go, Stewie, Go!
- E14Peter-assment
- E15Brian Griffin's House of Payne
- E16April in Quahog
- E17Brian & Stewie
- E18Quagmire's Dad
- E19The Splendid Source
- E20Something, Something, Something, Dark SideYou are here
- E21Partial Terms of Endearment
SourceFacts from Wikipedia: Family Guy season 8 and the episode's article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Spotted an error? See corrections.
Provenance
Facts only- Sources
- Data refreshed
- 6 September 2026
- Verification
- Checked against Wikidata and IMDb: IMDb differs on year (2009)
- Licence
- Facts are not copyrightable. Source text on Wikipedia is CC BY-SA 4.0; Wikidata is CC0; IMDb data is used for verification under its non-commercial terms.
- Note
- The story summary and notes were written for this site from the sources listed, by Claude in Claude Code on 2026-09-08, awaiting editorial review. Facts only; no dialogue is reproduced. Voice credits: Information courtesy of IMDb (https://www.imdb.com). Used with permission. Guest cast data from TVmaze (https://www.tvmaze.com), CC BY-SA.