"Family Guy" It's a Trap! (TV Episode 2011) Poster

(TV Series)

(2011)

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Still funny but not as good as the previous two specials
bob the moo16 January 2011
With the regularity of a third world country, another power cut hits the Griffin house and it is with a weary sigh that everyone knows that the telling of Jedi is on its way.

This film has not been particularly well received but for me I found it funny enough to like if not love. The Family Guy Star Wars parodies are structured on the movies themselves so the fact that Jedi is not particularly good sort of makes it harder to do as a comedy everyone will like. In combination with this is that the spoof "franchise" is perhaps not as fresh as it was when they did Blue Harvest. This leads to some bits that are amusing but drag on far too long (the nodding bit for example, or that country singer) as well as material that is funny but is a bit obvious and seen-before. I still laughed though and there is enough here to draw regular laughs from those that like Family Guy – although I will caveat that by saying I do not watch the TV show so perhaps It's a Trap feels fresher for me whereas for regular viewers it may just be more of the same.

The in-joking is overdone even if it is funny. I liked them sticking it to Seth Green even if it did lack teeth in terms of what was said, but they did do it for too long. The rest of the material is reasonably good but, like I said, there didn't seem to be much enthusiasm or imaginative wit in the writing, like the obvious jokes were enough and if everything could be made to last a few more seconds it would only help the writers fill it up. The voice cast are typically good and the animation cannot be faulted (I do love how they look just like the original films), but the material just needed more spark.

I'm not sure if the "we were forced to make this by Fox" line is a joke or true but there is certainly a sense that it is an expectation rather than a good idea. I still found it funny and it provided me some good laughs throughout, but they were mostly silly gags and most of them ran on for a few seconds after my laugh had finished. Worth seeing and certainly not the dire spectacle that others here have said, but not as good as they first managed and it certainly had room to be sharper.
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6/10
Running Out Of Gas
zkonedog12 March 2017
In the opening credits of this third Star Wars spoof, the writers joke about FOX "making them do it" and how they are "running out of gas". Upon viewing, it is clear that perhaps it wasn't a joke after all.

This time, Seth McFarland and crew take on the heavy-spoofing of "Return of the Jedi". It's typical Family Guy through and through, with cut-away gags and jokes that go on just a bit too long. Underlying the whole joke-set this time around, though, seems to be a sort of disdain for "Jedi". Whereas "Blue Harvest" was made out of reverence and "Dark Side" was made out of necessity, this one seems to be just a labor to finish the trilogy and nothing more. A few jokes are hilarious, while the others are all over the place and considerably less than funny.

Thus, while this installment needed to be made to complete the trilogy, it suffers from a severe lack of punch in terms of writing. Any talk of the Family Guy crew tackling the "new trilogy" should be put to rest right now after this middling effort.
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10/10
This was incredible
slyofwar12 February 2020
This project went above and beyond parodying Star Wars and created a legend! That legend is the Sock puppet guy in Jabbas Palace
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6/10
It's... a Bit Dull!
thomdibble29 December 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Without a shadow of a doubt this 'final' instalment in the Family Guy Star Wars trilogy is the weakest, but that doesn't mean that it is a bad film. It doesn't demand your attention (but whenever has a Family Guy episode?), and is an easy viewing. There are moments of originality and a couple of clever and rewarding jokes, but ultimately, it feels clichéd and slightly stale, but is still rather enjoyable nonetheless.

There are some moments of pure gold in the film (a Stormtrooper pillow fight, 'Death Star' design flaws, Green versus MacFarlene and Louis / Leia's protestations about her treatment in captivity, for example, are standouts which raised big laughs), but on the whole, it's a simply watchable affair.

The first Star Wars spoof was endlessly enjoyable, casting favourite Family Guy characters as the now classic characters from the Star Wars universe, providing a fresh slant on the old story. That formula however grew stale quickly. Something, Something Darkside suffered a noticeable drop in quality from Blue Harvest as does It's a Trap! from Something, Something.

The problem with this Star Wars run is simple, they ran out of gags to tie in to the universe. There are too many predictable moments in it. Sure enough, Meg was cast as the Sarlaac creature and I was awaiting the 'appearance' of long-time running 'joke' Conway Twitty in this episode, and, sadly, it came. There is an enjoyable, if somewhat overlong, nodding gag, but is instantly recognisable as a time filling device. This episode even has to resort to dragging in characters from MacFarlene's extended universe, The Cleveland Show and American Dad! in a bid to, not only fill out the ever growing cast, but one feels, as an attempt to reinstall some originality to the proceedings. It fails.

Though it may not be a classic Family Guy episode, it is still worth watching, if only for completions sake, but perhaps waiting for the price of the disc to drop, or even wait for it to be aired on TV. Family Guy has long been declining in quality, but has had a recent resurgence, hopefully this latest dip is due to, as MacFarlene suggests, FOX demanding another Star Wars instalment against the will of the writers, only the next series of Family Guy proper will tell.
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7/10
my least favourite of the three Family Guy Star Wars Parodies
disdressed124 February 2011
here we have Family Guy with their third and final episode in a trilogy, parodying the final episode of Star Wars,The Return of The Jedi.this episode,while still funny,is at least to me,not as funny as Blue Harvest,the first episode,and certainly not as funny as the second episode,Something,Something,Something,Dark Side.nor is it as clever or fast paced.it's still a good episode and there some funny and clever moments,but of the three,it's my least favourite,just as Jedi,is my Least Favourite of the original Star Wars films.however,i would still recommend purchasing the Family Guy Trilogy.i think it's worth it for episode one and two.all three of the episodes are longer than the broadcast versions.for me, Family Guy:It's a Trap is a 7/10
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1/10
It's Definitely a TRAP...
firehawk-ws626 December 2010
Let me preface this bad review with the following statement: I'm a HUGE Family Guy fan. I loved the Star Wars parody. I chuckled a few times during the Empire parody. But this latest installation? Not ONE laugh. Not even close. At least McFarland makes a "sorry about this one" statement during the initial "scroll". He covered his butt on it.

It's painfully obvious that this one was rushed through. It's cliché and tired, and it never seems to get off and running. I can rank it as worse than the season-ending "stuck in the bank" episode that recently aired. The extended "nod" joke in the Tatooine desert was just...I dunno, PAINFUL to watch.

Don't go into this one expecting good entertainment. It's just not there. As a matter of fact, I didn't even make it to the ending. I woke up as the end credits were rolling, pulled the DVD out of the player and put it back in the case. That's likely where it's gonna stay for a long, long time.

If I could ship this one off to a galaxy far, far away...I'd do it. Watch it once if you're a fan..and then let it go.
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3/10
Not even as funny as a regular episode
shez_ziauddin5 January 2011
Oh dear. In Peter's own words, "For crying out loud, somebody throw a pie!"

This third entry is joke-lite. The recipe seems to have been: copy-and-paste some clips directly from the Star Wars movie, manipulate them to look cartoonish, and then look for places to put jokes. Then look harder because Fox is pressuring you, then give up.

In the "scrolling-up text" at the start, it even says this is a poor show. They're basically saying "sorry this one's not funny. But you've just parted with $30 and that's the important thing". If I'd paid for this I would be seriously upset.

There's a 'head-nodding' skit which is the least funny thing I've ever seen on a Family Guy episode. It feels like it lasts 10 minutes. It doesn't work at all, and it feels like filler.

Don't bother buying this DVD. Wait a month or two until this is on some comedy channel. Or find it in a bargain bin. Or just find it in someone's bin.
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9/10
That's no moon, its a pretty awesome star wars parody
johncammies9 January 2011
Warning: Spoilers
I won't be jumping on the Family Guy Hate bandwagon, people have been knocking family guy for the last few years and I honestly don't know why, it has consistently provided me with easy viewing and a lot of laughs; I'm not quite sure what anyone else expects from their Family Guy episodes.

It's a Trap is pretty darn good, it begins telling you not to get your hopes up, and it is sort of right; its not quite as good as the other 2. This is because: 1) The first two were hilarious and (Blue Harvest in particular) a bit more groundbreaking. 2) Return of the Jedi wasn't as good a film as the other 2

But nonetheless it was a very good film/episode (whatever it is, i'll be referring to it as a film). I particularly enjoy how Family Guy exposes a few minor plot-holes - the inefficiency of storm trooper armour - R2D2 waiting till the last moment to give Luke his lightsabre and the list goes on, but you'll have to watch.

I also was happy to see Darth Conway Twitty make an appearance, I was also much more happy that it was as brief as it was. I also enjoyed that the Wilhelm scream featured as it does in the film! And the fact the film is called 'It's a Trap' its little 'in-jokes' like this that make me enjoy it even more; especially the tirade of abuse that goes Seth Green's way during the film.

I think it is a thoroughly well done parody of a great film, and I enjoyed that they don't overhype it for you; the film begins with Stewie saying "oh god we're doing Jedi aren't we", and the film acknowledges that it isn't going to be as good as the others, which is admirable and correct. However definitely worth a watch, and it's better than your average Family Guy episode that's for sure.
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6/10
Well.............
MarcusJ131 January 2011
The Family Guy series did a decent job of parodying Star Wars in general before introducing this trilogy of parodies and this shows that the parodies for Star Wars have gotten somewhat stale. Even the opening crawl said that the episode is not as funny as the predecessors so you know when they're just flat out saying it at the start there are glaring problems and whilst I know its supposed to be humorous and tongue in cheek but it shows that even they are running out of steam. Dare I say the same can be said for the series in general? Well that's a different debate altogether but the episode isn't horrible. It plays out like a regular episode as opposed to a special and loses some of the charm of the predecessors where you get the feeling they really enjoyed making them and that isn't there here.

The jokes are quite good mostly with a few good laughs here and there. The ewoks finishing off the stormtroopers at the end of the battle was very funny and whilst I would of thought I'd see it as a mere shock value gag it really amused me. There's the usual jokes about the flaws in the plot etc but like I say its growing stale and merely leaves me hoping that they don't touch the prequels because there will be no jokes outside of flaws which will make for a very boring episodes indeed. On the other hand the true weakest joke of the episode came in the spoof of the Sarlaac scene on Tatooine where they make fun the nodding of acknowledgement of the plan. This was amusing at first but it went on far too long like so many jokes on this show. While that joke was weak the only terrible joke was the 'Darth' Twitty gag which had me cringing. It wasn't funny once and it wasn't funny in any of the subsequent times and superimposing a Darth Vader helmet on does not automatically make it funny. In spite of these complaints it was more or less amusing with the Emperor played well by Carter Pewterschmidt and I'm glad they got him to play the role. There were some good in jokes about Seth MacFarlane and Seth Green especially during the lightsabre battle which during this scene anyway didn't feel like they were dragging it too long. To summarise this was an decent episode that I did enjoy there were just more flaws in this one than the others. I now hope they lay off the Star Wars parodies because even they know they are stale now surely
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8/10
funny
edwbur26 December 2010
Warning: Spoilers
this wasn't the best star wars out of the family guy trilogy but was good. i got this for Christmas and i had a few doubts because like the real movie return of the jedi it got boring a lot. but at least macfarlane was wise enough to cover those boring parts with comedy. i am a huge family guy fan. i especially liked when stewie (darth vader) and lois father (the emperor) started to insult seth green while talking to chris (luke). it just so happens seth green is the voice of chris but every family guy fan knows that. anyway chris goes into defense for seth green and kept getting mad about them insulting seth green. and that is how the battle between chris and stewie started. i especially laughed about the way darth vader (stewie) died. hilarious. buy this movie. you wont regret it. seth macfarlane is a comic genius. especially with family guy and the cleveland show. American dad not so much.
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10/10
Much better than empire
dregj30 December 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I thought the star wars rip offs

had lost steam . when i saw the frankly boring empire ep something(yadda ) dark-side .

But his was just great. Plenty of jokes about how blood thirsty ewoks

really are or how sick Han is when he takes hostages. And of course

the coup DE Gracie all those Seth green jokes now that's how to p*ss somebody off,my emperor. I may be biased since i like jedi best of all, and found empire to be dour boring and lacking heart. Don't listen to the critics they always chat bear poo ,do watch this and have a bloody good laugh
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5/10
Family Guy Presents: It's a Trap (2010)
SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain14 December 2011
Family Guy milk the Star Wars cow for the final installment. The opening crawl says that they weren't even trying and that Fox forced them into it. Either that was a poor joke, or just really honest. This installment doesn't have the hilarity of previous outings. We are used to the characters in their Star Wars guises now and as Stewie points out, they run out of their own characters. Instead we have characters from The Cleveland Show and American Dad pop up. Jokes carry on for far too long, which is supposed to be funny in itself, but just gets annoying. The whole Seth Green vs. Seth McFarlane thing didn't have to be used so much. Other jokes are just obvious at this point. e.g. Meg being a monster yet again. Some of the best laughs come from this special insulting itself, but blaming Return of the Jedi for being the way it was. TOO much of the same, but still enjoyable.
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7/10
The best of the three, so far!
SureCommaNot25 November 2020
I'm only a third of the way through this installment and it's already my favorite of the trilogy. The other two just weren't memorable to me, but the jokes in this one have me laughing out loud!
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2/10
The title is accurate; this special is a trap.
stitch-997 June 2011
Warning: Spoilers
The very first Family Guy Star Wars spoof (Blue Harvest) was hilarious because one could tell that the writers put a lot of thought into it. "Something, Something, Something Dark Side" had a few good laughs, but was definitely not worth sitting through for those few. When they reached "It's A Trap!" however, almost anything resembling humour was completely gone. I was actually planning to completely avoid it until it just happened to be on TV and nothing else was on.

Seth Macfarlane acknowledges the fact that he is phoning in this last special in the opening crawl. He blatantly states that he knows it is not very funny. The way I figure it, given Macfarlane's past few years of television, if he knows something is unfunny, it really must be.

I was keeping careful count of the things I considered funny. I counted four things: an Ewok eating the limbs of another Ewok who had fallen in battle, Han making Imperial troops dig their own graves (although this joke went on too long, so it was only partially funny), the ghost of Darth Vader blaming Luke for killing him, and Meg being the Sarlaac.

There were at least six things which were hypothetically funny, but the execution ruined them. Most of the special was just plain insipid and had no respect for its audience's potential intelligence (I say potential because, given the fact that Seth Macfarlane's new stuff is still popular, intelligence might not be entirely applicable).

This is all to say that the scene at the end where all of the Griffins who are not played by Macfarlane wind up completely ripping on him was not very inaccurate. I like to think that it's Macfarlane's subconscious acceptance of the fact that he is no longer funny.

After viewing this special, I can now say that I have officially given up on MacFarlane's animation. He has nothing more to offer. All of his new stuff is devoid of humour and I've already seen the old, good stuff enough times that I'd rather preserve my good memories of them than continue to taint the experience by remembering what Family Guy would become in years to come.
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1/10
My final goodbye to the Family Guy series
pentium199422 December 2010
Family Guy was a regular staple part of my TV diet in the last decade, but like everything else fox has touched (Sliders, The Simpsons), the show has steadily declined in its entertainment value and reminds me more of Ren and Stimpy than a well balanced show featuring equal amounts humor and slapstick comedy.

This downfall has unfortunately also transposed onto the movie series. The first movie was great, the second was so-so and it falls off the cliff with this. In the beginning itself when the credits are rolling, the script pre-warns viewers that the movie stinks and that they were forced into making one more as its a cash cow for Fox. Funny at first, but as the movie begins, you realize that they were right-it does stink.

The movie is very predictable and has few original scenes. In fact a lot of the movie is quite repetitive and just wastes time with a silly nodding routines and the now trademark time kill- Conway Twitty. All in all, it was an average film. not representational of the glory days of the show and a shadow of the first movie.

I already stopped watching the show on TV, and watching the movie was full circle for me. With confirmation that the second trilogy is also to be made into a parody movie, I'm confident I will not be watching that set anytime soon. It was a fun ride family guy, but I want off now.
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3/10
Seth Green, not Macfarlane
hyosuke9223 December 2010
Normally I don't see the point in doing movie reviews, but this seemed like a good time. If you are a huge an of the original Star Wars movies like I am then this is not a parody you want to watch. Trying to squeeze a 2 1/2 hour move into the course is a bad Idea to begin with, but it seems like they didn't even try. I didn't find "Blue Harvest" very good, but it was funnier then Empire, and much more then "It's A Trap". For some stupid reason they feel the need to drag out a single joke over a whole minute. Seth Macfarlane and Seth Green always have their who's better arguments, and after watching Robot Chicken Star Wars III I'd definitely say Seth Green. Rbt Chkn 3 is full of laughs non-stop, they actually tried with it, instead of just releasing it because it was expected. If you want a parody that is hilarious, but doesn't make you want 45 minutes back go with robot chicken.

I was overall Very Disappointed. I gave it a low rating because of, poor or next to no entertainment, about 15 minutes in I was already thinking please god end this, and At the the main title "scrolling space text" Macfarlane didn't exactly build it up at all. If you don't believe me watch it yourself, I am almost positive you will be disappointed.
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3/10
Gave it 3 Stars because thats how many times I laughed
rperez14-608-66789731 December 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I'm a big fan of Family Guy and have been for a long time as well as a Star Wars fan and wow was this movie is just crap! You'd think after all the references Seth uses from Star Wars and having an interview with George Lucas he would have put effort into something he claims he "loves." Yeah he covers his ass by saying it sucks in the beginning and that the company was basically forced to write it and you wonder why even make it then? Does family Guy suck that much that another network wouldn't just pick it up like honestly he rags on his own network like crazy yet still does what they tell him to, lately I think both FOX and Seth only care about dollar signs because as the seasons have gone on they seem to imitate The Simpson's in many aspects one in particular is that both Homer and Peter seem to get stupider as the seasons drag on. I loved the beginning of the seasons and the first 2 Star Wars movies but ahh I guess it's good that you can stream all the seasons on Netflix for 7 bucks instead of wasting 40 for a 3 disc season or now a movie that was made that you'd want to clean your butt with. All in all this movie shits on Star Wars with lack of effort and repetitive jokes to waste time!
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Could be better, not the best way to end a trilogy.
RiceBunnyx19 July 2011
Warning: Spoilers
When I heard that Family Guy was parodying Star Wars, I was excited. Family Guy has been one of my favourite shows for several years, and I have always enjoyed the Star Wars films, so it felt like a good mix. I loved Blue Harvest as it was really funny and I very much enjoyed the character casting. The recurring gags were brilliant, as well as being able to keep the storyline as well as adding in regular Family Guy jokes. Something, Something, Something Dark Side wasn't as good as the first, although it was still enjoyable. At times it felt like they were trying to cram in too many Family Guy jokes, which was a bit of a turn off for me. But overall I liked it. It's A Trap was less memorable than the other two. Family Guy fans will like it, but the whole thing just felt a little low on steam. The whole thing in general was fine, but relied too heavily on swearing and cartoon violence, which I didn't enjoy. Having Rush Limbaugh as the Rancor made no sense to me. Personally I would have switched him with James Woods, which would have been a more obvious joke. No, James Woods isn't in it, which was a shame as he could have been the Rancor or Darth Sidious instead of Carter Pewterschmit. Ironically, while the previous one had too many Family Guy jokes, this one lacks them severely. The most memorable being the Conway Twitty cutaway. I was rather disappointed they didn't inject a Surfin' Bird gag, which could have occurred when Peter stepped on the stereo behind the Storm Trooper, then they could have started dancing to it. Also, it failed to feature my favourite character: Death. In the first one, he could have played the Jawa instead of Mort Goldman. Although I was surprised to have them crossover Roger and Klaus from American Dad, which I have to say, made me laugh. Having Rallo from the Cleveland Show did nothing for me though. I couldn't help feeling that Joe was miscast as Jabba. It just didn't feel right. Personally, I think Joe should have been R2-D2, solely because there could have been some handicap jokes in it. Oh, and the fact that Chris broke Stewie's neck at the end just ruined it. The constant sex jokes made by Peter were very annoying, and the nodding sequence went on just a bit too long and killed the humour. Don't get me wrong, there were some good moments in it, such as Klaus and Roger's cameos, and Lois looking super hot in Princess Leia's slave outfit. Other than that I have to say this was by far the weakest of the trilogy, and it felt more like South Park than Family Guy. Overall, if you like the previous two, I see no reason why you shouldn't give this a go. If you are neither a Family Guy or Star Wars fan, this isn't for you.
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2/10
FAIL...
mikethewise10 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
So as it begins it's got bad jokes, but I'm thinking "maybe the jokes are later on", then I realize "oh god.... these are the jokes.... and they're not funny..." and to top off the s%#* sandwich this special is, they have both Peter griffin and the giant chicken in one scene doing a Star Wars thing, AND THEY DON'T HAVE THE GIANT CHICKEN STAR WARS THEMED FIGHT!!!! IT WAS RIGHT #%#^ING THERE FOR THEM, AND THEY IGNORED IT LIKE THEY HAD NOTHING TO WORK WITH.... FAAAAAIIIILLL!!!! YOU FAILED SETH MCFARLANE!!!!! *#*ING FAILED!!!!
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3/10
It's a Trap... if you paid for it
chippys644 February 2011
I love a good Star Wars related comedy, but I would rather watch Robot Chicken or Fanboys before I see this again.

The extended episode starts with the usual power out in the Griffin household, but is greeted with disdain from the characters, with Peter G proclaiming, "lets just get through this". Cue extra long scrolling text that is pointless to read and claims Fox made them do it (I don't believe them). The scroll down the the star cruiser though is superb and the animation has been done remarkably well and very detailed and true to Return of the Jedi.

I appreciate a good cameo and 2 or 3 characters from Macfarlene's other shows, American Dad and The Cleveland Show, are used sparingly and to good effect. However, some character traits from the series is lost. Quagmire/C3PO is not sex crazed and Clevelane/R2D2 is made a huge black stereotype. Stewie/Darth Vader just doesn't seem to be the same evil baby anymore and Chris does not fit his Luke Skywalker role. Meg's one appearance, however, is legendary

When I first heard about these Star Wars adaptations I was thrilled as a fan of Star Wars and Family Guy. I wondered (secretly hoped) if this would include the recent prequels. After this stale attempt, I would much rather they left well alone.
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