FAMILY GUY: VOLUME TWELVE

THE PLOT THUS FAR

Family Guy reaches new heights of hilarity in this outrageous collection of 22 uncensored episodes, including fan-favorite Into Fat Air, where the Griffins rock Mount Everest, plus the comedy jackpot Roads to Vegas and the milestone 200th episode Yug Ylimaf, in which Brian and Stewie develop a curious case of reverse aging thanks to a time machine foul-up. It’s a complete season of laughs with celebrity guest voices Johnny Depp, Jon Hamm, Sofia Vergara and more!

WHAT WE THOUGHT

“Family Guy” has done the impossible. They put out two full seasons worth of shows on DVD in less than six months. Not even “The Simpsons” have been able to pull that off. What we have here ranges from that prolonged Mt. Everest episode to the 200th backwards episode and finally capping somewhere around a 12 Angry Men parody. It’s fair for the show, but it’s a wide mix of everything from meh to that’s pretty decent.

The episodes benefit from the uncensored nature on a basic shock level. Whether it’s helping Brian to sell a joke about the mailman or a random tidbit from Stewie, it helps to reproach a scene. Should the show air uncensored? Well, I think that every series has a right to portray itself in a skin that’s far more comfortable for the material. That being said, when you watch this show on a season length loop, you begin to see where the Family Guy train is starting to come apart. The jokes are recycled, everything is played in stock characters and then pop culture references are used to pad it out.

Sure, that’s the same as it has always been, but it’s becoming far worse now. Should the audience chalk that up to “Ted” and other projects stealing MacFarlane’s focus? Honestly, I think the bigger argument could be made whether his process allows for any sort of focus. But, that would be a cheap shot at his cutaway humor. The DVD comes with commentaries, deleted scenes, animatics, Comic Con 2013 stuff and a table read of the 200th episode. The A/V Quality is comparable to past Family Guy season releases. The Dolby 5.1 track really kicks in during the bigger action and Sci-Fi elements. However, the transfer seems pretty crisp for standard definition. I watched it on an upscaling player, but I didn’t notice any digital noise. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase to fans.

RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!