Family Guy Season 1 (UK)
Click to read:
Featuring all 14 episodes from the first season
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 292 mins
Retail Price: £24.99
Release Date:
Content Type: TV Series
Synopsis:
Featuring all 14 episodes from the first season, Seth MacFarlane`s Family Guy will bring you face to face with the Griffin family in all its glory - and leave you running for cover!
Watch out Simpsons! Now the first series of Fox`s riotous new animated show Family Guy is available to buy on DVD and VHS. You get all fourteen episodes of the first series in one box set. Meet the Griffin family. Dad Peter is a bungling oaf voiced by Family Guy`s creator Seth MacFarlane. He thinks he`s the one in charge but it`s actually his wife Lois who keeps everyone out of trouble. They have three children, Meg, Chris and Stewie. Teenage daughter Meg is insecure and would do anything to become popular. Her dopey younger brother Chris is voiced by Seth Green (Scott Evil from Austin Powers). Baby Stewie not only knows how to talk at age one, he`s an evil genius who is continually plotting to take over the world. And let`s not forget the Griffin`s amazing pet dog Brian. Not only can he speak (in English and French), he drinks martinis and makes witty comments, when he`s not practicing his tae kwon do. Not your average family, to be sure! Episodes often feature stars like Jennifer Tilly as guest voices.
Episode Guide:
Death Has A Shadow, I Never Met The Dead Man, Mind Over Murder, Chitty Chitty Death Bang, A Hero Sits Next Door, The Son Also Draws, Brian: Portrait of A Dog, Peter Peter Caviar Eater, RUnning Mates, Holy Crap, If I`m Dyin` I`m Lyin`, Love Thy Trophy, Death Is A Bitch, The King Is Dead.
Special Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Access
Video Tracks:
Standard 1.33:1
Audio Tracks:
Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0 English
Subtitle Tracks:
English
Directed By:
Monte Young
Roy Allen Smith
Peter Shin
Bert Ring
Dominic Polcino
Michael Dimartino
Neil Affleck
Written By:
Seth MacFarlane
Mike Henry
Alex Borstein
Starring:
Butch Hartman
Mila Kunis
Seth Green
Alex Borstein
Seth MacFarlane
Casting By:
Karen Vice
Soundtrack By:
Walter Murphy
Ron Jones
Editor:
Harold McKenzie
Rick Mackenzie
Producer:
Danny Smith
Gene Laufenberg
Gary Janetti
Craig Hoffman
Sherry Gunther
Gregory Thomas Garcia
John Bush
Ricky Blitt
Allison Adler
Executive Producer:
David Zuckerman
Daniel Palladino
Seth MacFarlane
Distributor:
Twentieth Century Fox
Your Opinions and Comments
The show is without doubt going to be compaired to the Simpsons. However they are two very different shows. The Simpsons while been very funny has some very good humor lurking benith the surface. The stories it does are on the whole very real. FG however piles on the jokes thick and fast. However I rate the simpsosn above this because the characters are developed a lot better. All 13 episodes are present here on the DVD. The picture and sound are all very good and clear. However there are no extras! With the amount of material that was on the Simpsons DVD this comes as a real let down.
Overall I enjoyed family guy. The jokes come fast and the animation is very good. The characters in it are also what makes the show. Stewie and Peter are great and get some good lines and laughs. However the Simpsons is still the better of the two. Characters are much more developed and there are a lot of jokes under the surface. The package as a whole is a big let down. No extras at all. If I were you I would buy both the Simpsons and this. They are both very good.
This is where the First Series DVD comes into play as I found out it was heavily cut with the more "Adult" joke axed to make the 6pm-7pm watershed, and my it did get a whole lot better, but I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet.
Video: -
Hmm what do we have here... a 4:3 transfer, and not a bad one at that, with all the colours not too dark but too bright, good enough so you can watch all 14 episodes and not be blind at the end.
Sound: -
Now here is a problem, with the initial specs claiming a 5.1 soundtrack I was jumping for joy, and with the back of the package stating a 5.1 soundtrack I was jumping for joy, I actually played the disk and was very surprised to find a 2.0 soundtrack, but with that aside it's a very crisp, a 5.1 would've been wasted because it's all about the dialogue.
Extras: -
NOTHING!!!!
Which is a shame, because an Audio Commentary would've suited this series well. Shame.
Overall this is a well personated package, the whole thing is thrown on to two disks and at a low price of £20 which will suit the pockets of most dvd collectors.
To say that The Simpsons is better than Family Guy would be a terrible think to say (and visa-versa), because they both might be shows about families but similarities stop there.
For those with and open mind and a good sense of humour will defiantly want to check this one out.
There are fourteen episodes of Family Guy spanned over this two-disc set, comprising of the first and second runs of the show (marketed as 'season one' here). These range from extremely amusing to pant-wettingly hilarious, and here's a brief outline of each:
Death Has a Shadow
Against strict orders from Lois, Peter drinks profusely at his buddy`s bachelor party. After showing up at work hung over, Peter gets fired. When he applies for welfare, they accidentally send him a check for $150,000, which leads to a spending binge. When Lois discovers the truth, Peter attempts to return the money to the taxpayers by dumping it from a blimp at the Super Bowl. But when he is arrested, his family must come to the rescue.
I Never Met the Dead Man
While teaching Meg to drive, Peter crashes into a satellite dish and knocks out the city`s cable. He goes crazy without television, until Lois suggests he spend more time with his family. This plan backfires when Peter drives the family nuts. Meanwhile, after Lois forces Stewie to eat his broccoli, he attempts to destroy all vegetables by building a weather control device.
Mind Over Murder
When Peter goes to Chris` soccer game, he inadvertently punches a woman he thought was a man. Restless under house arrest, Peter turns the basement into a bar and Lois ends up stealing the show. Meanwhile, Stewie attempts to create a time machine to avoid teething pain.
Chitty Chitty Death Bang
Lois is furious with Peter when he allows Meg to attend a party the same day as Stewie`s first birthday. Unbeknownst to Meg, she`s actually attending a cult meeting and when Peter brings her back home, the cult leader follows. Stewie recognizes the leader as the man who wants to return him to the "ovarian bastille."
A Hero Sits Next Door
When a bubbly new family moves next door, Peter gets annoyed. Lois becomes fast friends with Debbie, Meg tries to pick up on son Kyle and Peter is forced to invite Joe to play on his company baseball team. But when Joe shows up to the game in a wheelchair and wins the crowd`s hearts with his slick manoeuvres and winning plays, Peter decides he wants to be a hero too.
The Son Also Draws
Chris is booted from the Youth Scouts, so Peter takes the family to the Big Apple to get him reinstated. But when Peter takes a wrong turn, they end up at a Native American casino where Lois hits the slot machine once too often. Peter must embark on a vision quest to prove he has Native American blood to save the day. Stand-up comedian Bobby Slayton makes a guest voice appearance as Lenny, the pit boss.
Brian: Portrait of a Dog
Peter persuades Brian to swallow his pride and enter a dog show to win some extra cash. But when they argue over a trick gone bad, Brian decides he`s had enough of being a second-class citizen. His struggle to assert his civil rights lands him on death row at the pound, where he discovers every dog has his day.
Peter Peter Caviar Eater
When Lois` wealthy aunt dies unexpectedly, the Griffins inherit her extravagant mansion. Although his family doesn`t want to relocate, Peter is eager to enter the ranks of the upper classes and moves them onto the estate. Revenue from the sale of the Griffins` old house goes to the live-in servants, who haven`t been paid in months. Caught up in the spirit of his new social standing, Peter bids ten million dollars at the Historical Society for a work of art, offering to trade his mansion for the piece. It is revealed, however, that the mansion used to be a whorehouse and is not worth any significant amount. A commoner once again, Peter finds that his family still loves him.
Running Mates
Lois decides to run for the school board, which thrills Stewie who will be somewhat unsupervised during her campaign. Lois runs unopposed until Peter joins the race in order to get his favourite teacher reinstated. He immediately starts negative campaigning that spreads lies about Lois and shows sexy photos of her... His tactics work and Peter is elected. His first order of business is to replace the hall monitors with robots. Ultimately, his new policies backfire when Peter allows Chris to bring porno mags to school and protests erupt. Peter must publicly apologize in order to win Lois back and save face with the town of Quahog.
Holy Crap
Peter`s dad is forced to retire from the mill. A stern workaholic, the elder Griffin does not take retirement well. When Peter and Lois suggest that he come spend some time with them, Peter`s dad agrees, and Peter gets excited at the prospect of bonding with his father. But the new living arrangement doesn`t go according to plan: In addition to being a workaholic, Peter`s dad is also a control freak. He tells the children what TV shows they can watch, tells Peter how to spend his free time and instructs Lois on how to raise the kids. Peter decides that the best way to get closer to his father is to bring him along to the toy factory, but this plan also backfires. Peter`s boss is impressed by the retiree`s work ethic and hires him as a foreman, ensuring widespread misery at the plant. After Peter`s dad increases work hours and implements strict rules, Peter is desperate to make him quit, and tries to convince him to participate in a plot to kidnap the Pope. The Pontiff is also impressed by the retiree`s ambition, and offers him yet another job.
If I'm Dyin', I'm Lyin'
When Peter`s favourite show, Gumbel 2 Gumbel, faces cancellation, he takes drastic measures to save it. Using Chris as bait for "The Make-A-Dream-Come-True" Foundation, Peter tells them that Chris` dying wish is that the show be renewed. But when the Foundation arrives to check up on Chris` "tumorsyphillis-itis-osis", Peter panics and tells them that Chris was miraculously cured. Word spreads of the "miracle" and Peter becomes the "Miracle Healer of Quahog." Of course, Peter loves the attention and Lois thinks it`s immoral to live such a lie. When the Griffins become mysteriously plagued by everything from locusts to bloody bathwater, Lois forces Peter to end the charade.
Love Thy Trophy
When their Who`s the Boss float takes top prize in the Quahog Harvest Day Parade, the neighbourhood literally goes to war over who gets custody of the trophy. Meanwhile, in an effort to get big tips at her new waitressing job, Meg tells customers that Stewie is her illegitimate crack baby. When family services investigate, and finds the Griffin home in the middle of a war zone, they take custody of Stewie. Once everyone finds out that Stewie`s in foster care, the neighbourhood declares peace and plots a rescue mission.
Death is a Bitch
After Lois discovers a lump in Peter`s breast, he lands in the hospital. He`s okay, until the whopping bill arrives! To avoid payment, Peter fools the hospital into thinking he`s dead. As a result, Death pays a visit to the Griffin home. While Stewie is excited to meet his idol, the rest of the family doesn`t want Peter to go--especially Peter! A chase ensues and Death is injured. While He recuperates, Peter is forced to take over Death`s unpopular duties.
The King is Dead
Lois is named the new artistic director of the Quahog Players theatre group and decides to direct The King and I as her first production. Peter wants to be a star and becomes such a nuisance that Lois makes him a producer to get him out of her hair. He goes on a major power trip and soon wrestles total control away from Lois, kicking her off the production team all together! Peter soon realizes his vision by turning the musical into a racy cyborg battle, complete with bikini-clad dancing girls.
Family Guy is an irreverent, side-splittingly funny comedy. The jokes come thick and fast, and are far more risqué than your average episode of the Simpsons. Like that show, most of the humour centres on the father, who is even more inconsiderate and obnoxious than Homer! Baby Stewie provides many of the laughs, with his constant attempts to kill his mother (it's funnier than it sounds), who is the bane of his existence. The humour is often very surreal, and the show features frequent 'cameos' by famous stars, although unlike the Simpsons the star's voices are impersonated and they're lampooned to hell! One of the best characters has to be Brian the dog, who can usually be found sipping away at his martini while hurling cutting asides at Peter.
There are also some notable guest voices, including Norm McDonald as Death. Believe me, his voice suits the role perfectly... Lacey Chabert (of Party of Five and Lost In Space 'fame') also provided the (uncredited) voice for Meg Griffin in the early days of the show.
Video
Family Guy is presented in 4:3 (1.33:1), exactly as it was on television. The image is extremely bright, with vibrant colours, solid blacks and a good level of detail. There are some instances of artefacting, with noticeable jaggies in certain scenes, but overall this is good stuff. It is definitely the best looking version of the show I've seen, and that includes digital terrestrial and satellite broadcasts.
Audio
Contrary to the sleeve notes, Family Guy does not come with a Dolby Digital 5.1 track, but rather a Dolby Surround one. My amp only detected the track as Dolby Stereo, so it is likely that Fox have forgotten to encode the surround flag or my amp doesn`t recognise it (there is more than one method for encoding the surround flags). This was easily corrected by manually setting the amp to Dolby Surround mode. Sound is good for what it is, with very clear dialogue and the occasional use of the surround channels helping to bring the episodes to life, but it's obviously no 'Saving Private Ryan'.
Features
I'd like to take a minute to write about how impressive the supplemental material is. I'd like to, but I can't. There is nothing on offer here (I don't count animated menus), not even cast and crew biographies. All in all this is a very disappointing show from Fox, and it makes my job as a reviewer a difficult one. How much is it possible to write about nothing (quite a lot by the look of it)?
Overall
To sum up, Family Guy is a great series presented in a below average package. There's no denying that the picture and sound quality are as good as you could realistically expect them to be, but the lack of supplemental features is a real letdown, especially considering the high price of the set. Another irritating thing is that two episodes have layer changes. You would have thought that this could have been avoided, given the episodic nature of the program. Even with these faults, Family Guy`s good points far outweigh its bad. It is a great show and this DVD is well worth picking up if you're a fan of this type of humour, especially as the episodes are presented in their full, uncut glory. Highly recommended.
In closing this show is hard hitting but never cruel, it is funny and never dull, and now it`s on DVD, what more could you ask for? Buy it or if you don`t Peter would say "boo you, yay beer!"