Why do an extended “Star Wars” parody?
Everybody knows “Star Wars” — at least, everybody in our audience. And Lucasfilm is probably the only company out there right now that is progressive enough to allow this. Certainly we would have a laugh doing this with “Indiana Jones” or “Wrath of Khan.” But I can’t imagine in a billion years that Paramount would give us permission. Q: So you actually cleared this with George Lucas?A: The first episode came about because we were doing so many “Star Wars” gags that finally Fox’s legal department said, “Hey, we got to start clearing this with Lucas or we’re gonna get sued.” We got very depressed and thought, “Well, this is it.” But to our surprise, Lucasfilm said something we never, ever hear: “OK, you can do it, just make sure the characters look exactly like they do in the movies.” Q: But wait — Stewie, the baby in “Family Guy,” doesn’t exactly look like Darth Vader, even though he plays him in this film. A: Other than the distortion to fit Stewie’s head, the helmet is pretty much the
