I was browsing through FYE back in late January and I ran across what appeared to be a FYE exclusive. It was a DVD with all three of the Family Guy episodes that featured Peter Griffin fighting the giant chicken. I have watched Family Guy, but I am not a rabid fan by any stretch. At the same time, I am not a rabid anti-Family Guy person either. I think it’s funny, but not as drop dead funny as Robot Chicken or Frisky Dingo. On average I like South Park better than Family Guy, but there are episodes of Family Guy that I like better than certain episodes of South Park. That being said, I own all of the Family Guy season sets as well as Blue Harvest and Stewie Griffin.
Of the three episodes on the chicken trilogy disc, I had only seen one, the middle one. The first episode on the disc was Da Boom. Peter is out picking stuff up for a millenium party when he is warned about Y2K and how it would be the end of the world. Naturally he overreacts and converts his basement into a fallout shelter to protect him and his family from the upcoming apocalypse. When the clock strikes midnight, all of a sudden Peter is proven right. Planes fall out of the sky, nuclear missiles launch, the world comes to an end. Peter and his family now have to deal with the post apocalyptic world and their mutated friends (and eventually family). The first chicken fight takes place during Peter’s early shopping trip as he explains to a man in a chicken suit why he never accepts coupons from chickens. Apparently the giant chicken had given Peter an expired coupon and that started their city spanning fight with Peter punching and the chicken pecking until Peter appears triumphant and walks away. The episode ends with a very special twist ending featuring live action actors from another famous series.
The second episode, Blind Ambition, finds Peter trying to do something that he can be publicly recognized for. All of his buddies have some sort of award or press accolades, and Peter wants that too. He ends up deciding to go for a world’s record, but choosing one that causes him to go blind (eating nickels). This time the chicken ambushes Peter as he is standing on the sidewalk talking to his neighbors. The fight gets more outlandish, culminating in a Raiders of the Lost Ark spoof with an airplane.
The final episode, No Chris Left Behind, concerns Chris getting kicked out of school in order for the school to improve its standings and receive funds for No Child Left Behind. Lois talks to her father and he gets Chris accepted at a posh private school for the rich. Once again the chicken appears out of nowhere and he and Peter are at it again, but this time they end up talking and decide that they don’t really recall why exactly it is that they are fighting. They shake hands and end up going out to dinner with the wife of the giant chicken at an out-of-the-way restaurant. The meal goes great, but when it is time to pick up the check, they begin to argue about who gets to pay for the meal. This leads to another fight and once more Peter walks away the winner.
There aren’t any bonus features as this was done mainly as a promotional item. All three episodes are enjoyable with Da Boom probably being my favorite. However if you judge them solely on the chicken fights, No Chris Left Behind probably takes the prize. Family Guy is a staple of Adult Swim which is about the closest thing we currently have to Night Flight. So on the Night Flight scale Da Boom gets a 9, Blind Ambition gets an 8 and No Chris Left Behind gets an 8 1/2. Overall, I would rate the DVD as 3 stars.
365 Days of DVDs 