It's no secret thatFamily Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is a bit of a nerd. His series contains endless pop culture references, mostly to various elements of nerd culture, includingMonty Python,Back To The Future,Lord of the RingsandIndiana Jones. But the fandom most referenced in the animated series has to beStar Wars.

Family Guy began making references to theStar Wars films as early as Season 1, with characters frozen in carbonite, escape pods used and Jabba the Hut even making appearances. Finally, in the hour-long Season 6 premiere,Family Guy went all-in with a full parody ofEpisode IV: A New Hope titledBlue Harvest -- a reference to the fake working title of the original Star Wars.That eventually led to Family Guy parodying all three originalStar Warsfilms: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

How Family Guy's Star Wars Episodes Came to Be

Family Guy's Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Parody, "It's a Trap!"

MacFarlane discussed the Star Wars parodies in Family Guy's Season 11 retrospective episode "200 Episodes Later." "We had done a number of Star Wars gags on the show, and they were so frequent eventually Fox legal said to us, 'If you're going to keep doing these, we have to get clearance from Lucasfilm, because there's just no way we're not going to get sued,'" he recalled. "And we said 'Ah, well, God, that's the end of it,' you know, 'we're not going to be able to do these anymore.' And Lucasfilm surprised us by saying, 'Yeah, no, we like this.'"

With the blessing of Lucasfilm,Family Guy created three hour-long specials: Season 6's, "Blue Harvest" a parody ofEpisode IV: A New Hope; Season 8's "Something Something Something Dark Side," a parody of The Empire Strikes Back; and Season 9's "It's A Trap," a parody of Return of the Jedi.Each episode is a retelling of the popular film, usingFamily Guy characters in theStar Wars roles. Much to the delight of fans of the sci-fi films, they actually do an excellent job of accurately relaying the story.

Robot Chicken Parodied Star Wars First

ButFamily Guy isn't the only show to parody the Star Warsfranchise. Long before shows like The Simpsons had their ownStar Wars specials, Seth Green, who voices Chris Griffin onFamily Guy, used his sketch comedy stop-motion showRobot Chickento poke fun at a galaxy far, far away. The show aired a 22-minute special calledRobot Chicken: Star Wars, making references to all of the franchise'sfilms, including Episodes I-III, which weren't parodied onFamily Guy.

The playful rivalry betweenFamily Guy andRobot Chicken is referenced throughout MacFarlane's series, but especially in "It's A Trap." In one of the final scenes of the episode, Emperor Palpatine (Carter Pewterschmidt) is trying to upset Luke (Chris Griffin) by badmouthing Seth Green, who voices Chris. The sequence is entertaining, with Palpatine trying to get a rise out of Luke by claiming Seth Green has never made any popular films, while also making specific reference to "that God-awful puppet show," Robot Chicken.

At the end of the episode, the scene returns to the Griffin family in their living room, where Peter (voiced by MacFarlane) and Chris argue about which Seth is worse, with MacFarlane's characters advocating for himself, while the others vote for Green.

The Future of Family Guy's Star Wars Episodes

The episodes were an instant hit, not only with fans ofFamily Guy andStar Wars, but also with George Lucas himself, at least according to MacFarlane.

"As a matter of fact, when the first 'Blue Harvest' episode was about to air, we were invited up to his ranch and we sat down and watched it with him," MacFarlane told the Los Angeles Times in 2009. "We were half-expecting him to say, 'You know what? We can't allow this to air.' But he brought his son, and they were both into it."

However, despite the success of the Star Wars episodes, Family Guy is unlikely to tackle the prequel or sequel trilogies. According to Sulkin, "[Disney] is a little more difficult to deal with," making the chances of another collaboration minuscule. That didn't stop MacFarlane and his creative team from having fun at Star Wars' expense, though. In the 2010 direct-to-video special "It's A Trap," Peter remarks that the Family Guy spinoff The Cleveland Show might do Episodes I-III.

While more Star Wars episodes may be off the table,Family Guy will surely continue to reference MacFarlane's favorite films, television shows and moments in pop culture, including a galaxy far, far away.

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