DVD Review: FAMILY GUY Season 11

After 11 seasons and more than one cancellation, Seth McFarlane€™s lowbrow animated comedy, Family Guy, is still going strong! The eleventh season hits shelves today on DVD, so check out our review below... A pop culture phenomenon, Family Guy Season 11 features fourteen episodes from the most controversial season yet! Catch all the ridiculous antics, such as Peter€™s love of the sauce landing him a kidney transplant, Brian€™s endless sexual exploits and Stewie and Brian€™s diabolical mission to kill Santa in the North Pole. With the most uproarious guest appearances from the likes of Drew Barrymoore, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Hathaway, Hugh Hefner, Robert Downey Jr., Will Ferrell, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Kiefer Sutherland, James Woods and the legendary rock group KISS, this season is as outrageous as Family Guy gets! For a show that has had such a tumultuous history, 11 seasons is quite an impressive landmark to reach. Within those 11 seasons Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane has perfected a formula that perfectly blends crude humour, political incorrectness, casual racism and misogyny, celebrity satire, pop culture jibes and more profanity than an animated show should ever have. The latest season sticks to this tried and tested formula, so viewers are treated to fourteen episodes that will both shock and humour them. Due to the repetitive nature of MacFarlane and his team€™s formula, it has to be said that season 11 is rather predictable in places. For anybody who has watched even a fraction of the shows past episodes it€™s easy to see which direction gags (or even whole episodes) will go in. However, despite this predictability, the episodes remain entertaining because the formula has proved so effective. Viewers won€™t care that a sizeable chunk of one episode is taken up by a screening of David Bowie and Mick Jagger€™s Dancing in the Streets music video, because they know its there to be mocked. Similarly, the lowbrow, underhand jokes at the expense of virtually anybody who€™s not a white, middleclass man are predictable, but still funny. If this release of season 11 proves anything, it€™s that the Family Guy formula isn€™t worn out yet€ Although this is not the most remarkable of all the seasons, there are still a handful of episodes that are very good. The most memorable stand out episodes include the following: Episode 4: Road to the North Pole €“ The latest instalment in the series€™ Road To... series is a hilarious farce that sees a disillusioned Stewie and a begrudging Brian trek to the North Pole in a mission to dispose of Santa Claus! What they find when they arrive changes everything though... Full of Grinch-like Christmas grumpiness, but a suitably festive conclusion, Road to the North Pole is full of alternative Christmas cheer and inappropriateness. Bookended by live action segments from MacFarlane€™s father, the highlight of the episode has to be his €˜live action€™ fart €“ puerile, but hilarious!! Episode 6: And I€™m Joyce Kinney €“ When Lois meets Quahog news anchor Joyce Kinney she€™s immediately impressed with having a celebrity friend. But all is not what it seems, as an unpleasant blast from the past sweeps in to ruin Lois€™s newfound status... This humorous episode sees Lois€™s darkest secret aired in front of the whole of Quahog, which leads her to a spectacular showdown with the perpetrator. Episode 13: Trading Places €“ Meg and Chris think Peter and Lois have it easy being adults. Peter and Lois beg to differ. Deciding to switch roles for a week, it doesn€™t take long for the whole family to get in over their heads! Displaying all the right mixes of outrageous actions and crude behaviour, this episode will have you in stitches as each member of the Griffin family learns a valuable lesson... Episode 14: Tiegs For Two €“ Brian and Quagmire€™s already strained relationship is put further to the test when the former attends a class that teaches him the Quagmire way to get women. Cue diabolical €“ but hilarious €“ misogyny and inappropriate dating techniques all the way! The Brian/Quagmire relationship is always good for a chuckle, but this episode is quite simply uproarious, with some genuinely hysterical moments between the two characters. Episode 16: The Big Bang Theory €“ Stewie and Brian discover that via the former€™s time travel device, they were actually responsible for the creation of the universe. When Stewie€™s arch nemesis, Bertram, forces his way into the machine in a bid to kill Leonardo Da Vinci (who Stewie happens to be a direct descendent of!), the pair are forced to travel back in time once more to prevent the destruction of the entire universe€ The Big Bang Theory is both action packed and highly comical with its 80s buddy cop movie feel and exciting confrontations between Stewie and Bertram.

QUALITY

The visual quality of the release is superb, with brilliantly vivid and luminous colours and sharp definition throughout. The images are free from all forms of distortion for the most part, with only a few pixilated or €˜soft€™ outlines (when watched on a Blu-ray player that attempts to upscale DVD discs). As with most animation, the colour scheme is full of strong primary colours and extremely bright combinations that literally bring the screen alive. There appears to be a much greater production value in the episodes from this season than there was in some of the earlier ones, with far more visually striking digital effects and the frequent use of prominent tracking shots in the direction. The audio is excellent throughout and dialogue is clean and clear throughout. Background and ambient sounds are well used but never over power, whilst special effects sounds boom through television speakers and immerse viewers directly in the action.

EXTRAS

A small collection of special features compliment the 3 disc, fourteen episode release and viewers can expect to find the following on the release: € €˜Too Rude for TV€™ €“ A collection of deleted scenes. € Select Scene Animatic for €˜Baby, You Knock Me Out€™ € Select Scene Animatic for €˜Trading Places€™ € Clips to Go Family Guy Season 11 is available on DVD from today.