Family Guy's Star Wars Episode Is Called Blue Harvest For A Very Geeky Reason

The adult animated comedy series "Family Guy" has been on our televisions since 1999 — the Seth MacFarlane-created show has 21 seasons under its belt at the time of this writing. The adventures of the Griffins, their talking baby and dog, and their neighbors are temporarily paused for the WGA and SAG/AFTRA strikes, but there is a lot to rewatch. The series stars the voices of MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green, Mild Kunis, Mike Henry, Patrick Warburton, and Arif Zahir.

The show has lampooned pop culture many times in its quarter-of-a-century existence, but one of its crowning achievements is the "Star Wars" episode entitled "Blue Harvest." It was the premiere episode of season 6 and aired for the first time on September 23, 2007. The name of the episode might be familiar to some hardcore "Star Wars" fans, but for the rest of you, there is a very geeky reason for this title. Let's take a look at what it means and where it came from. 

If you haven't seen the episode, the Griffins are watching golf when the power goes out at their place. Peter (MacFarlane) decides to tell the story of "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope." It broadly follows the narrative of the film, but with "Family Guy" goofiness peppered in, like when Lois (Alex Borstein) as Princess Leia tells Stewie (MacFarlane) as Darth Vader that the Death Star plans are in one of the 26 briefcases the models on the game show "Deal or No Deal" are holding. Or when they call a weapon the "Death Star planet-blower-upper-gun." Magic Johnson even does a training video for the Rebel pilots. There are tons of geeky references in here, but the title is the geekiest part of it all. 

If "Blue Harvest" sounds familiar to you, it's because it was the working title that creator George Lucas gave to "Star Wars: Episode VI — The Return of the Jedi." In fact, this was put forth as a horror flick with the tagline "horror beyond imagination." There was letterhead and crew items with the "Blue Harvest" logo and even a new font for it. Fun fact: One of the "Blue Harvest" hats even had Yoda ears.

According to the Lucasfilm website, the name came from co-producer Jim Bloom, and they used the title "while filming in the Buttercup Valley of Southern California (for Jabba the Hutt's exterior sail barge scenes) and in the redwood forests near Crescent City in Northern California (for the Endor exteriors)." Apparently, the press was talking about the film shooting in certain places, which led to the bluff. 

All the "Star Wars" films are currently streaming on Disney+. You can watch "Blue Harvest" and the rest of the "Family Guy" episodes on Hulu.