Family Guy's Star Wars parody, Blue Harvest, was arguably the most popular and influential event episode in the show's history. So, the bar is set high for Seth MacFarlane's Empire Strikes Back send-up, Family Guy: Something, Something, Something, Darkside.

According to Fox's news release on the upcoming DVD, the plot sticks to the same lines as Empire: "Darth Vader (Stewie) is hunting the rebel Luke Skywalker (Chris) and his troops relentlessly across the galaxy."

Due to the complicated and apparently outdated Emmy Awards nomination rules, prime-time animated shows like Family Guy, The Simpsons, American Dad, South Park and others have had to choose which Emmy category they want to compete in, animated or comedy series. Then, that decision impacts eligibility for writers and animators on those shows in other categories. Well, Family Guy is in a unique position this year, as their "Blue Harvest" Star Wars parody was classified as a special. And as the animated category looks at single episodes, Family Guy can submit "Blue Harvest" to the animated category, and the show itself, to comedy series.

I'd say it's a tremendous long shot that an animated show can be nominated over the live-action comedy series it will be facing. But there's always a first time for everything; when Disney's animated Beauty and the Beast picked up an Oscar nod for "Best Picture" it was groundbreaking in the same way. It's a tough debate. These shows compete with prime-time comedies every week and yet get put up against the likes of Spongebob Squarepants come awards time. How do you compare The Venture Brothers and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends?

Being the award for Excellence in Animation, this was easily the widest ranging category, and you all really came through in your nomination suggestions (sorry The Venture Brothers doesn't qualify). With animation owning several channels all to itself and still appearing everywhere else, you've got kid's shows, very much adult only series (did I mention The Venture Brothers can't get nominated?), gag cartoons, sci-fi cartoons and even gothic horror.

With your help from my Adam Finley Award call for nominations post last week where you tried to trick me into nominating The Venture Brothers, even though I can't, we've managed to narrow down the field of contenders to what we feel were the five strongest entries into the wide world of television animation in the past season. Don't forget to check out the Reader's Choice at the bottom where you can vote for which of the five you think are deserving to win. Next week, we'll be revealing both your winner and ours.

If you haven't entered our latest giveaway yet, here's a reminder that this week's is ending today. You've got until 5PM Eastern today to enter the Family Guy: Blue Harvest DVD giveaway.

Just head on over to the post linked above, read through the rules and make the applicable comment there (not here!) We'll notify the winners next week.

Good luck!

TV Squad already did a review of this episode when it was originally broadcast. What follows is a review of the DVD extras.

Extras include:

• Episode commentary by Seth McFarlane and a bunch of other members of the production team (absent are any of the character voices other than McFarlane himself).
• A twelve minute interview of George Lucas by Seth McFarlene on Star Wars, Family Guy, and a variety of other topics including dating.
• A nineteen minute documentary about how much the creators of Family Guy love Star Wars.
• The original animatics for the episode (includes jokes and animations that didn't make the final cut).
• A Family Guy Star Wars Clip Show (clips from Family Guy episodes which reference Star Wars).
• A generic Family Guy promo for Fox.
  

This time we've got five copies of Family Guy - Blue Harvest on DVD for five lucky, random commenters. The set is available in stores tomorrow.

To enter, simply leave a comment below before 5:00PM Eastern, Friday, January 18, simply telling us what your favorite episode of Family Guy is. As always, we'll randomly choose five winners amongst the eligible entries. Some other details:
Click here for complete Official Rules.