Family Guy - Freakin' Sweet Collection (Animated) (DVD)

The Family Guy 'Freakin' Sweet' collection is a rounding up of all Seth McFarlane's favourite episodes. He's the creator of Family Guy, and also the the voice of various characters, including Brian. The episodes come from the first three seasons and include -

Lethal Weapons
Road to Rhode Island
To Love and Die in Dixie
I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar
When You Wish Upon a Weinstein.

The episodes give ...
...in Family Guy but unsure about purchasing the boxsets, could buy this as a general summary - and get a taste of what the other series are like.

Before the review of the episodes, here's a little background information about the family, if you haven't seen Family Guy before. If you have seen the show, feel free to skip past to the episodes review.

Peter Griffin - The Family Guy! He's father of the Griffin family and main ... more

The Family Guy 'Freakin' Sweet' collection is a rounding up of all Seth McFarlane's favourite episodes. He's the creator of Family Guy, and also the the voice of various characters, including Brian. The episodes come from the first three seasons and include -

Lethal Weapons
Road to Rhode Island
To Love and Die in Dixie
I Am Peter, Hear Me Roar
When You Wish Upon a Weinstein.

The episodes give an excellent selection from all the series, meaning someone interested in Family Guy but unsure about purchasing the boxsets, could buy this as a general summary - and get a taste of what the other series are like.

Before the review of the episodes, here's a little background information about the family, if you haven't seen Family Guy before. If you have seen the show, feel free to skip past to the episodes review.

Peter Griffin - The Family Guy! He's father of the Griffin family and main character in the series. Working in a toy factory, he's optimistic about all new ventures - and his many different job's provide material for episodes throughout the series.
Lois Griffin - Mother and Wife. The caring wife who puts up with Peter, she has a very similar role to Marge from The Simpsons. As the character with the most morales, she attempts to keep Peter and her family in check. Indeed, her most frequent line in the episodes is 'I'm very upset with you right now, Peter.'
Meg Griffin - Troubled daughter. Obsessed with fitting in and being materialistic is Meg's main contribution to the show.
Chris Griffin - Peter's protige. Overgrown and 13 years old with an amazing talent for drawing, he aspires to be like his dad!
Stewie Griffin - Maniacal Baby! A one year old meglomaniac who's main concern is to kill Lois. Stewie is probably the second most influential character in Family Guy and usually the audiences favourite.
Brian - Pet dog and sohisticated scholar. A sarcastic canine who's a bordering alcoholic.

Lethal Weapons -
Lois is sick and tired of being a pushover! She enrolls in a 'Tae-Jitsue' class and soon becomes better than the teacher, himself! Peter, seeing his wife's new talents, uses her to keep the annoying New York tourists away from Quohog. But when her rage begins to get out of control and influence the rest of the family, she enters them all into anger management. Culminating in one of the most famous Family Guy scenes (where the family break into a melee), this episode is very funny and an excellent choice for the top 5.
Best line - Brian: You ok, Peter?
Peter: (Scared) Last night Brian, Lois was the man!
Brian: Oh god.

Road to Rhode Island -
This episode was recently voted the audience's favourite. It's really only a Brian and Stewie episode, and deals with the loss and finding of Brian's mother. When Brian travels to California to pick Stewie up from his grandparent's place, their luggage is lost in the airport. Desperate not to tell Lois, Brian tells her that they're getting the train back, and ends up stealing cars and stowing away on trains to do so! On the way back, he recognises a town they pass through as the one he was born in and that leads him to search for his mother... It's easy to see why this was voted the favourite, as it includes classic Family Guy humour, a fantastic song from Stewie and Brian, and a well balanced meaningful aspect - dealing with Brian's mother.
Best line - the 'Road to Rhode Island' song!

To Love and Die in Dixie -
After Chris witnesses an armed robbery in the local store, he has to identify the culprit in a parade. When the villain escapes, he swears that he will kill Chris Griffin! The family are forced to enter a witness protection programme and are relocated to a small town in the deep south of America. There, Chris meets a 'boy' he begins to have feelings for, Stewie becomes a yokel, Meg becomes popular and Peter; the sheriff! Again, a good balance between humour and the stereotypes of Southern America.
Best line - News reporter: So, what are you're plans now you've escaped from prison?
Criminal: First, I'm gonna go home and bang my girlfriend, then I'm gonna kill Chris Griffin!
Stewie: Good Lord! Can he really say 'bang my girlfriend' on television this early?

I am Peter, Hear me Roar -
A sexist joke Peter tells at work lands him in a class to make him more sensitive. When this doesn't appear to be working for Peter, the feminist in charge sends him to a school where he will be tought to appreciate women. When he returns to the family, he is a completely changed man! Loving and caring, he begins to get on the family's nerves and soon, they all want the old Peter back! This is one of my favourite episodes from the collection. Peter's performance as a 'woman' is excellent.
Best scene - where Peter attempts to breast feed a sleeping Stewie. Stewie's reaction is hilarious!

When You Wish Upon a Weinstein -
This is the most infamous Family Guy episode. Fox banned it from being aired as Peter makes the claim that 'all Jewish people are good with money'. Suprised by the amount of money Cleaveland and Quagmire (his two best friends) got from tax refunds, Peter decides he must get himself a Jewish accountant. When Max Weinstein needs to use his phone, Peter asks for financial help and Max agrees. Later, Peter sees Chris struggling wth his maths homework and becomes convinced that Chris should become Jewish (and therefore, instantly more intelligent!).
Lois attempts to stop Peter on a crazy race to Las Vegas for a quicky barmitspha, where she enacts the frequently used wedding scene from The Graduate. But will it work? It's not all that suprising that this episode was banned from airing, but it is very funny nevertheless. Also, the creator's show Peter's change in belief (that Jewish people are all geniuses to the fact that they're just like everybody else) very well - with a morale in there somewhere. All in all, an excellent episode for the top 5.
Best line - the song Peter sings, 'When you wish upon a Jew'

Special features - There's a commentary from Seth McFarlane and some of the Family Guy cast on every episode. These are usually very entertaining and provide an interesting insight into the series. Commentaries with characters from the episode, like Stewie and Brian in 'Road to Rhode Island', are particularly good.
There's a good interview with Seth McFarlane where he talks about Family Guy season 4 and his new series, American Dad. He gives the reasons for his top choices and you can see some previews of the first episode of American Dad and the new characters.
There's also trailers for Futurama Season 4, American Dad and Family Guy that were all aired on television.

Overall, a very good DVD for fans and new watcher's alike. The top 5 choices are excellent, and all the most popular characters have an episode where they feature most.
The rating is a 15, because of some sexual references and some moderately strong language, and the whole DVD is approximately 109 minutes long.

The only negative thing I can really think of is that there are only 5 episodes and a boxset really wouldn't cost much more to buy. It's good value for money if you're just trying Family Guy out. And if you want a selection of the best - get this DVD.

 

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