Seth McFarlane, Alex Borstein, Adam West

For some inexplicable reason, this collection of 13 episodes is billed as Season 6 here in Australia, while overseas it’s still counted as part of Season 5. All that being said, this is yet another collection of off-the-wall, politically incorrect animation that still packs a punch as it wades further into the TV title fight.

Many will recall that ''Family Guy' was actually axed by Fox several seasons back – and although the series threw in gags as a form of retribution, there’s been little else said about this matter and that’s as it should be. The series is flying along quite nicely as it always has and continues to build its fan base. In a previous DVD-reviewing incarnation evaluated season two and felt it was a shady rip-off of ''The Simpsons''. Well, I was happily wrong about that and such comparisons are long since redundant. ''Family Guy'' easily stands on its own feet with similarities all but gone as the creators push the boundaries of good taste (while ''The Simpsons'' seems to eddy about in an ever-stagnating pool...)

The gags here are vulgar. Let’s not beat about the bush, they are, and that’s their appeal. And don’t get me wrong, I love it. I was thrilled when this one landed on my desk. Having reviewed season two oh-so-long ago, I ended up buying the rest of the show on DVD (including the three-part ‘movie’ of ''Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story'' which was actually the end of the US Season 4), so I’m a fan, yes.

While the wheels can tend to start coming off once a show is more than a few years old, ''Family Guy'' is cramming as much indecency into every episode as it can and this approach still works.

There’s plenty for the discerning FG fan, including references to previous seasons and characters, the ongoing dysfunctional relationship between Stewie and Brian (and that between Lois and Stewie – witness the horror of Stewie actually falling in love with Lois in the series opener).

While the comedy is much the same as we’ve come to expect, there are also new angles being played out, new story twists, and old chapters finally closing. If you’ve loved the previous incarnations of FG, you’re sure to find as much in this one as you have in the others. One good thing about the DVD relationship with FG is that un-bleeped swearing is finally allowed into the series. While that’s no recommendation in itself, it does give the fans that little bit of ownership of the series, rather than allowing the censors to own it for us.

I say bring it on, whatever the hell season number they wanna call it. As long as we’re getting the episodes in crystalline format and not downloaded off some grainy internet site, they can call it what they want.

Bonus Material. Every episode has a commentary featuring a gaggle of stars and technical directors, 38 fully animated deleted scenes, three full animatics with animator commentaries, a five minute bit on how to draw Peter Griffin which is pretty much as lame as it sounds, and a sales pitch regarding the toy manufacturing process. Admittedly, this may be interesting to anyone unfamiliar with the techniques, but essentially it’s a marketing ploy.

Rating :
Reviewer : Jules Faber