When the final film of the saga was released in 2005, Sulkin (and his "Family Guy" co-workers) were promptly in line at a nearby theater. "We went as a writing staff to see Sith in the theater the day it opened and it was universally liked," Sulkin says. "I brought that up at our panel at Star Wars Celebration IV that I love the prequels, and there were a couple of boos, especially when I mentioned that Sith was better than Jedi. Then I said there was no Ewoks in Sith and people were all quiet."
"I put Revenge of the Sith ahead of Return of the Jedi for favorites," Sulkin explains. "The Emperor was so great and I loved Grievous -- his voice and the way he looked. I watched that special about designing Grievous and how it was inspired by the head of a spray bottle. Watching Sith made me very sad that the movies are allegedly done. But I can't wait for the TV shows. When they put the word out that Lucasfilm was looking for writers, I was thinking I may have to move."
Sulkin continues, "The complaints people have of the prequels is unfair. Like when they say the dialog isn't that great in the newer films but if you go back and watch the original trilogy a lot of it is very campy. And that worked for us because we were like seven or ten when we first saw it. And people say Anakin is whiny, but Luke was ridiculously whiny. I thought Hayden Christensen did a really good job, and obviously Ewan McGregor is great."
When it comes to his favorite characters, Sulkin admits that no one stands out as someone he honestly identifies with. "I wish I was like Han Solo but I know that I'm not," Sulkin says. "Not to get too profound, but I think that's one of the things I like so much about the movies is that I'm watching a fantasy that I love and I'm not watching somebody in it and thinking, 'Oh, this is my journey with this character.' I'm just watching and thinking, 'Please entertain me and make cool noises, show me new creatures and have a lightsaber fight.' So I don't have a special kinship with any of the characters, I just enjoy watching them."
However, Sulkin does have an opinion of which characters deserved more camera time. "In the vein that the prequels are the red-headed stepchildren to the original trilogy, I do feel that General Grievous, Darth Maul and Count Dooku are three awesome bad guys in addition to the Emperor in the prequels," Sulkin says. "I also like Sebulba -- especially in the pod race."
Since Sulkin's career revolves around noticing a joke around every corner, it's easy for Sulkin to notice especially funny moments in the saga that other fans might overlook. "There are plenty of scenes that are unintentially funny in the films," Sulkin says. "There's a scene in Attack of the Clones when Hayden Christensen is with Natalie Portman in the garage on Tatooine after he's slaughtered the Sand People when he failed to rescue his mother, and he picks something up and he's getting whiny talking about Obi-Wan and he throws something. I always laugh at, which seems like a totally irrelevant thing, whatever he picks up and throws because it takes a really long time to hit the floor and it seems like a weak throw. He's busy talking about he's the most powerful Jedi and it's such a weak toss."
It's these kinds of moments that make Sulkin's job as the writer for the upcoming tribute -- "Family Guy: Blue Harvest" -- comedy gold. "I started to write for 'Family Guy' after it came back from being cancelled, over three years ago," Sulkin remembers. "And since myself, and Seth and our executive producer David Goodman were such Star Wars fans it became almost a joke that we'd split off into different rooms and come back to pitch things to Seth and there would always be some kind of a Star Wars reference. So Seth at some point said, when we were all out at karaoke, that he was thinking of doing an all-Star Wars episode using our characters. I said, 'Yes, you have my vote!' And he said, 'I'd like you to write it.' And I of course replied, 'Yes, I don't have a problem with that.'"
