Even as an adult, MacFarlane continues to look for special items, including a collectible that doubles as a handy party guest. "I have a voice activated R2-D2's that can move around the house," MacFarlane says. "The R2-D2 has a little drink holder, so I put a drink in there and had it roam around the house during a party I once threw. One of our writers showed up and just gave me this awkward look and said, 'You didn't tell me that R2-D2 was going to be here.' He said it like there was some bad blood between the two, as if they fought over the same girl at one time."
While watching the movies, MacFarlane found himself identifying with some of the more obscure characters. "I really identified heavily with Uncle Owen," MacFarlane smiles. "Not really. Actually nowadays I most identify with the Imperial officer who gets choked by Darth Vader because he's the guy trying to move the meeting forward. He's just trying to get the company psyched up, and he's a motivator. But he's met with mixed results. We actually have a bit about that when they're talking about the fantastic work that's been done on the Death Star but there's just this one little flaw that probably won't cause any problems, it's really nothing anybody needs to do anything about, they can just put it off."
"When I was a kid, and maybe at some level the 'Family Guy' character Stewie can be traced back to this, C-3PO was always my favorite," MacFarlane admits. "He was always the guy who, if I were in that universe, reacting the most calm and has the most common sense. He seems most like the Woody Allen character in that film."
MacFarlane also found a few of the underrated characters to be quite funny. "Those two guys who are using the...I forget what it's called -- The Big Planet Blower Upper -- and their workstation is right next to where the beam is," MacFarlane explains. "And when the beam fires at the target, you can see those two guys kind of flinch. It never occurred to them to go to the head office and day, 'It's a very dangerous place for us to work; we're right next to the beam, there's no shielding and we're gonna get cancer.'"
"At the beginning of the movie there are some particularly funny moments with Luke Skywalker when he's whining," MacFarlane adds. "The beauty of those movies, at least for 'Family Guy,' is that there are so many scenes that you sort of latch onto and can spin off in some totally different backstory."
