Baby Not on Board
"Baby Not on Board" | |
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Family Guy episode | |
Episode no. | Season 7 Episode 4 |
Directed by | Julius Wu |
Written by | Mark Hentemann |
Production code | 6ACX07[1] |
Original air date | November 2, 2008 |
Guest appearances | |
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"Baby Not on Board" is the fourth episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series Family Guy. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 2, 2008. The episode features Stewie (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) after he is accidentally left at home when the Griffins head for the Grand Canyon. The family soon notice his absence and rush home; however, Peter (also voiced by MacFarlane) makes it more difficult for his family because of his immature behavior. Meanwhile, Stewie realizes how much he depends on his family while he is alone.
The episode was written by
Plot
Meanwhile, Stewie finds out that he has been left alone, and takes his solitude to his advantage. When Cleveland and Quagmire arrive, Stewie believes that they are intruders and sprays tear gas all around them to knock them out. Stewie realizes his mistake. He chains them to the Griffins' basement wall and forces them to watch the DirecTV help channel on a continuous loop. When Stewie consumes all of the food in the house, he applies for a job at fast food restaurant McBurgertown but is eventually fired for stealing food, despite his insistence it was due to be thrown out. Eventually, Stewie realizes how much he depends on his family and is thrilled to see them return.
The episode ends with a scene of Cleveland and Quagmire monotonously reciting what is being said on TV; in the broadcast version, Cleveland eventually tells Quagmire, "Did I tell you I'm getting a spinoff?", while in the DVD release Quagmire simply curses in frustration.
Production
"Baby Not on Board" was written by eventual series
"Baby Not on Board", along with the first eight episodes of the seventh season, were released on DVD by
In addition to the regular cast, voice actor Jon Benjamin, actor Joe Flaherty, and actor Jacob Pressman guest starred in the episode.[2] Recurring voice actors Alexandra Breckenridge, writer Steve Callaghan, writer Danny Smith, writer Alec Sulkin, and writer John Viener made minor appearances.[2] Recurring guest voice actors Adam West and Patrick Warburton made guest appearances as well.[2]
Cultural references
"Baby Not on Board" makes several media references. The plot itself is inspired by the film
When Lois says they have not heard from Joe, he is seen screaming the Rifleman's Creed at his wheelchair like marines do with their rifles in the bootcamp sequence in Full Metal Jacket. One of the cutaways depicts Robin Williams in the film Patch Adams, where he fruitlessly attempts to amuse child patients with his comedy routines, driving one child patient to unplug his life support. When the Griffins return home to Stewie, the background music is an instrumental of "Somewhere In My Memory" by John Williams, which scores a similar scene in Home Alone.[8] When Stewie is exploring the house he finds a Hustler magazine under his brother's bed, curious of what a vagina looks like. He instantly becomes horrified by the sight of a vagina on one of the pages, then proceeds to destroy the magazine by opening fire on it with an M3 submachine gun he retrieves from hammerspace, emptying the entire magazine of the weapon.[8] Stewie mentions that Aquaman is pretty useless if the crime does not take place on water.[10] Other references included jokes about the television series Lost and actors John Forsythe and Sean Connery.[5]
Reception
In its original broadcast on
The episode received mixed reviews from television sources and critics. Steve Heisler of The A.V. Club gave the episode a C, calling it "without a doubt, the most meta episode I've seen in quite some time" and said that "if Family Guy wants to make the show itself the butt of every joke, it needs to ramp up the conflict and tone down on the flights of fancy–most of those are funny for a bit, but excess can ruin just about anything." Another complaint of the episode were the Back to the Future references and the storyline.[12]
Ahsan Haque of IGN gave the episode a negative review, calling it "definitely one of the worst Family Guy episodes in years". He criticized the jokes, calling some pointless and most of them tasteless, saying that the funnier moments of the episode were not enough to make it a worthwhile episode.[10] Robin Pierson of The TV Critic also gave the episode a negative review, calling it "pointless television", but said that it featured some entertaining jokes.[5]
References
- 20th Century Fox. Archived from the originalon July 11, 2011. Retrieved October 11, 2012.
- ^ Yahoo! TV. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
- ^ "Family Guy: The Kiss Seen Around the World Credits". AMC. Archived from the original on 2012-04-06. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
- ^ 20th Century Fox. 2009.
- ^ a b c Pierson, Robin (January 6, 2009). "Baby Not on Board Review". The TV Critic. Archived from the original on February 22, 2012. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
- Amazon.com. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
- ^ "Family Guy – Season 8". EzyDVD. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f "Baby Not on Board Recap". Channel Guide Magazine. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
- ^ Rocha, Alex (November 3, 2008). "Family Guy: Episode Recap: Baby Not on Board". TV Guide. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
- ^ a b c Haque, Ahsan (November 3, 2008). "Family Guy: Baby Not On Board Review". IGN. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
- ^ Seidman, Robert (November 3, 2008). "Sunday Ratings: November 2, 2008". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Archived from the original on February 7, 2010. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
- ^ Heisler, Steve (November 2, 2008). "Family Guy: Baby Not on Board Review". The A.V. Club. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
External links
"Baby Not on Board".
- "Baby Not on Board" at IMDb