Untitled Griffin Family History

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Family Guy Episode

"Untitled Griffin Family History"

Episode no.:

Prod. code:

4ACX30

Airdate:

May 14th, 2006

Writer(s):

John Viener

Director:

Zac Moncrief

Guest star(s):

Judith Light

Untitled Griffin Family History is an episode from season 4 of FOX animated television series Family Guy. Guest-starring Judith Light as herself.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Lois is trying to get Peter to brush his teeth when they hear a noise coming from downstairs. Peter looks downstairs and find three robbers in balaclavas. The whole family wakes up and Meg startles Peter so much that he hits her in the head with the baseball bat he was carrying. The whole family then flee to Peter's panic room. It is a small steel room with boxes and TV monitors that can be used to watch every room in the house (a reference to the movie Panic Room). Unfortunately, the room has no phone, so Peter decides to tell stories about the Griffin family history.

These stories begin with the big bang, which was actually God farting through a lit lighter. Next in the Paleolithic, when ur-Peter invented the wheel, and then moved forward to the Bronze Age when Moses Griffin led the Israelites to freedom. Peter also tells the story of black slave Nate Griffin, as he escaped from a slave ship by cutting the floor off around the Captain's bed and floating out in the Ocean so that he woke up, got out of bed and fell into the water. Nate then went on become a slave to the Pewterschmidt family (as in Peter Griffin: Husband, Father...Brother?) and got married to Lois' ancestor. Other stories include that of silent movie actor Black Eye Griffin, and Adolf Hitler's annoying brother Peter Hitler. Unfortunately, after telling the story of Moses Griffin, Peter accidentally activates the fire sprinklers with a flare gun, threatening to drown the family. While the sprinklers are going off and filling the panic room with water, Peter admits his dislike of The Godfather, something that the rest of the family argues with him about.

Meanwhile, Meg is sent down through a vent to get food. But Peter talks to her through a loudspeaker ("I see you in the kitchen, Meg...") and the robbers find and capture her. She hopes that they will rape her, saying that she won't scream or struggle, but they decline her advances. As the water is reaching the peak, Joe shows up and opens the door, as all the water drains out of the room, saving their lives, also mentioning that he caught the crooks. They press charges of sexual harassment against Meg, and she is personally arrested by Joe. Even though he keeps telling the family that Meg needs a lawyer, they strangely ignore him. In the end, Peter thinks that she is going to a dance.

"This is the story of the Griffin family history..."

[edit] Notes

When discussing "The Godfather", they're actually talking about the entire Godfather Saga. Peter says that it is 6.5 hours long and Chris says that it has Robert de Niro, Robert Duvall, and Al Pacino in it, although de Niro was not in the original Godfather, only in The Godfather Part II.

Peter Hitler calls Adolf/Addie a Motherführer, a pun on motherfucker. Führer means "leader" in German and was Hitler's official title.

In the Nate Griffin segment, Brian appears as a talking monkey, and Cleveland appears as a white slave trader. However Ollie Williams is still black.

Aired on Adult Swim 7/2/2006

The main characters have very few lines in this episode. Stewie has as little as 3 lines, not counting black Stewie's 2 lines.

When Peter refers to Hideki Tojo in the Hitler scene, he's says "Look I'm Tojo, I am from Japan." But the music he sings is not Japanese but Chinese, as he uses the Chinese gong sound.

[edit] Cultural references

Peter's panic room was inspired by wanting to escape from the movie The Butterfly Effect, rather than the movie Panic Room, as most people were led to believe. He disliked the former so much, he built the room to get away from it.
Peter reveals that his ancestor Nate Griffin's real name is Richard Bachman, a reference to the pen name American horror novelist Stephen King used earlier in his writing career.
Peter (as Moses) makes a commandment where the followers are ordered not to read the billboard signs as they walk through the desert. One of the signs is read aloud as "Mancow in the Morning", a reference to Mancow Muller's daily morning radio show. Mancow is a fan of the series and a friend of MacFarlane. Seth MacFarlane and his sister, Rachael MacFarlane, have been guests on the radio show. Another billboard mentions Danny Gans.
Nate Griffin goes into the African jungle to find a log and stick so he can play the beginning of Hot for Teacher, by Van Halen, a song with a famous drum intro by Alex Van Halen.
During the Nate Griffin segment, a Quagmire character is shown, referred to as "Quagdingo."
When Nate Griffin is brought to the plantation, the scene resembles the movie Song of the South.
Nate Griffin falls in love with Lois Laura-Bush-Lynne-Cheney-Pewterschmidt.
The story of Nate Griffin is a reference to Roots.
Nate's flight in a cart pulled by a white bronco is a parody of the O.J. Simpson slow-speed chase, and he is picked up by Al Cowlings, who drove O.J.
The prank Nate Griffin pulls on the slave ship captain is taken from Meatballs.
Peter and his family argue about the movie The Godfather, although it seems more likely they are refering to The Godfather Saga, as Peter says it spends six and a half hours getting in to the plot. Peter says The Money Pit is better.
Judith Light accidentally took the oxygen tank instead of the Tony Danza breath. This refers to the Who's the Boss? episode where Tony and Angela kiss.
The security camera scene where Peter checks on Meg is a parody of the movie Saw.
Peter describes the Pewterschmidt plantation as way down South, "around where you stop seeing Howard Johnson's and start seeing Stuckey's."
Nate made the DMV to get back at the white people.
When Peter is explaining evolution he is obligated to present the church's alternative theory due to the state of Kansas. The Christian theory features Jeannie from I Dream of Jeannie appearing from the water creating the different species of animals. Interestingly, this episode first aired the same night as "The Monkey Suit", A Simpsons episode which also tackled creationism vs. Darwinism.
Peter's great-great-grandfather "Black-Eye" Griffin starred in twenties-era short films. The first silent film where he is looking at the moon is a reference to the film A Trip to the Moon which was a black and white silent film from 1902. Apparently, he didn't do well when "talkies" came out, due to his unusual, stuttering voice, which sounded similar to Bobcat Goldthwait (also parodied in "The Perfect Castaway"). The plight of an old-time star who didn't do well when the industry modernized also recalled a The Critic episode with a faded star whose career failed to transfer to technicolor, due to his oddly-colored skin and hair. It is also very similar to a subplot in the 1952 movie Singin' in the Rain, in which Lina Lamont has an annoying voice, and doesn't transition well to "talkies".
When Peter is trying to sell the wheel to the cavemen, Brian says to Peter "You so money, don't know it." This is a reference from the movie Swingers, as Vince Vaughn says this to Jon Favreau through out the movie to build his confidence.
Peter Hitler tapes his nose up, proclaiming that he's 'Tojo'. Tojo Hideki was the prime minister of Japan during World War II.
After Lois helps ur-Peter sell the wheel, he says to her, "You and I will party like it's 9," a reference to Prince's song 1999.