Road to Rupert
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"Road to Rupert" is the ninth episode of season five of Family Guy. It was written by Patrick Meighan and directed by Dan Povenmire. Brian inadvertently sells Stewie's teddy bear, Rupert, during a yard sale. In an attempt to retrieve him, Stewie and Brian travel across the United States, eventually discovering he is owned by a child living in Aspen, Colorado. Meanwhile, Peter has his driving license revoked for careless driving and is forced to be driven around by Meg, which annoys her.[1]
Plot
The Griffins have a yard sale to sell off products which they no longer require, but Brian inadvertently sells Stewie's teddy bear, Rupert. Brian takes Stewie to the toy store to try to find a replacement but ends up admitting he accidentally sold it. At the sale, Peter attempts to purchase Evel Knievel gloves, despite them already belonging to him. He decides to use the family car to jump over a row of civilian cars, but is unsuccessful and results in his drivers license being revoked by Joe.
Lois organizes Meg to become Peter's personal driver, where he makes numerous attempts to annoy Meg, including allowing for her hair to be set on fire when traveling with his friends. Meanwhile, Stewie attempts to retrieve Rupert by tracking DNA samples against the federal database from the money Brian was handed in exchange for Rupert. They discover the man who bought the teddy lives in Quahog, but upon arrival -- they discover the house is deserted. After seeing the removal truck and following it, with Mayor West driving, they discover the man now resides in Aspen, Colorado. In order to get over the mountains, the pair hire a helicopter after performing a dance for the man in the office, but it crashes down the mountain, next to the entrance to Aspen.
Reluctant to give Stewie the teddy bear, Stanford Cordray (the buyer) and his family organize a skiing race down the mountain, so if Stewie is the first down, they are allowed to take Rupert away with them and if Stanford wins, he can have Brian. Stewie loses the race, but proceeds to grab Rupert after his personal butler jabs a cup of hot liquid in the child's eye, forcing him to drop the bear. The two car jack a passing driver by threatening him with the starting pistol used for the ski race and telling him rudely to get out of the car. Brian pulls the driver out of the car, then the two return to Quahog. In the top left corner of the screen, there is a sign that says - Denver 73mi, Rhode Island 2112mi. Meanwhile, Peter becomes Meg's secret best friend after she beat up a driver who insulted her after accidentally hitting the family car, but Peter, in an attempt to keep up appearances to the family, goes back to treating her badly in front of them.[1]
Production
Lois mocking Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story was not broadcast on television for timing purposes, and only shown on the DVD version.[2][3] A deleted scene was made showing one of Peter's crimes, as listed by Joe, being a hate crime as a person in a car Peter hit when performing his stunt was Jewish, but the scene was later changed to rape.[3][4] Stewie taking tablets to calm himself down after losing Rupert was removed from television airing as the show was "cutting a lot of not so funny jokes".[4][3] David Goodman noted that he feels the production crew may not have succeeded on this episode as everything falls into place easily for the episode,[3] for example, the box falling out of the moving truck.[3] Every frame when Stewie is dancing in a reference to Anchors Aweigh took a large amount of work to produce.[2][5]
The montage of Stewie and Brian visiting several U.S. states was a DVD exclusive scene, removed from television for timing purposes.[2][6] This scene was partially based on MacFarlane traveling the United States after the September 11, 2001 attacks and realizing there is lots of corn throughout the U.S.[2] A deleted scene directly after the helicopter crash had shown Stewie saying "come here, puss" for a second time, but this was replaced with another.[4][2] Stewie and Brian carjacking somebody was added to the episode in a later rewrite and censored on television.[4]
Cultural references
When speaking with Brian at the yard sale, Lois comments that Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story is not a real movie, rather just three individual episodes together, but altering the title to Stymie Gruffin: The Untold Story when discussing it with Brian.[2] The music performed at Stewie's vision of Rupert's funeral was 1972 hymn Amazing Grace while the funeral itself is a reference to Spock's funeral in Star Trek 2.[2] The 'My black son' scene consisted of a number of 1980s television programmes, these being Family Ties, Perfect Strangers, Too Close For Comfort, Punky Brewster and Three's Company.[4][3] Peter watches an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants in the car which features music performed in the actual episode, it had been written by Dan Povenmire for the original SpongeBob episode, but it was allowed in the episode as Nickelodeon gave Family Guy permission to reproduce the music.[6][2] The entire scene of Stewie singing and dancing in order to secure rental of the helicopter is a reference to 1945 musical film Anchors Aweigh.[2] When Stewie and Brian crash the helicopter down the mountain and Brian visualises Stewie as the devil, this is a reference to Planes, Trains & Automobiles.[2] The butler in Stewie's hut when skiing down the mountain is a reference to the TARDIS from Doctor Who.[2]
Reception
The episode received mixed comments from TV Squad, with Brett Love commenting that "the suspended license plot was a little thin, but that's forgivable given that this was the b-story for the episode, and there are only 22 minutes to work with."[7] Love comments positively on the Stewie and Brian relationship in the episode, commenting that, "the Stewie and Brian story is what made the episode for me. It was very well done, right down to the goofy little details."[7] IGN commented that, "In order for Family Guy to have a great episode, it takes a good story and humorous "manatee" gags. "Road to Rupert" was able to deliver on both these fronts, with the majority of the episode's attention focused on Stewie and Brian's road story, meshed with many laugh out loud gags."[8]
References
- ^ a b Plot synopsis information for the episode "Road to Rupert" (DVD). 20th Century Fox. 2007.
{{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k MacFarlane, Seth (2007). Family Guy season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Road to Rupert" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
{{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ a b c d e f Goodman, David (2007). Family Guy season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Road to Rupert" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
{{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ a b c d e Meighan, Patrick (2007). Family Guy season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Road to Rupert" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
{{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Tauke, Andy (2007). Family Guy season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Road to Rupert" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
{{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ a b Povenmire, Dan (2007). Family Guy season 5 DVD commentary for the episode "Road to Rupert" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
{{cite AV media}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ a b "Family Guy: Road to Rupert". Tvsquad.com. 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
- ^ "Family Guy: "Road to Rupert" Review". Tv.ign.com. Retrieved 2008-01-15.
External links
