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{{Infobox television episode
{{refimprove}}
| series = ]
{{Infobox Television episode
| image =
| Title = Road to Germany
| Series = Family Guy | caption =
| season = 7
| Image = ]
| episode = 3
| Caption = Brian, Mort and Stewie flee from Nazis.
| airdate = {{Start date|2008|10|19}}
| Season = 7
| Episode = 3 | production = 6ACX08
| Airdate = October 19, 2008 | writer = Patrick Meighan
| director = Greg Colton
| Production = 6ACX08
| guests =
| Writer = ]
*] as ]
| Director = Greg Colton
*Robert Boomfield
| Guests = ]<br>]<br>]<br>]
*] as German General, German Soldier, and German Priest
| Episode list = ]
*]
| Season list = {{Infobox_Family_Guy_Season_7}}
*Al Thompson as African American Tree
| Prev = ]
*Jeff Witzke
| Next = ]
| season_article = Family Guy season 7
| episode_list = List of Family Guy episodes
| prev = ]
| next = ]
}} }}


'''"Road to Germany"''' is an episode of the ] ] '']'' that aired on October 19, 2008.<ref name=release>{{cite news|author=|title=Listings&nbsp;— FAMILY GUY on FOX|publisher=The Futon Critic|url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings.aspx?id=20080925fox20&date=10/19/08|accessdate=2008-10-11|date=]}}</ref> It is ] and ]'s fourth road adventure, following "]", "]" and "]". "'''Road to Germany'''" is the third episode of the ] (and the fourth episode in the '']'' series) of the American animated television series '']''. It originally aired on the ] in the ] on October 19, 2008.<ref name=release>{{cite web|title=Listings&nbsp;— FAMILY GUY on FOX|website=The Futon Critic|url=http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings.aspx?id=20080925fox20&date=10/19/08|access-date=2008-10-11|date=2008-10-11}}</ref> In the episode, ] accidentally enters ]'s time machine and is sent to ], Poland, on ]. ] and Stewie realize Mort has gone back in time, and use the time machine to save him.

The episode was written by Patrick Meighan and directed by Greg Colton. ], ], ], Jeff Witzke and Robert Boomfield guest star in the episode. "Road to Germany" was seen by approximately 9.07 million viewers during its original broadcast, and received positive reviews from television critics. In 2009, the episode, along with "]" and "]", received an ] nomination for "]".


==Plot== ==Plot==
While the neighbors are watching the ] at the Griffins' house, ] needs to use the bathroom so desperately after taking ] that he runs into what he thinks is a ] in Stewie's room. Instead, it turns out to be Stewie's new time machine, and Mort is sent to the past. Realizing that Mort does not have a return pad, a device necessary to bring the user back to the present, Stewie and Brian take the return pad and go back in time to save Mort. They end up in ], ], and find Mort in ]. He believes he is in ] because he sees dead family members there. It does not take long for them to realize that the date is September 1, 1939, the day of the Nazi ] when ] started.
{{plot}}
While the neighbors are all personally betting on ] winners at the Griffins' house, ] desperately needs to ], having taken a ] and a "stool hardener" at the same time. Since the upstairs bathroom is already occupied (by ], who was being filmed by ]), Mort then runs into Stewie's room and finds a booth that appears to be a portable toilet. But when he steps into it he activates what is actually a ], creating a bright flash and sending him back in time. An hour passes and the others grow concerned about Mort's absence, so Brian goes upstairs to check on him. Stewie comes in and sees that the time machine has been activated. ] and and the backup dancers from '']'' come in and explain the situation. Since Mort needs the return pad, a device that will send the user back to the present, which is in Stewie's possession, Stewie and Brian decide to go back in time to bring Mort back.


They cannot return to the present right away because the return pad to Stewie's time machine fails to activate. They decide to go to ] where Mort, who is ], will be safe from the ]. While attempting to cross the border, Mort, who was disguised as a ] priest, was asked to do the last rites for a dead soldier. When the actual priest arrives, the German officers find out that Mort is Jewish, resulting in the trio being chased by the Nazis. Mort, Stewie, and Brian make their escape on a ] in a '']'' parody, followed by an elaborate undersea pursuit in a hijacked ], making it to England safely.
Stewie and Brian end up in ], ], and find Mort in a ] at his grandparents' wedding reception; Mort believes he is in Heaven, since he is with all his long-deceased relatives. Since no one would ever experience their own grandparents' wedding under normal circumstances, Stewie and Brian let Mort stay a little longer and stick around themselves to enjoy the party, despite Brian's concerns that the date, ], ], sounds disturbingly familiar. As it turns out, this is the day of the ] ], which promptly occurs.


Stewie examines the return pad and discovers the uranium rod used to power the device is depleted; the only accessible source of uranium in 1939 is the nuclear weapons testing facility in ], ]. To get to Germany, Stewie, Mort, and Brian join the ] and fly a ] in a ] against a squadron of Luftwaffe ] fighters, eventually reaching Berlin. After finding the nuclear research lab, Stewie disguises himself as ], while Mort and Brian disguise themselves as Nazi officers. They obtain a uranium rod from former NFL player ], and run into the real Hitler, who orders their execution. Brian and Stewie distract him long enough for Mort to insert the uranium into the return pad, and the trio escapes back to their time.
The three try to use the return pad but it fails and they are chased by Nazi soldiers. With the dangerous situation they're in, Stewie and Brian decide to go to ], the only place where Mort would be safe. They disguise Mort as a ] priest and try to sneak out of Poland, but Mort is called to perform last rites for a wounded soldier, doing so unconvincingly. A second priest arrives and Mort is exposed, so they flee on a motorbike (Stewie falls off and, in a parody of '']'', he gets back on using a custom skateboard, leaving their pursuers to crash into a truckload of manure). The three arrive at a Nazi harbor, hijack a ] and outsmart their pursuers again in an undersea chase by launching a newspaper showing a picture of ] shaking ]'s hand at their boat's ], horrifying them into crashing on the seabed. They reach the battle-torn but nonetheless Nazi-free England, and Stewie discovers that the return pad is low on ] fuel, and that the only place they'd find more is at a "secret" nuclear testing facility in ], ].


The group arrives in Stewie's room 30 seconds before Mort enters the time machine. To keep Mort from ever finding out about his time machine, Stewie kills the Mort that traveled with them by shoving him into the machine and then blowing it up with a raygun. The original Mort then enters the room and, now lacking the "toilet", he ends up ] himself instead.
Stewie, Brian and Mort join the ] and participate in a dogfight against attacking Nazis, aided by ] (as portrayed by ]) and his Hawkmen. However, they are shot down and sent crashing into the mountains; in a parody of '']'', they leap out of their plane in a raft, slide down the mountains and into a raging river. Traversing the rapids, they reach Berlin and disguise themselves as Nazis, with Stewie as Hitler, and easily obtain the needed uranium to charge the return pad. Before they leave, they run into the real Hitler, who inexplicably does an extended mirror scene with Stewie before the latter spits in his face. Hitler orders their immediate execution, but offers to spare them from immediate execution in exchange for a musical number, a tradition for Stewie and Brian's road trips. Stewie and Brian begin performing one, but Mort cuts them off, demanding that they "just get in the time machine!", which they do.


==Production==
Back in the present (and still dressed as Nazis), Brian is concerned that Mort knows too much, but Stewie explains he planned ahead by sending themselves 30 seconds before Mort entered the time machine. So that things will return to normal, he kills the Mort who traveled with them by shoving him back into the time machine and destroying it with his raygun, right before the other Mort comes in, asking if he can poop in the room; Stewie and Brian shout, "No!", to which Mort responds, "Too late."
{{further|Road to... (Family Guy)}}
"Road to Germany" is the third episode of ''Family Guy''´s seventh season. It was written by Patrick Meighan who had written "]". The episode was directed by series regular Greg Colton, who had worked on "]", "]" and also "]".<ref name="im">{{cite episode |title=Road to Germany |series=Family Guy |series-link=Family Guy |credits=Colton, Greg; Meighan, Patrick; MacFarlane, Seth|network=Fox |airdate=2008-10-19 |season=08 |number=03}}</ref> Peter Shin and James Purdun acted as supervising directors.<ref name=im/> John Viener worked as an executive story editor. ], ], ] and ] were executive producers. ], ] and Mike Henry acted as supervising producers. ], ], ] and ] worked as co-executive producers.<ref name=im/> After reading the script aloud, ] executive producer ] said, "I'm going to get kicked out of my temple".<ref> ''Entertainment Weekly''</ref>


"Road to Germany" is the fourth episode of the ''Road to'' hallmarks of the series, which have aired in various seasons of the show, and the first to be directed by Colton. The episodes are a parody of the seven '']'' comedy films starring ], ], and ].<ref name="Road to">{{cite web|url=http://movies.ign.com/articles/429/429628p10.html|title=Interview with Seth MacFarlane|website=IGN |last=P. |first=Ken|access-date=2009-12-09}}</ref> The director, ], who directed every previous Road to episodes, left ''Family Guy'' soon after, following the conclusion of the ], to create his own series, entitled '']'', which has since been nominated for seven ]s.<ref name="PEawards">{{cite web|url=http://cdn.emmys.tv/awards/2009ptemmys/61stemmys_noms.php |title=2009 Emmy Awards nominations |publisher=] |access-date=2009-07-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090718001718/http://cdn.emmys.tv/awards/2009ptemmys/61stemmys_noms.php |archive-date=2009-07-18 }}</ref><ref name="PEawards2">{{cite web|url=http://cdn.emmys.tv/awards/2008pte/60thpte_noms.php |title=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |publisher=] |access-date=2009-07-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090908033316/http://cdn.emmys.tv/awards/2008pte/60thpte_noms.php |archive-date=2009-09-08 }}</ref>
==Notes==
This is the first "Road to..." episode not to include any musical numbers. While Stewie and Brian did begin to sing one, they were cut off at the first line. This also features the shortest screen time ] and ] have had to date, appearing only in the first two scenes.

This episode features fewer cutaway gags than any other episode of "Family Guy" to date, with the only exceptions being "]" (which featured no cutaways), and "]" (which featured one).

This is the first time that Stewie references his British accent, and the possibility of him being homosexual, when he is trying to enlist as a RAF pilot.

==Production==
After reading the script aloud, ] executive producer ], said "I'm going to get kicked out of my temple."<ref> ''Entertainment Weekly''</ref> This episode will be Brian's second time-traveling adventure following "]" as well as Stewie's third (the first two being "]" and '']''). It was the first "Road to..." episode not directed by ], who left the show to create '']'' for ].


"Road to Germany", along with the first eight episodes of the seventh season were released on DVD by ] in the United States and Canada on June 16, 2009, one month after it had completed broadcast on television.<ref name="AmazonVolume7">{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001VFM0ZG|title=Family Guy, Vol. 7|website=Amazon |date=16 June 2009 |access-date=2009-12-05}}</ref> The "Volume 7" DVD release features bonus material including ]s, ], and commentaries for every episode.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/806205 |title=Family Guy&nbsp;– Season 8 |publisher=EzyDVD |access-date=2009-12-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605094634/http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/806205 |archive-date=2009-06-05}}</ref>


==Cultural references== ==Cultural references==
The episode begins with a swing band version of the orchestral theme from the 1980s miniseries '']'' and '']''. The entrance into Warsaw mirrors ]'s arrival in 1955 ]. When Brian, Stewie, and Mort are chased by Nazis, a recreation of the chase scene, including ]'s music, from '']'' occurs where Stewie rides a makeshift skateboard, escapes, and has the Nazis crash into a truck of manure.<ref name=IGN/><ref name=tvguide>{{cite magazine|title=Family Guy Episode Recap: "Road to Germany" |url=http://www.tvguide.com/Episode-Recaps/family-guy/Family-Guy-Episode-27362.aspx |magazine=] |author=Rocha, Alex |date=2008-10-20 |access-date=2008-10-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081022065654/http://www.tvguide.com/Episode-Recaps/family-guy/Family-Guy-Episode-27362.aspx |archive-date=2008-10-22 }}</ref>
<!-- Please do not remove any sourced items from this list without discussing it on the Talk page first. Violations will be undone. -->
{{trivia}}
{{Refimprovesect}}
*The opening theme was a remix of the opening credits of the miniseries '']'', which was about World War II. {{fact}}


When Stewie picks up a Nazi uniform, there is a ] button attached.<ref name=IGN>Haque, Ahsan. , ]. October 20, 2008. Retrieved October 20, 2008.</ref><ref>Chuck Raasch, "Landslide would challenge Obama" ] Sunday, October 26, 2008, page 13A. "The same day that Powell hit on his own party, the pro-Obama producer of the TV cartoon, ''Family Guy'', depicted Nazis wearing McCain-Palin campaign buttons."</ref><ref>Nicholas Graham, "". '']''. 19 October 2008. Retrieved 30 October 2008.</ref> Stewie and Hitler re-enact the famous mirror scene from the ] film '']''. The U-boat sequence is an adaptation of '']'' when Stewie decides to throw trash out of the submarine in order to stop the U-boat that was chasing them. Furthermore, the U-boat crashing scene is a reference to the multiple police car chases and subsequent crashes from '']''. The submarine scene also features a melody of "]" by ]. The scene where the Hawk Men defeat the Luftwaffe is a parody of the film '']'', with its original soundtrack by ] and ] reprising his role as ]. Stewie, Brian and Mort's escape from their crashing plane is a recreation of the raft scene from '']'', including the track from the film's score by ]. The Hebrew wedding scene plays a song titled "Through Poland to Jewish Village", again from '']''. The scene in the uranium lab where the scientist shows Stewie "one hundred Luftballons" followed by one popping is a reference to the song "]" where 99 red balloons trigger a nuclear war.
*In the opening scene, ] is seen hosting the ].


==Reception==
*Before Stewie and Brian go back in time, Stewie asks ] and the back-up singers from the film version of '']'' to explain what happened to Mort.
In its original broadcast in the United States on October 19, 2008, "Road to Germany" was watched by 9.07 million viewers and was the most watched show in Fox's ] block that night, beating '']'', '']'' and '']''.<ref name="Ep3">{{cite news|author=Bill Gorman |title=Sunday: Desperate Housewives Tops Night, But Fox Animation Draws Youth |publisher=TV by the Numbers |date=October 20, 2008 |url=http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/10/20/sunday-tv-ratings-desperate-housewives-tops-night-but-fox-animation-draws-youth/6506 |access-date=September 30, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101023083128/http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/10/20/sunday-tv-ratings-desperate-housewives-tops-night-but-fox-animation-draws-youth/6506 |archive-date=October 23, 2010 }}</ref> The episode acquired a 4.7 ] in the 18–49 demographic, finishing second in its timeslot after ]'s '']''.<ref name="Ep3" /> The episode also acquired a 6.1 rating in the 18–34 demographic, finishing first in its timeslot.<ref name="Ep3" />


"Road to Germany" received positive reviews. Ahsan Haque of ] rated the episode 9.6 saying, "Featuring gorgeous CGI animation, a genuinely exciting storyline, and some hilariously offensive humor, this Stewie and Brian centric episode of ''Family Guy'' easily stands out as one of the best episodes of the show in years."<ref name=IGN/> Alex Rocha of '']'' was much more critical stating, "it seemed that the show has taken a slight fall back. After having great episodes the past few weeks to get this current season started on a roll, we have witnessed another average, even sub-par episode."<ref name=tvguide/> In his review of ''Family Guy'', volume 8, Francis Rizzo III of DVD Talk called the episode "hugely memorable", and stated that it "features some of the finest animation the series has ever produced".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/37739/family-guy-vol-7/|title=Family Guy, Vol. 8|work=DVD Talk|author=Rizzo, Francis III|date=June 16, 2009|access-date=2010-03-01}}</ref>
*Stewie warns Brian that stepping on a mosquito could alter the future drastically, then dismisses the warning offhand as in the 1952 short story '']''.{{fact}}


According to Seth MacFarlane, "Road to Germany" was one of three episodes (along with "]" and "]") submitted for consideration for "]" in the ] in 2009. "We picked three of our edgier shows as a choice," he explained, "Ya know, we figured if we are going to be damned, let's be damned for what we really are." The series was ultimately nominated for the award, the first time in 48 years an animated series was nominated for the same category.<ref>{{cite news | first = James | last = Hibberd | title = Family Guy smashes Emmy barrier for cartoons | work = Reuters | date = 2009-07-17 | url = https://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE56G15O20090717 | access-date = 2009-07-18}}</ref>
*Mort's worry that the Nazis will "rub dirt in my assneck and all over my assy nipples" is a reference to the ] skit "Sol's Nude Beach". ] of the Jerky Boys voices the Mort Goldman character for Family Guy.{{fact}}

*The scene where the Nazis are chasing Brian, Stewie, and Mort, is a recreation of a scene in '']'' with the same music. Stewie falls off the motorcycle and rides a makeshift skateboard with the Nazis on his tail, as Stewie escapes, the Nazis crash into a truck of manure.<ref name=IGN/> When the Nazis are covered by manure, one of them exclaims "Das Poop!", a play on the U-boat epic '']''.{{fact}}

*A Nazi sailor refers to Mort as ].

*The scene where the Nazi submarine crashes underwater and is followed by police cars crashing into it is a parody of a scene in '']''.{{fact}}

*When Brian reveals that Germany is experimenting with uranium, Stewie asks why the ] doesn't respond. Brian looks at the camera and suggests the U.S. has not responded, because Germany doesn't have any oil, in reference to the ].{{fact}}

*While flying, Stewie refers to Brian as "Goose" as in the film '']''.{{fact}}

*During the air battle, Hawk Men from '']'' join to fight the Nazis to a ] song.{{fact}}

*When the trio discovers there are no parachutes, they leap out of their plane in a raft, slide down the mountains and into a river as in '']'' while the Indiana Jones theme plays.{{Fact|date=October 2008}}

*The scene in which the three obtain Nazi uniforms features the sound of a ], alluding to a scene in the movie ].<ref name=IGN />

*On Stewie's ] uniform there is a ] button.<ref name=IGN>Haque, Ahsan. , ]., October 20, 2008. Accessed October 20, 2008.</ref>

*The scene in which a scientist shows off his collection of 100 red "luftballons" (]s), one of which pops, is a reference to the song "]" (a.k.a. "99 Red Balloons").{{fact}}

*] tosses Stewie a vial of uranium similar to Greene's famous ] commercial.{{fact}}

*The scene where Stewie mirrors Hitler's actions in a doorway is a recreation of a scene in the ] film '']''.{{Fact|date=October 2008}}

*The special effects which emerge from the time platform when Stewie, Brian, and Mort activate it, forming an electric box around the characters that falls into the ground, is a recreation of the special effects that accompanied the time-traveling phone-booth in the 1989 film '']''.


==References== ==References==
{{reflist}} {{reflist|30em}}


==External links== ==External links==
*{{IMDb episode|1293322}}
*{{FGwiki}}

*{{tv.com episode|1133420}}
{{Family Guy episodes|7}}
*{{imdb title|1293322}}


{{good article}}


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Latest revision as of 13:55, 17 October 2024

3rd episode of the 7th season of Family Guy
"Road to Germany"
Family Guy episode
Episode no.Season 7
Episode 3
Directed byGreg Colton
Written byPatrick Meighan
Production code6ACX08
Original air dateOctober 19, 2008 (2008-10-19)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
← Previous
"I Dream of Jesus" 		Next →
"Baby Not on Board"
Family Guy season 7
List of episodes

"Road to Germany" is the third episode of the seventh season (and the fourth episode in the Road to... series) of the American animated television series Family Guy. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 19, 2008. In the episode, Mort accidentally enters Stewie's time machine and is sent to Warsaw, Poland, on September 1, 1939. Brian and Stewie realize Mort has gone back in time, and use the time machine to save him.

The episode was written by Patrick Meighan and directed by Greg Colton. Brian Blessed, Gregory Jbara, Martin Savage, Jeff Witzke and Robert Boomfield guest star in the episode. "Road to Germany" was seen by approximately 9.07 million viewers during its original broadcast, and received positive reviews from television critics. In 2009, the episode, along with "I Dream of Jesus" and "Family Gay", received an Emmy Award nomination for "Outstanding Comedy Series".

Plot

While the neighbors are watching the Oscars at the Griffins' house, Mort needs to use the bathroom so desperately after taking laxatives that he runs into what he thinks is a portable toilet in Stewie's room. Instead, it turns out to be Stewie's new time machine, and Mort is sent to the past. Realizing that Mort does not have a return pad, a device necessary to bring the user back to the present, Stewie and Brian take the return pad and go back in time to save Mort. They end up in Warsaw, Poland, and find Mort in a synagogue. He believes he is in Heaven because he sees dead family members there. It does not take long for them to realize that the date is September 1, 1939, the day of the Nazi invasion of Poland when World War II started.

They cannot return to the present right away because the return pad to Stewie's time machine fails to activate. They decide to go to England where Mort, who is Jewish, will be safe from the Nazis. While attempting to cross the border, Mort, who was disguised as a Catholic priest, was asked to do the last rites for a dead soldier. When the actual priest arrives, the German officers find out that Mort is Jewish, resulting in the trio being chased by the Nazis. Mort, Stewie, and Brian make their escape on a motorbike in a Back to the Future parody, followed by an elaborate undersea pursuit in a hijacked U-boat, making it to England safely.

Stewie examines the return pad and discovers the uranium rod used to power the device is depleted; the only accessible source of uranium in 1939 is the nuclear weapons testing facility in Berlin, Nazi Germany. To get to Germany, Stewie, Mort, and Brian join the Royal Air Force and fly a Lancaster bomber in a dogfight against a squadron of Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters, eventually reaching Berlin. After finding the nuclear research lab, Stewie disguises himself as Adolf Hitler, while Mort and Brian disguise themselves as Nazi officers. They obtain a uranium rod from former NFL player Joe Greene, and run into the real Hitler, who orders their execution. Brian and Stewie distract him long enough for Mort to insert the uranium into the return pad, and the trio escapes back to their time.

The group arrives in Stewie's room 30 seconds before Mort enters the time machine. To keep Mort from ever finding out about his time machine, Stewie kills the Mort that traveled with them by shoving him into the machine and then blowing it up with a raygun. The original Mort then enters the room and, now lacking the "toilet", he ends up soiling himself instead.

Production

Further information: Road to... (Family Guy)

"Road to Germany" is the third episode of Family Guy´s seventh season. It was written by Patrick Meighan who had written "Road to Rupert". The episode was directed by series regular Greg Colton, who had worked on "Brian Goes Back to College", "No Meals on Wheels" and also "8 Simple Rules for Buying My Teenage Daughter". Peter Shin and James Purdun acted as supervising directors. John Viener worked as an executive story editor. Seth MacFarlane, Chris Sheridan, David A. Goodman and Danny Smith were executive producers. Alec Sulkin, Wellesley Wild and Mike Henry acted as supervising producers. Richard Appel, Brian Scully, Mark Hentemann and Steve Callaghan worked as co-executive producers. After reading the script aloud, Jewish executive producer David A. Goodman said, "I'm going to get kicked out of my temple".

"Road to Germany" is the fourth episode of the Road to hallmarks of the series, which have aired in various seasons of the show, and the first to be directed by Colton. The episodes are a parody of the seven Road to... comedy films starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. The director, Dan Povenmire, who directed every previous Road to episodes, left Family Guy soon after, following the conclusion of the fifth season, to create his own series, entitled Phineas and Ferb, which has since been nominated for seven Emmy Awards.

"Road to Germany", along with the first eight episodes of the seventh season were released on DVD by 20th Century Fox in the United States and Canada on June 16, 2009, one month after it had completed broadcast on television. The "Volume 7" DVD release features bonus material including deleted scenes, animatics, and commentaries for every episode.

Cultural references

The episode begins with a swing band version of the orchestral theme from the 1980s miniseries The Winds of War and War and Remembrance. The entrance into Warsaw mirrors Marty McFly's arrival in 1955 Hill Valley. When Brian, Stewie, and Mort are chased by Nazis, a recreation of the chase scene, including Alan Silvestri's music, from Back to the Future occurs where Stewie rides a makeshift skateboard, escapes, and has the Nazis crash into a truck of manure.

When Stewie picks up a Nazi uniform, there is a McCain–Palin button attached. Stewie and Hitler re-enact the famous mirror scene from the Marx Brothers film Duck Soup. The U-boat sequence is an adaptation of U-571 when Stewie decides to throw trash out of the submarine in order to stop the U-boat that was chasing them. Furthermore, the U-boat crashing scene is a reference to the multiple police car chases and subsequent crashes from The Blues Brothers. The submarine scene also features a melody of "Wishing Well" by Terence Trent D'Arby. The scene where the Hawk Men defeat the Luftwaffe is a parody of the film Flash Gordon, with its original soundtrack by Queen and Brian Blessed reprising his role as Prince Vultan. Stewie, Brian and Mort's escape from their crashing plane is a recreation of the raft scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, including the track from the film's score by John Williams. The Hebrew wedding scene plays a song titled "Through Poland to Jewish Village", again from The Winds of War. The scene in the uranium lab where the scientist shows Stewie "one hundred Luftballons" followed by one popping is a reference to the song "99 Luftballons" where 99 red balloons trigger a nuclear war.

Reception

In its original broadcast in the United States on October 19, 2008, "Road to Germany" was watched by 9.07 million viewers and was the most watched show in Fox's Animation Domination block that night, beating The Simpsons, American Dad! and King of the Hill. The episode acquired a 4.7 Nielsen rating in the 18–49 demographic, finishing second in its timeslot after ABC's Desperate Housewives. The episode also acquired a 6.1 rating in the 18–34 demographic, finishing first in its timeslot.

"Road to Germany" received positive reviews. Ahsan Haque of IGN rated the episode 9.6 saying, "Featuring gorgeous CGI animation, a genuinely exciting storyline, and some hilariously offensive humor, this Stewie and Brian centric episode of Family Guy easily stands out as one of the best episodes of the show in years." Alex Rocha of TV Guide was much more critical stating, "it seemed that the show has taken a slight fall back. After having great episodes the past few weeks to get this current season started on a roll, we have witnessed another average, even sub-par episode." In his review of Family Guy, volume 8, Francis Rizzo III of DVD Talk called the episode "hugely memorable", and stated that it "features some of the finest animation the series has ever produced".

According to Seth MacFarlane, "Road to Germany" was one of three episodes (along with "I Dream of Jesus" and "Family Gay") submitted for consideration for "Outstanding Comedy Series" in the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards in 2009. "We picked three of our edgier shows as a choice," he explained, "Ya know, we figured if we are going to be damned, let's be damned for what we really are." The series was ultimately nominated for the award, the first time in 48 years an animated series was nominated for the same category.

References

  1. "Listings — FAMILY GUY on FOX". The Futon Critic. 2008-10-11. Retrieved 2008-10-11.
  2. ^ Colton, Greg; Meighan, Patrick; MacFarlane, Seth (2008-10-19). "Road to Germany". Family Guy. Season 08. Episode 03. Fox.
  3. TV Preview: Family Guy Entertainment Weekly
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  6. "Academy of Television Arts & Sciences". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 2009-09-08. Retrieved 2009-07-09.
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  15. Hibberd, James (2009-07-17). "Family Guy smashes Emmy barrier for cartoons". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-07-18.

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