Halloween on Spooner Street
Stewie and Brian seek revenge on Halloween bullies.
"Halloween on Spooner Street," the fourth episode of Family Guy's ninth season, aired on Fox on November 7, 2010. It is the series' first Halloween special and one of its few episodes with three subplots.
Quick Facts
- Series
- Family Guy
- Season
- 9
- Episode
- 4
- Air date
- 7 November 2010
- Production
- 8ACX06
- Writer
- Andrew Goldberg
- Director
- Jerry Langford
Facts from the source article.
Plot
Peter and Joe target Quagmire for Halloween pranks, including egging him, Joe dressing as a girl and sleeping with him, and infecting him with a disease from a Senegal mosquito. Peter praises Quagmire for being a good sport, and they go drinking. They convince Joe to let them follow him in his police car, but become a nuisance. They drive to an airfield and discover a Mitsubishi Zero fighter plane. Quagmire flies them into the sky, pretends to have Japanese heritage and a kamikaze urge, and dives toward the ocean near Quahog Harbor, stopping inches from the water, stating it was payback for making him have sex with Joe. Meanwhile, Stewie shoots at trick-or-treaters with an M16, then decides to participate. Dressed as a baby duck, he is bullied by three older boys who steal his candy. He blames Brian and convinces him to steal it back. Brian is painted pink. Stewie half-jokingly suggests killing the bullies, but they agree they cannot. His bazooka threat kills a Godzilla-like monster instead. Stewie cries for his mother; Lois confronts the lead bully Justin's mother, demands Stewie's candy back, Justin's candy, and $40, then takes their welcome mat and says she will return for $80. Meg goes trick-or-treating in a slutty cat costume and attends Connie D'Amico's party. She wins at spin the bottle and makes out in a dark closet with her brother Chris, who wears an Optimus Prime costume. Connie opens the closet, revealing the horrified siblings in their underwear.
Production and development
The episode was written by series regular Andrew Goldberg and directed by series regular Jerry Langford before the conclusion of the ninth production season. Peter Shin and James Purdum served as supervising directors. Staff writers included Goldberg, Alex Carter, Elaine Ko, Spencer Porter, and Aaron Blitzstein. Composer Walter Murphy returned to score the episode. It was the first Halloween special produced for the series. Guest performers included James Burkholder, Noah Matthews, Lyndon Smith, Patrick Stewart, Nana Visitor, Lisa Wilhoit, Chris Cox, Barclay DeVeau, Christina Milian, John G. Brennan, Danny Smith, Alec Sulkin, John Viener, Ralph Garman, and Adam West.
Cultural references
Chris dresses as Bill Cosby for Halloween, but Lois insists he change because he is wearing blackface; he reluctantly dresses as Optimus Prime. Quagmire claims to be half-Japanese, and Peter confuses "kamikaze" with "Karma Chameleon," the Culture Club song. The Pink Panther appears, asking Brian if it is his first day being pink, and says "Welcome to hell." Stewie's rocket launcher threat references Raiders of the Lost Ark. When the characters fly in a Japanese Zero, an Asian version of the Top Gun theme plays.
Reception
The episode aired on November 7, 2010, as part of Fox's animated night, preceded by The Simpsons and The Cleveland Show, and followed by American Dad!. It was watched by 7.97 million viewers despite airing against Desperate Housewives, The Amazing Race, and Sunday Night Football. It earned a 3.8 rating in the 18–49 demographic, beating the other Fox animated shows. The A.V. Club's Emily VanDerWerff gave it a C+ rating, the second best of the night, praising the Brian/Stewie storyline but disliking the pranks and the Meg/Chris scene. Jason Hughes of TV Squad praised the Halloween portrayal and Meg's costume commentary, and found the prank payoffs worth the time investment.
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