Lucky there's a family guy....

September 15, 2003 2:01 PM

Family Guy-The Movie
posted by Espoo2 (43 comments total)

If this were ever made, I'd buy two copies. One for me, one for a friend.

Because a cartoon this good deserves to be compensated.
posted by shepd at 2:20 PM on September 15, 2003

Don't miss part 1 and part 2 of the interview with Seth McFarlane
posted by mathowie at 2:21 PM on September 15, 2003

Let me just sit here at my keyboard for a quiet moment of prayerful gratitude and deep humility for the hand of God.

Okay ... I'm through.


WoooooHOOOOOO!!!!!!
posted by RavinDave at 2:25 PM on September 15, 2003

Sweet. They'll finally be able to swear.
posted by PrinceValium at 2:28 PM on September 15, 2003

Stewie: "Forecast for tomorrow: A few sprinkles of genius with a chance of doom!"
posted by viama at 2:30 PM on September 15, 2003

You know, I'd probably be pissed if it was a Simpsons full-length movie, since I've gotten so attached to the format and would hate to see some contrived drawn-out not as good piece. But Family Guy wasn't quite around enough to grow attached to, even though I did enjoy it.

So I say, bring it on.
posted by Ufez Jones at 2:32 PM on September 15, 2003

Fez, anything would be better than the simpsons is right now. I haven't watched it for ages. It jumped the shark quite a few seasons back, when the simpsons quit being real, and started meeting famous people left and right, etc etc.

The first season was the best. Much more realistic

Then again, I guess that's what made me enjoy family guy. Lots of jokes, but (mostly) realistic.
posted by shepd at 2:43 PM on September 15, 2003

(coughs)
COPYCAT HACK!
posted by Peter H at 2:46 PM on September 15, 2003

Best news since "self-loving prevents cancer".
posted by Be'lal at 2:49 PM on September 15, 2003

Ohhhh...yay!

Stewie: "Oh good! Are you going to die?"

shepd: "(mostly) realistic"?! Even with the brackets...an English-accented, homicidal alien baby, a talking dog with a substance abuse problem...what I love most about the Family Guy is that it's NOT realistic, and makes no effort to be life-affirming or to solve everyday problems in half an hour. It pulls few punches and nearly every episode makes me say "I can't believe they did that...".
posted by biscotti at 2:52 PM on September 15, 2003

I hated the Family Guy when it was on Fox. I thought it was a crude and shallow Simpson's imitator that was doomed from the start. My dislike of Fox caused me to never give the show a chance.

I've done a 180 since seeing it on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. I think that while the show still has off moments - when it's on - it's really ON!
posted by wfrgms at 2:58 PM on September 15, 2003

I love Stewie and Brian in equal measure as to that of how deeply I loathe the other characters. Then again, hell, I'll buy a ticket--but only is the plot is heavily Stewie-centric... "Bow to me!"
posted by jokeefe at 3:00 PM on September 15, 2003

Oh god, grammar check here...
posted by jokeefe at 3:01 PM on September 15, 2003

Peter: "Hey kids you know that one Christmas present that you've always wanted but never got?"
Meg: "A telephone?"
Chris: "A pony?"
Stewie: "A dead Lois?"

This is great news, thanks espoo. I hope they don't blow it trying to translate tv -> big screen.
posted by dhoyt at 3:01 PM on September 15, 2003

Okay, okay, okay, biscotti. Perhaps I'll say "realistic to their own world". The simpsons world started out as a below-average American family that gets screwed over at every opportunity through unusual, but (almost) never impossible, situations.

Now it's a product placement / actor enhancement vehicle with a luckier-than-average (but normally black luck) family.

Getting lost on a camping trip and nearly driving your car over a cliff: Possible.

Homer driving a transport truck with HAL-9000. Not possible.

Family guy seems to have stuck to its roots. Sure, killing off William Shatner is never going to happen, but when I watch Family Guy I knew what to expect. By even the third season of the simpsons, things were beginning to crumble. When they lost Dr. Nick, hell, that was the end of it.

Just my 2 cents. :-)
posted by shepd at 3:01 PM on September 15, 2003

Stewie at a baseball game: "Why does that man drop his club when he runs around? I would take it with me!"
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:13 PM on September 15, 2003

Okay shepd, that I'll agree with. And the episode with William Shatner was one of the best..."captain's log"...it shouldn't make me laugh, but it does.

jokeefe: I kind of know what you mean, but I find that even the characters I hate make me laugh often enough that I can't hate them THAT much...Chris in the slumber party episode, for example ("Chris, come out from behind there!" "I can't right now" "All right, well finish up and then come out")...or pretty well anything Quagmire does ("That's all right Meg, I think you just bought me another ten minutes!")...but I agree, it should ideally be heavily Stewie/Brian oriented. "How fabulous! It's like someone stabbed Mr. Bubble!"
posted by biscotti at 3:18 PM on September 15, 2003

This is excellent. I didn't like the show as much as I liked the Simpsons upon first viewing, because it seemed to be like rather than take the time to create a real and consistent world, like the Simpsons once had, they went for the over-the-top gag route.

Of course, it works because the gags are so often ON. I mean, the batting average is high, and the hits are home runs. And Brian is one of my favorite characters anywhere.
posted by nath at 3:32 PM on September 15, 2003

Borrowed from here:

Lois : "Well kids, your grandpa has never been comfortable with the fact I'm not catholic."

< ---flash back : lois+peter's wedding--->

[Peter and Lois come out to their car seeing a sign "Just Married". Below that is another sign "To a protestant whore"]

< ---end of flash back--->

Peter : "Hey, Hey, dad loves us all, he's just to busy working too show it, it's been like that way ever since I was a kid."

< ---flash back : father - son picnic --->

Announcer : "And now the winners of the father and son 3 legged race. 1st place : Bob Hamilton and his Dad, 2nd place Jim Larson and his Dad and 3rd place : Peter Griffin and a stalk of corn."

< ---end of flash back--->


posted by Espoo2 at 3:46 PM on September 15, 2003

You guys should read the links before replying. It's not coming to the big screen and there will be no "tickets". It's a straight to video deal.
posted by glenwood at 4:00 PM on September 15, 2003

I think the fact that they really show how big Peter actually is makes hilarious television. With Homer, 300 pounds is disabled. Come on, there are a lot of 300 pound people (I used to be one) who aren't "disabled".

"So that's what Peter's penis looks like."
-Peter stuck upside down in sand, fat flowing towards head.

-Showing Peter full frontal nudity, because you never see anyting.

-Peter dancing for Luke Perry in bikinis.

-Peter dancing for Lois, and having 'I Love You' written under his fat rolls.

You know Peter isn't a 300 pound man, more around 450.
posted by benjh at 4:01 PM on September 15, 2003

Anybody who likes The Family Guy might also like Free For All on Showtime. It has the same taking aim at pop culture feel to me, and it makes me laugh really hard at least once or twice per episode.
posted by willnot at 4:06 PM on September 15, 2003

So I'm the only one who found it a horribly unfunny, obvious, lame Simpsons knock-off but with petty cruelty replacing any semblance of heart? Just checking.
posted by solistrato at 4:13 PM on September 15, 2003

So I'm the only one who found it a horribly unfunny, obvious, lame Simpsons knock-off but with petty cruelty replacing any semblance of heart?

But what about the immortal episode where Brian and Stewie miss their flight, and have to ride the rails on the way home? The song and dance number at the end alone was sheer brilliance.

More Stewie, when giving his email address to Death ("I'm a big fan"): "Lois must die--all one word--at yahoo.com."

"When I rule the world, your death will be quick and painless" is another. It's a bit of a catchword around our house...

Oh, the heart thing. *cough* uh, yeah, right. It is pretty mean spirited, I guess. But in a good way.
posted by jokeefe at 4:27 PM on September 15, 2003

Solistrato: Amen. I was beginning to think I was the only one. Family Guy is Wal-Mart-brand Cheez Curlz to the Simpson's Cheetos.
posted by sharksandwich at 4:54 PM on September 15, 2003

Loved the show. While I am all for self love I put this in the welcome back category.


Lois: "Talent doesn't just disappear like that you know!"
Peter: "Well, sometimes it does. You were pretty bad in bed last Saturday night."
*Flashback*
Peter: "C'mon Lois move or something! It's like doing it with a pillow!"
Lois: "I was at my mothers Saturday night!"
Peter:".......Oh"
posted by vito90 at 5:01 PM on September 15, 2003

*wonders if Peter H idly has ever read Jimmy Corrigan and seen The Family Guy*
posted by eyeballkid at 5:21 PM on September 15, 2003

*or idly wonders*
posted by eyeballkid at 5:21 PM on September 15, 2003

I, for one, have not let my overwhelming affection for The Simpsons stand in the way of my dark, brooding love of The Family Guy. Last time I picked between two good things was Sega vs. Nintendo, 1989, and I have since grokked the error of such an unnecessary division.
posted by cortex at 5:43 PM on September 15, 2003 [1 favorite]

"More Stewie, when giving his email address to Death ("I'm a big fan"): "Lois must die--all one word--at yahoo.com."

though i'm not really a fan of the show, the night that episode first aired, i tried to get that yahoo account. seeing it was already taken, i emailed it to yell at him for getting there first...

and i actually got a reply from stewie... months after that, myself and several other email addresses would receive every-now-and-then newsletters regarding upcoming happenings on the show told by stewie... how cool is that..
posted by lotsofno at 5:55 PM on September 15, 2003

Watched a few episodes to give it a chance, couldn't get past the horrible horrible drawing and character design. Pass.
posted by Scoo at 6:02 PM on September 15, 2003

So I'm the only one who found it a horribly unfunny, obvious, lame

No. You are not.
posted by rough ashlar at 6:22 PM on September 15, 2003

Stewie rules!
posted by rushmc at 7:57 PM on September 15, 2003

Family guy seems to have stuck to its roots.

Three whole seasons worth.

*rolls eyes*

I'll grant you that the Simpsons has lost a bit of it's splendor over the past two years (how many times have we had this discussion on MeFi?) but most people will grant that the Simpsons peaked long after season three. Usually people will list anywhere between seasons 5-8 as their personal favorites. Season one wasn't even funny. They hadn't quite gotten to the point where there were so many allusions to random pop-culture and intellectual items (something Family Guy has carried on with quite well).

Family Guy's good, but I'm not sure that it will have the lasting power of the Simpsons, either in terms of number of seasons or being as universally adept (when the Simpsons were peaking).
posted by Ufez Jones at 8:23 PM on September 15, 2003

How about a MeFi meetup in Japan between Oct. 4 and Oct. 17? How many of y'all are posting from there?
posted by vito90 at 8:26 PM on September 15, 2003

Umm. That doesn't belong there. And I'm sober. Administrator, please hope me.
posted by vito90 at 8:27 PM on September 15, 2003

So I'm the only one who found it a horribly unfunny, obvious, lame Simpsons knock-off but with petty cruelty replacing any semblance of heart...

...and felt the need to post that, then, yes.

The interview is nice.

Q7: I read online that you were almost on one of the hijacked flights on September 11? Is that true?


McFARLANE: It did happen. I was giving a lecture in Rhode Island at my old college the night before and I was booked on Flight 11. It was a combination of being hung-over the next day and my travel agent writing down the wrong time. She wrote down 8:15 instead of 7:45 so I got there about 7:30 and they said that they had just closed the gates, you’re too late. And that was the first flight that hit.

Alchohol. The best defence against terrorism (well, that and dumb luck).
posted by wah at 10:50 PM on September 15, 2003

Yes, ufez, season one of the simpsons wasn't overall the funniest. But it was still the best, IMHO. It portrayed American (low?)life. And that was what drew me to it.

Now it portrays crazy hollywood studio life. If I enjoyed that I'd be watching survivor, which probably has just as many gags as the simpsons does now.
posted by shepd at 12:10 AM on September 16, 2003

This is simply fantastic news, I love Family Guy and can't get enough of it.
So I'm the only one who found it a horribly unfunny, obvious, lame Simpsons knock-off but with petty cruelty replacing any semblance of heart?
I don't understand why people think it is a Simpon's knock off? OK, it is a comedy set in the family home, but there seems to be loads of US comedies set in the family home.
posted by chill at 4:37 AM on September 16, 2003

Peter: "Yeah, I read a book about it once"
Brian: "Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't...NOTHING!?"

...heh heh heh...

Excellent news. I think Family Guy is funnier than The Simpsons. There, I said it.

All we need now is a Duckman movie and I can die happy.
posted by rikabel at 5:12 AM on September 16, 2003

There really is a God!
posted by Hilfy at 8:26 AM on September 16, 2003

The last few new episodes of the Simpsons is saw actually made me think they'd stolen the writers from Family Guy. It just seemed...different. Not bad, really, but they seemed to be going for more of a one-shot gag, political stlye humor that seemed a tad out of place.
posted by Cyrano at 8:40 AM on September 16, 2003

I've never understood the need for people to classify Family Guy as a "rip-off" of The Simpsons either. The shows have nothing at all in common but animation.

It's like saying that The Simpsons was stolen from The Flintstones.
posted by eyeballkid at 9:43 AM on September 17, 2003