![]() The episode had satirical jokes about elitist society and racism and the Catholic Church, as well as great references to movies like The Blues Brothers and The Passion of the Christ – and, of course, North by Northwest. But thankfully, “North by North Quahog” was great! It was a fine return to form for the show. There was a whole new fan base now, and the show had been off the air for about three years. The show had gained some extra popularity in its reruns on Adult Swim, so when it came back, there was a lot of pressure riding on it. It was a turning point in the show’s history, since it was the first episode after Fox cancelled the show and then brought it back a few years later. “North by North Quahog” is a special episode of Family Guy. This scene has the same color grading, same camera angles, and same Geto Boys song as the scene from Office Space, and it is – as Peter Griffin would say – freakin’ sweet. In Office Space, the bored office employees that make up the main characters get so sick of the copier machine at work that they drag it out into a field and smash the hell out of it with a baseball bat set to the Geto Boys’ aggressive rap track “Still.” In Family Guy, when Peter becomes obsessed with the song “Surfin’ Bird” by the Trashmen (better known for its line “bird is the word”), it drives everyone crazy – in particular, it drives Brian and Stewie crazy, who become so sick of the song that they steal Peter’s vinyl record copy of the song and take it out into a field to destroy it. ![]() But Family Guy made an exception to that rule in order to give us a scene that is less a parody and more an affectionate homage. Spoofs are usually reserved for movies that take themselves seriously and have no right to (Michael Bay’s movies, for example). It’s hard to spoof a movie that’s already a hilarious comedy in its own right. This is a prime example of the Family Guy animation team getting a shot for shot remake of an iconic movie scene spot on – and a prime example of the writers reappropriating a classic movie moment for their own characters and fictional universe. John Belushi spying on a topless, undressing woman through her window (seriously, that movie would not fly during the #MeToo movement) is replaced by Herbert spying on a topless Chris through the Griffins’ bathroom window. That was a great moment, both for the character and for the movie parodies, but the best movie parody in Family Guy to involve Herbert is this reference to Animal House. Remember that episode “Petergeist” that parodied Poltergeist? Herbert had a great moment in that where he attacked the tree monster to protect Chris, the love of his life, and a parody of Poltergeist turned into a parody of The Lord of the Rings. Can you imagine any other show ever having the balls to create a character with that description? There’s a lot of great gags involving Herbert. ![]() The character of Herbert is a lovable pedophile. ![]() Trust Family Guy to find the comedy in pedophilia. There are some truly phenomenal movie parodies in Family Guy. Its episodes would be virtually non-existent if you took out all the pop culture references. Without intertextual references, Family Guy would be nothing. However, this is not the case for Family Guy. There are some scenes in The Simpsons that don’t include some sort of joke about a TV commercial or an homage to a scene in a movie. The Simpsons has pop culture references, too, but not a ridiculous amount. One of the main things that distinguishes Family Guy from its close cousin The Simpsons is the pop culture references.
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