A Fish out of Water (Family Guy)
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| Family Guy Episode | |
|---|---|
| "A Fish Out of Water" | |
 |
|
| Episode no.: | 38 |
| Prod. code: | 3ACX05 |
| Airdate: | September 19, 2001 |
| Writer(s): | Alex Borstein and Mike Henry |
| Director: | |
| Guest star(s): | Michael Chiklis, Ralph Garman, Brian Doyle-Murray and Lisa Wilhoit |
"A Fish Out of Water" is an episode of Family Guy that first aired September 19, 2001. This episode was scheduled to air on September 12, but was postponed due to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Guest starring Michael Chiklis, Ralph Garman, Brian Doyle-Murray and Lisa Wilhoit.
[edit] Plot summary
Jobless, unmotivated, and depressed, Peter becomes morbidly obese.
Inspired by a "walk" on the docks (assisted by Brian and a forklift), he resolves to lose the weight and become a fisherman. Joe takes Peter to a police seized-property auction, where Peter buys a boat for $50,000; he names the boat "S.S. More Powerful Than Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, And The Incredible Hulk Put Together."
To pay for the vessel, Peter takes out a loan with his house as collateral. The bank is so certain that Peter will default on the loan that they sell the house to another family and repossess his furniture before the payment deadline arrives. Peter must now raise $50,000 before the imminent deadline arrives or his house and furniture will be permanently taken away from him (despite this, he finds some inspiration from the people who have purchased his house).
Peter's new fishing career does not prove very successful, and rival fishermen berate and taunt him. Rejecting Quagmire's idea of prostituting himself to fat women for quick cash, Peter decides to catch the legendary killer fish Daggermouth for a $50,000 reward. Quagmire, Cleveland and Joe accompany him on his quest.
Meanwhile, Lois and Meg go on spring break, but Lois fits in better with the party crowd than Meg does. In a moment of exuberance, Meg flashes her breasts; both she and Lois are quickly arrested. They escape from the police car and are returning home when a car full of spring breakers pull alongside them, honking and yelling. They are not just cheering for Lois, as it first appears, but Meg as well; Meg obliges them by flashing again.
Peter and his friends manage to track the fish to his lair, where they discover Daggermouth is a robotic fish created to generate a demand for merchandise. In exchange for his silence, the robot's creator gives Peter $50,000, which he promptly uses to pay off the loan, buy back his furniture, and get the other family out of his house (although the episode ends with them still there).
[edit] Cultural references
- A flashback shows Peter stranded on a raft, talking to a volley ball is a parody of the 2000 film Cast Away.
- Peter names his boat the S.S. More Powerful Than Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk Put Together, which are the names of four popular superheroes.
- Lois tells Meg “up your nose with a rubber hose,” the sweathogs' catch phrase from the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter.
- When Jim calls Peter a “fat, deadbeat loser,” Peter uncharacteristically responds by saying "Well, sir, while I may not agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it". This quote is commonly attributed to Voltaire.
- In Stewie's imagination, Peter spontaneously combusts, a reference to Charles Dickens' novel Bleak House.
- When Shamus is talking about how hard it was to see Daggermouth, he says one of the reasons was that it was the hour that his glasses were at Lenscrafters.
- A cutaway shows Peter saving Quagmire, Joe and Cleveland, who have just been sodomized by two men. The entire scene is borrowed from the 1994 film Pulp Fiction.
- When Peter, Cleveland, Joe & Quagmire are talking about which of any woman they could have in the world if they weren't married, Joe chooses Muriel Hemmingway, Cleveland chooses Margaret Tatcher, Peter chooses "the chick from Total Recall with the three jugs", and Quagmire chooses Taylor Hanson, but freaks out when Peter & Joe reveal that Taylor Hanson is a man.
- The man with elongated arms who eggs on the gang to find Daggermouth is from Monty Python's 1983 film The Meaning of Life (the Find-the-fish segment).
- Peter says that he heard "one of Shannen Doherty’s eyes is off center because it’s trying to escape." The actress’s left eye is actually about one centimeter higher than the right.
- The chase scene and music in the Daggermouth cartoon is a parody on the style of the Heathcliff animated series of the 1980s.
[edit] Trivia
- Besides being a reference to the sea, "fish out of water" can refer to someone who is out of place or lacking the ability to function in a certain environment, which could easily be applied to Peter when he starts out as a fisherman or Meg during spring break.
- During the scene when the auctioneer puts the confiscated panties up for auction and Quagmire bids on it, the auctioneer says the hooker who wore them had 9 STDs. Closed captioning shown on FOX, TBS, Teletoon and Cartoon Network has it as "She had 12 STDs".
- During the episode, Lois is shown with Meg driving the family car in another town. However, at one point in the episode, Peter is seen driving the same car while Lois and Meg are still away.
- The name of the song playing is Need Some Lately by Daphne.
[edit] References
- S. Callaghan, "Fish out of water." Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1-3. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 152 - 155.
- A. Delarte, "Nitpicking Family Guy: Season 3" in Bob's Poetry Magazine, 2.August 2005: 44 - 46 http://bobspoetry.com/Bobs02Au.pdf
| Preceded by: "Mr. Saturday Knight" |
Family Guy Episodes | Followed by: "Emission Impossible" |
