Stan of Arabia1
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| American Dad! Episode |
| "Stan of Arabia (1)" | |
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| Episode no.: | 12 |
| Prod. code: | 1AJN12 |
| Airdate: | November 6, 2005 |
| Writer(s): | |
| Director: | |
| Guest star(s): | |
| Headline: | None |
"Stan of Arabia (1)" is part one of the two-part episode of the animated series American Dad!.
[edit] Plot summary
Stan and his cohorts meet at a park to discuss planning a surprise 25th anniversary for Bullock. Bullock, of course, is spying on them and Stan takes all of the credit for the party idea. Bullock is pleased. At home, Stan tells Francine the good news. She’s in charge of planning Bullock’s party for Saturday. Except that’s the same night Francine is appearing in a play.
Meanwhile, Hayley and Steve take in the new Michael Moore movie, which features him making love to Angelina Jolie. Hayley is outraged by his selling out. It’s Saturday night. Stan is getting ready for the party. Francine is dressed for her play. She’s ignoring Stan’s demands, declaring marriage to be an equal partnership.
At the party, Stan accidentally kills Jay Leno and has to perform the roast by himself. It goes horribly wrong and Stan is thrown out. Then Stan begins singing a song about how he doesn’t want an equal partner, he wants a wife who will listen to his every demand.
The next day, Bullock relocates Stan and his family to Saudi Arabia as a punishment for the roast. The family seems to like a chance to experience new things, but Roger freaks out that Saudi Arabia bans alcohol. Meanwhile, Stan receives his new mission, overseeing guards protecting a pipeline that’s being built.
As the family adjusts to the new culture, Francine finds that she likes the neighboring women, although she doesn’t like how they cater to their men. Stan, however, learns about the country’s strict moral codes from his new coworkers and finds that he loves it. Loves it. And Steve is thrilled to find out that not only is he considered a man, he can shoot guns whenever he wants.
Stan begins throwing orders around, but Francine resists. At the same time, Hayley is begging Steve to accompany her to the bazaar so she can leave the house. Roger, hidden in a burka, goes with them. At home that night, Stan introduces Francine to his new second wife, who is named Thundercat. Back at the bazaar, Steve sells Roger to a man who thinks Roger is a woman. With his new money, Steve buys a Mercedes, sunglasses and grenades.
During a dinner party, Stan enjoys his new friends, even accepting a robe as a gift. But Francine engages in a brutal fight with Stan’s second wife. Bullock calls and tells Stan he can have his old job in the States back, but Stan says he kinda likes Saudi Arabia. As for the family, well, Steve just crashed his Mercedes into an oil derrick in the middle of nowhere, Roger is being taken to a remote location by his new husband, and Hayley is running from the morals police. Stan angrily tells Bullock he renounces his American citizenship. He’ll be staying on the Arabian peninsula.
[edit] Cultural references
- Stan threatens to shoot Francine "one of these days", a reference to "The Honeymooners". Most likely not coincidental, the Family Guy episode that premiered prior to this was "PTV", which also contains a Honeymooners spoof based off of Ralph Kramden's catch phrase.
- The title of the episode is a parody of the movie Lawrence of Arabia. The musical cue is also from that movie. Haley's line "Nothing is written" is also from the film.
- When Haley, Steve and Roger are walking through the market streets they pass by a stall owned by Jawas selling droids (most notably R2D2 and an R5 unit) - a reference to the film Star Wars A New Hope.
- In the theater piece Francine is in, she plays Mrs. Potts of Beauty and the Beast. Interestingly, when she remembers running through her lines with Stan, she speaks with a strong British accent; this is likely a reference to Angela Lansbury's performance in the filmed version of the tale.
- Assistant-director Bullock's line "I like big Asian butts and I cannot lie" is from the song Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-A-Lot, with the word "Asian" added.
- The movie pokes fun at Michael Moore's documentaries, which are often criticised as containing inaccurate (but entertaining) facts.
- Stan's second wife is called Thundercat because her real name is hard to pronounce.
- Stan wants to get a satellite dish so he can watch Lost.
[edit] Notes
- Roger previously left the house dressed as a female Saudi exchange student in a burqa in "All About Steve".
- In the Michael Moore documentary at the beginning of the episode, Angelina Jolie's character is named "Sarah Swanson", "Swanson" being the last names of Joe and Bonny from Family Guy
[edit] Goofs
- In "Con Heir", Stan quits his job in favor of working with his father. It is never explained how Stan was back on the force at the start of this episode.
[edit] Notes and Goofs about Saudi Arabia
- The show gives Saudi Arabia an old-ages Baghdad look and feel, while in reality major Saudi Arabian cities are modern cities.
- On the date of the episode airing, 45 Saudi Riyal is 11.9987 US dollars, so the DVD was neither really expensive, nor a great deal.
- The sign on US embassy says "bomb free since", and a more recent explosion removed the rest of it. In reality, the US embassy in Saudi Arabia has never been attacked.
- In Burger King, Hayley sits with a Saudi male in the dining section; this can not happen in Saudi Arabia since all females (and accompanying males) must sit in private cubicles in a special family section.
- Stan mentions getting satellite TV so they won't miss Lost every Wednesday. Satellite television was technically illegal in Saudi Arabia, but the ban has always been ignored.
- Many guns were shown in the child's room. In reality, possession of guns is subjected to strict rules in Saudi Arabia.
- Saudi Arabians think Steve committed a blasphemy by saying "God is a woman". Actually in Islamic belief, God has no gender and is addressed as "He" in Qur'an only because of lingual constrictions.
- The two-part episode was the subject of criticism by the Saudi government. The English daily Arab News [1] published an article that accused the series of engaging in Arab-bashing, although some western expatriates who worked in Saudi Arabia claim that many of things shown in the two episodes are accurate, specially in terms of the status of human rights, the existence of the religious police, and the strict laws against alcohol and homosexuality. As a result, the two-part episode was banned in Saudi Arabia, although the TV series itself does air there.
[edit] See also
| Preceded by: "Con Heir" |
American Dad! Episodes | Followed by: "Stan of Arabia Part 2" |
