Airport '07

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“Airport '07”
Family Guy episode

Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 12
Guest stars	Hugh Hefner
Written by	Tom Devanney
Directed by	John Holmquist
Production no.	5ACX08
Original airdate	March 4, 2007
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List of Family Guy episodes

"Airport '07" is a season 5 episode of the FOX animated television series Family Guy. The title of this episode is a parody of Airplane!, Airport '77 and the other Airport films.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

After seeing a redneck comedy show, Peter purchases a pickup truck and decides to become a redneck. He does such "typical" redneck things as bringing the couch out onto the lawn, propositioning Meg, and chewing tobacco. Eventually, after having to bring Quagmire to the airport, Peter steals Quagmire's plane's fuel (thinking it will make his truck fly), causing the plane to crash. Quagmire loses his job, and after three weeks is living with Peter, first in the tree-house, and then in the house. During so he does his typical sex fetishes such as sticking his foot into Meg's mouth while she's sleeping. Lois is fed up and forces Peter to help him get out of the house. Peter decides to attempt a hare-brained scheme with the help of Joe and Cleveland to fix Quagmire's problems, which almost falls through--until inspirational advice from Hugh Hefner prompts Quagmire to save the day, and thereby get his job back.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Notes

The second season episode "Death Is a Bitch" also alluded to the Airport films, in that particular instance with an "Airport '00" graphic during the Channel 5 News.
The Simpsons episode "Yokel Chords", which aired the same night, also made reference to the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, as well as redneck stereotypes.
This episode's title is a reference to the disaster film Airport '77, and aired one week before the thirtieth anniversary of its release.
When Brian is about to warn Stewie that Peter had spat in his apple juice, he remembers a scene from "Patriot Games" in which Stewie mercilessly beat him up for bet money. This is the second time Brian has held a grudge due to events from a previous episode; the first was in "The Fat Guy Strangler."
Excluding what is said in the thought bubble, Stewie has only 4 lines in this episode.
The flight attendant that Quagmire has sex with looks just like the stewardess in a cutaway gag in "Peter's Got Woods". They are both voiced by Rachael MacFarlane as well.
This was the first time that 9/11 has been used as a direct source of humor in any of Seth MacFarlane's work. MacFarlane was supposed to board one of the planes which would later be hi-jacked and flown into the World Trade Centers, but due to a scheduling error, missed the flight. He has stated in interviews that he would never use 9/11 as a source of humor, though he may have just been referring to his own input in the show.

[edit] Censorship

Because of the controversial scenes listed, this episode wasn't approved for broadcast until the Thursday before airtime. Here are the scenes that were either altered or cut completely when aired on FOX, but not on the Adult Swim version:

In the news simulation of the plane crashing into a school of bunnies with the one passenger going home to beat his wife, the man slaps his wife four times (twice the first time when she wails "Why?" and twice after she said, "Is it because I overcooked the roast?"). The Adult Swim version shows an additional two times that the man slaps his wife (making it six times that he beats her).
An entire cutaway, which shows Quagmire's job as Joe's nurse (where Joe asks Quagmire to help him commit suicide) was cut on the FOX version, but not on Adult Swim.
On Adult Swim, after Quagmire had sex with the airport clerk, he tells her "Please exercise caution when standing up as the contents of your panties may have shifted during coitus." The Adult Swim version uses the original word "vagina".
When Hugh Hefner quotes John Holmes, he says "You know, I've got a 13-inch member...". On Adult Swim, he says, "You know, I've got a 13-inch penis...".

[edit] Cultural references

The four comedians at the beginning of the episode are a reference to the Blue Collar Comedy Tour.
When Peter is pretending to be a redneck, he pulls out a can of Skoal tobacco and starts to dip.
The scene where Peter gets a severe ice cream headache resulting in his head exploding is very much similar to the scene in TerrorVision where Pluthar's head explodes.
Many references to 9/11 are made in this episode. While Mayor Adam West reads "My Pet Goat" to a group of school children, an assistant interrupts him to alert him to the plane crash. Mayor West ignores the announcement and continues reading in a reference to George Bush's response to the news of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The classroom itself imitates footage of Bush at the time of the announcement in every detail.
The three little mice in the corner of the screen announcing "Three Weeks Later" is a parody of the mice from Babe.
Stewie comments that living with Quagmire would be worse than living with Marlee Matlin. A flashback is shown of Stewie living with Matlin, who, being deaf, is unaware of her chronic flatulence.
The end credits, which feature Quagmire running down a hill of flowers, mocks the end credits sequence to Little House on the Prairie.
When Peter has a flashback to his "other" comedy club is a reference to the Laugh Factory incident where Michael Richards verbally assaulted two black hecklers.
When Peter crashes into Quagmire, thus freeing the women trapped inside it, he speaks fluent Thai to them as they flee.
The "Prom Night Dumpster Baby" scene is a reference to the 1997 "Prom Mom" incident.
The cameo scene of Hugh Hefner giving Quagmire a pep talk is a direct parody of Leslie Nielsen's pep talk from Airplane!, complete with the "Notre Dame Victory March" playing in the background. This was, in turn, a reference to the famous Gipper Speech from the 1940 movie Knute Rockne, All American. This scene is also a reference to the scene in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story where Lance Armstrong (appearing as himself) tells Vince Vaughn's character not to give up while at an airport bar.
During Peter's "flying truck" fantasy, the Top Gun Anthem song plays in the background. Also in the sequence is a bit where Peter, flying upside-down, approaches an enemy fighter pilot and takes a picture of him as Goose did at the beginning of the film.
When Quagmire crashes the plane that he was flying (as a result of the plane being out of gas), his copilot is revealed to be Nien Nunb from Return of the Jedi.
The climax of the film further parodies Airplane!. Various movements of the score are used, the flight number (209) is the same as the flight number in the film, the first line Quagmire radios to the cockpit is directly lifted from the film, and the crash landing of the plane is similar.
Quagmire worked on the Starship Enterprise and states that the "black chick" (Nichelle Nichols) is hot.
When Peter talks about his crotch shot photo, it cuts to a parody of the infamous photo of Britney Spears getting in to Paris Hilton's car and her crotch is uncovered. Only in this photo, Peter is put into the shot with his penis pixeled out.
The movie the guys make fun of on the plane is Last Holiday starring Queen Latifah.
The credit sequence after Lois and Peter agree to talk to Quagmire is a parody of Will & Grace, using the same music and a similar visual montage. In one of the passing clips during this parody, Stewie appears to be performing oral sex on Brian.
Quagmire's exclamation that the plane is going down is similar to that of a character in Final Destination.
Some external shots of the airplane Peter, Joe, and Cleveland are on have the sound of propellers rather than jet engines. The movie Airplane! also does this.
The manner in which the plane piloted by Peter, Joe, and Cleveland landed was very similar to that of the hijacked plane in the movie Executive Decision.

[edit] Goofs

Cleveland is shown playing the violin at the airport to distract people. He is playing backwards (i.e. the violin bow is in his LEFT hand).
The airliner that crashed was described as a 767 but more resembled an early model 737. Also the 767 has a twin aisle cabin while the airliner in the show had a single aisle like a 737.
When Peter is imagining he is flying his truck through the air, the back windshield is not painted over.