The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou

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“The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou”
Family Guy episode
Brian and Stewie at a party for tanned people.
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 11
Written by	Mark Hentemann
Directed by	Julius Wu
Guest stars	Keir Gilchrist
Production no.	5ACX06
Original airdate	February 18, 2007
Season 5 episodes
Family Guy - Season 5 September 10, 2006 – May 20, 2007
Stewie Loves Lois Mother Tucker Hell Comes to Quahog Saving Private Brian Whistle While Your Wife Works Prick Up Your Ears Chick Cancer Barely Legal Road to Rupert Peter's Two Dads The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou Airport '07 Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey No Meals on Wheels Boys Do Cry No Chris Left Behind It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One Meet the Quagmires
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List of Family Guy episodes

“The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou” is the eleventh episode of season five of Family Guy, which originally aired on February 18, 2007.^[1] After discovering Chris is being tormented by a bully, Peter goes to the bully's house to speak with him, but ends up beating him up. Meanwhile, Stewie develops a tan, but becomes obsessed with his new look and attempts to keep it, eventually stopping after being told by the doctor he may now have cancer. The episode guest starred Keir Gilchrist and overall, received negative reception from critics.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Production 3 Cultural references 4 Reception 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Plot

Peter, Joe, Cleveland and Quagmire go to their local golf course with Stewie. Stewie develops a sun tan on his body because Peter failed to apply sun screen to his body. Stewie takes an instant liking to it and decides he wants to keep it, so he decides to make regular visits to tanning shops. Meanwhile, Chris discovers his newspaper recipient, Herbert, is now having his newspaper delivered by Kyle, a new paper delivery boy who torments Chris. After the installation of a tanning machine in the Griffin house, Stewie uses it and asks Brian to wake him up after fifteen minutes. However, Brian falls asleep, and only wakes up a severely burned Stewie six and a half hours later.

After being told of Kyle bullying Chris, Peter visits the child's house to talk him with him, but ends up beating him up for being rude. His parents later call the Griffin house, where Lois discovers what Peter has done. She forces him to apologize to the boy so his mother wouldn't press charges. Peter and Kyle later become friends and Kyle convinces Peter that it is a positive thing to bully people, which ultimately makes Peter begin to bully his family and neighbors.

Stewie discovers a mole on his stomach. He sees a doctor, who tells him he will have to await the result of some tests to discover if it is cancerous. Believing himself to be dying of cancer, Stewie requests Brian's help in performing a list of things he wishes to accomplish before he dies. Stewie is eventually informed by the doctor that he does not have cancer and that he will not die, much to his delight. Meanwhile, in an attempt to teach Chris a lesson in life, Peter takes him to the location of his former high school bully, Randy, whom he intends to beat up for revenge, not caring that Randy now suffers from multiple sclerosis. However, he ends up being beaten up himself by Chris in his attempt to stand up to his own father, whom he believes to be a bully.^[2]

[edit] Production

David Goodman comments, regarding the plot partially following Herbert that "there is always a bit of trouble pitching a Herbert storyline to the network."^[3] Samuel Levine had originally been selected to voice Kyle, but was changed because, as show producer Seth MacFarlane comments "it seemed a lot funnier when Peter was beating up a kid if he was younger and more defenseless."^[4] A deleted scene had been made which showed Chris asking for money and stating "I spent my last ten bucks on a ham costume," and Peter replying with "it's just sitting there right now, but you know what the great thing is, its just three months until Halloween and I am done."^[3] Peter's ancestor shown preparing to wrestle with a kangaroo was described by Seth MacFarlane to be "a very strange gag,"^[4] which was added after the other parts of the episode had been created.^[4] Quagmire speaking profanities at the golf course was censored from television because of the inappropriate language.^[4] Broadcasting Standards prohibited the show from televising the scene consisting of a woman making moaning, sexual noises when Stewie recalls sleeping below her.^[4][3]

The voice of a guest at the tanning-party which Stewie is hosting was provided by Mike Barker. Seth MacFarlane comments on the DVD commentary that "its nice to hear Mike Barker back on Family Guy," as Barker had performed multiple voices of characters in previous episodes.^[4] Peter stating "I'm going to prison, aren't I" when hiding up the tree caused a little bit of trouble for the show.^[3] A sketch had been created showing Brian falling asleep when watching Late Night with Bib Fortuna while Stewie was still in the tanning booth, but it did not seem good enough to air, so it was never broadcast.^[4] When Stewie is being sprayed by Brian with sun-screen, Ralph Furley enters the room and believes Brian to be ejaculating over Stewie. The cream was originally intended to keep squirting out of the bottle as if Brian were continuing to ejaculate despite Mr. Furley's presence, but it "did not seem to go ahead" and was removed completely.^[3] MacFarlane comments that he was amazed that broadcasting standards allowed them to do what they did not the televised version.^[4] A deleted scene was made and designed to happen directly after Peter makes Meg throw-up in the kitchen by releasing wind next to her which showed Peter giving Chris his lunch money for school, then taking it off him as he is boarding the school bus.^[3] The gag showing Dick Cheney at a Walmart telling customers to "go fuck yourself" was described by MacFarlane to be "way too unacceptable" for television and was thus censored.^[4] Peter falling to the floor after being pushed away from hitting Randy by Chris was very difficult to do, as it is difficult to do slow-motion in animation.^[4]

[edit] Cultural references

An unused ending to the episode had been similar to the ending of 1984 American comedy film Revenge of the Nerds, but "it never really clicked," hence, it was not broadcast.^[4] Stewie sunbathing with his legs wide apart is a reference to Teddy Roosevelt.^[5] Stewie at a party with other tan-obsessed people is an a reference to the Tony Lacey scene in Annie Hall.^[5] Stewie reciting a poem he wrote to Brian is a reference to non-fiction novel Tuesdays with Morrie.^[3] Stewie and Brian visiting the Art Institute of Chicago as one of Stewie's last wishes is a reference to Ferris Bueller's Day Off.^[4][6]

[edit] Reception

Ahsan Haque of IGN gave "The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou" 7.4/10 and commented "the random filler jokes just don't work, especially in this episode as both Jim Henson's Muppets and Frosted Flakes' Tony the Tiger are misused as random source material for jokes that simply fail to deliver,"^[7] adding that "The idea of Peter going overboard with his newfound desire to bully his family and friends is also not quite as funny as it could have been."^[7] TV Squad noted that "It was something of the opposite of "Peter's Two Dads." Where that one excelled with the structure of the story, this one wasn't as strong.^[8]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• "The Tan Aquatic With Steve Zissou" at Family Guy Wiki.
• "The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou" at The Internet Movie Database
• "The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou" at TV.com