Season 10 - Episode 5
Fox (US)
The "Road to..." episodes are often some of the best that Family Guy put out. "Road to the Pilot" is no exception to this, and is the best episode of Family Guy not spoofing Star Wars in some considerable time.
The premise is as flimsy as they usually are, Brian wants to find a tennis he buried years ago, so he and Stewie step into the time machine and go back to January 31st 1999 - the date that the pilot episode "Death Has a Shadow" first aired on Fox. From here, they manage to change history several times, including stopping 9/11 and causing a nuclear war. There's a brilliant set piece at the end when hundreds of Brian and Stewies all arrive at the same time, from different points in alternate futures, all to stop another pair from doing something. It's a brilliantly silly bit, and was a great way to pay off the episode.
During the episode there are some brilliant moments - explaining what they all do during the cutaways was a personal favourite - and the flashbacks to the pilot (including making fun of ow the animation looked back then) were brilliantly handled throughout. "Back to the Pilot" is Family Guy at its absolute best, I just hope that there's more episodes of this quality in the bag.
**** 1/2
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