Airport '07: Difference between revisions

"Airport '07" is the twelfth episode of season five of Family Guy. The episode originally broadcast on March 4, 2007 and was written by Tom Devanney and directed by John Holmquist.^[1] The plot follows Quagmire being dismissed from his job as a pilot after Peter decided to remove the aeroplane fuelling hose prematurely. Peter, Joe and Cleveland make a plan to get Quagmire his job back and, although the plan itself fails, Quagmire is re-hired.^[2] The original title of the episode was meant to be "Keep on Truckin'", but it was changed for unknown reasons,^[3] and was subject to mostly positive reviews from critics.

After attending a redneck comedy show, Peter purchases a pickup truck and decides to become a redneck. Peter begins behaving as if he were a redneck, eventually painting over the entire rear windscreen of his pickup, which results in him reversing the car into his neighbor Quagmire's car. After destroying the car, Peter drives Quagmire to the airport, as he is due to fly an airplane. While at the airport, Peter steals the fuel used for Quagmire's airplane, naively believing it will make his pickup fly. Quagmire's plane crashes shortly after due to lack of fuel. As a result, Quagmire loses his job and is forced to live with the Griffins until he can find another. Peter claims he is no longer going to be a redneck, although this fails to comfort Quagmire over his loss.

While in the house, Quagmire exhibits his typical sexual behavior on members of the family, so Lois tells Peter to help Quagmire get his job back, in order to get him out of the house. Peter, Quagmire, Joe and Cleveland make up a plan to get Quagmire to get his job back, which consists of Quagmire boarding a flight to New York, with Peter, Joe and Cleveland stealing air steward uniforms. When they are in the air, Peter will drug the pilots, forcing Quagmire to step in and land the plane safely. While in the airport before boarding, Quagmire becomes distracted, and ends up having sex with an airport worker, causing him to miss the flight, therefore putting his friends, and those who were also present on the plane, in extreme danger.

Quagmire resumes to have a drink in the airport bar, where he is greeted by Hugh Hefner, who gives him inspirational advice. Quagmire walks into the air traffic control tower, and gives Peter detailed instructions on how to land the plane safely, as they are currently in a nose dive. The plane over-runs the runway shortly after, but lands safe. As a reward for his work, Quagmire's job is re-instated, and Peter, Joe and Cleveland are released from federal prison after they were put in for hijacking.

Hugh Hefner provided his own voice for the episode.^[3] In the DVD commentary, show producer David Goodman comments that, throughout the episode, little respect is shown for rednecks.^[4] The Thai women escaping from Quagmire's car after Peter crashes into it were all voiced by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, a Family Guy producer.^[3] Mayor West is shown reading a book to children at a school, and being told about the plane crash; this is a reference to the reaction of George W. Bush after being informed about the September 11, 2001 attacks.^[3] The sketch showing news anchorman Tom Tucker showing several scenarios of how the crash could have turned out is a reference to how, Seth MacFarlane states, "how irresponsible it is".^[3] The scenario of the man slapping his wife after surviving the plane crash was edited to reduce the number of slaps he struck her with.^[3][4] There is also a crotch shot of Peter getting out of Paris Hilton's car. ^[4] The original photo is a paparazzi shot of Britney Spears, but it was edited with Peter instead of Britney (on DVD, Peter's penis is not blurred out like it is on the televised version). ^[5]

The name that the person specified on the telephone when ringing the Griffins house to contact Quagmire was changed, as broadcasting standards object to the original name.^[3][4] The 'Prom Night Dumpster Baby' gag was pitched by Danny Smith. Walter Murphy resumed to organize a 40-piece orchestra to perform the musical for the episode.^[3][6] The sketch showing Quagmire becoming Joe's careworker and changing his diaper was cut from television, as certain types of feces jokes are prohibited from television.^[3] Quagmire shown climbing out of a deceased woman's coffin was censored from television, as broadcasting standards objected to the nature of the joke, as the man speaking at her funeral implied she was a virgin.^[3] After engaging in sex with an airport worker, Quagmire states "the contents of your vagina may have shifted during coitus" this was changed to "the contents of your panties may have shifted during coitus" for broadcasting on Fox.^[3][4] The conversation between Hugh Heffner and Quagmire in the airport has a slight echo, due to the fact that it was recorded in Hefner's Den, rather than the production studios. As a result, an echo of similar level was added to Quagmire's voice, in order to equal both voices out.^[3]

Peter imagining flying his pickup truck through the air and greeting fighter jet pilots is a reference to Top Gun.^[3] After Quagmire crashes the plane, his co-pilot is shown to be Nien Nunb, a reference to 1983 space opera film Return of the Jedi.^[3] The mice that say "three weeks later" is a reference to 1995 film Babe.^[3] The faux introduction after Peter and Lois' conversation is a reference to Will & Grace.^[3] The scene of the airplane taking off as Peter and his friends prepare to drug the pilots is a reference to Airplane!, as is the music in the background.^[3] Other music from Airplane! is used in the episode, as Quagmire is assisting Peter in landing the airplane safely.^[3] The style of the end credits in the episode is a reference to the television series Little House on the Prairie.^[3]

In a review of Family Guy, Volume five, Nancy Basile regarded “Airport ’07,” alongside “Prick Up Your Ears,” and "Barely Legal” as “gem episodes.”^[7] Ahsan Haque of IGN commented "When Family Guy is at its best, audiences are typically presented with an overwhelming barrage of cultural references, some disturbing imagery, and usually left with a sufficiently catchy musical number - all put together to tell a somewhat cohesive story. In this respect, "Airport '07" succeeds admirably by excelling at all of the above," adding that "the disturbing elements in this episode seem to be there purely for shock value."^[8] Brett Love of TV Squad reviewed the episode positively, writing "Peter finding the identity he'd been searching for his whole life, that of a redneck, was a long way to go to get to him being the cause of Quagmire getting fired, but it was worth the trip," adding "there were a lot of fun bits in the redneck segment." Love concluded to write "Overall, a really good episode."^[7]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Airport '07.

• “Airport '07” at TV.com
• “Airport '07 at the Internet Movie Database
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