A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas

"A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas"

“A Very Special Family Guy Freakin’ Christmas” is an episode of Family Guy, guest starring the members of KISS (Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, Ace Frehley, and Paul Stanley) as themselves.

Plot summary

After Lois repeatedly reminds Peter to donate a present to charity, he mistakenly donates all of the family’s Christmas gifts to a needy kids’ charity.

Lois seems unfazed by the mistake, but insists that the entire family shop for new presents at the mall. Peter reluctantly agrees, although he only wants to watch KISS Saves Santa on television; Brian stays behind to keep an eye on the turkey cooking in the oven.

Lois encourages Stewie to star as baby Jesus in a nativity scene during the Quahog Christmas pageant. Although Stewie initially resists, he eventually plays along in hopes of pleasing Santa, who he believes is omnipotent and thereby can supply him with plutonium.

While the family is shopping, an ember shoots onto the rug from the fireplace; while Brian tries to deal with this crisis, the overcooked turkey begins to burn. Brian finds a fire extinguisher, but to his dismay it is merely a novelty item filled with plastic snakes. He curses Peter for this. The interior of the house is destroyed, but Brian escapes with minor burns. Amazingly, Lois maintains a cheerful attitude, saying that they just need to clean up a bit; but when Meg tells her that there are no more paper towels, Lois freaks out, in a parody of the “wire hangers” scene from Mommie Dearest. She screams at the family about how difficult it is to ensure that Christmas happens without a hitch, then runs from the ruined house on a rampage. (Meg then finds some paper towels mere seconds after Lois rampages out.)

Lois storms through town, berating happy people enjoying the season for their ridiculous optimism. When she reaches the town square, she begins to climb the huge Christmas tree there, bent on destroying the ornamental star on top. The rest of the family arrives and Stewie, eager to perform a good deed to earn Santa’s grace, performs an extemporaneous monologue about Jesus and the meaning of Christmas. Lois, watching Stewie, has a change of heart and begins to descend the tree; at that moment the police shoot her with a powerful tranquilizer dart at Peter’s urging.

In the closing scene, the Griffin family, including a heavily sedated Lois, wishes viewers a merry Christmas. Lois sits on a rocking chair, drooling.

Cultural references

• One of the two presents Stewie gets for Christmas is Hungry Hungry Hippos.
• Peter having his VCR destroyed by the FBI as punishment for taping Monday night football without permission from the NFL is a reference to an old controversy regarding whether or not it is okay to record broadcasts of copyrighted material on TV.
• When Lois rampages through Quahog in a frenzied rage, she stomps into a black and white scene of a man saying “I’ve changed my mind. I wanna live again. I wanna live again!” before being pushed by Lois into the river below. This is a reference to the 1946 movie It’s a Wonderful Life.
• During Lois’ rampage, she runs across a group of children celebrating the creation of Frosty the Snowman. The magical hat brings him to life, only to be a curse when Lois melts the happy creature by spitting alcohol across a lit match.
• When the boys go out drunk at night while Peter goes sober, they go a-wassailing, which is actually based on an age old tradition of drinking wassail during the Winter season.
• Peter is unamused by Joe’s joke about breaking his legs, and claims that it was “about as funny as Sinbad.” He goes on to explain that he was not referring to Sinbad the comedian (whom he considers hilarious), but rather Sinbad the Sailor.
• After Lois asks Peter if he gave away the family’s Christmas presents, Peter responds: “Lois, if you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.” This is almost an exact quote of Obi-Wan Kenobi in his climactic duel with Darth Vader in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
• Peter asks for “Lights, please,” like Linus in A Charlie Brown Christmas.
• The fictional movie KISS Saves Santa, whose plot apparently involves the kidnapping of Santa Claus by pterodactyls, is a reference to the 1978 movie KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park (and more generally, the tradition of Christmas specials involving the starring characters “saving Christmas”).
• Stewie remarks that he is playing the part of Jesus, brought to life by actor Jeffrey Hunter. Hunter starred in King of Kings and, as Captain Christopher Pike, was the captain of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) in Star Trek’s first pilot, “The Cage.” Hunter was then replaced by William Shatner who, as Captain Kirk, is often seen seducing alien women. This prompts Stewie’s comment that “Hunter was good enough to die for our sins but not quite up to the task of seducing green women.”
• When Peter is chasing the old lady in the shopping mall he finds her in a fish store. Called “The Age of Aquariums,” this is a reference to The Age of Aquarius (or Hair (musical), in which one of the songs was “The Age of Aquarius”).
• The song Joe, Quagmire and Cleveland sang in the car was “Rock the Boat,” a song by Tony Orlando and the Dawn.
• In Stewie's nightmare, Santa deflects Stewie's ray-gun blasts and telepathically grabs the gun, this is similar to Darth Vader's actions in a scene from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

References

• S. Callaghan, “Husband, Father...Brother?” Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide Seasons 1–3. New York: HarperCollins, 2005. 152–155.
• A. Delarte, “Nitpicking Family Guy: Season 3” in Bob’s Poetry Magazine, 2.August 2005: 51–52 http://bobspoetry.com/Bobs02Au.pdf