FOXThis one's for all you Trekkies out there!
Sunday's episode of Family Guy, "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven," reunites the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, who "couldn't have been more game to spoof themselves," according to show runner and Star Trek fan David Goodman.
Find out more about this episode and what supergeeky fun lies ahead for Family Guy…
What Goes Down: "There are two stories going on in the episode," explains David, who appears as a Star Trek geek, er, fan in the convention scene. "One story involves Meg and Brian. Meg finds God. And she finds religion and is giving Brian a hard time for his atheism."
The second story involves Stewie and the family going to the Star Trek convention. According to Goodman, when Stewie doesn't get his question answered, "He buys plans for a transporter and beams the cast into his room."
Who Drops By and Why: Among those appearing as themselves: Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Denise Crosby, Gates McFadden, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn and everyone's favorite former child star/geek blogger Wil Wheaton. "They were all very game. We had fun playing with who they are," says David, who says it's easy to mock sci-fi characters because, "It's easy to mock things that take themselves too seriously. Star Trek is both wonderful and pompous at the same time. I really am a die-hard Trekkie, but there are moments in Star Trek where it takes itself very seriously."
Nerd Alert: Indeed, superserious Trekkies will love the inside joke on this episode that revolves around a real argument die-hard fans often have. David explains: "In the episode [laughs] 'Relics' in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the character Scotty is pulled out of suspended animation, and he says, 'Oh, did Captain Kirk come to pick me up?' And then we find out after The Next Generation ended that Captain Kirk died and Scotty was there. So why in that episode did he think that Captain Kirk was going to pick him up if he saw him die later? And, of course, the answer is they hadn't made the movie yet and made that decision. But there is a possible explanation, which I offer in the guise of a cartoon character, so I was very pleased [laughs] to do that."
What's to Come: Upcoming Family Guy episodes, according to David, will take on The Empire Strikes Back (look for it at the end of next season) and Return of the Jedi as well as Tootsie (yes, Tootsie!), Battlestar Galactica (probably as a gag, rather than a whole episode) and maybe even more Facts of Life (hello, George Clooney?!) references.
"[Facts of Life] is a favorite show of Seth MacFarlane's, and I think eventually you'll be seeing some more of Facts of Life...," he adds. There is also an episode coming up that will only feature Stewie and Brian. (And let's not forgot about Stewie showing up on a Bones episode in May during one of Booth's hallucinations.)
Which upcoming episode are you most stoked about? Who else should they spoof?