'Family Guy' Crosses The Plane With 'Top Gun' Parody For Season 23 Premiere
The long-running Seth MacFarlane series rides into the danger zone when it returns February 16
It has been a very long ten months where Family Guy has not had a new episode on linear television. It’s been so long that the show already has had its 26th birthday on Friday, completing its 25th anniversary year with only eight episodes aired, the back six from a strike-shortened season 22 and the two Hulu-exclusive holiday specials. It turns out the show did celebrate its birthday by releasing a 30-second trailer and a set of images for and from its Top Gun-parodying season premiere “Fat Gun”.
Of course, the parody situates Peter as Maverick and Lois as Charlie, who were played by Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis. Whether he’ll belt the Righteous Brothers song “You've Lost That Loving Feeling” is unclear. After all, A New Hope didn’t have the The People’s Court theme or “(I've Had) The Time of My Life”, and Fatal Attraction didn’t put the Inspector Gadget theme in post. Stewie takes on Val Kilmer's antagonistic "Iceman" role, flying alongside him and of course they weren’t going to leave out the iconic volleyball scene. Iceman even has Rupert alongside him. And for once, it seems elements of future installments, as Joe is playing the doomed Nick "Goose" Bradshaw, originally played by Anthony Edwards, as Maverick is seen instructing pilots like in Top Gun: Maverick and Chris, playing Miles Teller’s Rooster angrily asks "Why'd you kill my dad?". Brian, either in the role of Tom Skerritt’s Mike "Viper" Metcalf or James Tolkan’s CDR Tom "Stinger" Jardian, delivers the news that “yet another unnamed country that is our enemy is planning something big.” Also seen are Dr. Hartman, Mort Goldman in Maverick’s class, Meg next to Rooster, and Quagmire and Cleveland in front of them.
Granted this wasn't a first look thanks to peeks within the season trailer showcased at San Diego Comic-Con. Family Guy is well known for its parodies of the Star Wars original trilogy, but it’s actually the anthology episodes that do a lot of the direct movie parodies lately. Or maybe not “lately” considering season 7’s “Three Kings” is comprised of segments parodying Stand by Me, Misery, and The Shawshank Redemption. To say, it’s always been there. Season 16’s “Three Directors” goes for style parody with Peter’s firing told in the directorial styles of Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, and Michael Bay. Season 18’s “Heart Burn” features the aforementioned Fatal Attraction parody that’ll have you guessing what music they put in post. Season 21 kicked off with “Oscars Guy” which took on Silence of the Lambs, American Beauty, and Forrest Gump. Just ten episodes later “Love Story Guy” parodied Cast Away and Dirty Dancing. Last season’s "Take This Job and Love It" features parodies of James Bond and Lethal Weapon. And that doesn’t even go into whole plot references like “Meet the Quagmires” emulating Back to the Future.
Family Guy returns to Animation Domination on Sunday, February 16 at 8 PM, spending 6 weeks in the timeslot before moving down to 8:30 PM upon the return of The Simpsons. As usual, the episode will star Seth MacFarlane as Peter, Stewie, Brian, Quagmire and Dr. Hartman, and probably a few supporting characters, Alex Borstein as Lois, Seth Green as Chris, Mila Kunis as Meg, Patrick Warburton as Joe, and Arif Zahir as Cleveland. John Brennan will also likely still be Mort.
Source: Entertainment Weekly