Back to the Woods (Family Guy)

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“Back to the Woods”
Family Guy episode
James Woods confronts Peter.
Episode no.	Season 6 Episode 9
Written by	Tom Devanney
Directed by	Brian Iles
Guest stars	James Woods Barry Manilow Dave Van Dam
Production no.	6ACX02
Original airdate	February 17, 2008
Season 6 episodes
Family Guy - Season 6 September 23, 2007 – May 4, 2008
Blue Harvest Movin' Out (Brian's Song) Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air Stewie Kills Lois (1) Lois Kills Stewie (2) Padre de Familia Peter's Daughter McStroke Back to the Woods Play It Again, Brian The Former Life of Brian Long John Peter

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List of Family Guy episodes

"Back to the Woods" is a season six episode of the FOX animated series Family Guy that aired on February 17, 2008. There are special guest voices done by James Woods and Barry Manilow as themselves and Dave Van Dam portrays his role as David Letterman from The Howard Stern Show. The episode is a sequel to the episode "Peter's Got Woods".

1 Plot
2 Notes
3 Censorship
4 Cultural References
- 4.1 References to previous episodes
- 4.2 Songs
5 Reception
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Plot

After attending a Barry Manilow concert with the guys, Peter realizes that he has accidentally dropped his wallet there. However, he soon discovers that someone has found it, and is currently using his credit card to buy expensive things. After receiving a bank statement, Peter and Brian track the culprit to a Chinese restaurant and discover him to be none other than James Woods, whom Peter had previously locked away in a crate (without an airhole) stored in a large warehouse. Naturally, Woods is bitter towards Peter and, having stolen his wallet, has stolen his identity as well. Peter and Brian return home to find Woods there as well, having claimed property of his house and possessions. Woods calls Joe over to remove Peter from "his" house. The Griffins are outraged by this, but Joe has no other choice but to abide his request now that Woods has Peter's identity; he even refers to Woods as "Peter". James Woods has successfully stolen everything Peter Griffin has.

The Griffins are resentful of Woods for what he has done, especially Lois and Brian. Unfortunately, Peter is forced to stay off of Woods' property (especially since Woods is armed with a shotgun). As Woods tries to weasel his way into the Griffins' lives, Peter and Brian move into a hotel together, with Peter swearing to return to Lois. Peter attempts to sneak into the house, disguising himself as Chris' friend from school. His happy yet secret reunion with Lois is cut short, unfortunately, as his identity is revealed to the suspicious Woods after he tricks Peter into taking off his hat. Peter begins to despair until Brian points out that Peter himself has the ability to assume Woods' identity himself and get revenge on him.

After Stewie forges Peter a fake ID card, Peter manages to convince the general public that he is James Woods. Then live, on The Late Show with David Letterman, he makes several inconsiderate remarks that ruin Woods' reputation such as mentioning that he is starring in an extremely shallow comedy based on 9/11 called September 11, 2000fun. Woods is furious and confronts Peter to settle their conflict once and for all but, exactly as before, Peter and Brian trap him in a crate with a trail of Reese's Pieces as bait. Peter reunites with Lois and the rest of the family and Woods is sent back to the Government Warehouse to be studied by "top men" yet again.

[edit] Notes

This section does not cite any references or sources. (February 2008)
Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

In the initial FOX version, Brian is leashed to a post outdoors, Stewie refuses to release and is then distracted by a dish towel when he returns to the kitchen. In the Adult Swim version and the second FOX airing, Stewie declines based on the next flashback scene where Brian sets him up to view the infamous viral video, 2 Girls 1 Cup while recording Stewie's shocked reactions.^[1]
This is the first episode in the 6th production cycle series of episodes to air, though it was the second made.
In the commentary of "Peter's Got Woods" featuring James Woods, MacFarlane thought about doing a sequel of that episode, saying that Woods would get his revenge on Peter.
This is the second episode to mention Joe Swanson's full first name, "Joseph"; the first was in the unedited version of "Petarded."
This was the fifth episode to mention Brian's novel. Curiously, the first four episodes that mention Brian's novel happen to have Brian's name in their titles; this episode breaks this pattern. Also, the novel has apparently been completed, or is near completion after four mentions of it being unfinished. Oddly enough, the episode "Play It Again, Brian" was produced shortly before this episode, though it aired the following week (it makes no mention of the novel). Also, in the episode "The Former Life of Brian," the novel is mentioned again.
The picture James Woods tapes over Peter's face in his and Lois' wedding photo is a live action cutout of Woods' actual face. This is the fourth episode to feature a live action picture of a celebrity, the first being Dan Rather in "Brian in Love", The second being Mark Harmon in "No Meals On Wheels" and the third being Lionel Richie in "Stewie Kills Lois". There was also a stitching of Chuck Norris based on his actual face, in the episode "Boys Do Cry".
The April 13th 2008 FOX airing featured four never before aired scenes (originally intended to be the DVD exclusive version), that were originally omitted from the original primetime broadcast, this marks the first time FOX has allowed previously edited Family Guy material to be network broadcasted.
This is the second episode where Michael Richards has been referenced. The first episode was in "Airport '07".

[edit] Censorship

Peter recounts a time he got revenge on a pigeon who defecated on the window of his car by sitting in a tree above the pigeon's own car with his pants down, waiting to defecate on it himself. In the initial FOX airing, it cut straight to the Chinese restaurant scene.

When at the Chinese restaurant, after James Woods leaves, Peter comments on how good the kung-pao chicken smells, and asks Brian if he can smell it also. Brian responds, "All I can smell is your ass." In the initial FOX airing, James Woods also called Peter a fatso. It then cut straight to the next scene at the house.

In the initial FOX version, Brian is leashed to a post outdoors, Stewie agrees to get Brian some scissors, and is then distracted by a dish towel when he returns to the kitchen. In the Adult Swim version and the second FOX airing, Stewie declines based on the next flashback scene where Brian sets him up to view the infamous viral video, 2 Girls 1 Cup while recording Stewie's shocked reactions.

After Peter (as James Woods) talks about his new movie, "September 11, 2000fun," David Letterman introduces Michael Richards, who begins apologizing for the incident at the Laugh Factory. When a few audience members laugh, Peter says through his teeth, "Stop laughing. It's not funny," mimicking Jerry Seinfeld when he reprimanded a few snickering audience members during Richards' apology. In the initial FOX and Adult Swim airings, it cut straight to Peter and Brian at the bar, celebrating the end of James Woods' career. This scene was cut out of the Adult Swim Version

After Peter (as James Woods) talks about the plane in "September 11, 2000-FUN" being voiced by David Spade, and James Woods says that he would never work with David Spade, he refers to Spade as a chickenshit. After entering the bar in furiousness, James Woods calls Peter Griffin a motherfucker. Both the "shit" part of "chickenshit" and the entire word "motherfucker" are bleeped out in the FOX and [adult swim] airings.

When James Woods talks to Chris about girls, he mentions that he hooked-up with Kate Moss at a punch social that their coke dealer was throwing in the initial FOX airing. However, on the second FOX airing and Adult Swim airings, he hooked up with Heather Graham at a punch social thrown by a mutual friend.

In the initial FOX airing, when Peter finds Brian tied to "Meg's Pole," Brian asks where Peter got clothes. Peter says that he keeps some spares over at Quagmires house, but some freaky stuff was going on over there earlier. It then cuts to a naked Peter walking into Quagmire's house, and then finds Quagmire having a heated poetry discussion. In the second FOX airing and in Adult Swim airings, this scene was edited out.

[edit] Cultural References

When Peter took revenge on a pigeon by defacing it is a reference to Red Bull's Commercials.
The title of this episode comes from the two short comedy films of the same name. One featured Harold Lloyd and the other featured The Three Stooges.
The closing scene is a re-creation of the warehouse scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and "Peter's Got Woods," as well as the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial reference.
When Peter goes to rent a movie, various posters similar to real movies are seen including two for Rocky Balboa and Flags of Our Fathers.
In a cutaway scene, the newspaper mentions that a man kills himself after watching Garden State. Incidentally, the line "it could have been me"
When Brian asks Stewie how fast he can make him an ID, Stewie says faster than Spider-Man when he gets laid. Then cuts to a scene of Spider-man clad only in his mask and briefs, sitting on the edge of his bed, apologizing to a sexually unsatisfied woman under a spiderweb about his premature ejaculation.
While trying to ruin James Woods' life, Peter (as Woods) appears on Letterman and claiming to be preparing for a film parodying the September 11, 2001 attacks entitled September 11, 2000fun, in which Woods' character has to wash all the windows of the World Trade Center, and had just washed the last one as a plane approaches. . Peter also says that the voice of the plane will be provided by David Spade; the implication that Woods would ever work with Spade enrages Woods more than anything else.
Michael Richards also appears on Letterman to apologize for his incident at the Laugh Factory.
Cleveland says he no longer goes to KFC after what happened to Foghorn Leghorn. The following scene shows Colonel Sanders decapitating Foghorn while Foghorn's head continues to talk while his decapitated body flails about the restaurant. Foghorn Leghorn appeared in KFC commercials during the 1980s.
Quagmire hosts of poetry discussion on the works of Robert Frost.
In a flashback, Peter had swallowed the actor who played "Mini-Me" — i.e., Verne Troyer — as part of a joke to play on Lois, but it went wrong when Troyer was smothered inside Peter's colon.
When Peter's cover as a little boy is blown, he makes his getaway on a Big Wheel.
In a cutaway scene, someone at a party is starting to tell a story about randomly shooting people, but is stopped dead by the presence of James Brady, who was crippled in the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan and later became a gun control activist.
The name of this episode is a reference to the movies, Back to the Woods.
Brian records Stewie's reaction to 2 Girls 1 Cup, a popular shock site. The reaction from Stewie is just like the (exaggerated) reaction videos found on YouTube.

[edit] References to previous episodes

When James Woods talks to Meg and Chris, there were some problems with episode continuity. The two speak as if nothing had happened. First, Woods talks to Chris about meeting girls and mentioned, in the original broadcast episode, Kate Moss. Chris dated Moss in the episode "A Picture Is Worth a 1,000 Bucks" and he acts as if he never even met her. Then, Woods teaches Meg how to lose weight by sticking a finger down your throat and throwing up, despite the fact Meg herself mentioned this in the episode "He's Too Sexy For His Fat".

Stewie lies to Brian that James Woods read his novel and wants to option it and make it a movie. This gag comes from the episode "Brian the Bachelor". It was later repeated in the episodes "Brian Goes Back to College", "Saving Private Brian", and "Movin' Out (Brian's Song)".

The ending of this episode is the same as in the previous episode, "Peter's Got Woods", right to the Raiders of the Lost Ark reference. After trapping Woods in a box using pieces of candy as bait, Peter tells Brian that they should just start out with this trap should he ever escape again as it is the second time Woods fell for it.

As he's ejecting Peter from the Griffins' home, Joe accidentally reveals that he wears a "poop sack" inside his pants, and that his wife had apparently told him that everyone wears one; Joe's bathroom-related difficulties have been referenced in the episodes "Brian the Bachelor" and "Airport '07".

After having been killed by Stewie in "Saving Private Brian", vaudevillians Vern and Johnny return. Vern appears as a ghost, while Johnny appears in Hell; Vern states "You're probably wonderin' why he's in Hell. Johnny liked little boys."

James states that Lois and Peter's 20th anniversary is coming, which would seem illogical since it has been stated in previous episodes that they have been married for 20 years.

Peter has gone back to resenting Meg since the episode "Peter's Daughter" in which he promised to treat her with love and respect from then on.

[edit] Songs

While talking about the upcoming Barry Manilow concert, Peter and his buddies start singing the Manilow song Ready to Take a Chance Again, which segues into Manilow himself singing it in concert.
At the concert, Manilow calls Quagmire up on stage, and sings a version of Mandy with the name "Mandy" replaced with "Quagmire".
Vern's ghost starts to sing the refrain of Where Did Robinson Crusoe Go with Friday on Saturday Night?, from the 1916 Broadway musical Robinson Crusoe, Jr.