Mind Over Murder
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"Mind Over Murder" is the fourth episode of the first season of the
animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
comedy series Television comedy is a category of broadcasting that has been present since the early days of entertainment media. While there are several genres of comedy, some of the first ones aired were variety shows. One of the first Television in the United ...
''
Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...
''. It originally aired on
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
in the United States on April 25, 1999. The episode features
Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...
after he is placed under house arrest, and decides to open his own bar in the family's basement. The bar immediately becomes a success among Peter's male friends when his wife,
Lois Lois is a common English name from the New Testament. Paul the Apostle mentions Lois, the pious grandmother of Saint Timothy in the Second Epistle to Timothy (commending her for her faith in 2 Timothy 1:5). The name was first used by English C ...
, begins to sing and dance in front of them while wearing revealing clothing. Meanwhile, Stewie attempts to create a
time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
device in order to escape the pain of
teething Teething is the process by which an infant's first teeth (the deciduous teeth, often called "baby teeth" or "milk teeth") appear by emerging through the gums, typically arriving in pairs. The mandibular central incisors are the first primary te ...
. The episode was written by
Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan are a television writing team who have worked on television comedies ''Family Guy'', '' Scrubs'', and ''Community''. Another project was the television pilot '' Nobody's Watching'', which they created and wrote wi ...
and directed by
Roy Allen Smith Roy Allen Smith (born December 12, 1954, in Cedar City, Utah) is an American animator, film director and producer, who is well known for the ''Land Before Time'' series and '' Family Guy''. Filmography Film Television External links * ...
, all series firsts. Much of the episode's humor is structured around cutaway sequences that parody popular culture, including those centered on ''
The Chronicles of Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven high fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' has been adapted for radio, telev ...
'', ''
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
'', '' Homicide: Life on the Street'',
Mentos Mentos are a brand of packaged scotch mints or mint flavored candies sold in stores and vending machines. First produced in 1932, they are currently sold in more than 130 countries worldwide by the Italian-Dutch corporation Perfetti Van Melle. T ...
, and the
assassination of Abraham Lincoln On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth, while attending the play ''Our American Cousin'' at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shot in the hea ...
. The title "Mind Over Murder" was inspired by 1930s and 1940s radio programs, particularly the radio thriller anthology ''
Suspense Suspense is a state of mental uncertainty, anxiety, being undecided, or being doubtful. In a dramatic work, suspense is the anticipation of the outcome of a plot or of the solution to an uncertainty, puzzle, or mystery, particularly as it aff ...
'', which featured several elements pertaining to death and murder. The episode featured performances by guest stars
Carlos Alazraqui Carlos Jaime Alazraqui (born July 20, 1962) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, impressionist, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Deputy James Garcia on ''Reno 911!'' and for his voice acting roles. His extensive ...
,
Butch Hartman Elmer Earl "Butch" Hartman IV (born January 10, 1965) is an American animator, director, producer, writer, and voice actor. He is most known for creating the Nickelodeon series ''The Fairly OddParents'', ''Danny Phantom'', '' T.U.F.F. Puppy'', ...
,
Alex Rocco Alex Rocco (born Alessandro Federico Petricone Jr.; February 29, 1936 – July 18, 2015) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive, gravelly voice, he was often cast as villains, including Moe Greene in ''The Godfather'' (1972) and his Pr ...
,
Leslie Uggams Leslie Marian Uggams (born May 25, 1943) is an American actress and singer. Beginning her career as a child in the early 1950s, Uggams is recognized for portraying Kizzy Reynolds in the television miniseries ''Roots'' (1977), earning Golden Glob ...
and
Wally Wingert Wallace Eugene Wingert (born May 6, 1961) is an American voice actor. His roles include Almighty Tallest Red in ''Invader Zim'', Renji Abarai in ''Bleach'', Kotetsu T. Kaburagi / Wild Tiger in '' Tiger & Bunny'', The Riddler in the '' Batman: ...
, along with several recurring voice actors for the series. The episode received praise from
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
television critic Ahsan Haque for its storyline and use of cultural references.


Plot

Stewie is in terrible pain from
teething Teething is the process by which an infant's first teeth (the deciduous teeth, often called "baby teeth" or "milk teeth") appear by emerging through the gums, typically arriving in pairs. The mandibular central incisors are the first primary te ...
and cannot find comfort anywhere. When his mother
Lois Lois is a common English name from the New Testament. Paul the Apostle mentions Lois, the pious grandmother of Saint Timothy in the Second Epistle to Timothy (commending her for her faith in 2 Timothy 1:5). The name was first used by English C ...
tells him that his pain will ultimately pass, it gives him the idea to build a machine that will move time forward to the point where his teething will have already stopped. Meanwhile, Lois tells
Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...
to drive their son
Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...
to his
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
match, then come right back to look after Stewie. However, Peter's friend Quagmire is there, and has brought beer, so Peter decides to ignore Lois and stay at the game. While there, another member of the crowd insults Chris. Enraged, Peter punches the individual in the face, only to discover that it is a pregnant woman who looks and sounds like a man. Peter is put under
house arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if all ...
for
assault An assault is the act of committing physical harm or unwanted physical contact upon a person or, in some specific legal definitions, a threat or attempt to commit such an action. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may result in crim ...
and soon begins to miss his friends. Peter has a vision of the Pawtucket Patriot, a fictional ale mascot, from his ale can label and on his advice opens a bar in his basement so that his friends can come to visit. The basement bar soon becomes a local hotspot. Lois is upset about this, until she gets a chance to sing on stage before an appreciative crowd. As she savors the spotlight over the next few days, Peter becomes increasingly uncomfortable with the attention she is getting, especially from the male patrons. Peter demands that she quit singing, but she refuses. After his house arrest term ends, Peter is soon cornered by the neglected wives of his bar's patrons, and invites them to drag their husbands out from his bar. Meanwhile, Stewie’s
time machine Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
plans are accidentally discovered by Lois, who shows them around to the bar's patrons. Angered and upset that his plans have been discovered, Stewie runs upstairs. Soon after, the wives storm the bar and Lois tells them that she only wants to feel appreciated and special, something to which all the other women relate. Meanwhile, Quagmire accidentally starts a fire. Upstairs, Stewie takes drastic measures to protect his plans, programming the machine to go back in time before he drew them up. In the bar, Peter and Lois have a heart-to-heart conversation, and they do not immediately notice that the bar is burning. When they try to escape, the stairs become blocked and they are trapped. Stewie reverses time just as Peter is having an
epiphany Epiphany may refer to: * Epiphany (feeling), an experience of sudden and striking insight Religion * Epiphany (holiday), a Christian holiday celebrating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ ** Epiphany season, or Epiph ...
about how poorly he treats Lois, and seconds before the basement bar goes up in flames. They all travel back in time, to when Lois asked Peter to take Chris to the game. While he is getting ready, Peter trips on Stewie's time machine, destroying it and injuring his leg, thus preventing him from taking Chris to his soccer match, while Stewie is left to suffer with more teething pain.


Production

"Mind Over Murder" was written by
Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan are a television writing team who have worked on television comedies ''Family Guy'', '' Scrubs'', and ''Community''. Another project was the television pilot '' Nobody's Watching'', which they created and wrote wi ...
and directed by
Roy Allen Smith Roy Allen Smith (born December 12, 1954, in Cedar City, Utah) is an American animator, film director and producer, who is well known for the ''Land Before Time'' series and '' Family Guy''. Filmography Film Television External links * ...
, all of whom made their series debut with this episode.
Peter Shin Peter Shin is an American animator, director, and producer who served as supervising director of '' Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story'', the director of '' Big Bug Man'', the director of '' Family Guy'' episodes "Death Has a Shadow" (the series prem ...
, who has since supervised other episodes of the show, acted as supervising director. Writer Andrew Gormley and voice actor Mike Henry acted as staff writers in this episode, while
Ricky Blitt Ricky may refer to: Places *Říčky (Brno-Country District), a village and municipality in the Czech Republic *Říčky v Orlických horách, a village in the north of the Czech Republic *Rickmansworth, a town in England sometimes called "Ricky" ...
and Chris Sheridan worked as the story editors. In addition to the regular cast, the episode featured the voices of actors
Leslie Uggams Leslie Marian Uggams (born May 25, 1943) is an American actress and singer. Beginning her career as a child in the early 1950s, Uggams is recognized for portraying Kizzy Reynolds in the television miniseries ''Roots'' (1977), earning Golden Glob ...
,
Wally Wingert Wallace Eugene Wingert (born May 6, 1961) is an American voice actor. His roles include Almighty Tallest Red in ''Invader Zim'', Renji Abarai in ''Bleach'', Kotetsu T. Kaburagi / Wild Tiger in '' Tiger & Bunny'', The Riddler in the '' Batman: ...
,
Alex Rocco Alex Rocco (born Alessandro Federico Petricone Jr.; February 29, 1936 – July 18, 2015) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive, gravelly voice, he was often cast as villains, including Moe Greene in ''The Godfather'' (1972) and his Pr ...
and
Carlos Alazraqui Carlos Jaime Alazraqui (born July 20, 1962) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, impressionist, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Deputy James Garcia on ''Reno 911!'' and for his voice acting roles. His extensive ...
. Recurring guest voice actors included actress
Lori Alan Lori Alan (born July 18, 1966) is an American actress and voice actress. She has played a long-running role as Pearl Krabs on the animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. She also voiced Diane Simmons on ''Family Guy'', the Invisible ...
and writer and animator
Butch Hartman Elmer Earl "Butch" Hartman IV (born January 10, 1965) is an American animator, director, producer, writer, and voice actor. He is most known for creating the Nickelodeon series ''The Fairly OddParents'', ''Danny Phantom'', '' T.U.F.F. Puppy'', ...
. The title "Mind Over Murder", like the titles of the first three episodes of the season, was inspired by 1930s and 1940s radio programs, particularly the radio thriller anthology ''
Suspense Suspense is a state of mental uncertainty, anxiety, being undecided, or being doubtful. In a dramatic work, suspense is the anticipation of the outcome of a plot or of the solution to an uncertainty, puzzle, or mystery, particularly as it aff ...
'', which featured several elements pertaining to death and murder. This convention was dropped in the fifth episode of the season, "
A Hero Sits Next Door "A Hero Sits Next Door" is the fifth episode in the first season of the American animated television series '' Family Guy''. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 2, 1999. The episode features the introduction of Joe S ...
", partly to make the episodes easier to distinguish by their titles.Callaghan, p. 32


Cultural references

When Lois confronts Peter about the mess he is making in their house, he says he is terrible at housework. From this comes a cutaway which shows Peter doing the laundry. When he climbs into the machine in search of a missing sock, he falls into a wintry world where he encounters
Mr. Tumnus Tumnus is a faun in the ''Narnia'' books written by C. S. Lewis, primarily in '' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' but also briefly in ''The Horse and His Boy'' and in ''The Last Battle''. He is the first creature Lucy Pevensie meets in N ...
from ''
The Chronicles of Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven high fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' has been adapted for radio, telev ...
''. While Peter is under house arrest, he states that he is getting bored with everything in the house, including the television shows, which he feels have blended together. A cutaway features
Bert and Ernie Bert and Ernie are two Muppet characters who appear together in numerous skits on the long-running PBS/HBO children's television show, ''Sesame Street''. Originated by Frank Oz and Jim Henson, the characters are currently performed by puppeteer ...
from the
children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...
''
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
'', in a mix with the
crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...
'' Homicide: Life on the Street''. When the Griffin family is watching television they see a commercial for
Mentos Mentos are a brand of packaged scotch mints or mint flavored candies sold in stores and vending machines. First produced in 1932, they are currently sold in more than 130 countries worldwide by the Italian-Dutch corporation Perfetti Van Melle. T ...
-brand
mints A mint or breath mint is a food item often consumed as an after-meal refreshment or before business and social engagements to improve breath odor. Mints are commonly believed to soothe the stomach given their association with natural byproducts ...
, which features the American
stage actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lite ...
John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth th ...
as he attempts to
assassinate Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
. When Stewie starts to feel pain around the inside of his mouth, Lois notices and states that he is teething. Stewie quickly responds by asking her to kill him, or to shake him like a British nanny, a reference to the
Louise Woodward case Louise Woodward (born 1978) is a British former au pair, who at the age of 18 was accused of second degree murder but subsequently convicted of the involuntary manslaughter (reduced from the jury trial verdict) of eight-month-old Matthew Eappen ...
.


Reception

In his 2008 flashback review, Ahsan Haque of
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
praised the episode, rating it a 9/10, praising the "integration between the random jokes and the storyline", in comparison to later episodes. He criticized the "one-dimensional" nature of Stewie's character, but was impressed by the amount of story featured in this half-hour episode. In another article, Haque named Stewie's time machine plan from "Mind Over Murder" number five in his list of "Stewie's Top 10 Most Diabolical Evil Plans". Robin Pierson of ''The TV Critic'' gave the episode a mixed review, with a 55%. rating. Pierson praised the episode's plot, the handling of Peter and Stewie, and some of the cutaways. He criticized the relationship between Lois and Peter as unconvincing. At the end of his review he stated, "''Family Guy'' doesn’t seem to have found the right balance yet between silliness and seriousness. So far its plots have been either irrelevant or emotionally unappealing. This was also a bit short on good jokes."


References


External links

* {{Good article Family Guy (season 1) episodes 1999 American television episodes Films directed by Roy Allen Smith