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Family Guy Stephen King Tribute Episode
For no particular reason, Family Guy has just done an episode of their own adaptations of Stephen King stories. I watched the episode on hulu yesterday. It won’t stay up there too long, since they only have 5 episodes at any given time, but I think it just went up. The Family Guy episode follows the basic pattern set by the Simpsons’s annual Treehouse of Horror specials, only without the peg to Halloween. The only thing about this that’s a bummer is that they parody the movies made out of the books, rather than the books themselves. Given that the guy is one of the best-selling writers on the planet, it stands to reason that they could have snagged at least ONE of his unfilmed stories to send up. Oh well. The first one, a parody of Stand By Me (published as “The Body” in King’s novella-collection Different Seasons) is definitely the strongest of the three. The second one is a parody of Misery with Brian as the kidnapped writer and Stewie as Annie Wilkes, and the last one is a pretty faithful re-creation of The Shawshank Redemption (originally published as “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, also in Different Seasons). Fun fact: three out of the four novellas in different seasons have been made into films. The third is “Apt Pupil,” about a kid who discovers his neighbor is an ex-Nazi, but instead of turning him in blackmails him and then becomes his sort of weird partner in crime. The movie had Brad Renfro, I think. The last story in the collection, “The Breathing Method,” is the only one not to have been adapted, and odds are against its ever being done. It’s understated, but basically weird as hell– a sort of drawing room ghost story with some weird Lovecraft shout-outs tossed in for good measure.
Tags: Family Guy, stephen king
ian mckellan played the nazi in the movie.
the scene where he is staring at the top of the bald guys head reading to knife it was a fairly strong image for me. at least when I watched it way back.
i don’t think i read different seasons which is odd because i read almost all of his other stuff as a kid.
ian mckellan played the nazi in the movie.
the scene where he is staring at the top of the bald guys head reading to knife it was a fairly strong image for me. at least when I watched it way back.
i don’t think i read different seasons which is odd because i read almost all of his other stuff as a kid.
jereme, i love it when we find things in common. i did pretty much the same
jereme, i love it when we find things in common. i did pretty much the same
I’m checking this out. I never get to watch Family Guy any more.
I’m checking this out. I never get to watch Family Guy any more.
you can also watch the episodes at http://www.fox.com
justin,
yes. i think we have a lot in common to a certain degree which is why we argue at times. the other reason is because i am a judgmental asshole but it is who i am. sorry.
you can also watch the episodes at http://www.fox.com
justin,
yes. i think we have a lot in common to a certain degree which is why we argue at times. the other reason is because i am a judgmental asshole but it is who i am. sorry.
The weird thing is, of the four, The Breathing Method was the best. It was the one that grabbed me (read this when I was a kid).
On the subject of Stephen King: his next book (a 1200 page monster) seems to have the same plot as The Simpsons Movie (small town gets encased in a giant glass dome). How odd is that…
The weird thing is, of the four, The Breathing Method was the best. It was the one that grabbed me (read this when I was a kid).
On the subject of Stephen King: his next book (a 1200 page monster) seems to have the same plot as The Simpsons Movie (small town gets encased in a giant glass dome). How odd is that…
Nate, Breathing Method is a mighty fine classic ghost tale. Probably unfilmable.
re the new book, of which I hadn’t heard till now… It wouldn’t surpise me at all if he just took the idea straight from there. He’s been doing a A LOT of work with influence and re-makes in the last decade and a half. He was always a soft touch for influences, but since the car accident… Well, Dreamcatcher borrows its monsters straight from the Aliens series, Dark Tower 5 is actually a Harry Potter novel (seriously, he even borrowed the signature Potter typeface for his frontmatter, which is how you know that JKRow was cool with it), and CELL was a zombie hoe-down so straightforward and heart-felt that King DEDICATED the fucking book to George Romero. I don’t know that these are his best books (though DT5 is pretty great) but I am 100% down with the ethic. He probably saw the Simpsons movie, and thought “hmm, this would be great if it was totally blood-soaked and 100 times as long.” I hope he’s right.
Nate, Breathing Method is a mighty fine classic ghost tale. Probably unfilmable.
re the new book, of which I hadn’t heard till now… It wouldn’t surpise me at all if he just took the idea straight from there. He’s been doing a A LOT of work with influence and re-makes in the last decade and a half. He was always a soft touch for influences, but since the car accident… Well, Dreamcatcher borrows its monsters straight from the Aliens series, Dark Tower 5 is actually a Harry Potter novel (seriously, he even borrowed the signature Potter typeface for his frontmatter, which is how you know that JKRow was cool with it), and CELL was a zombie hoe-down so straightforward and heart-felt that King DEDICATED the fucking book to George Romero. I don’t know that these are his best books (though DT5 is pretty great) but I am 100% down with the ethic. He probably saw the Simpsons movie, and thought “hmm, this would be great if it was totally blood-soaked and 100 times as long.” I hope he’s right.
man i miss the DT series. I stopped after three.
man i miss the DT series. I stopped after three.
read wizard and glass. it gets mighty epic.
read wizard and glass. it gets mighty epic.
I started to check out on DT with Song of Sussana. It just seemed self indulgent.
Cell was good zombie fun.
I started to check out on DT with Song of Sussana. It just seemed self indulgent.
Cell was good zombie fun.
Nate you can’t start DT with #6. 6 and 7 are pretty much disasters. I wanted them so badly to not be, but they just are.
Nate you can’t start DT with #6. 6 and 7 are pretty much disasters. I wanted them so badly to not be, but they just are.
Oh no, I didn’t mean I started there; I meant that was where I “checked out”- as in gave up. I enjoyed the first three very much, but they went downhill from there- in my opinion
Oh no, I didn’t mean I started there; I meant that was where I “checked out”- as in gave up. I enjoyed the first three very much, but they went downhill from there- in my opinion