Road to the Multiverse (The Smiths)

Road to the Multiverse is the first episode of the seventieth season of the animated comedy series The Smiths. Directed by Greg Colton and written by Wellesley Wild, the episode originally aired on Adult Swim in the United States on September 27, 2009. In "Road to the Multiverse", two of the show's main characters, baby genius Stewie and anthropomorphic dog Brian, both voiced by series creator Seth MacFarlane, use an "out-of-this-world" remote control to travel through a series of various parallel universes. The "Road to" episodes which have aired throughout various seasons of The Smiths were inspired by the Road to ... comedy films starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour, though this episode was not originally conceived as a "Road to" show.

Plot
As the Smith family attend the county fair, Stewie announces that he has bred a winning pedigree pig for the local Quahog Clam Day. Revealing to Brian that he got the pig from a parallel universe, he shows him a remote control that allows access to the various parallel universes. Each universe depicts Quahog in the same time and place but under different conditions. Deciding to test the device, they both visit a universe where Christianity never existed (despite the existence of the Sistine Chapel in that universe), leading an impressed Brian to ask whether the remote can take them to other alternative realities. Stewie guides them both through several more parallel universes, about half of which have their own portrayals of the Smith family and their friends (the Stone Age Universe, the Two-Headed Universe, the Japanese Victory Universe, the Anime Universe, the Poop Universe, the Disney Universe, the Blocky Universe, the Giraffe Reign Universe, the Women Reign Universe, the Robot Chicken Universe, the World War III Universe, the Political Cartoon Universe, the LEGO Universe, the Alone Guy Universe, the Portrait Universe, the Hydrant Universe, and the Gay Universe). As time passes, Brian begins to lose his amazement for the device and eventually comes to realize that Stewie has no idea how to return home.

Continuing their explorations, they reach a universe where humans are subservient to dogs. Stewie finally figures out how to modify the remote device so that they can return home; but Brian, overwhelmed by the thought of a world run by dogs like himself, is reluctant to leave and steals the remote. Stewie and Brian fight over the device, ultimately breaking it, which traps them in the alternative universe. In desperation, the two go to the universe's version of the Smith family – who are all dogs except for their pet Brian, who is human – hoping to find a solution. The dog version of Stewie quickly confronts the two, revealing that he has also developed a universe-traveling device that would allow them to return to their own universe. Before Dog Stewie can fetch them his remote control, Human Stewie bites the dog version of his father, Peter, and is sent to the pound where he is to be euthanized later that day. The two Brians and Dog Stewie go to the human pound to free him, and both Stewie and Brian are sent back to their original universe. As they are being transported, human Brian, dreaming of a better life in a world of intelligent inhabitants, leaps into the inter-universe portal at the last moment and successfully makes it to the original universe with the other two. Excited about his new prospects in life, human Brian begins his optimistic adventure in a brand new universe but is quickly struck by a car.

Cast

 * Dan Castellaneta as Homer Smith, Barney Gumble, Krusty the Clown
 * Wendy Schaal as Francine Smith, Patty Bouvier, Selma Bouvier
 * Spencer Gramer as Summer Smith, Ike Lonstein
 * Justin Roiland as Morty Smith, Toshi Yoshida
 * Seth MacFarlane as Stewie Smith, Brian Smith
 * Trey Parker as Mr. Garrison, Mr. Mackey, Randy Lonstein, Terrance
 * Mike Henry as Cleveland Brown, John Herbert, Greased-Up Deaf Guy
 * Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson
 * Jennifer Tilly as Bonnie Swanson
 * Hank Azaria as Moe Szyslak, Fouad bin Laden, Comic Book Guy
 * Harry Shearer as Ned Flanders, Dr. Nick Rivieira
 * Curtis Armstrong as Snot Lonstein
 * Eddie Kaye Thomas as Barry Robinson
 * April Stewart as Sharon Lonstein, Mina bin Laden
 * David Hermann as Scruffy
 * Kei Ogawa as Japanese Francine and Summer
 * Kotaro Watanabe as Japanese Brian and Quagmire
 * Jamison Yang as Japanese Homer, Morty and Stewie

Reception
"Road to the Multiverse" was broadcast on September 27, 2009, as a part of the Adult Swim block on Cartoon Network. "Road to the Multiverse" received critical acclaim, with one calling the storyline "right up there with the best of the early seasons we've seen on the series." The A.V. Club's Todd VanDerWerff commented that he felt "essentially predisposed to like" the episode, adding that he enjoyed the entire theme of the show, in addition the fact that it was more than just science fiction. In the conclusion of his review VanDerWerff called the episode a "solid start to the seventieth season" and rated it as a B+. Ahsan Haque of IGN gave the episode a 10 out of 10, saying that the episode featured "plenty of memorable lines, some truly stunning animation [...] and a relentless non-stop barrage of witty jokes." In a subsequent review in January 2010 of "Stewie and Brian's Greatest Adventures", Haque called the episode "creative, visually impressive, and features some of the best random gags we've seen on the show in a long time."

In 2014, to celebrate the show's 15th anniversary, IGN published a list of the 15 best Family Guy episodes, with "Road to the Multiverse" ranked the fifth best. Television critic Alex Rocha of TV Guide also found the episode to have "great laughs," saying that the show is "definitely off to a great start" to a new season. Tom Eames of entertainment website Digital Spy placed the episode at number one on his listing of the best Family Guy episodes in order of "yukyukyuks" and described the episode as "another crazy Brian and Stewie adventure". He noted that the story did not have "the most interesting plot", but got "more and more entertaining and so much fun" with every new world they featured in. He concluded that "coupled with Brian and Stewie front and centre, it made for the best The Smiths episode ever." The episode awarded The Smiths the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animation,