Da Boom

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4/3/23, 3:38 AM Da Boom - Wikipedia

Da Boom
"Da Boom" is the third and special episode of the second
season of the animated comedy series Family Guy and the "Da Boom"
tenth episode of the series. It originally aired on Fox in the Family Guy episode
United States on December 26, 1999. The episode features
Episode no. Season 2
the Griffin family after a nuclear holocaust occurs, due to
Episode 3
Y2K on New Year's Eve. The family then travels in search of
food, and eventually decide to establish a town around a Directed by Bob Jaques
Twinkie factory. Peter then takes over the town, establishing Written by Neil Goldman
himself as mayor, but eventually becomes power hungry, Garrett Donovan
and is overthrown.
Production code 2ACX06
The episode was written by Neil Goldman and Garrett Original air date December 26, 1999
Donovan and directed by Bob Jaques. The episode featured
guest performances by Patrick Duffy, Victoria Principal, Guest appearances
Jack Perkins, Will Sasso, and Joey Slotnick along with
several recurring voice actors for the series. This is the first Patrick Duffy as Bobby Ewing
episode that aired to feature Mila Kunis as the voice of Meg Victoria Principal as Pam Ewing
Griffin, following Lacey Chabert's departure from the series.
Jack Perkins as himself
Will Sasso as Randy Newman
Plot
Joey Slotnick
On December 31, 1999, Quahog prepares for New Year's
Day and the new millennium, and the Griffins have been invited to Quagmire's millennium party.
At a store, a man wearing a chicken suit asks Peter if he wants a coupon, but Peter refuses,
recalling an incident in which he got an expired coupon from Ernie the Giant Chicken, resulting in
a destructive fistfight. The man then warns Peter that the world will end because of the Y2K
problem, so Peter locks himself and the family in their basement in hazmat suits, despite Lois'
objections. Just after midnight, the Y2K bug hits. This causes a worldwide nuclear attack, with
vehicles crashing and missiles self-launching, destroying much of the world, and mutating,
injuring, or killing most of its inhabitants. The Griffins remain safe, though their house has been
severely damaged. Starving, Peter immediately eats all the dehydrated meals, without adding
water. Peter recalls that the snack food Twinkies are the only food that can survive a nuclear
holocaust, so the family prepares to travel to Natick, Massachusetts, in hopes that the Twinkie
factory has survived.

The Griffins' car runs out of gas, so they must walk to Natick. When they get there, there is no
factory. Stewie berates Peter for costing them their lives before tripping and getting covered in
nuclear waste; his arms soon mutate into tentacles. Upon sunrise, the factory is revealed to still be
standing and in perfect condition. Expecting to be able to live off the snack food, they establish the
town of New Quahog around the factory, with Peter as mayor. In time, New Quahog becomes a
thriving community, complete with houses and wells. However, when Brian points out that New
Quahog is a peaceful place with no violence, Peter deems that they are completely defenseless; to
the outrage of the citizens, he makes guns using the pipes from the city's irrigation system.
Meanwhile, Stewie's body has completely transformed into an octopus, and lays hundreds of eggs.

Despite Peter's insistence that he is fit to remain as mayor, the townspeople throw him out of New
Quahog, and his family follows him. The citizens destroy the guns, only to be overpowered by
hundreds of newly-hatched Octopus-Stewies, which destroy the city. As the family walks away,

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oblivious to New Quahog's destruction, they decide to continue to a Carvel factory in Framingham.

In a live action epilogue parodying Dallas, the episode is revealed to have been a dream
experienced by Pam Ewing (Victoria Principal); disturbed, she tells her husband Bobby (Patrick
Duffy) that she dreamt about a strange episode of Family Guy. Bobby comforts her, but then
pauses and asks "What's Family Guy?", and the two turn and look with confusion to the
audience.[1]

Production
"Da Boom" was the third episode of the second season of Family Guy, and
the first for director Bob Jaques. It first aired on December 26, 1999.[2] The
episode was written by writing team Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan,
who had written episodes for the show in the first season including "Mind
Over Murder".[2][3]

This was the first episode to have Mila Kunis providing the voice of Meg
Griffin.[4] Lacey Chabert, the original voice of Meg, left the series due to
time constraints with her acting role in Party of Five, as well as
schoolwork.[5] Kunis won the role after auditions and a slight rewrite of the This is the first
character, in part due to her performance on That '70s Show.[6] Seth episode to feature
MacFarlane, the show's creator, called Kunis back after her first audition, the voice of Mila
instructing her to speak more slowly, and then told her to come back Kunis as Meg Griffin.
another time and enunciate more. Once she claimed that she had it under
control, MacFarlane hired her.[6]

This was also the first episode of Ernie the Giant Chicken, an anthropomorphic chicken who serves
as a rival to Peter. He has a long, unexpected fight with Peter, which interrupts the main
storyline.[7] This has become a running gag, having reappeared in episodes such as "Blind
Ambition", "Internal Affairs",[8] "No Chris Left Behind"[9] and "Meet the Quagmires".[10][11] He is
voiced by regular show writer Danny Smith.[10]

In addition to the regular cast, actress Victoria Principal; comedian and actor Will Sasso; reporter,
commentator, war correspondent, and anchorman Jack Perkins; voice actor Joey Slotnick; and
character actor Patrick Duffy guest starred in the episode. Recurring guest voice actress Lori Alan,
writer Danny Smith, and actor Patrick Warburton also made minor appearances.[2]

Cultural references
The episode's live-action epilogue is a reference to an episode of the CBS soap opera Dallas that
erased the death of Bobby Ewing (Patrick Duffy), which turned out to be a dream experience by
Pamela Ewing (Victoria Principal). Principal and Duffy reprised their respective Dallas roles in a
live-action recreation of the shower scene at the end of the episode.[2][12] Randy Newman appears
singing everything he sees in a musical moment.[12] The plot includes references to the Y2K
bug.[12] Peter takes away Trix from the Rabbit, which is a reference to commercials for Trix cereal.
Chris tells E.T. to run when he thinks Peter is the government coming for him. When travelling to
find food they are stopped and there's a reference to Family Feud.[12] Stewie's line, "Game over

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4/3/23, 3:38 AM Da Boom - Wikipedia

man! Game over!" is a nod to the science fiction film Aliens. Arriving at the Twinkie factory, Peter
uses the same words to describe what he sees that Dr. Ellie Arroway used in Contact when
witnessing a celestial event in a foreign galaxy.

Reception
The episode received positive reviews. Ahsan Haque of IGN rated the episode a 10/10, saying
"Overall, this episode easily ranks as one of the best episodes in the series. Almost every joke
succeeds, and the far-fetched alternate reality storyline thoroughly entertains. Despite the fact that
all of the events in the episode are revealed to be a dream, it doesn't take away from the high
degree of amusement provided."[12] Tom Eames of entertainment website Digital Spy placed the
episode at number sixteen on his listing of the best Family Guy episodes in order of "yukyukyuks"
and described it as "classic bonkers Family Guy".[13] He added that the episode was "potentially
the first time fans realised this wasn't just a Simpsons ripoff."[13]

References
1. Plot synopsis information for the episode "Da Boom" (DVD). 20th Century Fox. 2003.
2. "Family Guy: Da Boom" (https://web.archive.org/web/20090811091848/http://www.film.com/tv/f
amily-guy/season-2-1999/episode-3-daboom/14575299). Film.com. RealNetworks, Inc.
Archived from the original (http://www.film.com/tv/family-guy/season-2-1999/episode-3-daboo
m/14575299) on August 11, 2009. Retrieved 2010-05-10.
3. "Family Guy – Mind Over Murder Cast and crew" (https://web.archive.org/web/2011061506495
1/https://tv.yahoo.com/episode/1546/castcrew%3B_ylt%3DAmtLNUGThe_.SAHWQRUfHHGvo
9EF). Yahoo!. Archived from the original (https://tv.yahoo.com/episode/1546/castcrew;_ylt=Amt
LNUGThe_.SAHWQRUfHHGvo9EF) on 2011-06-15. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
4. "Family Guy Cast and Details" (https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/family-guy/cast/100148). TV
Guide. Retrieved August 24, 2009.
5. "Sonic the Horndog" (http://xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/sonic-the-hedgehog/737699p2.ht
ml). Gamespy. Retrieved 2009-10-03.
6. "Family Guy – Casting Mila Kunis" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OS3zGMcbrM). The
Paley Center for Media. August 7, 2009. Archived (https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/2
0211221/-OS3zGMcbrM) from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved May 15, 2010.
7. Callaghan, Steve (2005). "The Giant Chicken". Family Guy: The Official Episode Guide
Seasons 1–3 (https://archive.org/details/familyguyofficia00call/page/51). Harper Paperbacks.
New York: HarperCollins. pp. 51 (https://archive.org/details/familyguyofficia00call/page/51).
ISBN 978-0-06-083305-3.
8. Wong, Kevin (June 13, 2005). "Family Guy" (https://www.popmatters.com/pm/reviews/article/4
4864/family-guy-2005). Popmatters.com. Retrieved 2008-01-22.
9. Haque, Ahsan (May 7, 2007). "Family Guy: "No Chris Left Behind" Review" (https://www.ign.co
m/articles/2007/05/07/family-guy-no-chris-left-behind-review). IGN. Retrieved September 26,
2021.
10. "Danny Smith:Credits" (https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/danny-smith/credits/209563). TV
Guide. Retrieved October 27, 2009.
11. Love, Brett (2007-05-21). "Family Guy: Meet The Quagmires" (http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/0
5/21/family-guy-meet-the-quagmires/). TV Squad. Retrieved 2010-02-27.
12. Haque, Ashan (July 30, 2008). "Family Guy Flashback: "Da Boom" Review" (https://www.ign.c
om/articles/2008/07/30/family-guy-flashback-da-boom-review). IGN. News Corp. Retrieved
September 26, 2021.

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4/3/23, 3:38 AM Da Boom - Wikipedia

13. Eames, Tom (19 March 2017). "The 16 best ever Family Guy episodes in order of yukyukyuks"
(http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/feature/a809510/best-ever-family-guy-episodes-so-far/).
Digital Spy. Retrieved 19 March 2017.

External links
Television portal

"Da Boom" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0576925/) at IMDb

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Da_Boom&oldid=1138733318"

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