Watch Family Guy Homage To Star Trek’s “Enemy Within” + Patrick Stewart Cameo

Last night once again Seth MacFarlane’s animated FOX comedy The Family Guy, went to Star Trek. This time there was a Trek homage subplot right out of Star Trek’s "The Enemy Within", plus a cameo from Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Patrick Stewart. There was also a brief Star Trek call out on The Simpsons. Check it all out below

 

Trek gags on last night’s Family Guy (and Simpsons)

One of the plotlines for "The Hands That Rocks the Wheelchair" involved Stewie creating a new machine to enhance his evil-ness, but it backfired and created an evil twin Stewie, and they played this up with an homage to the evil Kirk from "The Enemy Within", check it out.

The episode also included another voice cameo from Patrick Stewart, this time as a baby, check it out:

 

And Family Guy wasn’t the only FOX animated comedy with a Trek gag last night. The Simpsons also had a quick reference. In "The Scorpion’s Tale" school bus driver Otto is reminded of Vasquez Rocks during a field trip, check it out.

 

 

 

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Trek is EVERYWHERE!

Good!

Everywhere apart from being an ‘ongoing’ part of the TV landscape. :(

I mean take the Simpsons. Just keeps right on going… longer than modern Trek lasted now.

The Classic Trek music is just so… classic. Still recognizable after 45 years. Can’t see any “Voyager” or “Enterprise” music ever being used to the same effect, as it was in Family Guy this week.

Hope the Supreme Court pays homage to some classic musical in the next Trek flick.

I imagine it’s going to take a while, if it ever happens. The likes of Voyager and Enterprise too hardcore and not trendy enough, alongside their contemporaries like X Files and er… Smallville. Those working on these shows, are of the generation who likely grew up in the 70’s and 80’s. Are in their late 30’s and 40’s now. Watched TOS reruns after school. Get to amuse themselves with little jokes and kisses to the past. We’re only now beginning to get TNG homages coming through on comedy shows like the Big Bang Theory.

Anyone have a link to this on YouTube? Wont let me see it because I live in Canada… Oh the joy.

^ Not that’s there’s anything insidious about indoctranating the young with what you liked as kid… LOL! but I do sometimes take a step back and see an older generation reliving their glory days, vicariously through their kids. Instead of the kids rebelling against all that, prefering stuff that seems to have begun with them.

It’s that “not your father’s” entertainment, which often is exactly that.

6. Says the guy who discovered Star Trek about 10 years after it had been cancelled, before moving onto TNG during his teens! Oh, the irony.

I think it would be awesome if Abrams somehow incorporated the Classic Trek music into his movies. It really is incredible.

As a kid growing up in the ’70’s it felt like I was the only Star Trek fan on Earth. I wish it was more widely accepted back then like it is now. I would’ve had a happier childhood.

The music from the original series was perfect. That’s why some things are called classics, they are perfect. No need for remakes, reboots or regurgitations.

Haha–I can relate to that Simpsons clip. My dad used to mountain bike a lot in SoCal, so every time we watch Star Trek TOS, he keeps saying stuff like, “Hey, I think I crashed there!” and “I think I climbed that rock!”

I told him if I ever go mountain biking with him we should take a camera and go searching for the Gorn. Wish us luck.

I wasn’t even expecting to encounter it, but figured out the very episode they were mimicing…I had to laugh, pretty kewl stuff…definately a go for classic fight music in the movies.

That was awesome!!

And later on in the same Family Guy episode, as Stewie Fights his evil twin, there’s even a riff on the “Amok Time” fight music ( not the original score unfortunately, but an unmistakeable take-off on it ). Also, in what could be seen as a nod to “Enemy Within”, “Whom Gods Destroy”, and even “Star Trek VI”, Brian has to choose which Stewie is the real one while holding a weapon on both ( of course that could also be an homage to EVERY series that did an “oh my gosh, which one is the real one” scene… of which there were plenty in the ’60s and ’70s ).

It also ended with a killer “Thriller” reference.

Loved this Ep. Family Guy crackes me up all the time. Love the Trek in Guy.

This stuff was hilarious. I need to watch “Family Guy” but I just discovered Two and a Half Men.

I find Family Guy to be intolerably stupid, but I always watch the clips with Star Trek (and Nazi) references and those bits are always amusing.

I kind of guessed where this was going…especially when I heard the old transporter effect mixed in there. I must say it hitting the exact musical cue and camera angle, and Stewie looking side to side really made me smile. Wow, what an emotional chord it struck with me. Most fun of the night.

Haha, love it!!!

There’s some traffic in the blogosphere suggesting that Stewie was responsible for the over-the-top-back-to-the-camera-and-pivot-while-staring-into-the-lens acting choice. Not so. It was scripted that way.

Wow, that was a perfect bit of Trek ref.

#16 Enjoy Two 1/2 Men as long as you can. With Charlie Sheen canned, there’s no telling how long it’ll last.

well remember that this classic popular music is only ingrained in collective consciousness becuz of the way trek became popular-the syndicated showings of tos after its cancell—it was watched daily 5 days a week on tv just before dinner for like a decade-back in73 when i was still in high school in a humor class i spoofed trek by saying-to boldly rerun our shows until everyone is sick of them–that got the biggest laugh in my spoof—that is why music references like that are used they know most people remember that classic n yes kinda cheesy music–it worked well on its level–i doubt music from voyager tng entrprise would ever havev same effect–its better music for the shows but is not the iconic memorable n overused music from tos so it wont be as memorable-

Please stop posting in hulu and use youtube instead. Can’t watch hulu in Canada!

It’s the networks that post this stuff on Hulu. Unfortunately those of us in Canada can’t view the clips. I did see it on TV though.

There is one time a reference to classic TNG musical cue was used. At the end of the 100th episode of Family, they had a cliffhanger where there is a “The Best of Both Worlds”-esque musical cue. It’s not the same, but similar, also written by Ron Jones. The episode ends with a TNG style ‘To Be Continued” title card and a music similar to the to be continued music in that episode.

I meant 100th episode of Family Guy oops.

I saw it on TV and was eagerly looking forward to the clip showing up on TrekMovie.

Strange though, I’ve never heard the show called “THE Family Guy” before.

Damn these videos won’t play for me as I am not in the US.

23/David:

They even did the closing credits on that one a la TNG (Same blue font on black background)

Evil Stewie makes Evil Kirk look downright cuddly.

Message for anyone reading this in the UK –
Great Britain – England – Wales – Scotland – Northern Ireland

$#*! MY DAD SAYS

Shatner fans get to see for the first time tonight.

It’s on a channel called 5 STAR at 10.30pm.

Freeview ch30 – Sky ch175 – Virgin ch151

Stewie’s quite good. But hasn’t got Evil Kirk’s pout quite right imo…

The moment the two of them walked away looking for tools, I said to my wife “They’re spoofing “The Enemy Within.”” Then the music played and I lost it. Would have been great to have an “I’m Captain Kirk!!!’ moment though

Man, remember when Family Guy was funny?

Nope, neither.

Did they remember to forget Stewie’s insignia?

Kewl stuv.

@21

You could watch an episode of Berman-era Trek 50 times but still not come away with a single melodic thread to whistle. Most of the music was audio wallpaper….background noise. Especially after Ron Jones was dismissed.

Yeah we heard them over and over (and key cues were used over and over in follow up episodes) but there no denying the scores were “characters” in TOS and enhanced episodes such as:

The Enemy Within
The Doomsday Machine
Mirror, Mirror
Amok Time
The Trouble With Tribbles
Shore Leave
The Naked Time
By Any Other Name
Elaan of Troyius

And the list goes on….

Please, no more HULU articles.

Every time someone clicks a HULU link, an advertiser somewhere gets its wings?
.
A better Enemy Within parallel is the current situation viz. Charlie Sheen. Good Charlie was beamed away 20+ years ago, leaving Bad Charlie behind.

The problem is that Fox does not allow any clips posted on YouTube. They get taken down and accounts closed.

I agree on the music — compare the original “The Trouble with Tribbles” fight scene music with the DS9 “Trials and Tribble-ations”. The latter sounds incredibly lame.

The only real standouts for the later series are the TNG theme (which was actually done for the first film), the “Best of Both Worlds” soundtrack by Ron Jones, and the “Inner Light” flute melody by Jay Chattaway. That, BTW, has a gorgeous orchestral arrangement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80_HKdvNhgA

yep #34 Check the Circuit…you are very correct! the music like Shat himself was kinda OVER THE TOP sometimes but that is what makes it memorable and iconic as the decades roll by hahaah…..as you said music for tng and others was more for background with few exceptions….neither is better or worse than the other just products of their times….actually television in general in the 60s and 70s had very iconic music themes and music….incredible hulks piano solo, battlestar galactic, even lost in space voyage to bottom of sea land of the giants time tunnel most johnny williams music pre dropping the y and doing star wars hahah….
in general music even for tv themes today not nearly as good…

agreed about Hulu, I can’t get to watch them in UK.

About the music in the Berman era, although Ron Jones was one of my favs there were soe cues from later TNG and later spin offs I loved.

“Bride of Chaotica” was another standout one for me, because the composer(I think it was David Bell) did a good take on paying homage to old Flash Gordon serials.

And this may sound sad but I often hum the Star Trek Generations overture.

Of course none are as memorable as some of the cues on TOS. The Fight music from “Amok Time” the soft romantic tones as Kirk sees Ruth in “Shore Leave” and the Countdown music as Scotty rushes to repair the transporter to beam Kirk on board in “The Doomsday Machine”/ All cool stuff.

#34 – I know plenty of music cues from the TNG-era shows.

The music was better for the most part, until they started with the “sonic wallpaper” method. Occasionally a cue would stand out, like the Defiant joining the fleet at the end of “Call To Arms”.

Unfortunately TOS music is often cheesy, and reused over & over & over & over (ad nauseum). TNG-era shows had an original score for *every* episode. We remember TOS music the same way we know what the “Bow-chicka-wow-wow” is referring to.

@39

Have to admit I’m a fan of the Generations theme too. Which surprised me since it was written by the TNG TV composer. I assumed the production team let him cut loose since was a movie and he had a full orchestra to work with.

(And there were some uses of the Alexander Courage theme worked in too. Always a nice touch in my opinion. Wished they would have been able to do that in all the series….as the “official” Star Trek theme. They were all called Start Trek weren’t they?)

@38

You’re right about the music being a product of their times. Seems like the only good music in TV today is when they use a pop song (then try to sell it after the show). In the last couple of months, I’ve seen some the 80’s “reunion” movies for The Incredible Hulk and The Six Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman. (I’m not sure how production values went down as technology got better.) The music was godawful!!!! Every bad 80’s music cliche…played by one guy on a synthesizer instead of an actual orchestra. It really took me out of the moment….that should have been fun and nostalgic. Instead, it was vomit-inducing.

Some memorable 24th century-era scores for me are:

TNG-Best of Both Worlds, Inner Light
DS9-Way of the Warrior, Sacrifice of Angels
VOY-Scorpion

It seemed like when the episode was really epic, the score matched. I do agree with Berman in his recent interview that Ron Jones was getting a bit over the top…but the background wall did get stale.

TOS music…when not recycled/overused, was terrific. I could listen to the Doomsday Machine score repeatedly.

I watched this episode as it aired and as soon as I heard that music it sent tingles up my spine, then a BIG grin came across my face, it was a wonderful feeling!

#42 – Sacrifice of Angels: you realize that the battle scenes are basically a reworking of “Mars: Bringer of War” from Holst’s “The Planets”…

That said I thoroughly enjoyed the orchestration used and it was a kick-butt show all around.

#44

Well, you can’t go wrong with Holst when it comes to outer space. Bill Conti, who was hired at the last minute to replace another composer, used “The Planets” as part of his score for “The Right Stuff,” and the results were spectacular.

In the John Glenn launch scene, he used both Mars and Jupiter:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA_SAUYV4so

@1 – Agreed!!

HAHAHAHAHA!

The Enemy Within homage was awesome!!!

Seth MacFarlane= genius!!!!

I can’t figure out if I love TOS music so much for nostalgic reasons, or because it really IS fantastic! I think both, but it’s impossible to be objective.

Anyway, there are a lot of Trek tracks on iTunes now, including for my beloved Shore Leave and Paradise Syndrome. Picked up a few from The Motionless Picture too. (Klingon Battle theme a must.) Fun to find them and rummage through other episodes’ scores.

Definitely evokes a lot of memories, like eating chocolate donuts at my best friend’s house early Saturday morning when we were 10. There’s his black lab walking in front of the screen! haha

Anyone know how people like myself in the UK can check these clips out?