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Recap / American Dad S 10 E 6 Independent Movie

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• Actor Allusion : Steve's Manic Pixie Dream Girl is voiced by Zooey Deschanel, who has made a career of playing such characters in films.
• Bland-Name Product : Snot’s dad used to buy him off-brand Cheetos called “Cheese-O’s” - proving to Snot how little he cared about him. It’s a bag of these snacks getting stuck in a vending machine, as well as their unique “Always There for You” tagline, that makes Snot finally break down about his dad’s death.
• Breaking Bad News Gently : Inverted. Snot’s uncle takes a lot of time trying to figure out how to tell Snot his dad died, before deciding to shout it at him dramatically.
• Cathartic Scream : The boys do this as part of their stereotypical indie movie journey. Snot doesn’t scream at all and Toshi’s scream is so loud that it makes part of the cliff they’re standing on break off.
• Comically Missing the Point : Stan during his brainstorming with Roger. Roger: Don't you hate it when you're at a party and you have to wait like forever for a piece of cake? Stan: Yeah, but they have to cut the cake somehow. Roger: But...what if they didn't? Stan: You mean, what if they had enough cakes to give each and every person their own entire cake? Roger: No, that's not what I mean at all.
• Dramatic Thunder : A storm starts right after Snot shouts at Steve that he doesn’t care about his dad’s death because everyone’s going to die eventually. Snot: I’M GONNA DIE. YOU’RE GONNA DIE. EVERYONE DIES!
• Evil Laugh : Stan, Roger, and Hideki laugh evilly with the obvious intention that they will all try to stab each other in the back once they get rich. Hideki: The best part is we'll be... (begins rubbing his hands evilly) equal partners. Stan: (does the same) With only a verbal contract based on trust! Roger: (also does this) What more is necessary amongst friends?
• Failed Attempt at Drama : This happens to Steve a lot as he tries to make Snot care about his dad’s death.
• Finishing Each Other's Sentences : Stan and Roger do this as they’re coming up with their “Piece of Cake” cake-cutting invention.
• Growling Gut : This happens to Stan, Roger and Hideki. As they combine their guts, it causes the entire street to vibrate.
• Gut Feeling : Hideki says he’s experienced so much success because he’s trusted his gut. His gut then tells him to destroy one of the last two Etruscan urns in existence, which he does.
• Kids Driving Cars : Barry drives Steve, Snot and Toshi to the funeral. They're all fourteen-year-olds. Toshi : Is Barry old enough to drive ?
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl : The unnamed dream girl that Steve meets, voiced by Zooey Deschanel . Steve even refers to her as this trope verbatim.
• Mexican Standoff : After Stan, Roger, and Hideki get rich, their guts go off and they all pull guns on each other. The scene cuts to black, a gunshot is heard, and Roger explains that Hideki was shot.
• Noodle Incident : Steve apparently had a rat tail at one point that he regrets cutting off.
• Stan and Roger brainstorming their "piece of cake" idea takes place over a flashback of Hideki's party in which guests had to wait a long time for him to cut the cake, illustrating their point.
• When Snot thanks Barry for driving him to his dad’s funeral, they gaze at each other for an uncomfortably long time with Barry rapidly shifting his eyes back and forth from the road.
• Snot later uses this same term to describe he and his father’s relationship.
• Retraux : Once the road trip starts, the animation gets more gritty, as though it was actually shot on film.
• Road Trip Plot : Steve, Snot, Barry, & Toshi take a road trip to California so Snot can go to his dad’s funeral.
• Secretly Selfish : Steve drives Snot to his father's funeral to get closure but he then ditches him upon meeting a pretty girl, who goes on to say that Steve's an emotional tourist; getting involved in other people's drama to fill up his own humdrum life.
• The scene where Steve and his friends shout off of a cliff is a reference to the film Garden State .
• The scene where Steve floats down the river naked is a reference to Into the Wild .
• Steve's monologue ending with the line "We are infinite" is a reference to the 2012 indie film The Perks of Being a Wallflower .
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• American Dad! S10E10 "Familyland"

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American Dad : "Independent Movie"

At the very least, “Independent Movie” is a riff that lampoon hacks Jason Freidberg and Aaron Seltzer will never come close to touching, since it’s a parody of a genre that doesn’t make a lot of money at the box office. But for a broad Fox comedy that begins with foundational animated sitcom elements and spins out more surreal elements, the danger here is that in making fun of hackneyed, cookie-cutter films, it could unwisely take aim at good movies that fall into this genre.

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Good then, that what makes “Independent Movie” work is that the episode both engages with and makes fun of the tropes associated with low-budget independent American filmmaking. In the abstract, the episode is a spoof of generic, voiceover-heavy films about physical journeys mirroring emotional ones, but—however unintentionally—it’s also about how people (especially kids who consume a lot of media) internalize tropes and unwisely apply them to life expectations.

Steve, Snot, Barry, and Toshi are just putting the finishing touches on their four life-size Lego sculptures of the Four Stages Of Ron Howard (film director with and without hat!) when Snot smells a deli tray and learns that his absent father has died. Snot doesn’t really react, but Steve is so intent on emotional catharsis for his friend that he sends them into an indie movie road trip across the country to the funeral in Stockton, California, complete with a grainier film look, a sepia-toned color palette, and a music supervisor-approved soundtrack (Delta Spirit’s “California”).

Because of the timing of the episode, I kept thinking of it as an extended Alexander Payne riff. I like most of Payne’s movies, but four road trip movies with emotional underpinnings in a row ( About Schmidt , Sideways , The Descendants , Nebraska ) isn’t just a pattern, it’s a crutch. But Steve isn’t really drawing from specific films, he’s just going full-generic with extensive voiceovers out loud, which annoy Snot, or picking up a meth addict hitchhiker only to stop the car and send everyone exploring the woods.

Steve is so hooked on using independent movie tropes to force Snot into dealing with his father’s death that he tries too hard. The group loses Toshi, who chooses to stay behind in a cornfield, Barry beats up a mud representation of Snot’s father in frustration, and Snot plays up the requisite moment of friends yelling at each other. (“I’m not going to pretend to have a big theatrical reaction to this just to make you happy!”) By commenting on the tropes even as the episode employs them within the plot, “Independent Film” recalls Charlie Kaufman’s Adaptation , as genre elements begin to overtake the story.

But Snot’s breakdown in the motel is both a commentary on the “little moment” crystalizing the big picture—a bag of knockoff Cheetos with the tagline “Always There For You” gets stuck in a vending machine—and a nod to the “magic minority” character, as a maid gives Snot the mundane advice that he has to move out of her way, which he takes as a command to move on from his father’s death by attending the funeral.

If there’s one element that pushes the joke to the breaking point, it’s the introduction of Zooey Deschanel voicing a nameless girl who Steve literally calls his “Manic Pixie Dream Girl.” The point here is to point out Steve’s glaring insensitivity to Snot, abandoning his friend and the plot he set in motion to hang out with a quirky stranger in a hot tub. But American Dad then commits to the murky, ambiguous ending that’s so common in these films, courtesy of a random trucker and a lack of reconciliation. This is writer Judah Miller’s first episode of American Dad (he previously worked on Clone High and now writes for Axe Cop ), and it’s an above average parody without pushing too far over the edge.

The B-plot consists of exactly three scenes, boiling down what could be an episode of hilarious business intrigue and inventor/investor squabble into the bare comedy essentials. The opening scene of the episode places Stan, Francine, and Roger at a party hosted by Toshi’s father Hideki. A shrewd investor who always follows his gut—like destroying one of two remaining Etruscan urns to make the other priceless—Roger and Stan took their Male Stripper Shoes idea to Hideki in last season’s “National Treasure 4.” This time, a lackluster experience watching cake being cut at the party inspires the “Piece Of Cake” cake slicer, perfect for the Home Shopping Network and presumably the Sky Mall catalog.

If only for the wacky scene of Stan, Roger, and Hidecki rubbing together grumbling stomachs and the Mexican standoff that closes the episode, it’s a worthy runner, but it actually ties into the main plot in a perfectly “indie movie” way. The guy at the front desk of the motel the boys stay at watches the Home Shopping Network introduction of the product, a bizarre bit of color that fits well in the establishing moments of a new location. I'm always a big fan of the two (or three) plots dovetailing in subtle ways, and it's kind of impressive that it worked into the road trip in a way that made total sense for where Steve, Snot, and Barry ended up at that moment.

Stray observations:

• Thing I just learned: Reggie Lee (Sgt. Wu on Grimm , who also appeared in The Dark Knight Rises ) voices Hideki Yoshida. Mind sufficiently blown.
• I don’t think using a Dawes (!!!) song as the second bit of "indie flavor" on the soundtrack was a sly nod at The A.V. Club , but I’m just going to interpret it like that because it’s significantly funnier that way.
• Francine’s great one-liner contribution to the episode: “That’s the bitch who gave all my ideas to Michael Crichton.”
• Many apologies for this review appearing late, the Thanksgiving weekend and Fox’s confusing holiday schedule caused this episode to fall through the cracks. Everything will be back to normal for next week’s Breaking Bad -aping episode and the delayed Christmas special the week after.

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Buck, Wild Stan teaches Steve how to hunt deer. Season : 9 Episode : 03 Total Episode Count : 155 Prod. no. : 8AJN05 First Aired : November 3, 2013 Guest Starring : Tom Hollander Featuring : Stan Smith , Steve Smith Also Appearing : Francine , Hayley , Roger , Klaus , Avery Bullock , Jackson , Dick , Sanders , Hooper , Applejack & Dignan , Kim , Beth Director : Josue Cervantes

During a father-son picnic, the CIA prepares for a hunting trip but Steve finds himself unwelcome. He tries to impress Stan but fails, deciding to stow away instead. He makes it and despite Stan wishing to take him home, Bullock is determined to start hunting. He is introduced to the CIA hunting command center; a high-tech laser system. However, the guys are frightened when a deer wanders into the compound. Steve picks up a show gun from the buffet, and is encouraged to kill it. He fires and misses, but accidentally kills a larger deer which falls onto the first, impressing the guys with the double kill. At home, Stan brags about Steve's deed, and has expectations of him to tell his tale at the Huntsman's Lodge as part of his introduction as a man. Steve however, feels guilty about having killed the deer, until the pressure becomes too much and he admits he wasn't trying to kill it. Stan tells him that his kill was even bigger because the two deer were parents and now their kids will starve. Shocked, Steve sets out to find the young deer to raise them, vowing to protect them.

Stan and Francine find Steve's note that he left telling of his plans to leave which Stan dismisses. A year later, the CIA goes out on their annual hunting trip. Steve and the deer see the hunters arrive. Steve informs the CIA they will need to leave and not return to hunt again, declaring war when Stan refuses. The deer and the forest creatures lead an attack, destroying the camp and forcing a retreat. Stan refuses to give in and goes after Steve. He captures Steve in a net and plots to kill the deer when they arrive to rescue him, but finds himself flanked and ambushed. The deer start to kill Stan but are called off by Steve, departing as Stan admits that Steve really did become a man in his own way.

Meanwhile, Roger takes one of his cars out for a spin but misses seeing the odometer turn over. Depressed, he decides to drive another 100,000 miles and he and Klaus set out on a road trip. Almost 100,000 miles later, they break down just short of their goal. They try to push the car but having become bloated from travel, they collapse. In an ambulance, they find they are unable to watch as it also rolls over 100,000 miles and Roger's attempt to get a look flips the ambulance over into a canyon.

In the epilogue set in the future, Roger and Klaus try again, but along the way Klaus dies on the trip. Roger is distracted by a deer in a business suit now living in the Smith home and misses the odometer yet again.

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American Dad!: Road Trip

Summary American Dad! from Family Guy creator, Seth MacFarlane, is the animated story of Stan Smith, who works for the CIA and is constantly on the alert for terrorist activity. Stan will go to extremes to protect his beloved America from harm – as evidenced by the terror-alert color code on his fridge, and his frequent knee-jerk reaction of sho ... Read More

Created By : Mike Barker, Seth MacFarlane, Matt Weitzman

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Francine smith, francine smith as sexpun t'come, becky.

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Steve smith, midget assassin, frat guy.

Rachael MacFarlane

Hayley smith, barb hanson, hayley smith as ms. peacenickel.

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Klaus, monopoly hobo, pillow hands mcgraw, jeff fischer, jeff fischer, camp sniper, donnie.

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Barry robinson, a wolverine, audience member, mike barker, terry bates, sanders, chuck white, cia scientist, cashier, science teacher, additional voices, agent, biology teacher, black guy, contestant, crisp's henchman, dr. heisler, frank, hazmat worker, jerry, jesus, jock #2, man in mall, member #2, michael, mr. madsen, mugger, nick, pig head, professor at rutgers, researcher, scoliosis doctor, second worker, security guard, skinny man, teddy, terry, terry bates as mani, the bear man, ticket guy, tom berenger, valet, various characters, waiter, world's largest candle salesman, daisuke suzuki, toshi yoshida, asian man, toshi as s' assistant.

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Dick, charles the hunchback, dick reynolds, wilbur kentucky, matt mckenna, buckle, buckle the mountain man, santa claus, cap'n monty, alan j. pakula, barista, cap'n monty as the tour guide, central virginia state mascot, coach andrews, coach patterson, confused party guy, derek, donnie's dad, drill sergeant, fat guy, future hayley's husband, ghoul, guy, guy in line, guy at the concert, henry calloway, homeless guy #3, janitor, jesus h. christ, kevin, leader, man, mr. stashwick, russian, softball player #1, waiter.

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Road Trip (2000)

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How to do the great American road trip: Arizona

“By the way, don’t let your dog out of the vehicle in Oatman,” advised the tourist information assistant at the Kingman visitor centre. “The wild burros will bite its head and rip its scalp off.”

Dog-eating donkeys were probably about the last hazard we could imagine on Route 66 , but we took the warning at face value as we set out on the original 1926 road from Kingman to Oatman, a section dubbed the Arizona Sidewinder for its 191 turns – and no guardrails – in one eight-mile stretch through the volcanic jumble of the Black mountains.

As it turned out, the advice was well judged. As the descendants of the pack-carrying animals of the miners from the 1915 gold rush, the burros of Oatman were free to wander and scavenge throughout this Wild West mining town, frequently nudging visitors for the hay-pellet treats sold in many shops. Apparently, to the donkey’s eye, a dog equated to a coyote that needed to be attacked on sight.

Our Ruthie was therefore happy to watch from the back seat as we went out to explore the ramshackle collection of original buildings and tourist traps that lined the only viable street, which featured the 1902 Oatman Hotel with its “haunted” saloon, and twice-daily cowboy shootouts.

We had arrived in Arizona determined to slow the pace of our first five months, which had seen us cover 6,403 miles in our RV. With seven months still to go, we were in danger of over-stressing both ourselves and our wonderful Winnebago, Indefatigable (or Fati for short), as well as our faithful tow car, Nippy.

• Read part one of Diaries from the Road here
• Read part two of Diaries from the Road here
• Read part three of Diaries from the Road here
• Read part four of Diaries from the Road here
• Read part five of Diaries from the Road here
• Read part six of Diaries from the Road here

Opting to split Arizona in two, we would tackle the northern half – for the Grand Canyon , Route 66 , Monument Valley and Meteor Crater – from an RV base in Kingman, and the lower half from Lake Havasu City, Mesa, Tucson and Willcox, for Lake Havasu, Phoenix, Sedona, Saguaro National Park and Chiricahua National Monument.

At Kingman, we discovered Blake Ranch RV Park and Horse Motel , a true original in mixing the ranch world of yesteryear with the modern road trippers of today, as well as the ideal base from which to launch forays in Nippy. We had already decided Fati was not suited to the high mountain sierras around the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley , and the rough road surface along I-40 backed up our decision.

Driving a 36-foot class-A motorhome along uneven roads is the equivalent to putting a house through an earthquake, and we’d soon learnt to detest highways that made the journey a gritted-teeth experience of excruciating proportions. I-40 quickly hit the top three in our “Hate List”.

Happily, it was much more manageable in Nippy, and it extended our touring range by several hundred miles. From Kingman, the Grand Canyon was a 173-mile drive and an easy day trip to take in the awe-inspiring views of its astonishing multi-layered, mile-deep profile, which extends for 277 miles and includes the dramatic Desert View Watchtower at its eastern edge.

It was another 160 miles to Monument Valley and required an overnight stay at the NavajoLand Hotel of Tuba City , which proved the ideal preparation for our journey into Navajo Nation, with its neighbouring museum and trading post, plus a chance to try Navajo frybread at next door’s Hogan Family Restaurant.

Monument Valley – or Tsé Bii’ Ndzisgaii , as it is known in the Navajo language – is very much the tribe’s heartland, a historic setting that became a native American park in 1958. Administered by a tribal council, it features an iconic landscape beloved of film-makers like John Ford and Sergio Leone, stretching for 92,000 acres of breathtaking red sandstone splendour.

It left us utterly bewitched by its sprawling collection of mesas, buttes, spires and arches, a ravishing panorama that positively glowed in the morning sun and evening twilight. The fact it is also sought out by Forrest Gump fans was another handy pop culture reference point, but the valley largely stands on its own merit, a red-hued colossus that is nature’s high art.

Suitably enriched, we headed to Winslow for another overnight stay before tackling our next landmark and discovered the utterly charming La Posada Hotel . The small high plains city is already immortalised in song by the Eagles’ 1972 classic Take It Easy, but its feature hotel was a treasure, too.

A lovingly restored 1930s Santa Fe Railway hotel, it has become a living period piece to grand hacienda style with all mod cons, like fine-dining restaurant The Turquoise Room, which served up delicious platefuls of contemporary southwest cuisine. It also had Khent Anantakai, a Navajo guitarist who played his brand of classical/ambient music for a small audience in the lounge each evening, to our total enchantment.

Next morning, we took the obligatory photos “standing on the corner of Winslow, Arizona,” which is an official town park and homage to sadly departed Eagle Glenn Frey, and headed to Meteor Crater and Barringer Space Museum to have our minds boggled by the sight of this massive 50,000-year-old indentation in the earth’s surface, 560 feet deep and roughly the size of 20 Wembleys. The visitor centre sits 150ft up on the lip of the crater, providing a grandstand view of the random power of the cosmos.

Returning to Kingman, we stopped off at the Route 66 town of Williams , another well-maintained period piece that sticks firmly to its 1926 roots and provides the gateway to the longest unbroken original stretch of the Mother Road, from nearby Ash Fork to Topock on the Colorado River, roughly 165 miles west, and including the wild switchback section from Kingman to Oatman and its dog-biting burros.

Reunited with Fati after our excursion in Nippy, we suffered another abysmal stretch of I-40 before branching south along state Route 95, soaking up more craggy desert vistas through the Mohave mountains, where our lofty cab viewpoint allowed us to enjoy the slow reveal of Lake Havasu between the 5,000ft peaks. We had calculated we could lay up for a few days and just enjoy the view, which, of course, included the 19th-century edifice of London Bridge, bought and transplanted wholesale in 1968 and now linking the mainland with the artificially created island at the south end of the emerald blue lake.

Here, the slick BeachComber Estates provided the perfect hideaway, a gracious mix of upscale mobile homes and RVs, complete with immaculate clubhouse boasting a pool, spa, laundry and bocce ball court. We happily crossed the bridge each day to explore the city and surrounding area, which included Cattail Cove State Park and Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge , where we encountered our first roadrunners, the bird of Wile E Coyote cartoon fame, and just as cute in real life (albeit no “meep meep” sounds).

With the temperature still pushing 39C in late October, we were also driven from our RV in search of cooler experiences, and hired a pontoon boat on the lake for a truly blissful few hours taking in the mountain-rimmed setting of this unusual city, where Ruthie was welcomed into the visitor center to cool down and finally found some grass under her paws in London Bridge Beach park after weeks of desert paths and gravel.

Outdoor dining at the eclectic Red Onion proved another pleasure – notably the Mexican-inspired huevos rancheros for breakfast – but the rest of Arizona was now calling, and we reluctantly departed the BeachComber for all points east.

Next: Arizona to New Mexico ...

How to do it

• Slow and steady are the key watchwords with an RV, from driving to setting up at a new camp. Top speed is usually 65mph when towing a car (and we typically sit around 60), while it can easily take an hour to set up and break down again at the end of each stay. Allowing plenty of time for each activity is vital
• Using a surge protector before you plug in to a park’s electric outlet is highly advisable, to avoid your onboard electrics suffering a damaging power surge. We use a Hughes Power Watchdog PWD50EPO

RV Factfile:

• Cruise America offers three RV rental centres in Arizona, including Mesa, which is convenient for Phoenix International Airport: www.cruiseamerica.com/rv-rental-locations/arizona
• To get off the beaten path in Monument Valley, you need to take a tour with a local Navajo guide: www.monumentvalleytribaltours.com . For Lake Havasu City accommodations, see www.golakehavasu.com

Read more: USA travel guide – everything you need to know before you go

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