Family Guy: Volume Nine

The ninth volume of the Family Guy DVD cycle starts somewhere in the middle of season eight and finishes with the third episode of season nine, continuing the trend of random starts and stops of each volume previous, making the act of home viewership more convoluted than need be. But at least everything included is uncensored and every episode includes the many inappropriate outtakes, ensuring that a few laughs are had at the expense of virtually every taboo on the planet. To contextualize, some of the episodes included with this set of the animated Fox hit feature spousal abuse, gender reassignment surgery, coprophilia, illegal and unwilling underage prostitutes, infanticide, sexual harassment and the courting of teenagers with Down Syndrome. Amidst the gags about black people not tipping, Quagmire potentially having AIDS, Brian having sex with a tranny, Lois cooking up a yeast infection and Carter Pewterschmidt engaging in coitus with his wife by ejaculating in his hand and throwing it at her, there are a few standout episodes. Chiefly, the one where Brian and Stewie are locked in a bank vault overnight and discuss their relationship, much like a crass variation on the All in the Family episode where Meathead and Archie find themselves locked in a meat locker. What's impressive is that the concept never gets tired despite taking place in a single room with only two characters. Sure, the opening ten minutes involve Stewie manipulating Brian into eating his faeces and vomit and then licking his bum, but after some drunken shenanigans and a failed ear-piercing attempt, some humanity is demonstrated, demonstrating that the controversial series has some heart amongst the crudity. There's also an hour-long murder mystery episode where James Woods invites everyone from the Family Guy universe to a mansion only to wind up witnessing a series of killings. Surprisingly, very little perversion occurs in this one, showing that the writers can rely on something other than vulgar non-sequiturs and poo jokes. Still, a fun gag about tattooing a donkey vagina on someone's back couldn't have hurt. Included with the DVD set are some side-by-side animatics, an episode of The Cleveland Show, some commentary tracks, a Comic-Con supplement and a crappy "lost phone call" between Brian and Stewie from the bank vault episode. There's also a "History of the World" featurette that mostly just borrows scenes from prior episodes, as well as a "Making of" the Clue episode. But, ultimately, the best extra features are the deleted scenes, which mostly were deleted due to their controversial nature.