Not All Dogs Go to Heaven

"Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" is the eleventh episode of the seventh season of Family Guy and aired in the United States on the Fox television network on March 29, 2009. The episode is directed by Greg Colton and written by Danny Smith. In the episode, Quahog hosts its annual Star Trek convention where the cast members of Star Trek: The Next Generation are guests. After being unable to ask the actors any questions at a Q&A session, Stewie builds a transporter in his bedroom to beam the cast over and spend the day with them. Meanwhile, Brian becomes a social pariah after Meg outs him as an atheist.
The episode has garnered positive reviews from critics and received a 4.8/7 Nielsen Rating. Star Trek: The Next Generations' Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Wil Wheaton, Denise Crosby, and Marina Sirtis, guest star as themselves, and Adam West and Rob Lowe appear at the end of the episode in a live-action scene.
== Plot ==
Meg catches the mumps when the Griffins attends Quahog's annual Star Trek convention, because Peter forced her to stand next to an attendee with mumps to take a picture, believing him to be in costume as an alien. While recovering in bed, Meg becomes a born-again Christian after watching Kirk Cameron on television and begins driving everyone crazy with her beliefs. Meg is appalled to learn that Brian is an atheist (other Griffins are Christian and are also shocked, but not to Meg's extent). Meg tries to convince Brian to repent and convert to Christianity, but he repeatedly refuses. Finally taking drastic measures, Meg spreads the word of his atheism around Quahog, which is generally intolerant of atheism, making Brian a social outcast.
Upon being made a pariah, Brian is banned from every bar and convenience store in Quahog, making it impossible for him to drink. Desperate, and suffering from delirium tremens (he hallucinates seeing several alcoholic beverages asking to be drunk), Brian fakes his repentance and convinces Meg to cease all hostilities against him so he can get back to drinking. But when Meg takes him to burn books that are "harmful to God", a disgusted Brian admits his bluff and attempts to convince Meg that what she is doing is wrong. When Meg refuses to listen, Brian points out to her that if there were truly a loving God, then he would not have created Meg to be so unattractive like Peter (rather than inheriting Lois' looks), and that she would not be living with people who all hold her in contempt and otherwise pretend that she does not exist. Feeling ashamed, Meg realizes that Brian is right and apologizes for her behavior, confessing that she does not know how she can feel loved. Brian then assures her that the answers are inside herself, and the real meaning of their existence is out there somewhere. Afterward, it is revealed that the entire Family Guy universe takes place within the molecules of a lampshade, in the bedroom of actor Adam West, who appears with Rob Lowe in a live-action scene.
Meanwhile, furious that he did not get a chance to ask the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast any questions at the convention, and the fact that the cast instead answered questions completely unrelated to Star Trek, Stewie builds an authentic Star Trek transporter and beams the cast over to interview them (in a nod to the TNG episode "Skin of Evil", Denise Crosby is killed in a show of force). Stewie decides to spend the whole day with the cast, which includes stealing Cleveland's van, having lunch at McDonald's, and going bowling. However, they complain about the smallest things and annoy him to no end, and Stewie beams everyone back after stating that they have ruined Star Trek: The Next Generation for him, and that he hopes they all die.
== Reception ==
"Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" received a 4.8/7 Nielsen Rating. Ahsan Haque of IGN said, "Overall, this episode was surprisingly refreshing. The scenes with the Star Trek cast lived up to expectations, and some scenes were actually funnier than one would expect. Meg's journey of seeking acceptance through religion was surprisingly well handled, and taken as a whole, the episode came across as one of the more thoughtful and intelligent outings we've seen this season." Steve Heisler of The AV Club, however, criticized "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven", describing it as boring and formulaic. He graded the episode C.
== References ==
== External links ==
* "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven", at the Internet Movie Database
* "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven", at TV.com
Category:Atheism in popular culture