Season 10 · Episode 5 · First aired 13 November 2011

Back to the Pilot

Episode 5 of Family Guy season 10 (S10E05), the 170th Family Guy episode overall. Written by Mark Hentemann and directed by Dominic Bianchi. First broadcast on 13 November 2011.

Story

Brian asks Stewie to help him recover a tennis ball he buried on 31 January 1999, the day the series first aired, so the pair travel back and find the family drawn in the pilot's animation style. Brian also warns his 1999 self about the September 11 attacks. Back in 2011 they learn that George W. Bush lost the 2004 election and has revived the Confederate States of America, and a trip to 2016 shows a ruined country after nuclear strikes. They undo the warning, only for Brian to claim credit for the Harry Potter novels instead. Further attempts summon dozens of Brians and Stewies, who vote against preventing the attacks. The original pair march their past selves home and the altered timeline collapses.

Production and reception

Seth MacFarlane announced the episode at San Diego Comic-Con on 23 July 2011 and said on the DVD featurette that the idea came from "Trials and Tribble-ations", an outing of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Wikipedia, Back to the Pilot
Showrunner Mark Hentemann wrote the script and Dominic Bianchi directed. It was first planned as the seventh Road to instalment before that framing was dropped. Wikipedia, Back to the Pilot
Archive recordings of Lacey Chabert, Phil LaMarr and Fred Tatasciore from "Death Has a Shadow" were used and credited. Chabert voiced Meg for the first season before Mila Kunis took the part. Wikipedia, Back to the Pilot
Nielsen put the first airing at 6.01 million viewers with a 3.1/7 share in the 18 to 49 group, nearly 200,000 up on "Stewie Goes for a Drive". Wikipedia, Back to the Pilot
Kevin McFarland of The A.V. Club graded it A minus and Kate Moon of TV Fanatic gave 4.2 out of five. Tom Eames of Digital Spy ranked it second in his list of the best episodes. Wikipedia, Back to the Pilot

Voices

Voice	Characters
Seth MacFarlane	Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin
Alex Borstein	Lois Griffin
Seth Green	Chris Griffin
Mila Kunis	Meg Griffin, Meg Griffin
Mike Henry	Cleveland Brown
Lacey Chabert	1999 Meg Griffin
Chris Cox	George W. Bush
Ralph Garman	Dog in the Window
Christine Lakin	Joyce Kinney
Phil LaMarr	Judge

Principal voice credits as recorded by IMDb, which lists up to ten credits per episode, so recurring characters can be missing here. Guest voices below come from Wikipedia and TVmaze.

Guest voices

Lacey Chabert as Meg in pilot, Meg Griffin
Chris Cox as George W. Bush
Ralph Garman as Dog in the Window
Christine Lakin as Joyce Kinney
Phil LaMarr as Judge in pilot, Judge
Fred Tatasciore as John Madden in pilot
Patrick Warburton as Joe Swanson

Season 10: episode 5 of 23

Season hub with air dates and credits for all 23 episodes

SourceFacts from Wikipedia: Family Guy season 10 and the episode's article (CC BY-SA 4.0). Spotted an error? See corrections.

Provenance

Facts only

Sources: Wikipedia: Back to the Pilot
Wikidata Q4034786
IMDb
TVmaze
Data refreshed: 6 September 2026
Verification: Checked against Wikidata and IMDb: title, date, numbering and credits agree
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Licence: Facts are not copyrightable. Source text on Wikipedia is CC BY-SA 4.0; Wikidata is CC0; IMDb data is used for verification under its non-commercial terms.
Note: The story summary and notes were written for this site from the sources listed, by Claude in Claude Code on 2026-09-08, awaiting editorial review. Facts only; no dialogue is reproduced. Voice credits: Information courtesy of IMDb (https://www.imdb.com). Used with permission. Guest cast data from TVmaze (https://www.tvmaze.com), CC BY-SA.