"Road to the North Pole" is the second of two Christmas-themed episodes of Family Guy, originally aired on December 12, 2010.
Synopsis
Brian and Stewie attempt to fill in for Santa.
Brian begrudgingly takes Stewie to the mall, only to get the brush-off from Santa. As a result, Stewie vows to kill Santa and forces Brian to drive him to the North Pole. Brian tries to trick him by taking him to a carnival themed to Santa's Village but Stewie fails to fall for the ruse. Stewie hitches a ride with a truck driver to Canada with Brian in pursuit. When Stewie accidentally fires a flare pistol in the truck causing a major wreck, Brian and Stewie find themselves stranded until a passer-by offers them the use of his snowmobile.
Driving until they run out of gas, they take shelter in an old cabin and push on the next morning on foot until they reach Santa's Workshop only to find a vast toxin-spewing industrial complex. Santa turns out to be a sickly old man, the elves deformed from the toxins and inbreeding in an attempt to keep up with the toy demand and the reindeer carnivorous monsters. When Santa collapses, Brian and Stewie attempt to make the deliveries themselves but things go horribly wrong when they are forced to beak into their first house, beat the owners senseless and tie up their daughter only to find they had the wrong house.
Everyone else awakes to find out they received no presents. In a final attempt to save the holiday, Brian and Stewie go on television, revealing the near dead Santa and explaining their demands are killing him. He pleads for the world to show some restraint in their gift requests, limiting everyone to one gift each or else they might just lose Christmas altogether. Everyone agrees to the request, and by the following year, Santa has recovered, his workshop is once again a single small building and the elves are rejuvenated.
Songs
The Griffins singing "All I Really Want For Christmas".
Trivia
- The opening credits contain scenes based on The Nutcracker, A Christmas Carol, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Frosty the Snowman, Home Alone, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
- Fellow Fox alumnus David Boreanaz of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Bones makes a live-action appearance in the Polar sky above the traveling Brian and Stewie as the 'Aurora Boreanaz' who once says hello to them and later helps point them on their way.