American Dad : Volume 2 [2005] - DVD (Seth MacFarlane, Wendy Schaal, Rachael MacFarlane, Scott Grimes, Dee Bradley Baker - Dir: Alberto Calleros)

The "Laugh Alert" level is elevated with the release of this second volume of episodes that chronologically span seasons 1 and 2. You know the "there" that people talk about when they say, "Don't go 'there'?" Seth MacFarlane's American Dad leaves "there" in the dust. Take the holiday--excuse me, Christmas--episode, "The Best Christmas Story Never," which somehow melds Charles Dickens with a Ray Bradbury-esque cautionary tale of tampering with the past. CIA Agent and true patriot act Stan Smith (voiced by MacFarlane) loses the spirit of the season in a blizzard of PC secularism in which even the fugitive "Christmas rapist" must be referred to as "the holiday rapist." In the "is nothing sacred" world of American Dad, Christmas can only be saved by Stan accompanying the Ghost of Christmas Past (Lisa Kudrow) back in time to (don't ask) kill Jane Fonda (or Donald Sutherland), take over the direction of Taxi Driver from a drug-free Martin Scorsese, and shoot Ronald Reagan. The Smith family--wife Francine, geeky son Steve, and "peace-pusher" daughter Hayley--is still not as vividly drawn as the Griffins on MacFarlane's Family Guy (even Klaus, the talking German-accented goldfish admits in one episode that his "fish shtick" is getting thin), but one can't help salute the audacity of the oft-inspired writing. In "Stannie, Get Your Gun," Stan becomes a National Gun Association spokesperson after being accidentally paralyzed by his anti-gun daughter. "The American Dad After School Special" has an A Brilliant Mind-like twist as Stan battles an eating disorder brought about by Steve's new overweight girlfriend. In "Helping Handis," Steve becomes the big man on campus after he develops steroid-enhanced breasts.

Two episodes are standouts for their animation. "Dungeons and Wagons," as did South Park with "Make Love, Not Warcraft," creates a video game universe in which Steve rules. Near the end of "Failure Is Not a Factory-Installed Option," the screen adjusts to widescreen format, and the saga of the golden turd, begun in the first season episode, "Homeland Insecurity" compellingly continues with the jewel-encrusted oddity becoming the last temptation of an honest cop (Beau Bridges). American Dad is, as should be apparent, not for all tastes (or more sensitive viewers--the episode "Tears of a Clooney" drops some unbleeped F-bombs), but fans of the series are rewarded with this three disc-set's prodigious extra features, including rowdy, chaotic commentaries for all the episodes, a wealth of hit and miss deleted scenes, and a segment devoted to the production of "Dungeons and Wagons." --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews of American Dad : Volume 2 [2005]

silverjunky
UK
26th April 2008

what is going on??????
Okay I bought myself American dad, Season One months ago and loved it, from the pilot episode to Stan of Arabia Part two. So I search out season two on my trusty Amazon, order it and wait for ages.
It finally arrives and strangely enough I seem to have gotten season one all over again, and I cant seem to understand why. The dust cover says American dad, VOLUME 2, but the DVD's inside have only season one episodes, which as I said I already have.
And yet people reviewing this item have mentioned episodes which I dont have like "it's all about clooney" etc. What is going on??
Why would they split the Series up, and why in VOLUME TWO do I have the first 13 episodes of season one AGAIN!!??
Anyone looking to buy this beware, I have searched around for American Dad SEASON two and found nothing, I dont know where it is, or even if it is on sale.

Bob Marlowe
UK
28th February 2008

"The Bigot is back!"
I'm pleased to say that this is more of the same. Once again it's fast and funny and the old favourites are back. Stan Smith remains as paranoid and right wing as ever, Francine's a little drippy, son Steve is dorky, daughter Hayley slightly obsessively left wing and Roger remains the whiney alien.

I won't talk about how different it is to series 1 beacuse I know it's rumoured that this is actually the 2nd half of season 1, but they do use some of the characters more here than in the previous batch. Klaus the man in a fish's body gets a human body again twice and Roger goes undercover quite a bit. Roger is an alien, looking a little like a fat grey ET but when he puts wigs etc. on he can pass as a human. He also does some unwise male bonding with Stan!

Standouts have Francine ruthlessly trying to break George Clooney's heart, Stan reorganising a refugee camp into a summer camp, Francine and Roger role playing as husband and wife, Steve becoming a best selling author in a Sunset Boulevard inspired piece and Stan mistakenly reasoning that if so many gay men liked his play about Abraham Lincoln and vote republican then he must also be gay.

A memorable exchnage from the last one mentioned has tactless Stan offering Francine the chance to become his fag hag!

There are a few rare message stories such as a poignant one where Stan becomes obssessed about his weight although they never get in the way of the fun.

There is also a crazy Christmas time travel story that defies description.

As well as the usual fun batch of commentaries, we have a featurette dissecting the style of humour and offering an insight into a future episode where George W will be coming to dinner, and a class in drawing Roger. Seeing the Roger Class start with a chemistry vessel, it is extraordinary to see that become the alien we know and love.

Recommended stuff but see the 1st lot before this or you'll never know who Klaus was!

Kathryn D. Mckay

22nd February 2008

One of the Funniest thins you'll ever see...
After I bought American Dad Season 1 i just HAD to orer this, it is possibly THE funniest set of discs I own, every single episode is unique and has me laughing for days. Episodes to look out for are: Irregarding Steve, Tears of a Clooney and the best episode yet - Camp Refoogee.
One thing I did notice is that this is not the full season, in fact there are 7 or 8 e[isodes missing, but these have been added on to the season 3 box set - so don't expect to find the episode - "Bush Comes to Dinner" on this disc.
The fact that there is a left winged stoner (Haylee) with an alcoholic alien (Roger), a trigger happy CIA Agent (Stan) and a German Goldfish (Klaus) makes this probably the most imaginitave things on TV.
Every time you watch and episode you get to understand it more - this is well worth the money and beats Season 1 by an inch.
Great Laughs.
,Taribo

my opinion
Scotland, UK
15th September 2007

NOT THE FULL SEASON
I got this and Season 1, thinking i had 2 full seasons of this FAB show. According to epguides.com, this is the 2ND half of Season 1 and Season 1 is the 1st half of the season season. No sign of the real Season 2 yet though :(

Richard Hammond
St. Albans, UK
12th September 2007

On the mark
What Mr Family Guy did next and in volume-two American Dad truly hit its stride. Darker than Family Guy--centred as it is, around a paranoid, jumpy and shooty CIA officer--all the same, the family dynamic is broadly similar but what the hell - the shows are often chokingly funny. More to the point, Americans aren't supposed to do inward-looking satire this well, or this accurately. When you've endured weeks of irritating-rules at Airport Security, American Dad is exactly what you need to bring the smiles back.