Of course, the 200th episode is the one that takes center stage. Not only is "yug ylimaf" a good episodes, but there are also a couple of special features concerning it. In this episode, Brian realizes that he can pick up women in bars by telling them he has a time machine. He then sneaks each woman into Stewie's room and travels to the past with them for a night of love. When he realizes that there is a counter showing just how much he has been using the machine, he tries to turn the dial back and accidentally puts the whole world in reverse. Stewie and Brian have to work fast to correct the timeflow, because not only is everything going backwards, but the speed is picking up. As they work to solve the problem, they end up seeing many of the show's iconic scenes in reverse. Of course, the big deadline is just around the corner since it is obvious that Stewie's birth is quickly approaching.
The DVD set contains a 20 minute long interview with different cast and crew members about the show's 200 episodes. In it, they cover many of the show's pivotal moments, musical numbers, and discussions about why the show has been able to stay alive so strongly. Volume Twelve rounds out the celebration with a table read of this episode, and it looks like everyone in the studio got together in the room in order to enjoy the reading.
Of course, it isn't just about this one episode. The volume starts off with the Griffins deciding to climb Mt. Everest because Lois' ex-boyfriend's family is planning on the trip and the Griffins can't help but try and one-up the snooty family. Needless to say, Peter's family isn't quite in shape for the trip, but they will give it their all.
In another episode, Peter gets hooked on skydiving and after an embarrassing accident, ends up becoming friends with a muslim terrorist in the hospital. At first, Peter doesn't know of the man's intentions, but after Peter is convinced to take up the muslim religion and join his friend's group, Peter feels he has to stay with them, plus Joe convinces him to wear a wire and try to stop their upcoming terrorist attack.
The Griffins only top their mountain climbing and skydiving antics when Chris goes to Space Camp and during an unfortunate tour of a real space shuttle, the Griffins send their shuttle into orbit and have to work together in order to get back to Earth. This whole unfortunate event is the result of Chris overhearing Peter and Lois talk about how dumb their son is. They want to send him to a self-esteem building camp, but Chris latches onto Space Camp instead of the one they were hoping for.
There are a couple of other Chris-centric episodes. In one, Chris steals money from Lois' purse to buy new shoes and Meg catches him. In the classic sit-com set up, she blackmails him and forces him to do a ton of chores. Fed up with the way he is being treated, he runs away and moves in with Mr. Herbert. At first, Herbert is happy with the unexpected event, but things don't seem to be going the way the old man wants and eventually he finds the youthful Chris isn't the kind of house guest he has been hoping for.
Another episode has Meg learning that a guy she has a crush on is actually gay and actually has a crush on Chris. Meg decides that she can live vicariously through Chris, but he refuses to sleep with her classmate. Meg is determined to make this happen though, even if it means getting some roofies from Quagmire.
This season also features the Griffins getting a Nielsen box and Peter gaining a mild bit of control over the local broadcasts. When he steals all of the boxes from the Nielsen representative's trucks, Peter gains the ability to make television do whatever he wants - much to the rest of the country's chagrin.
Probably one of the more amusing episodes this time around was their multi-plot Valentines Day episode. This episode features Lois and Peter deciding to spend the day in bed, while Meg goes on a date with a guy that wants her kidney, Stewie goes back to the 1960's only to fall in love with a toddler that looks awfully familiar. Chris' exploits have him dating Mr. Herbert's grand niece, while Stewie gets all of Brian's past girlfriends together to tell him what he did wrong in each of their relationships. The hope is for him to learn from his mistakes for his next girlfriend.
As the season wraps up, Peter goes feral when he, Quagmire and Joe end up crashed in the Canadian wilderness; Horace, the Drunken Clam's owner, is killed and the guys end up holding up inside in order to keep the bank from tearing it down and after a drunken night at Harvard, Quagmire wakes up to find himself married to prostitute who is finally ready to settle down. Too bad Quagmire isn't and can't divorce the woman without losing everything.
Rounding out the season's episodes is "Roads to Vegas." In it, Brian wins tickets to a Celine Dion concert and asks Stewie to join him on the trip to Las Vegas. Stewie suggest they try his new teleporter, but when it malfunctions, one pair is sent to Vegas immediately, while another copy has to take the plane. The pair arriving late finds themselves in the worst situation possible as they are told their rooms are booked and seem to have no luck when gambling. Meanwhile, the other pair loves the fancy room and hit it big at the slot machines right off the bat. When the "good" pair gets into the concert and invalidates the other pair's tickets, Brian and Stewie decide they've had enough - too bad they don't have any money to get back home. All of their bets rest with a bet on a basketball game that they need to win in order to pay off a loan shark, but of course, even that doesn't go as planned.
This season of Family Guy also featured the show mimicking a few other intros. One episode remade the opening of Monty Python's Flying Circus, while another used the style of Modern Family. This was just an odd treat to pop up occasionally that was a nice nod to anyone familiar with the other shows.
Family Guy: Volume Twelve's non-200th episode related special features include animatics from "Into Fat Air," the skydiving episode, "Total Recall," an episode where Rupert is recalled and Stewie has to get him back, and the Space Camp episode "Space Cadet." The first two are animatics from select scenes with side-by-side views of the final product and commentaries, while the "Space Cadet" episode is the full episode and no commentary. The DVD also contains the Comic-Con panel and deleted scenes for pretty much every episode in the set.
With over 200 episodes in the can, most seasons have a mix of good and bad episodes, but I don't think I disliked a single one of Volume Twelve's episodes. While I didn't laugh out loud with every one, most of them did have at least a couple of great moments. Any Family Guy fan should want to add this particular volume in their collection.
