Q & A with David Goodman: Executive producer of “Family Guy” talks about the show’s return to the airwaves

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By Kelly Wiley

Sunday night, while some people may go to church, others are glued in front of the TV watching “Family Guy.” David Goodman, executive producer of the show, seemed excited about the newest episode featuring the “Star Trek” cast airing Sunday, when he spoke with the Kernel on Tuesday.

Q. Tell us what your favorite scene in the whole episode is.
A. Well, that’s interesting. I think probably my favorite scene is the one that I’m in. I’m a huge “Star Trek” fan, so the artists do a version of me and then I voice the character dressed as a “Star Trek,” some might say fan, some might say geek, and ask a question at the convention. And then I have a little bit of a run-in later with Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes, so that’s probably my favorite scene.

Q. I was just wondering, why do an episode with “The Next Generation” cast now? It is sort of a tie-in to the film or no?
A. That was actually the intention. Actually, you could ask last week why did we do a “Back to the Future” reference when the movie is 30 years old. I think we’re fans, especially Seth and I are huge fans of “Star Trek,” and we realize that although there had been plenty of episodic television that brought back the cast of the original series… in fact, I wrote one of them for “Futurama,” “Where No Fan Has Gone Before,” where we reunited the original cast. But Seth and I realized that nobody had really reunited the “Next Generation” cast and many of them had already appeared on our show.

Q. When the “Star Trek, The Next Generation” actors voice on the show, do they come over more as themselves or as their characters on “Star Trek?”
A.They’re playing themselves. All the characters are playing themselves…. We had fun playing with whom they really are and that Stewie discovers what it’s like to hang out with them. It’s a different “Family Guy” twist on your expectations, so I’m very pleased with the surprises in the episode in terms of the journey that Stewie takes with these people.

Q. Is there a best line of dialogue in it?
A. Best line of dialogue, actually to me, the best line of dialogue in the whole episode is what Stewie says to the cast at the end of the episode, and I’m not going to give it away. But his attitude toward the cast, he didn’t get to ask his question at the “Star Trek” conventions, so he kidnaps all of them and he has a little bit of a journey with them. His final words to them, I think, are very funny, but I’m not going to give them away.