Brian and Stewie help Chris with his history project by letting him use Stewie's time machine.
Tropes seen in this episode include the following:
- Academy of Adventure: The method Brian and Stewie use to try to cram knowledge of history into Chris before his big exam.
- Achievement Test of Destiny: If Chris flunks this history test, he'll likely be retained to the ninth grade.
- An Arm and a Leg: Stewie doesn't want Chris to know about the time machine, so he and Brian try to convince him he's dreaming. Chris thinks he doesn't have to worry about consequences and cuts off part of his arm. As Chris bleeds out, Stewie and Brian go back six minutes and tell Chris he's dreaming but with consequences.
- Artistic License – History: "All history facts in this episode were gathered by quick glances at Wikipedia. To learn more about history, check out Yahoo! Answers."
- This extends to ridiculous levels with the RMS Titanic shown departing from a London dock and heading out to sea. While it's reasonable that non-Brits might not be aware that London isn't on the coast (or, if they knew that, it's not unreasonable for them to be unaware of the Thames being far too shallow and covered in bridges for ocean liners), the writers' excuse of a 'quick glance at Wikipedia' falls somewhat flat when the very first sentence of the Titanic's Wikipedia article lists it departing from Southampton, not London.
- The collision with the iceberg is also shown as being much more violent than it really was, upending furniture and immediately provoking a Mass "Oh, Crap!".
- Brian shouts "How's this for positive reinforcement?" before beating Ivan Pavlov to death with a bell. The concept of positive reinforcement was first described by B. F. Skinner in 1938, two years after Pavlov's real-life death. Pavlov's theory was the theory of classical conditioning.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: Brian gets back at Pavlov for this by going back in time and bludgeoning him with his own bell.
- Been There, Shaped History:
- During the trip to Paris 1920, the group sees the bar Ernest Hemingway would drink at. Brian happily talks to him, which leads to Hemingway's suicide.
- The group sees what appears to be a young Charlie Chaplin performing on the street. Stewie gives him some money and tells him to use it to pursue his dreams, only to learn this was actually a young Adolph Hitler.
- Book Dumb: Brian and Stewie think this may be why Chris is performing so poorly in school, particularly in Mr. Harpington's class.
- Butterfly of Doom: Because of the events on the Titanic, history teacher Mr. Harpington's (presumable) ancestor is trapped on the ship when it sinks into the ocean, killing him. Mr. Harpington is never born as a result...and Chris' history teacher is a stoner hippie who disregards testing as a valuable, vital teaching method.
- The Cameo: In a live-action appearance, Tony Sirico (who voiced Vinny) threatens to beat up the Family Guy writers for making fun of Italians. He returns when it happens again.
- Disguised in Drag: Stuck on the Titanic as it's sinking, Stewie, Brian, and Chris dress up as women to try to get seats on a lifeboat.
- Driven to Suicide:
- Ernest Hemingway, a happy-go-lucky guy until he had to listen to a few seconds of Brian talking about writing.
- Everyone else on the lifeboat jump into the icy water after Brian's relationship pun.
- Failed Attempt at Drama: When Stewie explodes at Chris for his learning disability, Chris runs off in tears, saying that he will win the bowling tournament, with or without Stewie.
- Harmful to Minors: Peter's plan to help Chris study was to keep him in his room by nailing the door shut. However, once he did so, he realized he left his phone in there and Chris sees photos of female privates being sent to it.Peter: [trying to break down the door] Lois, I don't have the phone! Stop sendin' pictures!
Lois: [off-screen] I already sent four more!
Peter: Chris, put down the phone! Don't look at those!
Chris: Wait a minute, that's both her hands! Who the hell is taking the pictures?!! - Irish Accents: Heading into steerage, Brian expects to find a bunch of fat, pie-faced, drunk Irish people there. Every single one of them (men, women, and babies) looks like Peter, just with Irish accents.
- Italian-American Caricature: The three time-travel back to Italy before the invention of pasta, where it shows a bunch of stereotypical Italian-Americans living like cavemen, banging rocks and going "Ey!" "Oh!" and "Vowel Sounds!" Stewie remarks that the Italians were always a ridiculous people. It then cuts to a live-action Tony Sirico angrily threatening the showrunners in character as Paulie Walnuts from The Sopranos:Tony Sirico: Hey Family Guy! You're lucky I've got a manicotti in the oven, or I'd bash your face into a bolognese! That's two kinds of food! That's how angry I am!
- Lame Pun Reaction: On the lifeboat at the end of the episode, Brian says "Well, looks like one ship was saved today... a relationship". All the other occupants except Chris and Stewie hop off the lifeboat in disgust.
- Pædo Hunt: A cutaway shows Chris as a creepy school bus driver in his adult years, having been unable to obtain any other employment.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: When the Titanic begins to sink, Chris says that the event would make a great movie.
- Ret-Gone: Chris killing one of the guards who were supposed to get on the boat and survive the Titanic turns out to be the distant ancestor of his teacher. Naturally, the teacher was never born and Chris' test was erased from existence.
- Stealing the Credit: Brian took the credit for the time machine and Stewie's former "Victory is mine" catchphrase. An annoyed Stewie asks what else of his Brian has taken credit for.
- Whole-Plot Reference:
- Let's see a story where a dog takes a kid back in time via a time machine to learn history. Where have we heard this before?
- Of course the premise and the title also allude to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
