Directed by Greg Colton and written by Wellesley Wild, the episode originally aired on Fox in the United States on September 27, 2009, along with the series premiere of The Cleveland Show.

During the sixth season, episodes of Family Guy were delayed from regular broadcast due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.

As the Griffin family attend the county fair, Stewie announces that he has bred a winning pedigree pig for the local Quahog Clam Day.

Excited about his new prospects in life, human Brian begins his travels in a brand new universe but is abruptly struck by a car.

[2][3] It was written by series regular Wellesley Wild and directed by Greg Colton[4] shortly after the conclusion of the seventh production season, which consisted entirely of held-over episodes due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike.

The episodes are a parody of the seven Road to... comedy films starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour.

[8] Executive producer and former Star Trek: Enterprise writer[9] David A. Goodman, a fan of science fiction and the series Sliders, played a key role in the episode's original development.

The production staff of Family Guy, including Wellesley Wild, watched an episode of Sliders before writing the show.

[10] Series regulars Peter Shin and James Purdum served as supervising directors, with Andrew Goldberg and Alex Carter working as staff writers for the episode.

[12][13] MacFarlane described the scene as "a bit of challenge" and "kind of an experiment" since every character had to be completely redesigned based on the style of such films as "Pinocchio, Beauty and the Beast and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

"[13] In addition to traditional animation, the episode included a parody by Sarah E. Meyer, Eileen Kohlhepp, Kelly Mazurowskiof of Robot Chicken,[14] a stop motion series created by Family Guy cast member Seth Green for the Cartoon Network animation block Adult Swim.

[15] Green did not take part in the making of the parody; it was instead animated by the Los Angeles company Screen Novelties, which had worked on the early seasons of Robot Chicken.

[12] "Road to the Multiverse", along with the seven other episodes from Family Guy's eighth season, was released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on June 15, 2010.

[19][20] In addition to the regular cast, Japanese actors Kei Ogawa, Kotaro Watanabe and Jamison Yang guest starred in the episode as Japanese-inspired versions of the Griffin family and Glenn Quagmire.

[21] In this universe, everything is seemingly years in advance of the 21st century; Quagmire is able to take a single pill and be instantly cured of the AIDS virus, and flying cars and buildings surround them.

[23] Playing on the nonexistence of Christianity, Brian and Stewie visit the Sistine Chapel and discover that a large collection of photos of American actress Jodie Foster has been substituted for The Creation of Adam painting by Michelangelo, who never painted the Sistine Chapel in this universe with no Christianity to inspire him, with the job instead being done by John Hinckley Jr.[21] Seeking to explore more alternative realities, Stewie takes Brian to a universe resembling the Hanna-Barbera animated sitcom The Flintstones.

[13][27] Discouraged, Brian and Stewie transport themselves to a universe resembling the Adult Swim series Robot Chicken,[14] a show co-created by Family Guy cast member Seth Green.

[27] The sequence reveals several action figures of cartoon characters from the 1980s: He-Man from Masters of the Universe, Optimus Prime from Transformers, Lion-O from ThunderCats and Duke from G.I.

Club's Emily VanDerWerff commented that she felt "essentially predisposed to like" the episode, adding that she enjoyed the entire theme of the show, in addition the fact that it was more than just science fiction.

"[25] In a subsequent review in January 2010 of "Stewie and Brian's Greatest Adventures", Haque called the episode "creative, visually impressive, and features some of the best random gags we've seen on the show in a long time.

"[37] In 2019, to celebrate the show's 20th anniversary, IGN published a list of the 20 best Family Guy episodes, with "Road to the Multiverse" ranked the fourth best.