In 2011,
Brian asks
Stewie to help him find a tennis ball he had buried on January 31, 1999 (the day of
the series premiere on Fox). Using Stewie's
time machine to travel back to that date, the two come upon the
Griffin family in 1999, with the original
Film Roman-styled designs and animation, but the two notices that their past looks more strange than they remembered it: the family continually pauses for
cutaways, and
Meg's voice sounds different. Stewie also points out that this may be his first memory, and that is the day
Peter's eye overlapped with his nose (an animation error that actually occurred in the pilot). Warning Brian not to alter the past by getting the tennis ball and advising him to instead memorize its location, Stewie goes into his room to set up their return to the present, when 1999 Stewie suddenly enters. The two Stewies then meet, and 2011 Stewie tells 2011 Brian to come out from his hiding place after explaining himself to 1999 Stewie. However, hanging outside the window, Brian falls onto 1999 Peter's car as he drives to the stag party at 1999
Glenn Quagmire's house. Stewie finds Brian and the two then attempt to return to the present, but find that the return pad's batteries (having converted it to take
D batteries instead of
uranium after their
trouble in Germany) are running low, and move only a bit forward in time to
Super Bowl XXXIII. The two manage to take advantage of 1999 Peter dumping his welfare money out of a blimp above the stadium to collect the money needed to purchase new batteries before nearly being crushed by the blimp after it is shot down and start making their way back, but only after briefly landing at 1999 Peter's trial and making the 1999
Kool-Aid Man miss his cue for breaking into the courtroom, causing him to break into pieces. After the two return to 2011, Stewie discovers that Brian intentionally warned his past self about the
September 11 attacks ahead of time, allowing 2001 Brian to go on
American Airlines Flight 11, beat hijackers
Mohamed Atta and
Abdulaziz al-Omari with a baseball bat, and have many flights, including the
other three hijacked planes, to be grounded. While watching the local news, it is also discovered that former
President George W. Bush, who lost the
2004 presidential election to
John Kerry due to being unable to exploit people's fears without 9/11, has returned to
Texas and reformed the
Confederate States of America, starting a second
American Civil War. Brian insists that things will still be better in the end, but when they travel into 2016, they find a
computer generated post-apocalyptic future. To Brian's horror, the Civil War has resulted in nuclear attacks across the
Eastern Seaboard that have caused the deaths of over 17 million people (including
Cesar Millan). Additionally, the show's humor has become dull (for instance, Peter enters the room with a roll of double-sided tape which he claims he will utilize for 7 minutes before the story focuses on Meg in a kissing booth, and abruptly announces a cutaway which just consists of him standing in a white void and proclaiming his dislike of
Matthew McConaughey),
Cleveland Brown has moved back to
Quahog probably due to
Stoolbend being in Confederated
Virginia, and
Joe Swanson is a
cyborg who kills Quagmirenow a mutant humanoid frog named "Frogmire"for violating
curfew. The pair return to 1999 and prevent Brian and Stewie from telling their past selves about the attacks. They return to the present in which 9/11 occurs, but Stewie discovers that Brian instead advised his past self to take false and undeserved credit for the
Harry Potter novels. Seeing that Brian has learned nothing, Stewie takes him back to 1999 again to try to prevent their past selves from telling any future events. However, this results in 50 incarnations of Stewie and Brian appearing to prevent them from telling the future, including a Brian and Stewie accompanied by their Peter, a Stewie who has
developed female breasts, another Stewie and Brian trapped in
barber's poles, one Brian and Stewie dressed up in banana outfits, and a Brian whose throat was slit. Having had enough, the first Stewie tells all of his and Brian's numerous future selves to take a vote on whether or not they should prevent 9/11, which results in the majority saying no, although Peter votes twice. The first Stewie then orders everyone to not foretell any future events and return to their respective times, which they do. From there, Stewie takes Brian back a minute before their past selves initially arrived, and forces them at gunpoint to return to 2011. After initial confusion results in the Brian that just arrived getting shot in the leg, they comply. With that, the altered timeline ceases to exist, along with its corresponding Stewie and Brian. Back in the present, the other Stewie and Brian, who is recovering from the leg injury, talk about the possibility of causing havoc during every time travel trip. They are thankful for not altering the present timeline until Peter arrives with his friends' 1999 selves to drink beer and watch TV. ==Production and development==