Cameos by Hayley Smith and Roger, but no one else in the Smith family; set entirely on a spaceship millions of miles away from Earth, never cutting away from a single plot; Sinbad. Seriously, people: Sinbad playing himself captured by aliens. (“So this is where you’ve been for the last 15 years!” “What? I just got here two months ago!”)
An episode like “Lost In Space” jettisons essentially every convention of American Dad to focus on one of the least-developed regular characters, yet it works due to a fearless commitment to blending romantic ideals and batshit insanity. In the same season as American Dad’s staunchly naturalistic portrayal of stage melodrama, this episode lurches to the opposite extreme, indulging the most fantastical elements of the series to succeed. It has references to Kadeem Hardison, Good Burger, and Star Wars—but no First Kid, far and away Sinbad’s greatest cinematic achievement (Also receiving votes: Jingle All The Way.) And though it still maintains the esoteric references and occasionally music-driven standards of a typical episode, it doesn't lean on any familiar building blocks of the series. This is Jeff, alone in an entirely new, fantastical environment, surrounded by a quickly established world filled with new jokes and a helluva memorable song.
Continuing the events of earlier this season, Jeff is trapped on the spaceship initially intending to pick up Roger to solve the problem of Jeff’s inability to keep Roger’s existence a secret. The ship is ruled by an Emperor of Roger’s species, who picks up various slaves of other species along his journey, taking one store or restaurant from each planet to add to a massive spaceship shopping mall. Jeff works with Sinbad in the schwarma shop, lamenting his situation, pining for Hayley, and begging to be returned to Earth. Everyone tries to quash his hopes of return, that he should forget his past and accept his unfortunate fate. Undeterred, Jeff soldiers on, demanding his chance at freedom from the emperor.
“Lost In Space” was written by co-creator Mike Barker, also apparently a big fan of My Morning Jacket, who brought Wax Fang along as openers for a while on tour. The Wax Fang connection led to the centerpiece of the episode: the musical sequence of Jeff undergoing “The Test” to see if his love for Hayley is pure enough for him to go home, invaded by a creature known as The Majestic who projects his memories for all to see. Set to Wax Fang’s “Majestic,” the projected memories shatter Jeff’s world, showing all the times he was a selfish jerk, and earning him a “smoothening” appointment the next morning for his failure. It’s an unheralded song, spacey and punchy at the same time, blending the kind of psychedelic atmosphere for that sequence, and removing the need for any of the Smiths to have any lines outside of the very first scene.