Part of what made “Dungeons and Wagons” such a memorable episode is that it switched to an entirely different animation style when Steve and company were playing as their alter egos. Unfortunately, “Nova Centauris-burgh” doesn’t go the same extra mile (although it’s a bit of a catch-22 where them doing so would also feel reductive of before) but the episode still sees Steve’s surroundings transform into a Tatooine/Arrakis-like space world to take their gaming one step further.

This construct takes form not even a minute into the episode and it’s a prevalent force that helps give the Steve and Francine storyline a whole lot more character. The episode features not only great art design with the LARPing costumes, but also with the environment of Nova Centauris-burgh (not to mention some excellent score work to make things feel more grandiose, too), an intricate world that we’ll surely never see again. The episode gains just as much mileage by playing the fantasy LARP world against reality, highlighting how ridiculous they all seem. After all, as fun as all of this may be, it can all look like a steaming pile of dog feces to someone else.

Stan’s story somehow manages to be just as outlandish as anything out of Nova Centauris’ star system. On a whim, he adopts a busted drug kingpin’s shark, with the Smith’s new mobile art taking up some valuable real estate in their kitchen. All of this acts as a great reflection of Stan’s impulsiveness, with touches like the “lawn sink” being perfect.

In Stan’s head all of this makes sense, and everything else be damned. That is until the shark begins hemorrhaging money as fast as blood from a gaping shark bite wound. If you thought the next logical plan of action was for Steve, Roger, and Hailey to open up a knock-off Sea World within their very home, well you’d be right, but I’m a little worried about how your brain works.

This money pit storyline works a whole lot better than it has any reason to. For whatever reason, the fact that most of the Smith family is trying to make this work makes it even funnier. Klaus’ stand-up act about children being little bitches is worth the admission into Ocean Land alone.