(S11E11) So, it is a trilogy. And the barrier has been broken and the bad part of imagination is free. There were enough references in the episode that made me deduce that Trey Parker and Matt Stone are fans of the current incarnation of Battlestar Galactica. The first hint was the opening words "Previously, on Battlestar Galactica..." The second was having Butters wake from death (as with the Cylons from the aforementioned show). And finally, a reference to the Council of Nine at the end of the episode (or was that a Babylon 5 reference?).
I admit, I was sort of hoping that the bad part of imagination would be all the bad ideas (or rather, ideas that Trey and Matt didn't like) from years past. Instead, it was all the monsters of the imagination from years past. Good enough.
I love the little nuances that Matt and Trey notice. The U.S. government has always portrayed their enemies as having no imagination, yet they display no imagination themselves ("Project Imagination Doorway", anybody?).
Speaking of, the Imagination Song actually had a point! When I first heard the Mayor singing it in the last episode, I figured they were making fun of Family Guy's tendency to have characters break out into pointless songs. Now that I know that the song had a purpose (a funny one at that), I can only conclude that Matt and Trey and the rest of the writers are geniuses.
Weren't the callbacks to previous episodes great? First, there were the Woodland Critters from "Woodland Critter Christmas" (who were, in my mind, the most evil creatures in the horde) and also an appearance by Al Gore's nemesis, the Manbearpig ("He's half man, half bear, and half pig"). Is it arrogance to celebrate your own imagination?
I knew the only reason Cartman fought so hard to resuscitate Kyle was to show him the contract on his hospital bed and try to have him suck the balls. Torturing Kyle is his reason for existence. Otherwise, he would have just let Kyle do it and go on with life rather than play his elaborate set-up game in the conference room. I think next week if Kyle actually tries to suck his balls, he won't want it to happen.
How great is it that the show parodies Hollywood cliches like "If you believe in yourself, everything will be all right" while a nuclear missile is prepared for launch into Imaginationland?
Overall, a great episode.
Favorite quotes:
- "Tap your heels three times." "Really?" "No, you f**king dips**t! That was a joke!"
- "Care for some nuts? Oh, that's right. You'll be chock full of nuts in a minute."
- "Balls so dry they explode like dust."
- "We built a doorway into the imagination. We called it Project Imagination Doorway." "That's not very imaginative."
Characters recognized from this episode: Cylons. Frankenstein. The Alien. Predator. Stormtroopers. Medusa. Jason. Freddy. Wario. Terminator. Headless Horseman. Minotaur. Khan from Star Trek, Darth Maul, the Joker, the robot from The Black Hole, Tron characters, Strawberry Shortcake, Wonder Woman, Zeus, Morpheus, Aslan, Luke Skywalker, Gandalf, and Popeye. Who did I miss?
Doctor Who panel - Comic-Con Report
NBC's Kings panel - Comic-Con Report
The Dharma Initiative wants you - VIDEO - Comic-Con Report
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
10-25-2007 @ 12:07AM
Franklin said...
I think it will be revealed in the next episode that the leprechan the kids saw wasn't really a leprechan. thus, this would technically invalidate kyle and cartman's bet.
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10-25-2007 @ 12:08AM
Brian Emick said...
Did anyone else catch The Abyss reference?
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10-25-2007 @ 12:12AM
Ian said...
Chevron 7 is locked!
"Indeed."
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10-25-2007 @ 12:24AM
SJ said...
Jesus!
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10-25-2007 @ 12:38AM
megastar_13 said...
Kurt Russell and all the Stargate references!
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10-25-2007 @ 12:42AM
Hollywood Ron said...
The kids trying to replicate the tones of the imagination song reminded me of the He-Man movie and the musical key.
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10-25-2007 @ 12:50AM
Oreo said...
The creators of SP are HUGE BSG fans. The BSG and SP people met at the Peabody Awards, and the BSG people said that Kenny should be a Cylon. :)
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10-25-2007 @ 12:59AM
shawn said...
while i liked last week. this episode was vastly superior and was very nerdtastic!
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10-25-2007 @ 1:36AM
Diego M said...
Damn when i saw popeye with zeus and jesus i was crackin up so bad haha.
I loved alien and predator and the little criters
"They are raping us all of us, and it hurts"
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10-25-2007 @ 1:36AM
Wu Kong said...
Akuma from the Street Fighter games. Also last week they had Copper Kid from Silverhawks.
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10-25-2007 @ 2:55AM
D.A. said...
a "Blue Meanie" (Yellow Submarine) In last weeks episode.
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10-25-2007 @ 5:25AM
Derek said...
Does anyone know if the imagination song in these last couple of episodes is the same one from Wonder Showzen? I know one of the creators of that show has worked on South Park before.
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10-25-2007 @ 8:42AM
jessica0602 said...
Freddy Krueger!
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10-25-2007 @ 8:48AM
Peku said...
I mentioned the Woodland Critters' last week and sure enough this week they made their return. Fine episode, not as good as last week's though, but I love the way the plot develops. The best part of the episode had to be Cartman grilling Kyle in the conference room. Cartman is just such an awesome character. He and the mayor also had some great quotes in this episode.
By the way what the hell happened to Kenny? He was with them in Imaginationland and now he's nowhere to be seen.
Looking forward to next week and the conclusion. And again, Kyle better suck Cartman's balls...
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10-25-2007 @ 10:19AM
rick cokely said...
"And finally, a reference to the Council of Nine at the end of the episode"
No, BSG is the Quorum of 12. I think the "Council of Nine" was just made up.
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10-25-2007 @ 10:39AM
Chris said...
You all don't seem to understand the imagination song joke. It is a reference to the Epcot Figment ride where they take you into the land of imagination. That is a joke of that song and a joke of the man that flew them there. It might be a little old for all of you. It is not a reference to "wondershowzen" or anything like that.
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10-25-2007 @ 10:48AM
Rock Robertson (DJrock3k) said...
All I could think of when i saw the army of stormtroopers and various other money-making entities was:" What massive copyright infringement! BRAVO!!" They were even yelling out the names of the creatures, that was so freaking cool! And to make their own creations the worst of the worst (Jason "We're not even that hardcore...") , sheer Brilliance!
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10-25-2007 @ 11:11AM
Bryan said...
You forgot Mordred from Excalibur.
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10-25-2007 @ 11:17AM
Clint said...
I think the Council of Nine and the whole Sunshine Castle or whatever it was called was a reference to Lord of the Rings. The castle reminded me of what Rivendale looked like in the movies too.
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10-25-2007 @ 11:51AM
Shawn said...
I thought the same thing, Clint.
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