(S12E07) While the kids are on an educational field trip to a living museum called Pioneer Village, Cartman forces Butters to sneak away with him from the class to go to the amusement center located nearby. While they're having a good time at the amusement center, a group of thieves break into Pioneer Village and take the class hostage. Hilarity ensues.This episode is the last of the first half of season 12. South Park will return later in the year with seven more episodes.
The episode was cute, but it just wasn't their usual standard of sharp satire. This seemed more of a "silly escapade" in which the boys get themselves in a strange situation. It was more for character development than to make a statement about the world. Every set of seven episodes has one which the creators start to animate in advance to give themselves a mid-season break. This seemed like that episode.
Having been to Colonel Williamsburg in Virginia where the actors similarly never break character, I can testify that it can get annoying sometimes. However, I don't think the folks in Williamsburg would keep in character if terrorists threatened to shoot them in the head. I did find it amusing how the actors immediately went back to being real people when the 5 o'clock whistle blew (a statement about the working world if there ever was one).
There was some parody in the episode. It was as if Die Hard and Ferris Bueller's Day Off happened side by side. "Franz" was obviously a parody of Hans Gruber. Cartman and Butters played hooky and went on an adventure similar to the one taken by Matthew Broderick and Alan Ruck (Cartman even paraphrased a line from that movie). Cartman's "Super Phun Thyme" song is a parody of a song from that movie as well.
When the terrorists picked out Kenny as a hostage, I half expected them to kill him in a retro moment (as was done in the final episode of last season). Then I realized that's what the writers would expect me to expect, so he was probably going to live for this episode. It seems that Stan and Wendy are still together since that episode, so some things remain consistent (including Mr. Garrison's tendency to be more concerned about his own welfare than that of the children in his care).
Between Butters' refusal to stop holding hands with Cartman no matter what punishment he received and the Pioneer Village workers' refusal to break character, the theme of the episode could be interpreted as adherence to duty no matter what implications arise. Or maybe it was a just an unintentional coincidence.
Favorite lines from the episode:
- Cartman's reaction to Kyle's rejection of his partnership: "Jesus, what did I ever do to you?"
- Cartman's exclamation: "Oh my Jesus Christ Monkey Balls!"
- Craig's line: "These Pioneer Village workers are really committed to their job."
- Cartman's line to Butters: "It's okay, Butters. You can't help being a douchebag."
Overall, the first half of season 12 was a bit of a let down but still better than 99% of the stuff on television. Imaginationland from last season is still tough to top. Perhaps these episodes will get better in repeated viewings. One of the major strengths of this series is how well the humor holds up over time. I attribute that to the wit and intelligence of the writing.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-24-2008 @ 12:37AM
Zach said...
Let me just say that this was an absolutely fantastic episode, near perfection. The only thing that would have made it a little better is if they used the cop from Lil Crime Stoppers instead of some random cop. Loved the old timey theme and when Stan made the ultimate sacrifice I lost it.
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4-24-2008 @ 12:52AM
Wii60 said...
This half was a lot like the old South Park, before the Topic of the Week episodes. It was very nice to see the throwback, but we're gonna need a return to form. Otherwise they boys are prepping for a big jump over the shark.
I just want to know that there will be razor sharp hilarity like Imaginationland in the future.
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4-24-2008 @ 1:07AM
Franklin said...
Cute episode. Not every episode has to be topical. In recent episodes, I think they've been trying too hard to be timely with current events.
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4-24-2008 @ 5:20AM
tanside said...
I totally agree, it is a nice break. I was half expecting John McClane to show up to save the day.
4-24-2008 @ 9:50AM
bruce said...
I loved the Die Hard parody... "Franz" instead of Hanz Gruber. I kept waiting for someone to say "You're just a hamburglar!" and for him to respond "I'm an EXCELLENT hamburglar!"
Oh well. Still a pretty funny episode. Not as good as last week's. Also I wonder if the title of the episode is supposed to be "Happy Fun Tyme" which was the name of the arcade-place that Cartman and Butters went to.
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4-24-2008 @ 10:49AM
Happy Steve said...
>> I kept waiting for someone to say "You're just a hamburglar!" and for him to respond "I'm an EXCELLENT hamburglar!"
Oh man, that would've been HYSTERICAL!
4-24-2008 @ 10:12AM
Patrick said...
"Every set of seven episodes has one which the creators start to animate in advance to give themselves a mid-season break. This seemed like that episode."
You speculated the same thing about Ep 1 as well. Just sayin'...
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4-24-2008 @ 11:04AM
bruce said...
Actually I screwed up, the line was "I'm an EXCEPTIONAL thief (hamburglar)." not excellent. Damn. Still funny heheh
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4-24-2008 @ 11:22AM
MosquitoControl72 said...
Another subpar episode.
Which, again, is better than most of what is on TV, but this just lacked. It had some laugh out loud moments, but they were just ok by South Park standards.
It was a bit reminiscent of Casa Bonita, but nowhere near as good.
Was too close to that book by Chuck Palinhiuk that took place in one of these villages, too. Considering how awful an author Chuck is and how terrible that book was, maybe my view is a bit tainted.
As a whole, one of the better episodes of the season, but still felt half-hearted and distracted. Unlike typical South Parks, which are absolutely packed for 30 minutes, not much seemed to happen here.
6/10 (by South Park standards), and I'm being generous. As a whole I'd say the first half of this season was a 4/10 and arguably the worst season they've had, this or Season 2. I thought last season was a bit of a dud, with some genius and some terrible (and still overall far beyond most other shows.)
Compare this season to Season 8, which had no flaws. Or Season 5, which was mostly amazing. There hasn't been a single memorable episode here, they've all been ho-hum. Nothing matching Goobacks or Cripple Fight or Die Hippie Die.
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4-24-2008 @ 12:07PM
Dan said...
It was a fun episode, but more like one of those random throw-away ones that is fun to watch, but has nothing I will remember too much in the future. However with that being said, South Park still rocks and is one of the 5 or 6 shows I still watch on TV that can make me laugh. I loved how at 5 they all broke character and the whole Ferris Bueller thing was great too.
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4-24-2008 @ 3:31PM
Frank Wrench said...
I personally loved this episode. I've been waiting for a while to have a South Park episode that didn't revolve completely around some real-life event. Don't get me wrong, I love the satire episodes, but for a while now that's all they've done. (The Cartman-becomes-a-teacher episode was a little like this one, but Cartman's storyline was still very much a parody of some movie.) It makes me feel that Stone and Parker are returning to their roots. Remember the episode where Cartman gets babysat by Shelley? It didn't need any imitated celebrities or stories ripped from today's headlines to be funny.
Favorite part of this episode: The "Super Phun Time" montage, especially when Cartman and Butters have to use "Tomorrow Never Dies" poses to ride the motorcycle.
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4-24-2008 @ 5:58PM
Mkarmin1 said...
Maybe its just me but I thought they threw in a little about the polygamist situation in there...kinda mocking people who stick to their beliefs (the people believing they were actually from the past)???
Could be a stretch. I enjoyed this episode tons though.
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4-24-2008 @ 7:39PM
Dan said...
I thought that was what they were lampooning at first, but they didn't really come to the message like they usually do. There was no "You know, I learned something today" from Stan, so I think this was just a random episode just for fun. And it was Super Phun Thyme, not Super Fun Time.
4-25-2008 @ 12:36PM
Chris said...
"Every set of seven episodes has one which the creators start to animate in advance to give themselves a mid-season break. This seemed like that episode."
You say this in nearly every review. Stop.
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5-02-2008 @ 1:39PM
Danny said...
Anyone from Colorado? Does anyone remember Funplex? LOL, One of the best episodes ever.
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5-08-2008 @ 12:43AM
jordancda said...
I LOVED this episode purely for the Butters-not-letting-go-of-Cartman's-hand gag. As soon as they set that up, I was hooked. I could watch an hour of Butters and Cartman doing whatever as long as Butters refused to let go of his hand. I don't know, I just thought everything they did with that was great. Love me some Butters.
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