Story

Description

Cartman and the boys experience serious deja vu -- it seems like they're reliving the same events that took place in "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe." This familiar feeling is confirmed when the satellite dish in Cartman's ass reappears and goes on the fritz. The boys are soon abducted by visitors and taken into space.

Here, they are informed by a friendly alien (named Najix) that "Earth" is actually the set of the most-watched, longest-running reality TV show in the universe. Eons ago, intergalactic network heads put 17 different species -- including Asians, Bears, Ducks, Jews, Deer, and Hispanics -- together on the same planet and then televised the resulting chaos. And the satellite dish in Cartman's ass is one of thousands around the world that help broadcast the show.

When the boys' meddling causes earthlings to become aware that they're being watched, the network heads decide to "cancel" the show and destroy Earth. In desperation, the boys contact the Joozians, an alien race that controls all media in the universe. They do lunch with two Joozian executives and then follow them to a strip club. The creatures get high on some sort of purple space powder (called "blancgh") and then retire to a hotel room to suck each other's jaggons -- all while the boys watch (and take a picture).

Afterward, a deal is struck. If the boys keep quiet about the jaggon-sucking incident, the Joozians won't destroy Earth. The kids' memories are erased and they're returned to South Park, none the worse for wear. Except for some reason, Kenny now possesses a photograph of what appears to be two aliens having sex.

What I Learned Today

"I'm sure you'll see that if you give our world time, it will become even more outrageous and violent."

Memorable Quotes

• "Kyle, I swear, if I didn't have a guy's hand up my ass right now, I'd leap across the room and kick you in the nuts." Cartman
• "Nobody is putting their finger in my ass again! Unless it's Kyle." Cartman
• "Oh yeah, suck my jaggon!" Joozians
• "What the funk and wagnalls are you talking about?" Cartman
• "You know that feeling when the huge dump you just took shoots back up inside your ass? NO, I'M NOT ALRIGHT!" Cartman
• "Where'd you learn to drive, aliens?! Chinese Auto School?!" Chef
• "We at Nerzod Productions started twenty billion years ago with one philosophy: the best universal television isn't scripted! It's REAL!" Najix
• "I'm sorry Earthlings, but you have to realize that the Universe is a business." Joozians
• "Dude, I have no idea what we're seeing right now. But I have a feeling it's really, really wrong." Stan
• "How about a taco -- that craps ice cream? " Cartman

Characters

Featured Characters

Stan Marsh

Kyle Broflovski

Eric Cartman

Kenny McCormick

Jerome "Chef" McElroy

Visitors

Disguised Visitors

United Nations

A Taco that craps ice cream

Character Debuts

Jeff, the space expert. He's a satire of the nutball scientist played by Jeff Goldblum in Independence Day.

Jeff Goldblum

The large-nosed Joozian Network Executives, who control all the media in the universe.

Joozians

The shape-shifting alien, Najix, who appears to the boys in various forms before finally settling on a giant ice-cream crapping taco, debuts in this episode.

Najix

Locations

Behind The Scenes

Pop Culture References

Shout Outs

• A car chase in which Chef and the boys outrun some aliens is done as an homage to The Dukes of Hazzard. Also, a brief section of live-action footage is similiar to the Danish monster movie Reptilicus.

• This is the second episode in which the science fiction movie Contact is singled out for ridicule. In "Tom's Rhinoplasty," Mr. Garrison vomits at the very mention of it. And in this episode Kyle calls it "gay" and Stan refers to it as "stupid." Furthermore, Jeff's desolate scientist station (surrounded by a field of satellite dishes) is modeled after a similar location from the film.

• While trying to find a pleasing body form for the boys, Najix (the alien) transforms into a variety of pop culture icons: Santa, Michael Jordan, Don King, Mr. Roarke and Tattoo from Fantasy Island, comedian George Burns, JJ from Good Times, Saddam Hussein, rapper Missy Elliot, Frank Sinatra, and finally a taco that craps ice cream.

• The reality TV shows made by Nerzod Productions are parodies of actual shows: "Who Wants to Marry A Gelgamek?," "Antares 6 Millionaire," and "Get Me Outta Here, I'm A Klingnanian!" are parodies of "Who Wants to Marry A Multi-Millionaire?," "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?," and "I'm A Celebrity Get Me Outta Here!".

• In the process of decoding a message, Jeff mentions: " 60 -- that's the number of episodes they made of Punky Brewster before it was canceled." There were actually 88 episodes made of that TV show.

Pwn'd

Cartman wakes up inside an alien spaceship and screams, "I'm trapped inside Helen Hunt's ass!" When informed by Kyle that this isn't the case, he replies, "Oh, thank God! Oh thank thank the Lord."

Bonus Factoids

Pointless Observations

• When the boys walk into the FOGNL Network office, snippets from past episodes play on the TVs in the background: The Marklars from "Starvin' Marvin in Space" can be seen, as well as aliens from "The Biggest Douche in the Universe" . The Marklars are mentioned again later, as are the Gelgamecks from "Red Hot Catholic Love" .

• Although the boys briefly discuss it, the opening to this episode is almost exactly the same as the opening to the pilot episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe." The animation, however, is just a little bit better.

• This is the boys second time in space, the first time being in "Starvin' Marvin in Space." Cartman brags, "this is like my fifth time."

• In this episode, we learn that the alien "visitors" who make regular cameos in South Park episodes are really employees of an intergalactic TV production company, Nerzod Productions. The gigantic satellite dish placed in Cartman's ass is just one of some 50,000 that have been inserted in human rectums around the world to help broadcast the reality show.

Season 7

e1 I'm a Little Bit Country

e2 Krazy Kripples

e3 Toilet Paper

e4 Cancelled

e5 Fat Butt and Pancake Head

e6 Lil' Crime Stoppers

e7 Red Man's Greed

e8 South Park Is Gay

e9 Christian Rock Hard

e10 Grey Dawn

e11 Casa Bonita

e12 All About Mormons

e13 Butt Out

e14 Raisins

e15 It's Christmas in Canada