Go God Go XII

Template:Infobox South Park episode "Go God Go XII" is episode 1013 (#152) of Comedy Central's South Park, which aired on November 8, 2006. The episode is a continuation of the previous episode, "Go God Go".

This episode parodies the opening sequence of Buck Rogers in the 25th century.

Plot summary

Template:Spoilers Cartman, still trapped in the future, is now being held captive by The Sea Otter faction—Allied Atheist Alliance (AAA)— with whom he cooperates in exchange for them helping him get the Wii. After helping him obtain one from the abandoned technology museum in New New Hampshire, Cartman manages to warp back to the United Atheist Alliance (UAA) headquarters. He soon finds that the ancient Wii is not compatible with the futuristic Float Screen, but discovers the Crank Prank Time Phone, which allows people to crank call the past. Cartman plans to use it to call himself in the past to convince himself to be patient and wait three weeks for the Wii instead of going through with his plan to freeze himself.

File:Future cartman.jpg

Cartman in the opening titles.

Meanwhile, it is learned that Richard Dawkins was the founder of worldwide atheism. Mrs. Garrison, whom he eventually married maintained that mere logic doesn't work; you must also be "a dick" to others who disagree with you. As a result, atheism split into three factions. The three groups differ on what they perceive to be the answer to the "Great Question," each believing the other groups' answer to the Question is "illogical" and thus unacceptable (the AAA also objects to humans for illogically cutting down trees to make tables, instead of just eating off of their "tummies" and ironically reveres Dawkins). The Otters have set up false clam fields, which the UAA plans to attack, leaving their own city defenseless from a Unified Atheist League (UAL) attack, thus leaving both the UAA and UAL vulnerable to an attack from the AAA. When one Otter—the "Wise One"—asks if the war is truly just, and implies that perhaps it is acceptable to believe in something supernatural and/or paranormal; he is immediately and violently beaten and killed by a mob of otters.

Cartman uses the Time Phone to call himself in the past, and later Butters and Kyle to convince both to prevent his past-self from freezing himself. He is not believed by his past self or his friends and his attempts fail. The later call prevents Kyle from catching a ride, which somehow slightly alters certain aspects of the future (Cartman's clothes change, and his robotic dog turns into robotic cat called Kit-9). The massive battle between the three atheist groups begins. Cartman goes to the main control hub of the UAA. The war is over "the Great Question", which is revealed to be what atheists should call themselves. Unable to reach an agreement, the atheists had split into the three now-warring factions. Kit-9 then tells Eric to call Mrs. Garrison with the Time Phone. Dawkins answers while the two are having sex, and through his conversation with Cartman discovers that Mrs. Garrison in fact used to be a man. Dawkins gets so disgusted and disturbed over the fact he had sex with a transsexual that he immediately leaves. Mrs. Garrison calls him an "atheist faggot" and reverts to her old ways.

With the split between Garrison and Dawkins the future world becomes altered once again. Cartman suddenly finds himself in a room with members of all three factions. In this new version of the future, the three groups are not at war with each other (in actuality, at war with the French-Chinese for Hawaii). The whole world has decided to get rid of "-isms," because they say though "-isms" are good for people who are rational, in the minds of irrational people they cause violence; the implication seem to be that religious ideas exist (the Sea Otter mentions "Zen"), but that by decentralizing and eliminating dogma people have managed to live in peace. The leaders reveal that Cartman's purpose has been fulfilled, though neither Cartman nor the viewer learn what that purpose was, and he is returned to his own time.

Cartman is transported back in front of the EV Games and merges with his past self. His mother appears and tells him he needs to be patient in waiting for the Wii. Apparently learning his lesson, Cartman says that he will wait. Cartman then learns that the future inhabitants sent him back slightly too far, to September, changing his initial waiting time of three weeks to two months. Angry once again, he is told by an EV Games employee that there is a call for him inside. He picks it up and on the other line is another future Cartman, pleading with him to not to do what he is thinking (implying he freezes himself once again because he cannot wait two months for the Wii). Cartman assumes it to be a prank call from Kyle, showing that he learned absolutely nothing during his extensive ordeal in the future and created a time loop from which he can't escape. Template:Spoilerend

Trivia

• When Cartman gets the Wii, you can see the Nintendo GameCube on a shelf next to it. Next to that is an NES.
• The opening narrative and music, as well as much of the rest of the episode, is a direct reference of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, as well as several other films dealing with time travel and the future.
• The three Atheist groups in the future (Allied Atheist Alliance, United Atheist Alliance, Unified Atheist League) are a reference to the Judean socialist resistance groups in Monty Python's Life of Brian (The Judean People's Front, the People's Front of Judea and the Judean Popular People's Front).
• The constantly changing future is simlar to the novel "The Lathe of Heaven", in which the main character can change reality in unexpected ways through affective dreaming. (When ordered to eliminate the shortages caused by world overpopulation, he wakes to find a world in which two-thirds of humanity has died in a plague.)
• The uniform Eric Cartman is wearing while stealing the Crank Prank Time-Phone resembles the uniform worn by the electrical engineers in the futuristic 1985 sci-fi movie Brazil.
• The M41A Pulse Rifle from the 1986 sci-fi/action movie Aliens is seen in the hands of the sea otters.
• The background sound used in the future after Cartman breaks up Mrs. Garrison and Richard Dawkins is the background sound of holographics room on seaQuest DSV.
• The robotic dog K-10 is a reference to K-9, a robotic dog in the British TV-series Doctor Who. The other puns are Cocka-3 (cockatoo) and Kit-9 (kitten).
• Although South Park mocks many religions, Trey Parker maintains that "out of all the ridiculous religion stories---which are greatly, wonderfully ridiculous---the silliest one I've ever heard is..."yeah...there's this big giant universe and it's expanding, it's all gonna collapse on itself and we're all just here 'just cuz'..."just cuz". That, to me, is the most ridiculous explanation ever." [1]
• The ostrich ridden by the seaotter in the opening scene emits the same cry as the Pit Worm Boss from the PC game Half life: Opposing Force.

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