Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride

"Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride"

" Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" is the fourth episode of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired on September 3, 1997. It guest-starred actor, George Clooney. This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award.

Plot

Stan's dog Sparky follows the boys to the bus stop one morning, prompting Stan and Cartman to begin arguing over which is the toughest dog in South Park, Sparky or local street mutt Sylvester, who also shows up at the bus stop. The dogs circle each other and prepare to fight, with the boys egging them on, when Sparky suddenly leaps on top of Sylvester and begins humping him energetically. Sylvester runs away yelping, and Cartman declares that Sparky is apparently a "gay homosexual."

At football practice, Stan's Uncle Jimbo and his buddy Ned show up (representing the South Park alumni) asking (Coach) Chef if the boys can beat the spread of 70 points. Impressed by a catch, Jimbo and Ned run off to the bookie where Jimbo puts $500 on the South Park Cows, to cover. This causes everyone else to bet all their money as well and threatening them if the cows lose. Unsure of wanting to rely on Stan, Jimbo and Ned seek a backup plan and learn that John Stamos' brother Richard will be singing "Lovin' You" at halftime.

After practice, Sparky shows up and mounts another dog, Rex, who also runs away yelping with his tail between his legs. The next day, after class, Stan asks Mr. Garrison to tell him what a homosexual is. Mr. Garrison's response is that "Gay people are evil. Evil right down to their cold, black hearts, which pump not blood, like yours and mine, but rather a thick, black vomitous oil." Stan sets on a quest to make his dog more masculine, hopefully to prevent him from being gay. His first attempt, presenting Sparky with Fifi, a female poodle, fails miserably when Sparky steals Fifi's pearl collar. Thinking that homosexuality might not be bad, Stan calls up Jesus on his show Jesus and Pals to ask him what He thinks of homosexuality. but before He can answer, the show abruptly ends in time for Cartman's favorite show, "Marty's Movie Reviews". Frustrated, he rants about wanting a butch dog, a Rin Tin Tin. Sparky overhears this and runs away, ending up at Big Gay Al's Big Gay Animal Sanctuary.

As they talk to Carl, a bomb and explosive expert, Jimbo and Ned's plan is revealed: to blow up the opposing team using a sonic triggering device as Richard Stamos hits the high F note in the song. They attach the bomb to Middle Park's mascot. At halftime, Richard Stamos fails to hit the note, upsetting Jimbo and Ned, who shout that he isn't as talented as his brother.

Worried about his dog, Stan looks for him (leaving him absent from the game in the process) and finds him at the Big Gay Animal Sanctuary. Here, Stan learns from Big Gay Al that homosexuality has been around for a long time, and Stan eventually accepts his dog's homosexuality. Returning to the game in progress, Stan steps in as the quarterback, passing the ball to Kyle for a touchdown that beats the spread as time runs out, with a final score of 73-6. In his interview after the game, Stan tries to tell the people of South Park about the Big Gay Animal Sanctuary and that "it's okay to be gay."

He attempts to lead the people to the site of the Big Gay Animal Sanctuary, but it is mysteriously missing; people's runaway pets, however, return. As everyone dissipates Big Gay Al appears to Stan, thanking him for bringing everyone, before he disappears as well.

Although the Cows beat the spread, Richard Stamos shows up to prove he can hit the high note that he missed earlier, which triggers the bomb and blows up the Cowboys' mascot.

Kenny's death

• Kenny's arms and head are ripped off when he is tackled by three of the Middle Park players during the football game. His corpse is then gnawed on by rats (a running gag in the show). Although when the boys are lining up on the field, you can see Kenny in his gear alive.

Censorship

• On the Canadian channel Global, the balding commentator's line "I haven't seen a Jew run that fast since Poland 1938!" when Kyle runs with the football was cut (however, The Comedy Network has aired this episode with the line intact).

Pop Culture References

• When Sparky raped the two dogs, Stan was originally going to say "Oh My God! Sparky's Gay!", and Kyle would respond "You Bastards!". These lines are an exact reference to the lines that Stan and Kyle will utter when Kenny dies (although at this point in the first season, Kyle was the one saying the actual "Oh my God! They killed Kenny!" line whenever Kenny dies).
• The disappearance of Big Gay Al at the end of the episode is a spoof of Dr. Lao's disappearance at the end of the movie 7 Faces of Dr. Lao.

Trivia

• George Clooney provides the voice of Sparky the dog.
• In the Hungarian language dub of the show, the singer at the match is Ricky Martin's older brother instead of John Stamos' older brother.
• In the Latin American dub of the show, the singer at the match is Enrique Iglesias's older brother instead of John Stamos' older brother.
• One of the Middle Park players number is -3.
• This was the first episode from the series to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.
• It is very ironic that Mr. Garrison/Mr. Hat appear to be homophobic, as Garrison later comes out as a homosexual, having Mr. Slave as a partner. However, in future episodes, characters do describe him as "a closet homosexual who hated gay people".
• The second dog that Sparky raped was Clyde Donovan's dog, Rex.
• The song playing at the end of the episode is DVDA's "Now You're A Man". DVDA is the name of Trey Parker's band. This song is also the theme song to Parker's film Orgazmo.
• Clyde's voice is usually low, but in this episode, his voice is squeaky.

Goofs

• If one looks closely, one can see an unintentional white flash on the part before Kyle headbutts Pip.
• Kyle's jersey number switches between 12 and 14 in one scene.
• Kenny's jersey number is 13 (the number associated with bad luck in Western culture), but the sports announcer refers to him as "Number 23" (23 being the number of the Illuminati).
• John Stamos' brother actually did hit the high F when he sang "Loving You" the first time. When he repeats it at the end of the episode, it is actually a high F sharp.
• Ms. Crabtree is not seen driving the bus when the kids get off (after the part where Garrison tells Stan to "go practice football like a good little heterosexual.").
• After Stan initially removes the pink scarf from his dog Sparky, Stan attempts to give him several commands. After he tries giving him the command "don't be gay" the screen cuts to a front view of Sparky and the pink scarf can still be seen poking out from the side of Sparky's neck
• After Cartman hikes the ball while Kyle is playing quarterback, Kyle is tackled and drops the ball as the announcers proclaim that it is a fumble and Middle Park picks the ball up and runs it in for a touchdown. In reality, Kyle should have been ruled down because he hit the ground before he fumbled the ball.
• Additionally, Middle Park scores 7 points for this touchdown without having to kick the extra point (Kyle's endgame touchdown is given the correct 6 points).
• In the scene where they play football, if you look closely in the audience Token is white.
• When Stan rips the scarf off his dog, the camera moves to the dog, but when it moves back to Stan the scarf has vanished.