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Imaginationland

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"Imaginationland"

"Imaginationland" is episode 1110 (#163) of Comedy Central's South Park. It premiered on October 17, 2007. [1]

Plot

The episode begins in the woods, with Cartman directing the other boys in setting up traps and spying on the surroundings, searching for a leprechaun. Cartman claims to have seen it in the woods for several days in a row, and a skeptical Kyle is there, having made a bet with him---if Cartman can prove leprechauns exist, Kyle will suck his balls, but if not, Cartman will owe Kyle $10. As the two are arguing, Butters suddenly does spot a leprechaun, and as it flees, the boys chase it, and eventually catch it in a trap. The leprechaun warns the boys of a terrorist attack, before vanishing with magic.

Cartman, triumphant, declares that Kyle must now suck his balls, but Kyle refuses, insisting that the leprechaun could not have been real. The next day, as Kyle is discussing the leprechaun with the other boys, a strange man suddenly appears, asking them if they have seen it. When Kyle argues that leprechauns are just imaginary, the man tells him that just because something is imaginary doesn't mean it isn't real. He then invites the boys for a ride in his magical "Imagination Flying Machine", while he serenades them with "The Imagination Song". The song is banal, consisting simply of the word 'imagination' sung repetetively in various tonal inflection (presumably as a parody of the themes scoring many children's feature films), and prompting irritation from Kyle. They arrive in a bizarre place called Imaginationland, where all the beings created by human imagination reside.

File:Imaginationland.jpg
The imaginary creatures of the Imaginationland

The imaginary creatures are all fascinated by the presence of the "creators," and ask them about the leprechaun. Just as they are about to tell them, however, a band of Islamist terrorists suddenly appear and set off a series of bombs, which quickly kill hundreds of the imaginary creatures and destroy most of the city. The boys flee, and a passing dragon tells them to climb on its back so it can fly them to safety. Butters, however, is left behind at the last minute and beaten by the terrorists, as the others fly away without him.

The next morning, Kyle wakes up in his bed, and is at first sure the whole thing must have been a dream---until he calls Stan, and discovers that he had the same dream. They also soon discover that Butters is missing. Meanwhile, Cartman, angry that Kyle has refused to fulfill his part of their agreement, takes Kyle to court, where the judge, seeing the written contract the two made, orders Kyle to suck Cartman's balls within twenty-four hours.

Meanwhile, the United States Department of Defense has learned about the attack on Imaginationland, and is horrified to discover that terrorists have managed to "attack their imaginations". They receive a video from the terrorists, showing that they have the survivors of the attack, including Butters, hostage. Butters reads a note from the terrorists, and calls out to Stan and Kyle as the video ends. Unsure of how to counter such a move, they turn to Hollywood film makers, hoping that they can use their creativity to get ideas.[2] At first M. Night Shyamalan and Michael Bay are consulted, but when their 'ideas' are considered to be not really ideas at all (Shyamalan only comes up with plot twists and Michael Bay just nonsensically strings together special effects sequences), the advice of Mel Gibson is sought. He suggests that they examine the video the terrorists sent, and determine if there is anyone in it that somehow doesn't fit. Surprised to finally hear a good idea from a Hollywood director, the general comments, "Say what you want about Mel Gibson, but the son of a bitch knows story structure."[3] The officials at the Pentagon rewatch the video and realize that Butters is not an imaginary character and head out to locate both Stan and Kyle.

In Imaginationland, the terrorists take one of the creatures, Rockety Rocket, and begin to modify him, planning to use him to blow up "the Barrier" - the wall that separates the good and evil halves of Imaginationland; this would allow the most evil beings of the human mind to come forth and rule the entire world. The imaginary creatures urge Butters to stop them. Butters stands in front of the wall just as the terrorists are about to do it, and urges them not to, arguing it won't make them "feel any better" and that they should learn to live in peace with other people. The terrorists simply blow the Barrier up anyway; the explosion causes it to begin to crack.

Cartman, meanwhile, throws a huge party, during which the other boys are supposed to watch Kyle come over and suck his balls. Kyle and Stan are about to walk into Cartman's house, when the members of the military suddenly show up and take the two of them away for questioning about what they know about Imaginationland. Cartman, furious at being foiled, quickly leaves and begins to hitchhike to Washington, D.C. to force Kyle to fulfill his obligation.

Reception

The episode was both a critical and commercial success. It drew in over 3.4 million viewers and was the most watched program in all of television for Wednesday night among Men between ages 18-24 and 18-34 and ranked #1 in cable among Persons 18-49. [4]

On the critical side, IGN gave the episode a rating of 9.1/10 and praised it for being "smart, inventive and provides a number of moments that'll stick with you long after it's over." [5] 411Mania also gave the show a positive review, calling it "a great episode", praising it as an improvement over what the site perceived to be two weak episodes, and awarding it 7/10.[6] TV Squad also gave a positive review saying that "They're still on a roll with another great episode." [7]

The episode currently has a score of 9.5 on TV.com, and a rating of 8.8 on the Internet Movie Database, as voted by viewers.[8] [9]

Allusions

  • The title sequence that takes place after the Leprechaun's warning is in reference to the title sequences from the Superman films.
  • The man who brings the boys to Imaginationland, and likewise his balloon, are a parody of the once popular Dreamfinder character from the now closed attraction Journey Into Imagination at EPCOT Center's Journey Into Imagination pavilion, which was open from 1983-1998.
  • The scene in which Stan is crouched under the giant mushroom right after the suicide bomber explodes is an almost shot-by-shot recreation of a scene from Saving Private Ryan, in which Stan plays the part of Captain John Miller during the landing at Omaha Beach. The scene is spoofed right down to Ronald McDonald re-enacting the infamous shot of a man picking up his own dismembered arm off the ground.
  • In the scene where directors are being asked for help by the Pentagon, Michael Bay says (in reference to his inability to discern special effects from story structure): "I don't understand the difference." to which the Pentagon replies: "We know." This is a direct allusion to dialogue in the episode "Casa Bonita"
  • Butter's final plea with the terrorists before they unleash Rockety Rocket is reminiscent of Rodney King's appearance during the 1992 Los Angeles riots to ask, "Can we all get along?"
  • In the penultimate scene where Rockety Rocket has met his death, the "barrier" that separates the good and the evil sides of Imaginationland begins to crack. The Mayor of Imaginationland states, "They are coming." This is a direct reference to Gandalf's translation of the dwarf runes prior to the fellowship's oncoming battle in Moria in Peter Jackson's 2001 film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
  • In the last scene of the episode where Cartman is getting a ride from the trucker, Cartman is dressed exactly like Sylvester Stallone's character Rambo in the movie "First Blood" with the trademark green Army jacket, red undershirt, and brown traveling bag. This also refers to the way he is hitchhiking and the words he speaks at the end, "When a man has been wronged, he no longer cares about danger." and "You go through life being told there's justice, then you learn the only real justice...is the justice you take." [10] Cartman's final line in the episode is a reference to a line made by Mel Gibson's character in The Patriot, Benjamin Martin.[citation needed]

Character references in Imaginationland

Numerous characters are present in Imaginationland, all of which are outlined in the following list.

References

  1. ^ Episode guide. South Park Studios. Retrieved on 2007-10-14.
  2. ^ Peter Bart. "Pentagon calls for rewrites on war script". Variety. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  3. ^ Brad Trechak. "TV Squad - Imagionationland". TV Squad. Retrieved 2007-10-21.
  4. ^ Comedy Central Press Release
  5. ^ Travis Fickett. "South Park: "Imaginationland" Review". IGN. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  6. ^ Jerome Cusson. "Goin' Down to South Park 10.17.07: Imaginationland". 411mania.com. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "South Park: Imaginationland". TV Squad. Retrieved 2007-10-21.
  8. ^ "South Park: Imaginationland Episode Reviews". Tv.Com. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  9. ^ ""South Park" Imaginationland (2007)". IMDB. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  10. ^ "Rambo & Cartman Image Comparison". Retrieved 2007-10-21.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h "South Park - Imaginationland (Episode 1103)". Recapist. Retrieved 2007-10-21.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Movie connections for "South Park" Imaginationland". IMDB.com. Retrieved 2007-10-22. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |title= at position 22 (help)
  13. ^ a b c d e f Have appeared in previous episodes.
  14. ^ Kelly Hagen. "Reality check for 'Peanuts'". Bismarck Tribune. Retrieved 2007-10-19.
  15. ^ a b c d e Mentioned by name in the episode
  16. ^ "Mario Makes It To South Park". Kotaku. Retrieved 2007-10-19.

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