Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus
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| "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus" |
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"Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus" also known as the April Fool's episode is the 14th episode of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired on April 1, 1998, and is a parody of the movie Not Without My Daughter. This was an April Fools special, in which the creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, deliberately confounded audience expectations which had been set up in a previous episode, that the identity of Cartman's father would be revealed.
Plot
The episode begins with a notice that although viewers have waited four weeks for the answer to the mystery "Who Is Cartman's Father," they're not going to get it. Instead is a presentation of "Not Without My Anus" starring Terrance and Phillip.
The drama opens in a courtroom in Canada with Terrance on trial for the murder of Dr. Jeffrey O'Dwyer. Phillip is acting as his lawyer while Terrance and Phillip's sworn nemesis Scott the Dick is acting as the prosecution lawyer. Scott uses a group of airtight exhibits such as a hammer, a piece of Terrance's shirt as well as a Haiku written by Terrance called "Time to kill doctor Jeffrey O'Dwyer," to prove Terrance's guilt but after a series of farts during the verdict reading Terrance is found not guilty. Upon hearing the verdict Scott promises to get Terrance and Phillip soon. Terrance says,"Scott really hates us." To which Phillip responds,"Perhaps he's homophobic."
Terrance and Phillip return home where they enjoy some Kraft Dinner and Terrance dresses up as a pirate. Terrance is interrupted by a courier who delivers a telegram informing him that his daughter Sally has been kidnapped in Iran. Terrance and Phillip both decide they will go to Iraq ("Iran? Iraq? What's the difference?") to rescue her but first must visit Celine Dion, who is revealed to be Sally's mother.
Terrance and Phillip head out to Tehran, where they manage to find Sally within a few seconds of landing and quickly head back home. Meanwhile back in Canada it is revealed that Scott has struck a deal with Saddam Hussein to take care of Terrance and Phillip for him in exchange for helping his troops begin an invasion of Canada. (The kidnapping of Sally in Tehran was orchestrated by Saddam in order that his troops could be smuggled back to Canada on the return flight.)
Terrance and Phillip are outraged by the changes they see in Canada upon their return. Scott, after realizing he has been double crossed by Saddam, visits Terrance and Phillip to tell them that they are to blame for his impending invasion and informs them that the only way to stop it is to suicide bomb him and his troops at the Roughriders vs. Rough Riders game. However they decide upon a different plan which will both get rid of Saddam once and for all and save them from certain death.
Meanwhile, Celine Dion is now sleeping with, and has become pregnant by, a friend of Terrance and Phillip named Ugly Bob, who has been convinced that his face is so ugly that he should wear a paper bag over his head at all times (even though he looks just like every other person in South Park's version of Canada, people scream in horror at the sight of him. According to Phillip, he looks like "someone who tried to put out a forest fire with a screwdriver."). To consolidate his power, Saddam kidnaps Celine Dion to sing the Iraqi national anthem at the game.
At the game, Saddam signals his intention to begin his hostile takeover of Canada and forces Celine Dion to begin singing the Iraqi anthem. Terrance and Phillip, who are sitting in the crowd, then prompt the fans (who each has an 'F' on his or her shirt) to put on gas masks and fart in unison. Eventually Saddam and his troops are overpowered by the gas and die. They are then disemboweled by the crowd, which finally celebrates its freedom with a rendition of the Canadian national anthem.
Closing credits
This was the first episode of South Park to air without showing the city in the background with the South Park styled text, instead, it has closing movie styled credits with a different theme. There are also some unusual roles listed such as fart coach, fart wrangler, fart foley and fart coordinator.
Critical response
Many expected this episode to answer the season ending cliffhanger about Cartman's father. Instead, Matt Stone and Trey Parker created this episode as an April Fool's Day joke. According to commentary, the episode prompted an angry response to Comedy Central. Comedy Central then forced the creators to produce the episode "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut" unusually quickly.
Pop culture references
- One conversation between Scott and Saddam references Star Wars Episode V. When Scott asks why Saddam didn't keep to his side of the deal, Saddam reacts like Darth Vader does by saying: "I changed my mind, pray that I don't change it any further." Scott then reacts like Lando Calrissian by saying: "This deal is getting worse all the time."
- While watching American television, Terrance and Phillip watch a bogus clip from Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut and laugh at the Americans' heads.
- The Canadian football game is between the Ottawa Rough Riders and the "Vancouver Roughriders" (not a real CFL team). This is a parody of the Canadian Football League having two teams called the Roughriders until 1996. The Ottawa Rough Riders did not exist when this episode first aired because they disbanded in 1996.
- Terrence and Phillip enjoy Kraft Dinner (called Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in the U.S.), which is a very popular food in Canada, despite its American origins (they pronounce 'Kraft' like [[International_Phonetic_Alphabet_for_English|[kraf]]] instead of the American [[International_Phonetic_Alphabet_for_English|[kræft]]] in an attempt to imitate the stereotypical Canadian accent).