Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods
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| South Park episode | |
| "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" | |
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| Episode no. | 24 |
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| Airdate | September 2, 1998 |
| South Park - Season 2 April 1, 1998 – January 20, 1999 |
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| ← Season 1 | Season 3 → |
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| List of all South Park episodes | |
"Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" is episode 211 of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired on September 2, 1998.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
In this episode, the kids are told that they will go on an excursion to the planetarium. Cartman is tempted to find a Cheesy Poofs truck after he sees a commercial on a video that Mr. Garrison tries to show to the class. The people object to the "planeh'arium" (as pronounced by the planetarium director, Dr. Adams), but then want to go back after the field trip. Not only do they go back, they all start volunteering at the planetarium. This turns out to be because the director is using a brainwashing device on them.
Cartman sings the Cheesy Poofs song and then gets elected to sing it so he can be on TV, cheating and browbeating his way past the other contestants. His performance is so bad, though, that only one word of it is used in the final ad.
In the meantime, school counselor Mr. Mackey, who uses an ancient school counselor technique called a "mind meld", and school nurse Nurse Gollum have learned of the mind control device through a kid who escaped the planetarium named Van Gelder and race to stop Dr. Adams. A final showdown occurs at the planetarium, with Stan, Kyle, Mr. Mackey and Nurse Gollum against Dr. Adams and Officer Barbrady (brainwashed to believe that he is Elvis). The boys, Mackey, and Nurse Gollum are successfully captured, tied to the rugs and brainwashed too.
However, Cartman, angry at the boys for missing his commercial debut, kicks the star projector, sending the full blast of the mind control machine into Dr. Adams' brain. With no one around to say anything, Dr. Adams becomes a mindless shell of a man collapsed against the back wall. Cartman is elated that he not only was on TV, but saved the day as well.
[edit] Star Trek references
- There are many overt references to the original Star Trek episode "Dagger of the Mind" in this episode, including the main plot and some of the names of the guest characters.
- The uniforms worn by the volunteers at the planetarium have the same design as those worn by the sanitarium staff in the Trek episode and there is a mind meld scene.
- The name of the planetarium is the "Tantalus V Observatory", a reference to Tantalus Penal colony in the Star Trek episode.
- The text "Me transmitte sursum, Caledoni!" appears over an archway at the planetarium. This Latin phrase translates to "Bring me up, Scotsman" (see Beam me up, Scotty).
- A news anchor refers to a news reporter as a "34-year-old Asian man who looks strikingly similar to Ricardo Montalban." Montalban played the title character in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, whose full name was Khan Noonien Singh, named after an Asian friend of Gene Roddenberry.
[edit] Roger Ebert references
- After the constellation "The Crusades" is shown, Dr. Adam's voice fades into the background and Cartman begins to talk, but you can hear Dr. Adams say, "Stars are actually made of hot gas, which is exactly what comes out of Roger Ebert's mouth."
- Film critic Roger Ebert is represented in one of the constellations, providing the source of the episode title. He is shown with a scowl and a thumbs down.
- It may be interesting to note that Ebert hated both South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut and Team America: World Police, both projects of Matt Stone and Trey Parker.
[edit] Alien appearances
- At the very end of the episode, when Cartman says "Well, what a day this has been...", if you look closely, you'll notice an alien figure in the Planetarium machines (on Cartman's right).
[edit] Kenny's death
Stan and Kyle are trying to figure out the brainwashing device while Kenny is in the main projector room, when they accidentally set the device to its highest setting. Kenny's head explodes when his brain is overloaded by the signal of the brainwashing device. Stan and Kyle then say:
- Stan: Oh my god! We've killed Kenny!
- Kyle: We're bastards!
Kenny's death is possibly a joke on Belloq's death in Raiders of the Lost Ark whose head also exploded (but for a different reason).
[edit] See also
| Preceded by: "Chickenpox" |
South Park episodes | Followed by: "Clubhouses" |
