Super Best Friends
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| South Park episode | |
| "Super Best Friends" | |
 Super Best Friends HQ. |
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| Episode no. | 68 |
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| Airdate | July 4, 2001 |
| South Park - Season 5 June 20, 2001 – December 12, 2001 |
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| ← Season 4 | Season 6 → |
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| List of all South Park episodes | |
"Super Best Friends" is episode 504 of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired on July 4, 2001.
Contents |
[edit] Plot synopsis
A street magician named David Blaine comes to South Park, and his amazing feats lead to all the boys deciding to go to one of his "camps", which is actually a front for a cult he has developed, which views Blaine as a kind of messianic figure and calls all of his achievements "miracles." There, the boys are indoctrinated into joining the "Blaintologists", but Stan, after joining, is creeped out and wants to leave. He tries to convince Kyle to come with him, but Kyle refuses, and declares that if Stan cannot accept his new religion then the two of them aren't friends anymore. Stan, dejected, leaves, and after nearly being run over by a pair of Blaintologists, goes to the one person he can think of to possibly give him aid: South Park's own resident messiah, Jesus.
At Blaine's big show in Denver, filled with Blaintologists and those interested in Blaintology as well, Jesus appears and challenges Blaine, and shows one of his famous miracles, the miracle of the loaves and fishes. However, this miracle proves to be very weak (he has everybody in the audience turn around to do it), and Blaine manages to win the crowd with much more powerful enchantments. Jesus realizes he needs help, and calls the Super Best Friends, a group of major religious figures who defend the world against evil (except for Buddha who doesn't really believe in evil).
The Blaintologists, meanwhile, petition the government for tax-exempt status, which would make them a real religion and therefore unstoppable; when they are denied, all the Blaintologists are told they are to commit mass suicide in Washington, D.C. Kyle realizes now that the cult is evil, but when he tries to convince Cartman that they should flee, he is imprisoned in a glass bubble and told he will be killed involuntarily at the mass suicide.
At Washington, the Blaintologists begin to drown themselves in the Reflecting Pool (even though it is only about a foot deep), and a hose begins to fill Kyle's prison with water. The Super Best Friends arrive, but Blaine brings the statue of Abraham Lincoln to life to fight them. To defeat the Abraham Lincoln statue, the SBF create a giant stone John Wilkes Booth, and it shoots Blaine's puppet in the head. Meanwhile, Kyle manages to get free, and the Pool is frozen using Joseph Smith's ice powers to prevent more suicides.
Blaine flies away in a rocket ship, and Stan announces to everyone that any religion that forces you to give up your money or control of your life is really a cult. The Super Best Friends then fly away, to await when the world will need their aid again.
[edit] The Jyllands-Posten controversy
In early 2006, controversy erupted over this episode following the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, as Islamic aniconism tradition states that no visual depictions of Muhammad should be made. When this episode first aired, though, there was no controversy. There is some question as to whether this episode will re-air on Comedy Central following Muhammad's non-appearance in "Cartoon Wars Part I" and "Cartoon Wars Part II" or if it will air with Muhammad blacked out.
This episode did air in its entirety without modification in syndication on April 27–28, 2006, in numerous markets.
A Bosnian TV station aired this episode in July 2006, sparking some outrage from local Muslim leaders.
This was once again run in syndication on August 14, 2006 and again on September 21, 2006 a week after controversial comments about Islam were made by the Pope. [1]
On October 4 and November 1, 2006, it was also aired on MTV Norway.
On October 9, 2006, it was also aired on MTV Sweden.
On December 1, 2006, it was also aired on MTV Denmark.
[edit] Members of the Super Best Friends
- Jesus: Christian deity, able to perform miracles and a master carpenter.
- Muhammad: Islamic prophet with the power of fire.
- Krishna: Hindu deity who can shape-shift.
- Buddha: Buddhism founder, has the power of invisibility (though he never uses it in the episode).
- Joseph Smith: Founder of Mormonism, with ice powers.
- Lao Tsu: Founder of Taoism, with mental powers.
- Sea Man (a pun on semen, and a parody of Aquaman, considered by many to be the most useless member of the Super Friends): Can breathe underwater and communicate with sea life. Sea Man has a sidekick bird named "Swallow", who can breathe underwater.
- Moses, the Jewish prophet, who is pictured as the Master Control Program from the movie Tron and functions as the "Trouble-alert Computer" from the aforementioned "Super Friends" (Moses was first introduced in "Jewbilee").
[edit] Kenny's Death
Stan trips over a drowned corpse in the Reflecting Pool, although because of the animation style of the show and the lack of Kenny's trademark orange parka, he looks like all the other kids. Stan then says the show's trademark line "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" over and over, and each time Kyle replies "You bastards!" which allows Stan to follow his voice and find him. As the two kids are in the Reflecting Pool, Stan's calls and Kyle's replies are reminiscent of the swimming pool game "Marco Polo".
[edit] Trivia
- There are numerous comparisons between the Blaintology religious group and those of recent history. The name "Blaintology" and the falsely claimed compatibility with other religions, are all highly reminescent of Scientology; Stan makes a remark at the end that "you shouldn't have to pay for salvation." This is a common criticism of Scientology. The 'Center for Magic' resembles the Mount Carmel Center of the Waco Siege.
- When Cartman and Kyle are going from door to door promoting Blaintology, they wear name tags that read "Elder Cartman" and "Elder Kyle." This is a spoof on the "Elder ____" name tags worn by Mormon missionaries.
- The Super Best Friends is a parody of the cartoon Super Friends which was inspired by the DC Comics comic book Justice League of America; Seaman is a spoof on Aquaman, particularly the Aquaman seen in Super Friends, who has long been thought of as a relatively useless superhero, bordering on a joke.
- Unlike the reaction of Muslims to the depictions of the prophet Muhammad in Danish cartoons in early 2006, this episode went unnoticed by the Muslim world at the time of its airing.
- This episode shows a view of the White House in which all of the characters from That's My Bush! are talking about the crisis.
- When the giant Lincoln drops Kyle, the bubble breaks, like it's made out of glass. However, Cartman said before Kyle was trapped in a plastic bubble.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by: "Cripple Fight" |
South Park episodes | Followed by: "Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow" |
