Timmy 2000
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| South Park episode | |
| "Timmy 2000" | |
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| Episode no. | 51 |
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| Airdate | April 19, 2000 |
| South Park - Season 4 April 5, 2000 – December 20, 2000 |
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| ← Season 3 | Season 5 → |
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| List of all South Park episodes | |
"Timmy 2000" is episode 404 of the Comedy Central animated series South Park. It originally aired on April 19, 2000. It was voted #6 of the "10 South Parks that changed the world".
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The boys have a new fellow student in their class, the mentally and physically challenged Timmy, who is only capable of making various noises, saying his own name, and "LIV-A-LAH", something that sounds close to "living a lie." Mr. Garrison and Principal Victoria don't realize that, and Mr. Mackey suggests that Timmy may suffer from ADD. They send him to a doctor who just diagnoses him with that "disease" in a very odd fashion. Timmy is freed from all homework. All the other kids in the class claim they have ADD, because they also want to be rid of homework, and they are all promptly diagnosed as well, and are prescribed Ritalin.
Without the burden of homework, Timmy finds a new pastime as he comes across a band named The Lords of the Underworld (see "Cat Orgy"), which takes him in as its new lead singer. The band becomes instantly successful due to Timmy's antics. However, many people are upset as they think that Timmy is being ridiculed. Phil Collins in particular is displeased with the new band, which has been booked to open for him at the Lalapalalapaza festival. Shortly after, Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld take Collins's place as the headliners of the festival.
The other boys have actually started to take their Ritalin medication, making them very calm and rather boring. Cartman develops a side effect that causes him to see pink Christina Aguilera monsters. The adults are uncomfortable among them, but accept their new kind and obedient children when they also start taking Ritalin. Chef and the pharmacists are the only people left who are not under the drug influence.
Meanwhile, Phil Collins tries to break up Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld by telling the guitarist, Skyler, that Timmy is stealing his fame and is only holding Skyler back. Skyler leaves the band, which is subsequently cancelled from the festival. Collins regains his headlining spot, and Skyler's solo project Reach for the Skyler is booked to open for him.
In the meantime, Chef tries to convince the parents that there are other methods to fight ADD than medication, but as the parents are all taking Ritalin too, he doesn't get any help and is forced to confront the pharmacists alone. After the boys come in and tell Chef that they want to go to the festival to see Phil Collins perform, Chef confronts the pharmacists and tells them that they are responsible for the children liking Collins. Horrified that they are responsible for this, they make a plan to distribute an antidote called "Ritalout" by mixing it into free drinks at the Lalapalalapaza festival.
The plan works perfectly; Collins is booed from the stage, and the crowd starts chanting for Timmy. The band reunites with Skyler and they play their show. Timmy even learns the words to introduce the band properly.
[edit] Kenny's Death
Kenny dies when Cartman hits him with a frying pan as he hallucinated that a pink Christina Aguilera monster was sitting on Kenny. Stan and Kyle's calm reaction (thanks to the Ritalin) is:
- Stan: "Oh my goodness, you killed Kenny."
- Kyle: "Bastard."
[edit] Pink Christina Aguilera Monster
The Pink Christina Aguilera Monster is a hallucination that Cartman sees as a satirical side effect to taking Ritalin. When appearing, the Pink Christina Aguilera Monster would emit a "barking" sound "weh!" The monster disappeared as soon as Cartman consumed the fictional "antidote" for Ritalin, "Ritalout."
[edit] Trivia
- This episode heavily emphasizes the misdiagnoses of ADD/ADHD and over prescription of Ritalin. It should be noted that the episode inaccurately portrays the effects of Ritalin on people who don't have ADD. Ritalin is a stimulant, and affects most people as such. Most people would become hyperactive and "edgy" under its influence. However, it is true, according to the New Scientist (New Scientist, 31 March 2006), that 5% of ritalin users suffer from minor hallucinations not disimilar to those experienced by Eric Cartman.
- Collins is depicted as perpetually clutching an Oscar. This is (allegedly) because he won the Academy Award for Best Song three weeks prior to this episode's airing. Collins' song "You'll Be in My Heart" beat the nominated "Blame Canada" (from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut). The creators have commented "we know it's immature, and I was so ready to lose the Academy Award, but not to Phil Collins."
- During the MTV News segment of the episode, the miniature screens show Elton John, Ozzy Osbourne and Rick James as they appeared in "Chef Aid" as well as Jonathan Davis of Korn from "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery" and Robert Smith of The Cure from "Mecha-Streisand."
- Mr. Derp can be seen running the lemonade stand at the Phil Collins concert.
[edit] References to other works
- The band "Sisters of Mercy Hold No Pain Against the Dark Lord" is an overt parody on the band Sisters of Mercy; the name and sound of the band are rather reminiscent of the real band. The song also contains a guitar riff similar to one in the Rush song "The Spirit of Radio".
- The Lalapalalapaza festival's name derives from the Lollapalooza festival. * As a running gag everybody spells and pronounces "Lalapalalapaza" wrong and in a different way, obviously because it is hard to spell.
- The song that Phil Collins sings at the opening to the Lalapalalapaza festival is a parody of his 1985 single "Sussudio."
- Collins talks and acts in a manner similar to the Gumbies from Monty Python.
- The doctor tests the children for ADD by reading aloud The Great Gatsby (which ironically puts the adults to sleep) and A Farewell to Arms
[edit] Inconsistencies
- During the scene where the four boys are watching Terrance and Phillip, they switch the channel to VH1 where the voice of the usual male newscaster can be heard, however the newscaster is a female.
- When the Ritalout is being passed out, in closeup scenes Terrance is seen behind Kyle, however when the scene pans out, he is not there.
| Preceded by: "Quintuplets 2000" |
South Park episodes | Followed by: "Pip" |
