Prehistoric Ice Man (South Park episode)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| South Park episode | |
| "Prehistoric Ice Man" | |
 The Ice Man cometh |
|
| Episode no. | 31 |
|---|---|
| Airdate | January 20, 1999 |
| South Park - Season 2 April 1, 1998 – January 20, 1999 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ← Season 1 | Season 3 → |
|
|
|
| List of all South Park episodes | |
"Prehistoric Ice Man" is episode 31 of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. The episode is the last of the second season and originally aired on January 20, 1999.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The boys watch The Crocodile Hunter on TV, and are inspired by it to go hunting for crocodiles themselves. On their journey, Kyle falls down a hole. When trying to rescue him, Stan spots a frozen man in the hole. The boys pull his body out, and the frozen mass is given to Dr. Mephisto, the genetic engineer. Stan and Kyle start arguing over who found the man, and what to name him. Stan prefers "Gorak", but Kyle suggests "Steve"; they fall out over this.
At Mephisto's laboratory, Mephisto and Kevin thaw the ice and discover that Steve/Gorak is wearing Eddie Bauer clothes, not seen since the year 1996, nearly 32 months before.
They discover that the ice actually preserved the man and that he is alive. Mephisto treats him as a Neanderthal and is unable to understand him. To make his research more lucrative, some mysterious federal agents persuade Mephisto to display the unfrozen man to the public, recreating his natural habitat for him by building a completely "1996-oriented" room.
Seeing this, Stan and Kyle are upset at the ice man's inhumane treatment, so they set him free, but keep arguing over what the ice-man should be called, and they agree to fight each other the following day. The next day, Larry (the ice-man's real name) discovers that his wife remarried and has children, who are somehow now 8 and 13. Frustrated, Larry realizes he cannot live in this world, and Kyle comes up with a solution; for Larry to take the train and go to live in Des Moines, Iowa, which is supposedly "three years behind" everywhere else.
Turmoil erupts at the train station - Stan and Kyle have a fistfight while putting Larry on the train, and the FBI want to use Larry to take over Sweden and try to recapture him, aided by the outback man from the beginning of the episode. But their attempts prove futile; he escapes in a helicopter. Stan and Kyle reconcile, because they would rather be best friends with each other than with Cartman.
[edit] Kenny's death
Kenny dies by getting pulled under the conveyor belt in front of Steve's "exhibit." Stan then begins the trademark saying "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" But all Kyle says is, "What? I'm not talking to you."
[edit] Trivia
- Stan, Kyle & Kenny alter the "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" routine three times in this episode.
- When Kyle falls down the hole Stan says "Good job Cartman, you killed Kyle!" which Kenny responds to with a muffled version of Kyle's line.
- When Steve/Gorak is thawed out, Stan proclaims "Oh my God, they revived Gorak!" prompting Kyle's usual response.
- When Kenny is killed, Stan says the usual line, and then after a second of silence, he looks at Kyle who responds "What? I'm not talking to you."
- This episode recently aired on September 6, 2006 at 10:00pm on Comedy Central. This time slot is used only for newer episodes. It probably aired during this time slot due to Steve Irwin's death. The outback man dies in the episode, when he is catapulted from a train into the still rotating propeller of a helicopter.
- Steve Irwin, on which the outback man is based, later appears in the episode "Hell on Earth 2006" where he appears to have been killed by a stingray.
[edit] References to Pop culture
- Marilyn Manson appears in this episode, singing "Stinky Britches".
- Mephisto repeatedly uses the phrase "frightened and confused" with regard to Larry. This is a reference to the phrase often uttered by the recurring Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer character, played by Phil Hartman, on Saturday Night Live.
- The "1996" room has a Fargo film poster and an Independence Day film poster on the wall, and is constantly fed music by Ace of Base, even though that music reached its apex in popularity in 1994. Larry is also visibly surprised when a 1999 news report says that the Atlanta Falcons are playing in the Super Bowl.
- Cartman somehow thinks the Iceman relates to the plot of Grease.
- Kyle comes up with the name "Steve" due to Larry's perceived resemblance to the Six Million Dollar Man.
- Australian Outback Guy is based on Steve Irwin.
- Larry's wife is now remarried with two kids. The eldest is wearing a Denver Broncos hat. This is because South Park is in Denver, but mainly also because the Broncos are in the Super Bowl in 1999, playing the Atlanta Falcons, seen on the T.V. in Larry's room at Alphonse Mephisto's house. The Broncos won the game 34-19.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by "Gnomes" |
South Park episodes | Followed by "Rainforest Schmainforest" |
