Go God Go
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| “Go God Go” | |
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| South Park episode | |
 Richard Dawkins, South Park Elementary's new evolution teacher. |
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| Episode no. | Season 10 Episode 151 |
| Written by | Trey Parker |
| Directed by | Trey Parker |
| Production no. | 1012 |
| Original airdate | November 1, 2006 |
| Season 10 episodes | |
| South Park - Season 10 March 22, 2006 – November 15, 2006 |
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| ← Season 9 | Season 11 → |
| List of South Park episodes | |
"Go God Go" is episode 1012 (#151) of Comedy Central's South Park. It was broadcast on November 1, 2006, and is part one of a two-part story arc. Part two is "Go God Go XII".
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
Cartman is unable to wait three weeks until the Wii console is released. He spends his time restlessly pacing in front of a store called EV Games (a parody of EB Games), repeatedly asking how long until it is released. He suffers symptoms very similar to another South Park character, Tweek, constantly shaking and jabbering insanely. By night he suffers from extreme insomnia. Unable to wait any longer, he decides to go into suspended animation by freezing himself. After unsuccessfully trying to do this in his home freezer, Cartman gets Butters to bury him in the snow in the nearby mountains. He instructs Butters not to unfreeze him until the day that the Wii is released.
Meanwhile Mrs. Garrison — strongly against her wishes — is forced to teach evolution ("I'm not a monkey. I'm a woman!"). However, she hates the theory and doesn't seem to know anything about it, believing that it essentially comes down to “five monkeys having butt sex with a fishsquirrel." Principal Victoria decides to hire Richard Dawkins to teach the theory along with Mrs. Garrison — they quickly get into an argument, and Mrs. Garrison decides to "act like a monkey" if she's related to one, ultimately throwing her own feces at him. However, Dawkins turns out to be infatuated with Garrison, and she becomes very excited about her first date with a “real man” since her sex-change operation.
On their date, Dawkins and Garrison quickly warm to each other. Dawkins manages to turn Garrison to atheism in an appeal to ridicule citing the Flying Spaghetti Monster, as a form of a logical fallacy. The two have sex; the next day, Garrison – just as outspoken about her new atheism as her former beliefs — denounces God to the class and makes Stan sit in the "dunce chair" after Stan makes the suggestion that evolution could be the answer to how and not why life is the way it is. Dawkins is at first reluctant to be so brazen, but later in bed (surrounded by various types of sexual paraphernalia) Garrison tells him he was too soft on religious people in the past and that together they can rid the world of religions and all the violence that they cause.
Meanwhile Cartman has completely frozen and a freak avalanche has buried his body. At the same time, Butters (dressed as Professor Chaos) asks Dougie (dressed as General Disarray) if anything bad can happen to you if you freeze yourself. Dougie tells Butters that this will kill you and Butters races to find Cartman. This proves impossible and Dougie convinces Butters that Cartman is surely dead and they will get into big trouble if anyone finds out. Cartman remains frozen for 540 years. Finally he is unfrozen by the Unified Atheist League (In the year 2546, everyone is atheistic and believes only in science, logic, and reason) and immediately asks if they have Wii consoles. Puzzled, they ask him if he realizes that his family and friends have all been dead for 500 years. Cartman doesn’t care, but is distraught when he finds that future people don’t play video games.
Cartman is told that his guardians might be able to retrieve an antique Wii from a technology museum. They tell Cartman that they think someone in his time caused the atheistic revolution, but before they can tell them who, they are attacked by another atheist group, the United Atheist Alliance. A battle ensues and the Unified Atheist League are all killed. The United Atheist Alliance take Cartman and contact another group, the Allied Atheist Allegiance, who are super intelligent Sea Otters. The AAA proclaim that the world will soon be theirs, and that mankind must be exterminated "for they are an illogical race that doesn't eat off their tummies".
[edit] Reaction
[edit] Nintendo's response
Nintendo of America's President and Chief Operating Officer Reggie Fils-Aime responded in an interview on CNET TV regarding this episode: "Obviously we love it," he said, insisting that no permission was sought from Nintendo. "It's fantastic to be in popular culture that way. I'll tell you this: It's not going to be the last."[1]
Starting the week of November 5, 2006, a poll on Nintendo.com has asked "How bad do you want a Wii?" With the responses being "Bad", "Way Bad", and "Worse than Cartman," with the third choice holding out with 80% of the votes.
At Nintendo's 2007 E3 press conference, a clip of the episode where Cartman tells his mother he must have a Wii was included in a montage of clips about the demand for the Wii.
Also, on the Season 10 DVD Commentaries, Trey and Matt mention that, due to this episode, they actually received free Wii systems from Nintendo.
[edit] Richard Dawkins' response
Richard Dawkins, in a Q & A session at the Free Library of Philadelphia said: "I would have thought they could at least have got an actor that could do a proper British accent."[2]
In his Internet journal Dawkins states: "I wouldn’t have minded so much if only it had been in the service of some serious point, but if there was a serious point in there I couldn’t discern it. And then there’s the matter of the accent they gave me. Now, if only I could be offered a cameo role in The Simpsons, I could show that actor how to do a real British accent."[3]
[edit] Episode name
There was some confusion regarding the episode title. Originally, many cable and satellite providers listed it as "Go, God, Go! Part II," despite the lack of a "Go, God, Go! Part I." When the episode was broadcasted, the official South Park website simply listed it with the generic title "TBA". Several days after its initial broadcast, it was officially designated "Go God Go."[4]
[edit] Cultural references
- EV Games is a reference to the real-life game store chain EB Games.
- The title "Go God Go" is a reference to the children's book Go, Dog. Go!. This is the second time this book has been used in the series; it was previously mentioned by Officer Barbrady in the Season 2 episode Chickenlover.
- The sequence depicting the passage of time while Cartman is in suspended animation is a reference to the 1979-1981 television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, mimicking the show's opening sequence. The entire Buck Rogers theme plays through that sequence and the following scenes of Cartman being revived in the future. The awkward wobbling Cartman makes as he spins slowly is also replicated from that show.
- In the original Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, he was frozen for 504 years; whereas Eric Cartman was frozen for 540 years; a simple switch of the numbers 4 and 0.
- The episode makes reference to the satirical religion "pastafarianism" which is a portmanteau of pasta and rastafarianism, whose members profess to believe that God is a Flying Spaghetti Monster. This is the first time South Park dealt with "pastafarians" among their many religious satires.
- The restaurant scene with Dawkins and Garrison is strongly reminiscent of the "Carol!" sketches from Saturday Night Live.
- The M41A pulse rifle from the 1986 sci-fi/action movie Aliens is seen in the hands of the sea otters. They can also be seen wearing gear similar to the characters in Universal Soldier and that worn by the COGs in Gears of War.
- The scene in which Cartman is unfrozen is a reference to the unfreezing of John Spartan in Demolition Man.
- Some of the people in the future are seen flying upside down by their feet, this could be in reference to Back to the Future 2
- Cartman must wait precisely three weeks for the release of the Wii; at initial transmission date, this was the exact amount of time people in the real world had left to wait.
- The scene in which the sea otters prepare for battle, including the music, references Planet of the Apes (2001 film).
- The bedroom scene with Dawkins and Garrison, during which strange music plays in the background while Garrison tells Dawkins that he can end religion, is a reference to the 2004 re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica. The music is an odd variation to the leitmotif for 'The Sense of Six' which usually accompanies an appearance of Number Six the series, the character on which the bedroom scene was based. Garrison parodies Number Six influencing Dawkins, who parodies Gaius Baltar, in a sexually charged situation, which is how Six always influences Baltar in the Battlestar series.
- The idea for this episode came after the creators were interviewed by Nightline, in which they were asked if they were atheists. The creators were confused by the question, and responded briefly that they weren't.
- The pointless bickering of the various Atheist organizations over what to call themselves is reminiscent of Monty Python's 'Life of Brian', where the People's Front of Judea, Judean Peoples' Front and Judean Popular Peoples' Front fight among themselves more than their common enemy, the Romans.
- The weapons of the future fire injection needle darts that make your head explode, a reference to the cult exploitation film The Ninja Mission.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Preceded by “Hell on Earth 2006” |
South Park episodes | Followed by “Go God Go XII” |
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