Spontaneous Combustion (South Park episode)

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“Spontaneous Combustion”
South Park episode
Randy daydreams while looking for a solution
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 33
Written by	Trey Parker Matt Stone David Goodman
Directed by	Matt Stone
Production no.	302
Original airdate	April 14, 1999
Season 3 episodes
South Park - Season 3 April 7, 1999 – January 12, 2000
Rainforest Schmainforest Spontaneous Combustion The Succubus Tweek vs. Craig Jakovasaurs Sexual Harassment Panda Cat Orgy Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub Jewbilee Chinpokomon Starvin' Marvin in Space Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery Hooked on Monkey Phonics The Red Badge of Gayness Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics Are You There God? It's Me, Jesus World Wide Recorder Concert

← Season 2	Season 4 →
List of South Park episodes

"Spontaneous Combustion" is the 33rd episode of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired on April 14, 1999.

[edit] Plot synopsis

In this episode, Kyle discovers that his dad and his mom are having marital difficulties, and he and the others (Kenny, Stan, and Cartman) try to "give him an erection" (which the boys confuse with "a nurection"), unaware of what it actually is. Meanwhile, various members of the town, beginning with Kenny, start to spontaneously combust, which causes the townspeople to attend church more, and compels Mayor McDaniels to order Randy Marsh to discern the cause for the explosions.

The boys get drawn into presenting the Stations of the Cross in church, with Cartman tied to the cross in the role of Jesus, after repeated pleading that he couldn't play any other role. Afterwards, the boys take the cross and put it up outside the church, with Cartman still attached, so that he'll die and get an erection to give to Kyle's dad (their having confused "erection" with "resurrection"). Meanwhile, Randy manages to find out that the combustions are caused by people refusing to fart in front of their partners (Kenny was spending some time with Kelly, his girlfriend from the previous episode) and so he encourages everyone in town to fart every few seconds. For this, he wins the Nobel Prize, much to the ire of South Park's only other scientist, Dr. Mephesto, who wanted to win the prize for creating a turtle with seven asses; he plots revenge.

Another crisis then comes up, when a heat wave hits the town, and again Randy is hired to figure out the cause. However, Mephisto beats him to it. He discovers that it is the methane gas from all the farting that led to the global warming. Randy, blamed for the crisis, is stripped of his Nobel Prize, and stoned and forced to walk through the town with his own statue on his back, being denied by his friends (as Jesus was in the Stations of the Cross). Meanwhile, Kyle's dad manages to get an erection, after seeing some attractive, young female clients undress in his office (to show him the skin cancer they claim Randy was responsible for).

Randy does not want to try to find a solution for his problem, since all the people in town would still hate him, even if he managed to solve the combustion/global warming conundrum; however, Stan tells him that he learned something from the Stations of the Cross, and that was that even though Jesus was hated by all the people he knew and denied by his friends, he still did what he had to do and as he was dying, stated, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" (confusing the Bible with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan). Randy declares that people need to fart only in moderation, and everyone turns back to him. He ends up winning the town's accolades again, and gets his Nobel Prize back three weeks later, at which point the boys remember they had left Cartman out on the cross. They run to get him, and find him still alive, having survived for the three weeks on his accumulated body fat.

[edit] Kenny's death

Kenny dies by spontaneously combusting early in the episode when Kenny says, "well, see you guys later.I have to go get on the bus." and Cartman says, "what are you going to do Kenny, go see your little girlfriend again?" and Kenny says, "yeah dude, seriously!" and Cartman says, "man you spend way too much time with that girl, if you don't--"

[edit] Cultural references

The memorial statue of Randy is sculpted in the exact style of Michelangelo's David.
When Stan is delivering the line, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few", a Star Trek quote, he holds up the Vulcan salute from Star Trek.
The song that plays in Randy's final and Scooby-Doo influenced daydream is a parody The music also resembles a song from Trey Parker and Matt Stone's earlier movie Orgazmo, when Joe and Ben are testing the orgazmorator.
When Randy is carrying his statue while other people throw stones at him, he meets Mr. Garrison. Then Randy asks for help, but Mr. Garrison pretends that he doesn't know Randy - in a parody for the crucifixion of Jesus, described in Bible, when Peter (like as Mr. Garrison) told everyone that he didn't know Jesus, as the boys had previously depicted in the Stations earlier.