Starvin' Marvin in Space
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| “Starvin' Marvin in Space” | |
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| South Park episode | |
 Actress Sally Struthers parodied as Jabba the Hutt. |
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| Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 44 |
| Written by | Trey Parker Pam Brady |
| Directed by | Eric Stough |
| Production no. | 311 |
| Original airdate | November 17, 1999 |
| Season 3 episodes | |
| South Park - Season 3 April 7, 1999 – January 12, 2000 |
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| ← Season 2 | Season 4 → |
| List of South Park episodes | |
"Starvin' Marvin in Space" is episode 44 of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired on November 17, 1999.
[edit] Plot
This episode begins with an alien landing on Earth to make First Contact in the African desert; it is instantly killed by a lion, and its ship is discovered by Starvin' Marvin. Marvin, who is fleeing from Christian missionaries who have taken over his village and are rather unkindly assuring them that their faith in Christianity will get them food, goes into the ship in search of a place to relocate his people. Meanwhile, the American government, having found out about this spaceship and wanting it for themselves, track down the boys and demand that they tell them where Starvin' Marvin might have taken it. The government then recruits Sally Struthers, the monstrously obese leader, an obvious parody of Jabba the Hutt (she even speaks a language resembling Huttese, with subtitles given). She is the leader of an Ethiopian food drive that is nothing more than a front for her to get all the food she wants. They offer her Chocolate Yum Yum bars in exchange.
Marvin and the boys team up, and by accidentally pressing a button, they fly to the home planet of the ship's former owner, the planet Marklar, whose inhabitants speak a language that is identical to English except for the fact that every noun is replaced with the word "Marklar". The Marklar agree to allow the Ethiopians to live on their planet. Back on Earth, the boys try to round up the Ethiopians, but the government agents seize the spaceship. The boys are able to take back the spaceship, letting Marvin load his people on while the boys distract the government agents, pretending to be Tom Brokaw. The agents are easily able to see through the disguise. Despite this, they are distracted long enough to load the ship, but Kenny is lost and seized by the government agents when the boys try to make a break for it.
The boys try to make it to Marklar, but they are confronted by the missionaries, who have built their own ship and are trying to force Christianity to Marklar. During this time, Pat Robertson is shown attempting to raise funds for various absurd weapons and vehicles to aid the missionaries while in space, most of which don't even exist. A space battle ensues, before the boys have to face the government agents. The agents have had Kenny frozen in carbonite and given to Sally Struthers so she can support them. Cartman convinces Sally that she has influenced the boys that they need to help people more. This touches Sally, so she lets the boys go and captures the missionary ship instead. Then, the wormhole is opened again, and all the ships are taken to Marklar.
When they arrive on Marklar, the aliens are very confused by the humans' trying to explain their motives. Kyle explains the situation in the aliens' own language, and the Marklar are touched. They banish the missionaries and let the Ethiopians stay. The boys promise to visit again ("when Jesse Jackson becomes president", Cartman says sarcastically). Sally Struthers then takes the boys back to Earth.
[edit] Sally Struthers parody
Sally Struthers was parodied in two episodes of South Park: "Starvin Marvin" (1997), and "Starvin' Marvin in Space" (1999). In the former episode, she appeared as a grossly obese caricature of herself who worked for the Feed the Children Foundation, a fictionalized version of the Christian Children's Fund. The charity, however, was just a front, and all of the food destined for those in need ended up being consumed by Struthers. In the latter episode, Struthers was even more exaggeratedly caricatured, this time as Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars. The version of Sally Struthers shown in the episode "Starvin' Marvin" later makes a cameo appearance in the episode "The Death of Eric Cartman" (2005).
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- This is the second appearance of Sally Struthers. Her character in this episode is an obvious homage to Jabba the Hutt from the original Star Wars trilogy.
- The song "I am Chewbacca" played in the credits is a song by D.V.D.A..
- Like the following episode, "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics," the episode is dedicated to Mary Kay Bergman, who lent her voice to nearly all of South Park's female characters. Bergman had committed suicide shortly after production was completed.
- Cartman accuses Kyle of "going number two" in one of the school urinals, and vice-versa. This actually became the subplot of a future episode, "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce".
- The Planet Marklar is in the Alpha Ceti VI galaxy. Ceti Alpha VI was the planet Khan Noonien Singh is marooned on from Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
- The layout of the bridge of the Christian ship is similar to the Galaxy class starship from Star Trek, including the USS Enterprise-D.
| Preceded by “Chinpokomon” |
South Park episodes | Followed by “Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery” |
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