The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000

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“The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000”
South Park episode
Cartman as a tooth fairy
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 49
Written by
Guest stars	Richard Belzer as Loogie
Production no.	402
Original airdate	April 5, 2000
Season 4 episodes
South Park - Season 4 April 5, 2000 – December 20, 2000
Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000 The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000 Quintuplets 2000 Timmy 2000 Pip Cartman Joins NAMBLA Cherokee Hair Tampons Chef Goes Nanners Something You Can Do with Your Finger Do the Handicapped Go to Hell? Probably 4th Grade Trapper Keeper Helen Keller! The Musical Fat Camp The Wacky Molestation Adventure A Very Crappy Christmas

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List of South Park episodes

"The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000" is episode 49 of Comedy Central's South Park. It originally aired on April 5, 2000.

[edit] Plot

The Tooth Fairy has visited Cartman, leaving him $2. He rushes to the bus stop to share his news with the others. He then unveils his latest plan. If they all combined their lost teeth, the tooth fairy will provide them with enough cash to purchase a Sega Dreamcast. However, Stan and Kyle have lost all their baby teeth, but not Kenny. Cartman tries to get teeth out of his mouth, but it turns out Butters has a loose tooth, and is waiting for the tooth fairy. Cartman decides to steal Butters' tooth, disguised as the tooth fairy, and places it under his own pillow to get money. Cartman's mother gets suspicious of the number of teeth he has lost (Cartman has "lost" 112 teeth), and calls the local dentist, Dr. Roberts. She decides to come clean with Cartman, and admits that there is no tooth fairy. When Cartman tells Stan and Kyle, Kyle begins to question his own existence. Stan decides that they can still get money for a Sega Dreamcast: they place a tooth under a rich kid's pillow, and steal the money.

They soon find out that there are others who are in the business, and they are taken to the leader, named Loogie (played by Richard Belzer throughout most of the episode, except for the end where he's voiced by Trey Parker, as Belzer couldn't re-record dialogue), who has been the leader of the business after his two brothers. His business is keeping track of which houses his gang hits, and having them put teeth under children's pillows, and leave a note for the parents to let them know that their children have lost teeth. Once they have finished the circuit of houses, they go back and collect the money (an obvious spoof on the Mafia). He gives the four boys a choice, either they work for him and get a 2% cut of the money, or have their penises cut off. They choose to work for him.

The American Dental Association is suspicious about the missing teeth and money, and the leader (Dr. Roberts) concludes that the culprit is a giant Half Chicken, half squirrel that steals either teeth or money from children as they sleep in order to build some kind of giant nest for its genetically superior and potentially dangerous offspring, and has at least a mild understanding of algebra. According to the leader its beak can also be detached and used as a flotation device. Tom Foley, another member believes that the missing teeth and money are due to a black-market tooth racket that he has seen before in Montreal, but nobody believes him, and even believe that Montreal is a fictional place.

The boys get rather wealthy from the tooth racket, but Cartman decides to form their own group and make more profits. When Loogie learns about this, he decides to murder Kenny by drowning him. A fake news report goes on about a child named Billy who needs $600 for a bone marrow transplant, and has recently lost a tooth, but his parents plan to leave him the money. This turns out to be a trap set by Dr. Foley, to prove the ADA wrong. Although the report was a trap, Billy did have the illness, and did require the money. Cartman and Loogie fall into the trap and eventually get caught. Kyle, meanwhile, disappears while questioning his own existence, but soon reappears and alters reality, even becoming the half chicken half-squirrel, scaring the police, the ADA, and Loogie's gang away. Loogie decides that the fall of his empire is a good thing, and ends the tooth racket. Meanwhile, Billy is saved as he discovers the "Tooth Fairy"'s money under his bed, and happily takes it to his parents.

[edit] Kenny's death

Kenny is captured by Loogie, which threatens the kids that he will drown him. Since Cartman refuses to pay Loogie, Kenny is thrown from the bridge, with a block of cement around his feet, but apparently the water is too shallow, so he is mostly outside the water. However, he is left there throughout the rest of the episode, without anyone paying attention to him. During the ending credits he tries to hop his way out of the river, but after a few hops he falls into deep water and finally drowns.

[edit] References to pop culture

The stickers on the rich kid's window that are referred to as Mega Man stickers when the boys were trying to break into his bedroom to plant a tooth appear to be helmet designs of Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman.
During Kyle's reality altering scene, Kyle briefly appears in the form of the Star Child from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Other episodes to have parodied 2001 include Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society and Trapper Keeper
The songs used during Kyle's discorporation is a mix of "Welcome To This World" and the title track from Primus' fourth album Pork Soda.
The location of the (fictional) Crestview Apartments mentioned in the newscast is a reference to local radio advertisements for The Shane Company location in Greenwood Village, Colorado, a suburb of Denver.
Loogie is clearly patterned after Marlon Brando's portrayal of Vito Corleone in The Godfather. In some dialogue though he also portrays Robert DeNiro's character in The Untouchables.
The scene where Kyle alternates reality and changes between shapes such as a donkey and cheese is like the scene in Pink Floyd The Wall when Pink changes form.
The sound effects used in Dr. Roberts' van during the stakeout are those used in a scene of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back where an Imperial Probe Droid communicates with the Empire while on the Ice Planet Hoth.
The story surrounding the American Dental Association is reminiscent of the British comedy group Monty Python. In episode 4 of Monty Python's Flying Circus, titled "Owl Stretching Time", there is a British Dental Association agent (who is incidentally also called Mr. Foley) conducting criminal investigations related to teeth. Also, the half-squirrel, half-chicken animal suspected by the ADA speaker resembles Python style.
The dentist that Ms. Cartman calls is named Dr. Robert.