Asspen

Plot

On vacation in Aspen, Colorado, Stan, Kyle, Butters, and Cartman are learning to ski when an older and more experienced skier named Tad begins harassing Stan for no reason. Tad demands that Stan race him for "stealing" his girlfriend Heather, whom Stan has never even met before. Stan agrees, fully aware that, since he is a complete amateur, Tad will most certainly beat him. He reluctantly races Tad and loses, as he expected. Afterwards, he is approached by a geeky teenage girl who invites him to a dance at the Aspen Youth Center. There, the boys discover that Tad's father plans to bulldoze the Aspen Youth Center. Tad then appears on stage to sing an off-key song where he repeats "Stan Darsh" over and over until Stan snaps and asks what he wants. Tad demands another race, this time on a much larger hill: the K-13 (a reference to Better Off Dead). It is agreed that if Stan wins, Tad's father will not bulldoze the youth center. It is at this point an epic montage of training occurs with the geeky girl and the boys' instructor from earlier. The song goes so far as to mock the concept of a montage–even the lyrics say: "We're gonna need a montage". As the race begins, Tad races quickly down the hill, stopping to place traps in order to slow Stan down. Still inexperienced, Stan moves so slowly that the traps do not even affect him, while the geeky girl Stan met earlier distracts Tad by lifting up her shirt and supposedly exposing her breasts. Tad freezes, while Stan passes him and wins the race. After the race, however, it is revealed that Tad's reaction of shock was actually due to the fact that, instead of breasts, the girl has two mutants growing out of her chest (a reference to the film Total Recall, complete with one of the mutants saying "Quaid, start the reactor!").

In the subplot, the boys' parents are coaxed into attending a 30-minute presentation by two timeshare salesmen. The parents repeatedly refuse and attempt to leave the conference room; however, they are told that the meeting is actually supposed to take place during lunch. They ask to leave during the lunch but are told to turn over their place cards, which reveal a prize of an exclusive ski lift. They board the ski lift, thinking it will provide them quick access to the slopes, but find it takes them straight back to the conference room. The parents attempt to leave the meeting, only to be held at gunpoint by the police and learning that the timeshare organization is in control of the police and other powerful authorities, including the President of the United States. Under duress, the parents reluctantly purchase a timeshare property. They return to the boys, who tell them the ski resort sucks and who are despondent that they all have to return to Aspen in the future due to the parents' purchase of the timeshare property.

Production

"Asspen" was written by series co-creator Trey Parker, who also directed the episode. The episode parodies several movies of the 1980s and 1990s, including Hot Dog... The Movie, Ski School, Ski Patrol, Aspen Extreme, Total Recall, Pet Sematary and Better off Dead. Parker called the episode "really easy to write," as all he had to do was write a version of the underdog sports films the episode was parodying. The episode contains a subplot involving the boys' parents attempting to avoid purchasing a timeshare from two men. While at a story retreat in Whistler, British Columbia, Parker and Stone were repeatedly "harassed" by timeshare salesmen the entire time. This served as the inspiration for the story.

As Stan trains to become a better skier, a song called "Montage", similar to the Giorgio Moroder and Paul Engemann Scarface montage song "Push It to the Limit," is performed by Trey Parker and Matt Stone's band DVDA. The song was later reworked and used by Parker and Stone in Team America: World Police (2004). The episode also features the song "Take on Me" by Norwegian synthpop band A-ha. The rights to use the song were cleared the morning the episode was set to air.

Reception

Since its original airing "Asspen" has received positive reviews. Ashley Burns, writing for Uproxx, praised "Asspen", saying that "I could probably write a book that tries to explain why this is the quintessential South Park episode." Kevin Fitzpatrick, writing for UGO Network, stated that the 1980s sports movies were "perfectly skewered" and that "it'd take a full montage to explain all the things we love about this episode."

Stephen Higham of WhatCulture.com ranked "Asspen" on a list of the 15 greatest South Park episodes, saying that "whilst the subplot about the kids’ parents getting barraged with inescapable offers by the condo salesmen does get a little repetitive, there are enough jokes in there to keep you entertained. Trey Parker has a real talent for capturing the odd little quirks of human communication and amplifying them to absurd levels of notice-ability until they take over all other aspects of that voice. His talent is especially noteworthy in his performance of these two salesmen." He praised the main plot, saying that "it is twenty minutes of darn good satire" and called the character of Tad "just genius."

Along with the other episodes from the sixth season, "Asspen" was released on home video as part of South Park - The Complete Sixth Season by Paramount on October 11, 2005.