Episode no. Season 12
Episode 7 Written by Trey Parker Original air date April 23, 2008 | Directed by Trey Parker Production code 1207 | |
"Super Fun Time" is the seventh episode in the twelfth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 174th episode of the series overall, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 23, 2008. In the episode, Cartman and Butters narrowly escape a horrific hostage situation at South Park's Pioneer Village, where historical reenactors take their jobs far too seriously.
Contents
The episode was written and directed by South Park co-creator Trey Parker. During pre-production, the episode was under a working alternate title "The Living Museum" until it was changed later on. The show's plot was largely influenced by the film Die Hard.
Plot
Mr. Garrison takes his fourth grade class on a field trip to Pioneer Village, a 19th-century themed living history museum, where actors perform as if it was 1864 and never break character. Since nobody wants to be partners with him, Cartman is forced to take Butters as his partner and Garrison tells Butters to not let go of Cartman's hand until they are back on the bus.
Thieves led by Franz (reminiscent of Hans Gruber from Die Hard) have robbed a Burger King and flee to Pioneer Village, taking everyone hostage. Stan, Wendy, Jimmy and Kyle flee with two townspeople to an office where Kyle calls the police. The thieves find a locked mine shaft door. They interrogate the workers to find the code, but none will break character.
Cartman and Butters go to an arcade called "Super Phun Thyme", and Butters stubbornly refuses let go of Cartman's hand, which leads to Butters being dragged around as Cartman plays games. When they return to Pioneer Village and see the entrance surrounded by police, they believe they are there because someone has noticed they left, so they decide to sneak back in and claim they were there all along. Franz threatens to kill the kids (specifically Kenny), but Stan portrays a time period character and gives the workers an in-character way to divulge the door code.
Cartman and Butters jump the fence into the village, where one of the thieves attacks them. The thief tries to make them put their hands on their heads, but Butters will not let go of Cartman. Butters uses Cartman as a weapon by flinging him at the robber, runs away and they are knocked down by a grenade. The blast makes the robbers investigate, leaving the leader guarding the hostages. Stan points to him and gives the village criminal, Murderin' Murphy, an in-character reason to attack him. The police raid the camp, killing the robbers and catching the leader. An injured Butters stumbles out of the camp, still clutching Cartman's hand. Butters drags the unconscious Cartman to the bus steps, proudly proclaiming that his partner is accounted for before fainting from exhaustion.
Production
The idea of a pioneer museum that never breaks character started off as the idea for the Katrina episode that became Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow. "Super Phun Thyme" was based on Celebrity Sports Center which both Parker and Stone visited as kids.
Reception
The episode received a mixed response. Travis Fickett of IGN rated the episode an 8/10, stating "A lot was in play here, and it's a well executed episode. They play on our expectation that Kenny would die, Mr. Garrison's cowardice, Cartman's troublemaking and Butters' steadfast compliance with the rules. There's a lot of fun stuff here, and it's a cool way to wrap up the 'half season' before we get new episodes in the fall". However, Josh Modell of The A.V. Club graded the episode a C+, stating "It was okay. Not great, not horrible. Funny, but not hilarious. There was a noticeable lack of proselytizing, which can be a good or a bad thing".
Home release
"Super Fun Time", along with the thirteen other episodes from South Park's twelfth season, was released on a three-disc DVD set and two-disc Blu-ray set in the United States on March 10, 2009. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode, a collection of deleted scenes, and two special mini-features, The Making of 'Major Boobage and Six Days to South Park.