Cartman Gets an Anal Probe
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| “Cartman Gets an Anal Probe” | |
|---|---|
| South Park episode | |
 Cartman sets Pip on fire with his flaming fart. |
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 1 |
| Written by | Trey Parker Matt Stone |
| Directed by | Trey Parker Matt Stone (uncredited) |
| Production no. | 101 |
| Original airdate | August 13, 1997 |
| Season 1 episodes | |
| South Park - Season 1 August 13, 1997 – February 25, 1998 |
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| Season 2 → | |
| List of South Park episodes | |
"Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", the first episode of Comedy Central's animated series South Park, originally aired on August 13, 1997. It was re-created in the season seven episode Cancelled.
This episode and Damien are the only episodes on Comedy Central of South Park not to be rated TV-MA[citation needed]. Instead, this episode is rated TV-14-DLV. On the syndicated series, it retains this rating.
This episode was ranked the #4 in the UK poll Paramount Comedy's Top 10 Episodes.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
As Kyle, Stan, Kenny, and Cartman wait for the school bus, they argue over the meaning of a Dildo, and Cartman tells them that he dreamed that he had been abducted by aliens who gave him an anal probe. The others try to convince him it was real, but Cartman dismisses them as just trying to scare him. Chef pulls up in his car and, after telling them what was being served on the lunch menu for the day, asks if they saw an alien spaceship, inadvertently confirming Cartman's "dream". After Chef leaves, the school bus shows up, driven by Ms. Crabtree, a scary-looking, loudmouthed, middle-aged woman who constantly tells the children to "sit down and shut up". As the bus is driving away, Kyle looks back and sees two aliens holding his brother, Ike. Kyle pleads with Ms. Crabtree to let him off the bus, but she yells at him to sit down or else he gets an office referral.
Meanwhile, several other aliens try to lure away cows standing in a field by whistling and offering them straw. The cows are not taking the bait, and apparently as a result several of them have been turned inside out. Police officer Barbrady explains that cows turning inside out is not unusual, clearly revealing that he is incompetent.
Kyle asks his teacher Mr. Garrison if he can be excused to find his brother. Mr. Garrison tells Kyle he has to ask Mr. Garrison's puppet, Mr. Hat, who uses Mr. Garrison's catch phrase of, "You go to hell! You go to hell and you die!" against Kyle.
After class, the four are standing in the cafeteria line when Stan reveals his love for Wendy Testaburger by vomiting when she talks to him. When Chef is asked what to do when someone does not believe you, he breaks out into a sultry, erotic (but off-topic) song.
When Chef learns that Kyle's brother was abducted by aliens, he freaks out and says, "What the hell do you think you're doing in school eating Salisbury steak? Go find him, damn it!" The boys explain that Mr. Garrison won't let them out of school, and Cartman farts again. This is when a cycloptic robot pops up from behind Cartman and quickly retreats to whence it came. To help the children find Kyle's brother, Chef pulls the fire alarm.
Once they are outside, Cartman repeats that it was just a dream, when he suddenly he is hit by a laserbeam and breaks into song and dance. Soon afterward, a flying saucer appears. Kyle throws a stone and the spaceship fires back, hitting Kenny, then vanishes. However, Cartman claims to have seen nothing and walks home in a huff.
Stan and Kyle walk to the place they are supposed meet Wendy, and she helps them realize that the thing in Cartman ass might be able to make the visitors return.
To lure the aliens back, Stan, Kyle, and Wendy tie Cartman up to a tree. After Cartman farts flames several times, an 80-foot satellite dish protrudes from his butt. The alien spaceships show up, and Ike is behind a door on a ship. Kyle tries to get his brother to jump down by telling him to do his impersonation of David Caruso's career. The aliens apologize to the cows, explaining the inside-out thing was the "new guy, Carl's, fault," and give them the device that makes people break into song and dance.
The next morning, Cartman falls from the sky and lands at the bus stop next to Stan and Kyle, now with pinkeye that he claims was given to him by Scott Baio in a dream.
[edit] Notes
A near-copy of one of the final scenes of this episode in which Wendy is about to kiss Stan, when he vomits in her face is shown in the final episode of Season 11 The List that signals Stan's reconciliation with her.
[edit] Production
This is the only episode Trey and Matt animated completely by themselves, along with a bit of help from Eric Stough (the current head of animation), which took three months to make using traditional cut paper stop-motion animation techniques.[1] Almost all subsequent episodes, including the new scenes made exclusively for the pilot episode that aired on television, were fully computer animated using Power Animator or Maya.[2]
Additionally, due to time constraints, the scenes had to be cut from the 30-minute pilot or be changed. For instance, instead of pulling the fire alarm, in the original, Chef gives the boys "special extra-hot tamales" to raise their body temperature to give them an excuse to go home. Also, a notable cut scene was the boys picking on Pip in the lunch line, which was later shown in An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig.
[edit] Differences from original plot
This episode was the pilot episode of South Park, but the original pilot was edited and censored due to time constraints and company policy. The unaired pilot differs from the version shown on television in several ways, including:
- The opening sequence song was slowed down generously, and everyone's voices are changed. Also, instead of clips of season 1 playing in the background, clips from "The Spirit of Christmas" are displayed on a sign.
- Instead of banjo riffs, the scene transition music is composed of pianos.
- The closing credits end with a clip of 6 naked men from Le Petit Package, a short film made by Stone and Parker during the making of the unaired pilot. The words "Braniff Airlines" obscure the actual nudity as the characters sing the words. Le Petit Package was shown at the alternative Utah film festival Lapdance in 1998. For the majority of the series, the Braniff Airlines animation happens as a few chords from Cannibal! The Musical play in the background.
- A sound clip of Cartman's third fart in the playground plays after the Comedy Central logo is shown.
Different scenes were shown as well, including:
- Mr. Garrison berates Kyle longer; Mr. Hat refers to Kyle as a "little turd". Also Kyle says "Fuck Mr. Hat." Garrison replies "No, no. Fuck you!".
- Instead of Chef pulling the fire alarm, he gives the boys hot tamales.
- There is a scene on the playground where Pip hits his head on a pole and runs to the nurse, with Wendy giving the note to Stan happens in this scene instead of in the cafeteria in the aired episode. The 6th Graders also make their first appearance here (ostensibly as 5th graders).
- In the scene where the boys try to convince Cartman that Kenny is dead after the visitors attack him and Officer Barbrady and the cows run him over, the music cuts off when Cartman first says, "No!" In the televised version, the music continues to play until Kyle pulls Kenny's head off.
- Cartman had a family in the original pilot, while in the rest of the series the boys makes fun of the fact Cartman has no father figure. A father and sister are shown at the table (along with Mr. Kitty with fire all over his fur, because Cartman farted fire on her). Both the father and the sister do not move at all except when Ms. Cartman goes to get the gravy and the sister moves as her mother passes by.
- Kyle promises to be good to Ike and not ever play "kick the baby" again, instead of mentioning David Caruso to entice Ike to jump.
- The ending was completely rewritten for the television premiere.
[edit] Pop culture references
- "I'm sure glad that's over with" was a line taken directly from The Spirit of Christmas.
- "I Love to Singa," performed by Cartman while under alien control, and by Officer Barbrady after the cows are given the aliens' device, is a song written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg originally for the Al Jolson film "The Singing Kid" (1936), and later used in a Merrie Melodies cartoon directed by Tex Avery. (At the time of the original airing of this episode, Time Warner, which owns the rights to the cartoon, also owned a stake in Comedy Central).
- When Ike was in the space ship and had to get down, Kyle told him to do his impersonation of David Caruso's career, where Ike returns that with jumping out of the space ship and saying "It's my turn!"
- Cartman claims that the aliens' crop circles look like Tom Selleck, when in fact they clearly depict him.
[edit] References
- ^ FAQ Archives. South Park Studios.
- ^ FAQ Archives. South Park Studios.
[edit] External Links
- Cartman Gets An Anal Probe on the South Park Studios Episode Guide
| Preceded by “The Spirit of Christmas (shorts)” |
South Park episodes (in production order) | Followed by “Weight Gain 4000” |
| Preceded by “The Spirit of Christmas (shorts)” |
South Park episodes (in airdate order) | Followed by “Volcano (South Park episode)” |
