Super Best Friends
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| South Park episode | |
| "Super Best Friends" | |
 Super Best Friends HQ. |
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| Episode no. | 68 |
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| Airdate | July 4, 2001 |
| South Park - Season 5 June 20, 2001 – December 12, 2001 |
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| ← Season 4 | Season 6 → |
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| List of all South Park episodes | |
"Super Best Friends" is episode 504 of the Comedy Central series South Park, aired on July 4, 2001.
[edit] Plot synopsis
A street magician named David Blaine comes to South Park, and his amazing feats lead to all the boys deciding to go to one of his "camps", which is actually a front for a cult he has developed, which views Blaine as a kind of messianic figure and calls all of his achievements "miracles." There, the boys are indoctrinated into joining the "Blaintologists", but Stan, after joining, is creeped out and wants to leave. He tries to convince Kyle to come with him, but Kyle refuses, and declares that if Stan cannot accept his new religion then the two of them aren't friends anymore. Stan, dejected, leaves, and after nearly being run over by a pair of Blaintologists, goes to the one person he can think of to possibly give him aid: South Park's own resident messiah, Jesus.
At Blaine's big show in Denver, filled with Blaintologists and those interested in Blaintology as well, Jesus appears and challenges Blaine, and shows one of his famous miracles, the miracle of the loaves and fishes. However, this miracle proves to be very weak (he has everybody in the audience turn around to do it), and Blaine manages to win the crowd with much more powerful enchantments. Jesus realizes he needs help, and calls the Super Best Friends, a group of major religious figures who defend the world against evil (except for Buddha who doesn't really believe in evil).
The Blaintologists, meanwhile, petition the government for tax-exempt status, which would make them a real religion and therefore unstoppable; when they are denied, all the Blaintologists are told they are to commit mass suicide in Washington, D.C. Kyle realizes now that the cult is evil, but when he tries to convince Cartman that they should flee, he is imprisoned in a glass bubble and told he will be killed involuntarily at the mass suicide. When word gets out to the SBF, they consult Moses (who looks like the MPC from the movie Tron) for advice.
At Washington, the Blaintologists begin to drown themselves in the Reflecting Pool (even though it is only about a foot deep), and a hose begins to fill Kyle's prison with water. The Super Best Friends arrive, but Blaine brings the statue of Abraham Lincoln to life to fight them. To defeat the Abraham Lincoln statue, the SBF create a giant stone John Wilkes Booth, and it shoots Blaine's puppet in the head and the resulting fall shatters Kyle's prison (the Abraham Lincoln statue had picked it up and shaken it, thinking it was a snow orb. Stan groaned and said "Oh, very funny!"), and the Pool is frozen using Joseph Smith's ice powers to prevent more suicides. Kyle reconciles with Stan. Cartman remarks in a fake sweet voice "Aah! That's so sweet you guys!" then asks them if they want to get a room to kiss for a while and laughs, but then ends up getting repeated kicks in the testicles from both of them.
Blaine flies away in a rocket ship, and Stan announces to everyone that any religion that forces you to give up your money or control of your life is really a cult. The Super Best Friends then fly away, to await when the world will need their aid again.
[edit] The Jyllands-Posten controversy
Although the original airing of the episode in 2001 wasn't controversial, controversy erupted over the episode in early 2006 following the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy due to the visual depictions of Muhammad it contained. Paramount Comedy in the United Kingdom has banned the episode following the controversy, despite airing adverts for South Park that state Muslims (among others) should be very offended.[1] A Bosnian TV station aired this episode in July 2006, sparking some outrage from local Muslim leaders. Enes Ljevakovic, head of a Bosnian Islamic council, responded to the decision to rebroadcast the episode by stating:
| “ | The broadcast (of the cartoon) is unacceptable and we condemn it and consider it to be a kind of provocation. According to Islamic tradition, the presentation of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) or any other prophet is unacceptable ... even if their presentation is not sarcastic but in positive light. The cartoon was even censored in the United States ... and that is what the local Bosnian television station should have done as well.[2] | ” |
The controversy was referenced in the South Park episodes "Cartoon Wars Part I" and "Cartoon Wars Part II" from the tenth season, which parodied the censorship of Muhammad in the media.[3] The episodes, however, focused on Muhammad's portrayal on Family Guy rather than on South Park itself.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Samuel, Martin. "If you want a real history lesson, watch South Park", newsbusters.org, 2007-04-03. Retrieved on April 3, 2007.
- ^ "‘South Park’ angers Bosnian Muslim leaders", thepeninsulaqatar.com. Retrieved on April 3, 2007.
- ^ de Moraes, Lisa. "Comedy Central Again Steals 'South Park' Thunder", washingtonpost.com, 2006-04-14. Retrieved on April 3, 2007.
- ^ "‘South Park’ takes on own network over ban", msnbc.msn.com, 2006-04-18. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
| Preceded by "Cripple Fight" |
South Park episodes | Followed by "Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow" |
