Volcano (South Park episode)
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| South Park episode | |
| "Volcano" | |
 The boys going hunting |
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| Episode no. | 3 |
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| Airdate | August 20, 1997 |
| South Park - Season 1 August 13, 1997 – February 25, 1998 |
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| Season 2 → | |
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| List of all South Park episodes | |
"Volcano" is the second episode of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired on August 20, 1997. The episode is generally advertised as the series' third episode, although it aired second.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Stan's Uncle Jimbo and his war buddy Ned take Stan, Kenny, Kyle and Cartman on a hunting trip in the mountains. When they arrive in the wilderness (just outside of South Park), Jimbo gives each of the boys a gun (Kyle, Stan and Kenny get shotguns while Cartman receives an assault rifle), a can of beer and a pack of cigarettes, and the hunting festivities begin.
It soon becomes apparent that Jimbo and Ned's idea of hunting is to slaughter every living thing in sight via military weaponry, regardless of the regulations, which they get around by yelling "It's coming right for us!" in order to exploit the loophole that they can kill any animal in self defense. Stan proves to not have the proper temperament to enjoy hunting (or at least Jimbo and Ned's idea of hunting), and finds himself unable to shoot a living target when provided the opportunity. However, Jimbo appears impressed with Kenny, who drinks gasoline straight from the can. While hunting the boys realize that one of the nearby mountains is rumbling, a fact Ned and Jimbo ignore until it is too late.
Back in town, at the South Park Center for Seismic Activity, Stan's dad, Randy (though he isn't established as Stan's father), discovers that the mountain is going to erupt.
Meanwhile, on the mountain, Jimbo accidentally sets Ned on fire while the boys are roasting hot dogs (Ned's jeep blows up in the process), and Cartman tells the story of Scuzzlebutt. Cartman describes Scuzzlebutt as a creature that lives on the mountain and kills anyone who dares to climb to the top because it likes the taste of blood and to add pieces to its deformed body. Instead of a left hand he has a piece of celery and one of his legs is missing and has been replaced with Tom Wopat, though Mr. Wopat would be replaced by Patrick Duffy in subsequent airings (see Trivia, below, for additional Scuzzlebutt legs). He also claims that he weaves wicker baskets as a hobby.
The boys don't believe Cartman's tale, so he decided to dress up as the creature the next morning in order to scare them. His plan backfires, however, when the boys go searching for him and instead come across the fake Scuzzlebutt and start shooting. Eventually the mistaken identity is resolved.
At a lower elevation, some of the townspeople are organizing a search and rescue mission for the hunting party (yet unaware that the mountain is a volcano and about to erupt) while other South Park residents dig a trench, under the guidance of Randy, to divert the lava away from the town. Suddenly, the mountain erupts, and the hunting group tries to flee only to find themselves trapped on the other side of the trench.
The real Scuzzlebutt then appears and weaves a wicker basket, carrying the hunting party to safety. The lava then flows through the trench and, due to Randy's miscalculation, destroys Denver. Stan then kills Scuzzlebutt in a misguided attempt to prove he can kill something and make Uncle Jimbo proud. Unfortunately, Jimbo is less than impressed, saying the "some things you do kill and some you don't." Stan doesn't understand, since earlier in the episode, Jimbo would have shot an endangered species, and the boys decide that hunting sucks and go to watch cartoons.
[edit] Kenny's Death
- When the volcano erupts, a ball of lava comes flying at Kenny, but misses. The kids and adults assume Kenny died, so Kyle says the catchphrase "Oh my God, it killed Kenny!" Then, when Kenny comes from behind the rock of lava, the rock rolls a little and you can hear a squishing sound, assumed to be Kenny getting squashed by the rock. Towards the end of the episode, Kenny comes out of nowhere, apparently not dead. After Stan kills Scuzzlebutt, Ned vows not to use a gun ever again, drops the gun, and the impact of the gun landing fires a single round and kills Kenny. Rats then come to eat the remains.
[edit] Pop culture References
- In this episode, the townspeople are shown a volcano safety film which is a parody of Duck and Cover
- Happy Tarts are also mentioned in another Trey Parker work, Orgazmo.
- When Kyle claims that Scuzzlebutt's Patrick Duffy leg isn't scary, Cartman replies "Haven't you ever seen Step By Step?"
- Scuzzlebutt says he wants to be "Friends" exactly like the character of Ludo from the movie Labyrinth, who is also a large, hairy beast.
[edit] Trivia
- Randy Marsh is introduced in this episode but is never mentioned as Stan's dad. In fact, he seems less concerned about Stan's safety than the Mayor. His hair style would change in later episodes.
- In the Spanish language dub, Scuzzlebutt's leg is replaced with Ricky Martin instead of Patrick Duffy; in the Hungarian language dub, it is replaced with Tom Cruise.
- Scuzzlebutt may be a play on the Naval term "scuttlebutt", which means "gossip".
[edit] Goofs
- In one short scene, where Cartman is describing Scuzzlebutt, Stan's arms are missing.
- Ned attempts to shoot Scuzzlebutt and runs out of ammo, yet when he drops his gun it still goes off and kills Kenny. It could be assumed that the gun was jammed and dropping the gun dislodged the bullet stuck inside.
- When Chef is talking to the Mayor about cutting school lunches, he refers to her as "Mr. Mayor".
- When Uncle Jimbo sees the deer, he says, "looks like a 46-gauge," then he is seen with a rocket launcher. The shotgun gauge system works such that smaller numbers describe larger barrels, so a 46-gauge would actually be very small.
- Randy Marsh is missing eyebrows for (almost) the entire episode. They appear near the end.
- Cartman pretends he's in Vietnam when he's given a gun and claims to have flashbacks. However, in "The Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka", he knows nothing about Vietnam.
- Jimbo says in this episode that Ned lost his arm in Vietnam when he picked up a grenade, but in "The Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka", Ned lost his arm when he was about to throw a grenade.
| Preceded by "Weight Gain 4000" |
South Park episodes | Followed by "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" |
