Helen Keller! The Musical

"Helen Keller! The Musical"
South Park episode
Timmy, Kyle, Stan and Wendy during the rehearsal for the play.
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 13
Directed by	Trey Parker
Written by	Trey Parker
Production code	413
Original air date	November 22, 2000
Episode chronology
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South Park (season 4) List of South Park episodes

"Helen Keller! The Musical" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of the animated television series South Park and the 61st episode of the series overall. "Helen Keller! The Musical" originally aired in the United States on November 22, 2000 on Comedy Central.

Plot

The fourth graders are rehearsing for the "Thanksgiving Extravaganza", where they have to perform The Miracle Worker, which is the story of Helen Keller, starring Timmy as Helen. Butters provides them reports that the kindergarteners' play is the greatest show he has ever seen, and the other kids agree to put extra effort into making their play better. Cartman agrees to adapt the play into a musical, and eventually Jeffrey Maynard, who played the lead in Les Misérables for the Denver Community Playhouse, is brought in to help. The kids also decide to replace Helen's pet dog with a turkey, which is also to perform tricks for the audience. Timmy helps to pick out the turkey, and chooses a disabled turkey which he names "Gobbles".

At rehearsal, Maynard brings in a professional performing turkey named Alinicia, and her trainer Lamond declares that she will not perform with Gobbles, and suggests Cartman kill it. Cartman attempts to kill Gobbles with a falling stage-light, but it hits and kills Kenny by mistake. Eventually, Lamond tells Timmy that animal control is going to take Gobbles from him because he is disabled, and Timmy reluctantly lets Gobbles go. When Timmy realizes he has been tricked, he leaves to rescue Gobbles, who has been found by a slaughterhouse and is now being pursued by Jimbo and his hunter friends. In Timmy's absence, Maynard goes on as Helen Keller and surprises everyone by singing ad-libbed songs to express Helen's thoughts. Also after hearing the kindergarteners' play even has pyrotechnics, Cartman rigs laser shows, choreography and water effects into the fourth graders' show, culminating with Alinicia leaping through a ring of fire - the result is so extravagant it leaves the audience very confused.

Timmy, Gobbles and Jimbo go to the Thanksgiving Extravaganza and shoot Alinicia. Gobbles goes onstage and jumps through the ring of fire during the grand finale, and the audience, following a stunned Principal Victoria's lead, gives a standing ovation. In the end, the kindergartners put on their show: a song to the tune of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" about the first Thanksgiving, ending with them setting off a small confetti cannon which sends one kindergartner fleeing the stage, and bringing a prop horse on stage. The performance is less than a minute long. All the fourth graders are mad at Butters, who is easily impressed by the performance, for having them go through the trouble of making a big spectacular musical for nothing.

Cultural references

The storyline of Timmy and Gobbles is similar to A Charlie Brown Christmas. The scenes of Butters running down the hall is similar to scenes in The Right Stuff. The title of the episode may be a reference to Cannibal! The Musical, which was also created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Another reference to Cannibal! The Musical are the fake beards that the children are forced to wear in their play. The scene where Cartman follows Jeffrey Maynard's suggestion of using sensory deprivation to get inside the mind of Helen Keller, resulting in disturbing and apocalyptic images flooding Cartman's mind, bears much similarity to the sensory deprivation sequences in the Ken Russell film Altered States. The final shot of Cartman's vision is from the movie Inseminoid. Cartman also makes a reference to Tim Rice writing the lyrics to The Phantom of the Opera. However, these lyrics were written by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe. The scene of the turkeys watching the movie before being killed is a reference to the euthanasia scene in Soylent Green. Jeffrey Maynard is a parody of Colm Wilkinson who originated the role of Jean Valjean in the broadway musical Les Miserables

Reception

The episode was selected for inclusion on the DVD release South Park: Timmy!, along with "Timmy 2000", "4th Grade" and "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000". Walt Belcher of The Tampa Tribune highlighted the episode as part of "holiday TV shows that'll leave you shouting out with glee".

Further reading

• Shannon, Jeff (November 28, 2005). "Timmy of "South Park" challenges viewers' attitudes about people with disabilities". The Seattle Times (The Seattle Times Company). http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2002648630_timmy28.html. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
• Staff (November 23, 2002). "Helen Keller! The Musical" (in German). serienjunkies.de. http://www.serienjunkies.de/SouthPark/4x13-Helen-Keller-Das-Musical.html. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 

External links

• "Helen Keller! The Musical" Full episode at South Park Studios
• "Helen Keller! The Musical" Episode guide at South Park Studios
• "Helen Keller! The Musical" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Helen Keller! The Musical" at TV.com