Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride: Difference between revisions
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Concerned about his dog, Stan looks for him, missing the football game, and finds him at the Big Gay Animal Sanctuary. Here, Stan learns from Big Gay Al that homosexuality has been around for a long time, and Stan eventually accepts his dog's homosexuality. Meanwhile, Richard Stamos fails to hit the high note at half time, prompting Mr. Garrison to shout, "It's obvious where all the talent in that family went!" Returning to the final moments of the game, Stan steps in as the [[quarterback]], passing the ball to Kyle for a [[touchdown]] that beats the spread as time runs out. In his speech after the game, Stan tells the people of South Park about the Big Gay Animal Sanctuary and that "it's okay to be gay." |
Concerned about his dog, Stan looks for him, missing the football game, and finds him at the Big Gay Animal Sanctuary. Here, Stan learns from Big Gay Al that homosexuality has been around for a long time, and Stan eventually accepts his dog's homosexuality. Meanwhile, Richard Stamos fails to hit the high note at half time, prompting Mr. Garrison to shout, "It's obvious where all the talent in that family went!" Returning to the final moments of the game, Stan steps in as the [[quarterback]], passing the ball to Kyle for a [[touchdown]] that beats the spread as time runs out. In his speech after the game, Stan tells the people of South Park about the Big Gay Animal Sanctuary and that "it's okay to be gay." |
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He attempts to lead the people to the site of the Big Gay Animal Sanctuary, but it is mysteriously missing; people's runaway pets, however, return. Before disappearing, Big Gay Al thanks Stan for enlightening everyone. Although the Cows beat the spread, Richard Stamos shows up to prove he can hit the high note that he missed earlier, triggering the bomb and killing the Cowboys' mascot. |
He attempts to lead the people to the site of the Big Gay Animal Sanctuary, but it is mysteriously missing; people's runaway pets, however, return. Before disappearing, Big Gay Al thanks Stan for enlightening everyone. Although the Cows beat the spread, Richard Stamos shows up to prove he can hit the high note that he missed earlier, triggering the bomb and killing the Cowboys' mascot. |
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==Reception== |
==Reception== |
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Revision as of 21:23, 15 August 2009
| "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" |
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"Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" is the fourth episode of Comedy Central's animated series South Park.[2] It originally aired on September 3, 1997. In this episode, Stan's dog, Sparky, is found to be gay after humping a rival dog. As a result, Sparky runs away to Big Gay Al's Big Gay Animal Sanctuary after Stan tries to make him more masculine. After Stan accepts his dog's homosexuality, he tells everyone to accept homosexuality, only to have the entire Sanctuary, though not the animals, disappear.
Written by founders Trey Parker and Matt Stone, "Big Gay Al's Gay Boat Ride" guest-starred actor George Clooney. The episode marked the first appearance of Pip and Big Gay Al, both of whom would become recurring characters. Pip is based on the protagonist of the same name from the 1861 Charles Dickens novel, Great Expectations. This episode generally received positive reviews for its portrayal of homosexuality. It was nominated for both an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program and a GLAAD Award.
Plot
Stan's new dog Sparky follows the boys to the bus stop one morning. To determine whether Sylvester, a local mutt, or Sparky is the toughest dog in South Park, Stan and Cartman egg the dogs to fight, when Sparky suddenly leaps on top of Sylvester and begins humping him energetically. Sylvester runs away yelping, and Cartman declares that Sparky is apparently a "gay homosexual."
At football practice, Stan's Uncle Jimbo and his buddy Ned show up asking Chef, the coach, whether the boys can beat the spread of 72 points. Impressed by play from Stan, the quarterback and star, Jimbo and Ned run off to the bookmaker where Jimbo puts $500 on the South Park Cows. As a result, everyone else bets all their money on the same team, and they threaten Jimbo if the Cows lose. Intimidated, Jimbo and Ned seek a backup plan and learn that John Stamos's brother Richard will be singing "Lovin' You" at halftime. Consequently, Jimbo and Ned plan to blow up the opposing team using a sonic triggering device as Richard Stamos hits the high F note in the song with a bomb attached to Middle Park's mascot.
After practice, Sparky shows up and mounts another dog, Rex, who also runs away yelping with his tail between his legs. The next day, after class, Stan asks Mr. Garrison to tell him what a homosexual is. Mr. Garrison replies, "Gay people are evil. Evil right down to their cold, black hearts, which pump not blood, like yours and mine, but rather a thick, vomitous oil oozing through their rotten veins." As a result, Stan attempts to make his dog more masculine. Firs, he presents Sparky with Fifi, a female poodle, but fails miserably when Sparky steals Fifi's pearl collar. Thinking that homosexuality might not be bad, Stan calls up Jesus on his show Jesus and Pals to ask him what he thinks of homosexuality. Before he can answer, though, the show abruptly ends in time for Cartman's favorite show, "Marty's Movie Reviews". Frustrated, he rants about wanting a butch dog, a Rin Tin Tin. Sparky overhears this and runs away to the mountains, ending up at Big Gay Al's Big Gay Animal Sanctuary.
Concerned about his dog, Stan looks for him, missing the football game, and finds him at the Big Gay Animal Sanctuary. Here, Stan learns from Big Gay Al that homosexuality has been around for a long time, and Stan eventually accepts his dog's homosexuality. Meanwhile, Richard Stamos fails to hit the high note at half time, prompting Mr. Garrison to shout, "It's obvious where all the talent in that family went!" Returning to the final moments of the game, Stan steps in as the quarterback, passing the ball to Kyle for a touchdown that beats the spread as time runs out. In his speech after the game, Stan tells the people of South Park about the Big Gay Animal Sanctuary and that "it's okay to be gay."
He attempts to lead the people to the site of the Big Gay Animal Sanctuary, but it is mysteriously missing; people's runaway pets, however, return. Before disappearing, Big Gay Al thanks Stan for enlightening everyone. Although the Cows beat the spread, Richard Stamos shows up to prove he can hit the high note that he missed earlier, triggering the bomb and killing the Cowboys' mascot.
Reception
IGN gave the episode a "great" 8.4 out of 10, stating "There are a number of great moments in this episode. There's Jesus about to explain exactly how he feels on the subject of homosexuality - only to be cut off by 'Marty's Movie Reviews'. Then there's Mr. Garrison, the "obviously" gay teacher explaining that gays are evil and have a "black vomitous fluid" running through their veins."[3] Basing his comment off this episode, Gardiner commented that South Park had a "Queer Lite" attitude towards homosexuality, stating "they are unemphatically tolerant, polymorphously perverse, ambiguously gay affirmative".[4] Writing for the Chicago Tribune, Allan Johnson rated this episode as the tenth greatest episode, praising its tolerance.[5] Lorne Chan commented that this episode was the second best sport-themed South Park episode on the San Antonio Express-News, praising its satire of gambling on elementary schools and sports events.[6] Meanwhile, Rick Marin of Newsweek thought the episode was "gleefully offensive and profoundly silly", but praised its "juxtaposing cute and crude, jaded and juvenile".[7]
This was the first episode of the series to be nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.[8] It was also nominated for a GLAAD Award.[9]
Cultural References
The central theme of this episode is homosexuality. Throughout the episode, "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" explored homosexuality through Stan's dog Sparky and Big Gay Al, who would play a more prominent in Cripple Fight.[10] In addition, this episode looked at reactions of people to homosexuality through Stan and other peoples' reactions to Sparky's behavior. For instance, this episode parodies hatred and misunderstanding of homosexuality through Father Maxi's attempts to "pray away" the dog's homosexuality and Mr. Garrison's condemnation rooting from the fear of his own homosexuality. This critised zealots who attacked homosexuality, including Jerry Falwell and Fred Phelps.[11] In addition, the episode illustrates common stereotypes. For example, even though Stan doesn't even know what being gay includes, he just knows that it "is bad". Also, Cartman, trying to tell Stan that Sparky is gay, says "maybe he's [the dog] at the mall buying leather pants", satiring the stereotype that all gay men wear leather pants.[12] Also, Richard Stamos, an imaginary character, is John Stamos's brother. During the beginning of Mr. Garrison's class, Cartman writes an essay on the TV series Simon & Simon instead of Asian culture. Also, Bill suggested that Stan take Sparky to a Barbara Streisand concert. The disappearance of Big Gay Al at the end of the episode is a spoof of Dr. Lao's disappearance at the end of the movie The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao.[10] Big Gay Al's ride also features a number of miniature characters, among them Olympic figure skater Brian Boitano, singing a song called We Are Gay, which is a parody of the ride It's a Small World, an attraction at the Disneyland theme park. [11] In the original cut of this episode, the sports announcer makes a statement about another tackle remarking that he'd never seen so many children molested since "the last time Michael Jackson came to town." This is a reference to allegations of child molestation against Michael Jackson in 1993. Jackson was never charged, and the case was settled outside of court.[11]
References
- ^ "Southparkstudios.com FAQ Saturday, October 27, 2001". Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^ "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride episode guide". Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^ Fickett, Travis (November 29, 2007). "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride Review". IGN TV. Retrieved 2009-07-24.
- ^ Leslie, Stratyner (2009). The Deep End of South Park. p. 73.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Johnson, Allan (Wednesday, April 9, 2003). "Whoever thought this show would last 100 episodes?". Chicago Tribune. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Lorne, Chan (Friday, November 30, 2007). "The Chanifesto". San Antonio Express-News (TX). p. 2. Retrieved 2009-07-31.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Marin, Rick (Mar 23, 1998). "The Rude Tube". Newsweek. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
- ^ "Emmy Awards: 1998". Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^ "GLAAD Media Awards: 1998" Retrieved on 2008-08-09.
- ^ a b Tropiano, Michael (2002). The prime time closet. p. 299.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b c Leslie, Stratyner (2009). The Deep End of South Park. p. 106.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew (2008). Taking South Park Seriously. p. 116.
External links
- Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride on the South Park Studios Episode Guide