Imaginationland

"Imaginationland"

"Imaginationland" is episode 1110 (#163) of Comedy Central's South Park. It premiered on October 17, 2007. It is the first episode in a three-part story arc.

Plot

Part 1

The episode begins in the woods, with Cartman directing the other boys in setting up traps and spying on the surroundings, searching for a leprechaun. Cartman claims to have seen it in the woods for several days in a row, and a skeptical Kyle is there, having made a bet with him---if Cartman can prove leprechauns exist, Kyle will suck his balls, but if not, Cartman will owe Kyle $10. As the two are arguing, Butters suddenly does spot a leprechaun, and as it flees, the boys chase it, and eventually catch it in a trap. The leprechaun warns the boys of a terrorist attack, before vanishing with magic.

Cartman, triumphant, declares that Kyle must now suck his balls, but Kyle refuses, insisting that the leprechaun could not have been real. The next day, as Kyle is discussing the leprechaun with the other boys, a strange man suddenly appears, asking them if they have seen it. When Kyle argues that leprechauns are just imaginary, the man tells him that just because something is imaginary doesn't mean it isn't real. He then invites the boys for a ride in his magical "Imagination Flying Machine", while he serenades them with "The Imagination Song". The song is banal, consisting simply of the word 'imagination' sung repetetively in various tonal inflection (presumably as a parody of the themes scoring many children's feature films), and prompting irritation from Kyle. They arrive in a bizarre place called Imaginationland, where all the beings created by human imagination reside.

The imaginary creatures are all fascinated by the presence of the "creators," and ask them about the leprechaun. Just as they are about to tell them, however, a band of Islamist terrorists suddenly appear and set off a series of bombs, which quickly kill hundreds of the imaginary creatures and destroy most of the city. The boys flee, and a passing dragon tells them to climb on its back so it can fly them to safety. Butters, however, is left behind at the last minute and beaten by the terrorists, as the others fly away without him.

The next morning, Kyle wakes up in his bed, and is at first sure the whole thing must have been a dream---until he calls Stan, and discovers that he had the same dream. They also soon discover that Butters is missing. Meanwhile, Cartman, angry that Kyle has refused to fulfill his part of their agreement, takes Kyle to court, where the judge, seeing the written contract the two made, orders Kyle to suck Cartman's balls within twenty-four hours and must do it for a minimum of 30 seconds. If he fails to do this, he will be arrested for contempt.

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Meanwhile, the United States Department of Defense has learned about the attack on Imaginationland, and is horrified to discover that terrorists have managed to "attack our imaginations". They receive a video from the terrorists, showing that they have the survivors of the attack, including Butters, hostage. Butters reads a note from the terrorists, and calls out to Stan and Kyle as the video ends. Unsure of how to counter such a move, they turn to Hollywood film makers, hoping that they can use their creativity to get ideas. At first M. Night Shyamalan and Michael Bay are consulted, but when their 'ideas' are considered to be not really ideas at all (Shyamalan only comes up with plot twists and Michael Bay just nonsensically strings together special effects sequences), the advice of Mel Gibson is sought. He suggests that they examine the video the terrorists sent, and determine if there is anyone in it that somehow doesn't fit. Surprised to finally hear a good idea from a Hollywood director, the general comments, "Say what you want about Mel Gibson, but the son of a bitch knows story structure." The officials at the Pentagon rewatch the video and realize that Butters is not an imaginary character and head out to locate both Stan and Kyle.

In Imaginationland, the terrorists take one of the creatures, Rockety Rocket, and begin to modify him, planning to use him to blow up "the Barrier" - the wall that separates the good and evil halves of Imaginationland; this would allow the most evil beings of the human mind to come forth and rule the entire world. The imaginary creatures urge Butters to stop them. Butters stands in front of the wall just as the terrorists are about to do it, and urges them not to, arguing it won't make them "feel any better" and that they should learn to live in peace with other people. The terrorists simply blow the Barrier up anyway; the explosion causes it to begin to crack.

Cartman, meanwhile, throws a huge party, during which the other boys and even girls are supposed to watch Kyle come over and suck his balls as he is wearing a sultan's robe and hat. Kyle and Stan are about to walk into Cartman's house, when the members of the military suddenly show up and take the two of them away for questioning about what they know about Imaginationland. Cartman, furious at being foiled, quickly leaves and begins to hitchhike to Washington, D.C. to force Kyle to fulfill his obligation.

Part 2

Butters has a dream that he is home in his bed, but is quickly jolted out of it to find himself still in Imaginationland, having blacked out just as the evil imaginary creatures are invading through the destroyed Barrier. Creatures, including horror movie murderers Pinhead, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees, Imperial Stormtroopers, Cylons, Christine and monsters, quickly attack the terrorists who freed them, and then attack the good imaginary characters, including the Mayor, who is fatally wounded by a Xenomorph. Prior to his death, the Mayor tells everyone to flee into the Gumdrop Forest, and to find the Castle of Sunshine. Butters flees with the others into the woods, as the monsters quickly conquer the destroyed Imaginationland.

Meanwhile, Kyle and Stan have been taken by the Pentagon and are being interrogated about their trip into Imaginationland. The boys, however, are not aware of how the Mayor managed to bring them there, and thus cannot help them. During the interrogation, one of the interrogators lets slip that the American government has a portal constructed that leads to Imaginationland, originally built during the Cold War, but which has never worked. The generals show the portal to the boys, and during further questioning, mention that the Mayor had sung the "Imagination Song" on their trip to Imaginationland. As the two sing the song (which Stan remarks was "really long and really stupid"), the portal begins to respond, and after carefully remembering the song exactly (though the lyrics were simple, the exact intonations were required), the portal activates, and the military plans to go through it to attack the terrorists, unaware that they themselves have already been defeated by the various evil imaginary creatures.

Back in Imaginationland, the various evil creatures debate what to do, and invade the Lollipop Forest, beginning to attack the remaining good imaginary creatures; Butters and his companions manage to evade them. The most disturbing of the evil creatures are revealed to be the Satanic Woodland Critters, who were imagined for a story by Cartman himself in another episode, Woodland Critter Christmas. Meanwhile, back in the real world, Cartman has arrived in Washington, D.C., and calls the Pentagon to demand to know Kyle's location. The same agent that had slipped the secrets to the boys winds up telling him, and Cartman goes to get Kyle. He finally manages to burst in, and shows the generals their contract. The generals then allow Cartman to take Kyle to a conference room to suck his balls. Cartman spends a great deal of time gloating, however, while Kyle simply wants to do it quickly so he can find out what is happening; finally, Cartman takes so long that a red alert is called, and the boys have to flee back to the Portal Room.

The American government sends in a group of soldiers, as well as Kurt Russell (because he was in "that one movie that's kind of like this,") into Imaginationland. They radio back information that they found a group of "talking woodland Christmas critters;" Stan, recognizing them from Cartman's story, quickly tries to warn them to flee, but the soldiers are gang raped before he can. A moment later the ManBearPig monster, breaks through the portal into the Pentagon, and begins to kill numerous workers before grabbing Kyle. A surviving government worker finally manages to reverse the portal so that it sucks ManBearPig back into Imaginationland, but it sucks Stan in as well. ManBearPig drops Kyle in the confusion, but he is badly asphyxiated, and is pronounced dead. Cartman, in a way which evokes a similar scene from the film The Abyss screams at Kyle and attempts to perform CPR in a desperate struggle to revive him. With Cartman on the verge of tears, Kyle weakly begins to move and is taken to the medical ward.

In Imaginationland, Butters arrives at the Castle of Sunshine. However, the guard is suspicious that, as someone from the real world, he was likely involved with the terrorists. When Butters mentions that he was involved with capturing a leprechaun in the real world, the guard arrests him and leads him to the Council of Nine. The Council is a group made up of the wisest of all good fictional characters. The council consists of Aslan, Gandalf, Glinda the Good Witch, Jesus, Luke Skywalker, Morpheus, Popeye, Wonder Woman, and Zeus. This council, meanwhile, has apparently been offered by the evil creatures to flee unharmed, and are debating whether or not to trust the promise. When Butters walks in, the council decides that the Mayor may have brought Butters into Imaginationland to help them fight the terrorists, and declare that he must be their hero. He is reluctant, but forced to accept.

Back in the real world, the American government has determined that the only way to stop the terrorists is to launch a nuclear missile into the imagination portal, thus "nuking our imagination," not realizing (or not caring) that both Stan and Butters are still inside. Meanwhile, Kyle lies sleeping in a hospital bed after his near-death experience. Cartman is standing by Kyle's side as he wakes up, holding their contract and anticipating Kyle making good on their agreement.

Part 3

As an army of evil, violent imaginary creatures are marching towards the castle, Aslan, Gandalf and Luke Skywalker inform Butters that, as a real person, he has the ability to manifest things in Imaginationland by using his imagination. They tell Butters to bring back Santa Claus first, but Butters has trouble focusing his mind the right way, and can only manifest his father (who promptly grounds him) and hideous mutations.

In the real world, Kyle wakes up at Washington DC Memorial Hospital, where Cartman is undergoing preparations in anticipation of Kyle sucking his balls. Kyle begins hearing Stan's voice in his head, and after Cartman confirmed Stan's presence into Imaginationland, Kyle recognizes Stan and is asked by him for newest events.

In a press conference The Pentagon is forced to admit the events about Imaginationland and their plan to nuke it, because Al Gore (who is wearing his Nobel prize medal) leaked a video about Manbearpig's rampage at the beginning of the episode. Debates immediately ensue over whether or not Imaginationland can be nuked. To proceed with the nuking, the Supreme Court overturns the "Cartman vs. Brofloski decision" that imaginary creatures are real. Now Kyle legally no longer has to suck Cartman's balls, but Stan instructs Kyle to stall the launch for time. Kyle promptly leaves the hospital, but not before a furious Cartman vows to make Kyle suck his balls before the day is over.

The battle is underway in Imaginationland when Butters finally manages to summon an uncorrupted Santa Claus and other figures capable for fighting, as well as weapons (e.g. M60 machine gun for Jesus) and supplies (Spinach for Popeye). Meanwhile, Icarus spots and brings over Stan, who tells everyone about the government's plan. Stan then convinces Kyle (who is now sitting helplessly in front of Lincoln Memorial) along with other imaginary characters, that he needs to do all he can to stop the bombing. Kyle is reluctant because that would mean he has to suck Cartman's balls. However, he realizes there's no choice.

Cartman has managed to sneak into the Pentagon again, breaking through the window he broke previously (which has been taped up). He tries to get the officials to admit that imaginary creatures are real, but accidentally starts an argument on religion, with people arguing whether or not, for example, Jesus or Hell are real. At this point, Kyle sneaks in too (bashing through an undamaged section of window next to Cartman's entrance point), and successfully convinces the officials to withdraw the launch, by stating that imaginary creatures are just as real as real people because of their impact on the real world. Facing a demanding Cartman, Kyle also asserts refusal to suck his balls, even if it means Kyle's own illegality and imprisonment.

Just as everything is going to be alright, Al Gore barges in, and demands that Manbearpig be killed. He smashes at the controls of the portal and reverses it, sucking everything and everyone in the room, including the nuke, into Imaginationland.

As Butters, Stan and the good imaginary characters celebrate their victory, they see Kyle, Cartman and the military staff fall from the sky, followed shortly by the nuke, which detonates on impact and reduces Imaginationland to blank white emptiness. Butters somehow survives, who uses his imagination to restore Imaginationland to its state prior to the terrorist attack: All dead characters are revived, and all evil creatures are behind the wall, now repaired.

With everybody gathered up, Butters explains that he was able to do all this because of the power of his imagination. Cartman is inspired and imagines duplicates of himself and Kyle, and the duplicate Kyle proceeds to suck the the duplicate Cartman's testicles offscreen. Kyle angrily states the scene is imaginary, but Cartman insists that because imaginary creatures are "real," as Kyle himself said earlier, then Kyle is "really" sucking Cartman's balls. Everyone agrees with Cartman and laughs at the angry and powerless Kyle. Santa then tells the boys that they should be heading home.

Butters then awakes in his bed and, when his parents enter the room, tells them about his dream. His parents inform him that the dream was real, as they read all about it in the newspaper. However, he was supposed to be helping out in the basement when he's in Imaginationland, and as he didn't, his parents grounds him. Butters tries to use his powers to get himself out of trouble, but his father tells him that the trick only works in Imaginationland, so he is still grounded.

Disappointed, Butters lays back in bed while uttering, "Aw, shit". This is only the second time that Butters curses uncensored, the first time being when he said "shit" in the episode "It Hits the Fan".

Reception

The episode was both a critical and commercial success. It drew in over 3.4 million viewers and was the most watched program in all of television for Wednesday night among Men between ages 18-24 and 18-34 and ranked #1 in cable among Persons 18-49.

On the critical side, IGN gave the episode a rating of 9.1/10 and praised it for being "smart, inventive and provides a number of moments that'll stick with you long after it's over." 411Mania also gave the show a positive review, calling it "a great episode", praising it as an improvement over what the site perceived to be two weak episodes, and awarding it 7/10. TV Squad also gave a positive review saying that "They're still on a roll with another great episode."

The episode currently has a score of 9.5 on TV.com, and a rating of 8.7 on the Internet Movie Database, as voted by viewers.

Allusions

• The title sequence that takes place after the Leprechaun's warning is in reference to the title sequences from the Superman films. The title given is "Kyle Sucks Cartman's balls: The Trilogy"
• The man who brings the boys to Imaginationland, and likewise his balloon, are a parody of the once popular Dreamfinder character from the now closed attraction Journey Into Imagination at EPCOT Center's Journey Into Imagination pavilion, which was open from 1983-1998.
• The scene in which Stan is crouched under the giant mushroom right after the suicide bomber explodes is an almost shot-by-shot recreation of a scene from Saving Private Ryan, in which Stan plays the part of Captain John Miller during the landing at Omaha Beach. The scene is spoofed right down to Ronald McDonald re-enacting the infamous shot of a man picking up his own dismembered arm off the ground.
• The Dragon that offers the boys a ride on his back is a reference to, and sounds like, Sean Connery from the film Dragonheart.
• Butters' final plea with the terrorists before they unleash Rockety Rocket is reminiscent of Rodney King's appearance during the 1992 Los Angeles riots to ask, "Can we all get along?"
• In the penultimate scene where Rockety Rocket has met his death, the "barrier" that separates the good and the evil sides of Imaginationland begins to crack. The Mayor of Imaginationland states, "They are coming." This is a direct reference to Gandalf's translation of the dwarf runes prior to the fellowship's oncoming battle in Moria in Peter Jackson's 2001 film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
• In the last scene of the episode where Cartman is getting a ride from the trucker, Cartman is dressed exactly like Sylvester Stallone's character Rambo in the movie "First Blood" with the trademark green Army jacket, red undershirt, and brown traveling bag. This also refers to the way he is hitchhiking and the words he speaks at the end, "When a man has been wronged, he no longer cares about danger." and "You go through life being told there's justice, then you learn the only real justice...is the justice you take." Cartman's final line in the episode is a reference to a line made by Mel Gibson's character in The Patriot, Benjamin Martin.

Character References in Imaginationland

Numerous characters are present in Imaginationland, some of which are outlined in the following list.

• Anubis
• Ash Ketchum
• Astro Boy
• Aubrey from Little Gems
• Audrey II
• Lance Bean
• Bigfoot
• The Blue Meanies and The Dreadful Flying Glove from Yellow Submarine
• Boober from Fraggle Rock
• Bogey Orangutan
• The Brown Hornet
• Buddha
• Bulletman
• Cabbage Patch Kids
• Cap'n Crunch
• Captain Planet
• Care Bears
• Charlie Brown
• Cheetara
• Christine
• Chuck Norris
• Cinderella
• Copper Kid
• Count Chocula
• DangerMouse
• Dick Tracy
• Draco from Dragonheart
• An Ent which could also be Barkis
• Eddie - the mascot for British Heavy Metal band Iron Maiden
• E.T.
• The Flash
• Frankenberry
• Franklin the Turtle
• General Otmin
• Gizmo from Gremlins

• A griffin
• Grimace
• Hobbes
• H.R. Pufnstuf
• The Hulk
• Humpty Dumpty
• Jack Skellington
• James T. Kirk
• Jem
• Jesus
• John Coffey from The Green Mile
• John Henry
• Jonny Quest
• Joseph Smith
• Krishna
• Laozi
• Leonard "Lenny" Kosnowski
• A leprechaun
• Little Red Riding Hood
• Link from Legend of Zelda
• The Lollipop King
• Lucy van Pelt
• The Mad Hatter
• ManBearPig
• Mario
• A mermaid
• Mighty Mouse
• Mordred from Excalibur
• Morpheus from The Matrix
• Moses
• Mothra
• Mr. Clean
• Mr. Toad
• Mr. Tumnus
• A monster from Where the Wild Things Are
• Najix (giant taco that craps ice cream)
• My Little Pony
• Obelix
• Optimus Prime
• Orko (From the original He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series. Rather than an "O", he has a "D" emblazoned on his cloak, thus spelling his name "Dorko".)
• Pac-Man
• Pan
• Pat the Hammer from Handy Manny
• Paul Bunyan
• Perseus
• Peter Griffin from Family Guy
• Peter Rabbit
• Pillsbury Doughboy

• Pooka from Dig Dug
• Punchy
• The Prince from Katamari Damacy
• Ra
• Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy
• Rapunzel
• Remy from Ratatouille
• Reverend Henry Kane
• R.J. The Cigarette Man from Futurama
• Rockety Rocket
• Robin Hood
• Ronald McDonald
• Rom (Star Trek)
• Santa Claus
• Scarecrow from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
• Scooter
• A Snowth
• Sea-man
• A Smurf
• Snoopy
• Snuggle Bear
• Snarf
• Shrek
• Silver Surfer
• A Skeksis from The Dark Crystal
• Steve Irwin
• Shippo
• Strawberry Shortcake
• Taz
• A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
• Ō-Totoro from My Neighbor Totoro
• Twinkie the Kid
• Uncle Remus
• An Underpants Gnome
• A unicorn
• V.I.N.CENT
• Voltron
• Waldo from Where's Wally?
• Wembley from Fraggle Rock
• Wild Thing from "Where The Wild Things Are"
• Wile E. Coyote
• Yoda
• Zeus

External links

• Summary at TV.com
• Episode highlights from Comedy Central