Good Times with Weapons
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"Good Times with Weapons" is the first episode of the eighth season of the American
animated series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...
South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...
and the 112th episode of the series. It originally aired on March 17, 2004. In the episode, the boys are transformed into Japanese warriors after they buy martial arts weapons at a local market. Their sworn enemy, Professor Chaos, confronts them and a highly stylized battle ensues. The episode's
animation Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...
routinely switches from the usual cutout-and-solid-color style to a highly stylized
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
theme. This was the first episode with
April Stewart April Stewart (born February 8, 1968) is an American voice actress best known for providing the voices of many of the female characters in the animated comedy series ''South Park'' along with Mona Marshall and Kimberly Brooks. She also provided ...
as the bulk of the female characters following
Eliza Schneider Eliza Jane Schneider is an American actress, singer, playwright, dialect coach and dialectologist. She has appeared on television and as a voice over actress on video games and animations. She also performs various musical and stage shows. Ea ...
's departure. The episode was written by series co-creator
Trey Parker Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III (born October 19, 1969) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, director, and musician. He is best known for co-creating ''South Park'' (1997) and '' The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative part ...
. In 2015, he and co-creator
Matt Stone Matthew Richard Stone (born May 26, 1971) is an American actor, animator, writer, producer, and musician. He is best known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and ''The Book of Mormon (musical), The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his cre ...
listed it as their second favorite episode of the series. The episode was rated TV-MA L in the United States.


Plot

At the Park County Fair, the boys find a vendor selling East Asian weapons. The vendor says that he cannot sell weapons to people under 18 without parental approval, so the boys lie by claiming that they are brothers and that their parents died in a car accident the previous year, convincing the vendor to give them the weapons. Stan purchases a pair of Tonfa, Kyle gets
nunchaku is a traditional East-Asian martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks (traditionally made of wood), connected to each other at their ends by a short metal chain or a rope. It is approximately (sticks) and (rope). A person who has pract ...
, Cartman buys a pair of sai, and
Kenny Kenny is a surname, a given name, and a diminutive of several different given names. In Ireland, the surname is an Anglicisation of the Irish ''Ó Cionnaith'', also spelt ''Ó Cionnaoith'' and ''Ó Cionaodha'', meaning "descendant of Cionnaith". ...
purchases a pair of ''shaken''-style shuriken. After showing their weapons off to Craig, Clyde, and Token the boys go around town pretending to be ninjas, becoming
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
-like characters with their own individual
superpower Superpower describes a sovereign state or supranational union that holds a dominant position characterized by the ability to Sphere of influence, exert influence and Power projection, project power on a global scale. This is done through the comb ...
s. The animation style takes on an overall Japanese look and switches to a
cinemascope CinemaScope is an anamorphic format, anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its cr ...
aspect ratio whenever this happens in the original print at 4:3. Butters sees them playing and wants to join but the boys refuse to let him. Butters then goes home and becomes his
supervillain A supervillain, supervillainess or supercriminal is a major antagonist and variant of the villainous stock character who possesses Superpower (ability), superpowers. The character type is sometimes found in comic books and is often the primary ...
alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other ...
, Professor Chaos, and sets off to get his revenge on the four ninjas. Professor Chaos neutralizes Kyle and Stan, so Kenny comes to their defense and throws one of his shuriken. It hits Butters in the eye and becomes lodged in it, ending the boys' playtime. They realize that Butters needs medical attention, but taking him to the local hospital would result in their parents discovering their purchases. When an attempt to extract the shuriken from his eye fails, the boys decide to dress Butters up like a dog by gluing Sparky's fur to him and take him to a veterinarian. On the way, the boys encounter Craig,
Jimmy Jimmy may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Jimmy'' (2008 film), a 2008 Hindi thriller directed by Raj N. Sippy * ''Jimmy'' (1979 film), a 1979 Indian Malayalam film directed by Melattoor Ravi Varma * ''Jimmy'' (2013 f ...
, Clyde, and Token and have to hide Butters in an abandoned oven so nobody sees him. Much to their chagrin, they have copied the boys and obtained weapons from the same vendor. The two ninja groups fight, but in the midst of all the chaos, Butters escapes. The four boys force Craig's group to help them search for Butters, threatening to tell on them if they do not. A weakened, delirious Butters makes his way to the hospital, but his disguise fools the attending doctor, who sends Butters to the local animal shelter. There, the veterinarian determines that the only thing to do is to put Butters to sleep, but Butters escapes. The boys decide to dispose of the evidence and return to the fair to have the vendor refund their money, which he refuses to do. Craig and the others inform them that they have seen Butters wandering around on the other side of the fair towards an auction that all their parents are attending. Cartman decides to use his ninja power of
invisibility Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology. Since objects can be seen by light fr ...
to walk across the auction stage to get to Butters undetected and removes his clothes. However, in real life, Cartman inadvertently ends up
streaking Streaking is the act of running naked through a public area for publicity, for fun, as a prank, a dare, a form of protest, or to participate in a fad. Streaking is often associated with sporting events, but can occur in more secluded areas. Str ...
across the stage. Butters staggers onto the stage and collapses. The final scene shows the townsfolk protesting at an emergency meeting at the community center due to an outrage at the auction. The boys believe the outrage in question is Butters' injury (which has been medically treated by this time), but it soon transpires that the real issue is Cartman's public nudity. Cartman explains that it was a "
wardrobe malfunction A wardrobe malfunction is a clothing failure that accidentally exposes a person's intimate parts. It is different from deliberate incidents of indecent exposure or exhibitionism, public flashing. Justin Timberlake first used the term when apologiz ...
" (a reference to the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy that occurred six weeks prior to the episode's airing), and the episode ends with Stan, Kyle, and Kenny addressing the issue that adults are more offended by sex than violence, allowing them to keep their weapons after Kyle suggested that Cartman should be punished. The episode ends with a freeze-frame of Stan, Kyle, and Kenny in anime style posing.


Production

This episode features some ninja counterparts of the original cast of characters that appears to be modeled after the video game sprites from
Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...
's ''
Street Fighter Alpha 3 ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', released as in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 1998 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcades. It is the third and final installment in the '' Street Fighter Alpha'' sub-series, which ...
''. "Let's Fighting Love" is a
theme song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...
that mixes Japanese and English lyrics in a style parody of
anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
theme songs including that of ''
Dragon Ball Z ''Dragon Ball Z'' (''DBZ'') is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 ''Dragon Ball'' television series and adapts the latter 325 chapters ...
''. The song is performed by Parker.Audio Commentary on "Good Times with Weapons" with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, "South Park: The Hits, Vol. 1", Comedy Central Home Entertainment, 2006.


Home media

"Good Times with Weapons", along with the thirteen other episodes from ''South Park''s eighth season, was released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on August 29, 2006. The set includes brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode. In 2006, the episode was also included in ''South Park – The Hits: Volume 1'', a DVD compilation which features Parker and Stone's ten favorite episodes. On March 6, 2007, the day before the 11th season began, this episode was re-rendered in HD at 16:9 widescreen and was free with purchases of an
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...
console or HD DVD Drive at
Best Buy Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was r ...
on a single
HD DVD HD DVD (short for High Density Digital Versatile Disc) is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video.
disc from March 20 to April 3. It was also free on the Xbox 360 marketplace for two weeks from March 6 to March 20.


References


External links


"Good Times with Weapons"
Full episode at South Park Studios * {{DEFAULTSORT:Good Times With Weapons Ninja parodies South Park season 8 episodes Anime-influenced animation Japan in non-Japanese culture Fiction about invisibility