"Red Sleigh Down" is episode 96 of the

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

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 boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...

''. It originally aired on December 11, 2002. In the episode, Cartman has to score one big "nice" on Santa's list to be eligible for Christmas presents. He recruits Santa, Mr. Hankey, and Jesus in a desperate attempt to bring Christmas to the downtrodden citizens of Iraq. Things go awry and when Santa is shot down in Iraq, Jesus comes to his aid. The episode is notable for the return of

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 language, Irish ''Ó Cionnaith'', also spelt ''Ó Cionnaoith'' and ''Ó Cionaodha'', meaning "descendant ...

from his death in season five. The title and episode parody the films '' Black Hawk Down'' and ''

Three Kings The biblical Magi from Middle Persian ''moɣ''(''mard'') from Old Persian ''magu-'' 'Zoroastrian clergyman' ( or ; singular: ), also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men or (Three) Kings, also the Three Magi were distinguished foreigners in the G ...

''.

Plot

Cartman Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to by his surname Cartman, is a fictional character in the adult animated sitcom ''South Park'', created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. He is voiced by Parker, and is one of the series' four main charact ...

has

Kyle Kyle or Kyles may refer to: Places Canada * Kyle, Saskatchewan, Canada Ireland * Kyle, County Laois * Kyle, County Wexford Scotland * Kyle, Ayrshire, area of Scotland which stretched across parts of modern-day East Ayrshire and South Ayrshir ...

cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, " ...

perform a tally of his naughty and nice deeds. He informs Cartman that he has been too naughty to earn his coveted

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

gift, a Haibo robot dog. In order to reverse his past misdeeds, he sets out to spread Christmas cheer to the people of

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. Meanwhile, at a tree

lighting Lighting or illumination is the deliberate use of light to achieve practical or aesthetic effects. Lighting includes the use of both artificial light sources like lamps and light fixtures, as well as natural illumination by capturing daylig ...

ceremony, Jimmy is given the honor of lighting, but first decides to sing "

The Twelve Days of Christmas The Twelve Days of Christmas, also known as Twelvetide, is a festive Christian season celebrating the Nativity of Jesus. In some Western ecclesiastical traditions, "Christmas Day" is considered the "First Day of Christmas" and the Twelve Days a ...

". Due to his stutter, it takes most of the episode for him to reach the end of the twelve verses. With the use of Mr. Hankey's Poo-Choo train, Cartman and the other boys travel to the North Pole to convince

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a Legend, legendary figure originating in Western Christianity, Western Christian culture who is said to Christmas gift-bringer, bring ...

to bring Christmas to Iraq. With the assistance of the Underpants Gnomes, Santa prepares his sleigh and travels to Iraq, only to be promptly shot down, brought in, and tortured. The boys realize that Cartman's little ploy may have ended Christmas for everyone and set out to make things right. Taking a backup sled, they seek out

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. Upon hearing the news, Jesus promptly arms himself with an array of automatic weapons and travels with the boys to Iraq, brutally gunning down everyone who impedes him. The group breaks into the interrogation room and frees Santa. As they make their way back to the sleigh, Jesus is shot dead by one Iraqi captor. Outraged, Santa kills the soldier, and proceeds to blast his way out. Back on the sleigh, Santa flies the children back to South Park, but not before covering Iraq in Christmas decorations. Much to the town's delight, Jimmy finally finishes his song and switches on the Christmas tree, only for the lights to then blow a fuse. At that moment though, Santa flies past the tree and magically restores them. Santa returns the boys home, hoping that people will always remember Jesus on this day. He gives the children all Haibo dogs as thanks, but Cartman is disgusted, as he wanted to be the only kid owning one and have his friends envy him.

then shows up out of nowhere (his first appearance since "

Kenny Dies "Kenny Dies" is the thirteenth and penultimate episode of the fifth season of the animated television series '' South Park'', and the 78th episode of the series overall. "Kenny Dies" originally aired in the United States on December 5, 2001 on Com ...

"), though the three seem unfazed by this.

Production

This episode came from the idea of '' Black Hawk Down'' with

. The creators had always planned to bring Kenny back in the last episode, but they killed off Jesus (who dies to save Santa) the idea being that's why at Christmas time we think about Jesus. Santa's house in the North Pole is Superman's

Fortress of Solitude The Fortress of Solitude is a fictional fortress appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Superman. It is the place where Superman first learned about his true identity, heritage, and purpose on Eart ...

from ''

Superman II ''Superman II'' is a 1980 superhero film directed by Richard Lester and written by Mario Puzo and David and Leslie Newman from a story by Puzo based on the DC Comics character Superman. It is the second installment in the ''Superman'' film seri ...

''.

Home media

"Red Sleigh Down", along with the sixteen other episodes from ''South Parks sixth season, were released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on October 11, 2005. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode. ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' gave the season a rating of 9/10. The episode was also included on the DVD compilation ''Christmas Time in South Park.''

References

External links

"Red Sleigh Down"
Full episode at South Park Studios * {{South Park Christmas episodes 2002 American television episodes American Christmas television episodes Television episodes set in Iraq Parodies of films Portrayals of Jesus on television Santa Claus in television South Park (season 6) episodes Parody television episodes