Super Fun Time

"Super Fun Time" is the seventh episode in the twelfth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 174th episode of the series overall, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 23, 2008.^[1][2] In the episode, Cartman and Butters narrowly escape a horrific hostage situation at South Park's Pioneer Village, where historical reenactors take their jobs far too seriously.

The episode was written and directed by South Park co-creator Trey Parker. During pre-production, the episode was under a working alternate title "The Living Museum" until it was changed later on. The show's plot was largely influenced by the film Die Hard.^[3]

Plot

Mr. Garrison takes his fourth grade class on a field trip to Pioneer Village, a 19th-century themed living history museum, where actors perform as if it was 1864 and never break character. Since nobody wants to be partners with him, Cartman is forced to take Butters as his partner and Garrison tells Butters to not let go of Cartman's hand until they are back on the bus.

Thieves led by Franz have robbed a Burger King and flee to Pioneer Village, taking everyone hostage. Stan, Wendy, Jimmy and Kyle flee with two townspeople to an office where Kyle calls the police. The thieves find a locked mine shaft door. They interrogate the workers to find the code, but none will break character.

Cartman and Butters go to an arcade called "Super Phun Thyme", but Butters stubbornly refuses let go of Cartman's hand, which leads to Butters being dragged around as Cartman plays games. When they return to Pioneer Village and see the entrance surrounded by police, they believe the police are there because someone has noticed they left, so they decide to sneak back in and claim they were there all along. Franz threatens to kill the kids (specifically Kenny), but Stan portrays a time period character and gives the workers an in-character way to divulge the door code.

Cartman and Butters jump the fence into the village, where one of the thieves attacks them. The thief tries to make them put their hands on their heads, but Butters will not let go of Cartman. Butters uses Cartman as a weapon by flinging him at the robber, runs away and they are knocked down by a grenade. The blast makes the robbers investigate, leaving the leader guarding the hostages. Stan points to him and gives the village criminal, Murderin' Murphy, an in-character reason to attack him. The police raid the camp, killing the robbers and catching the leader. An injured Butters stumbles out of the camp, clutching an unconscious Cartman along with him. Butters drags Cartman to the bus steps, proudly proclaiming that his partner is accounted for before fainting from exhaustion.

Reception

The episode received a mixed response. Travis Fickett of IGN rated the episode an 8/10, stating "A lot was in play here, and it's a well executed episode. They play on our expectation that Kenny would die, Mr. Garrison's cowardice, Cartman's troublemaking and Butters' steadfast compliance with the rules. There's a lot of fun stuff here, and it's a cool way to wrap up the 'half season' before we get new episodes in the fall".^[4]

However, Josh Modell of The A.V. Club graded the episode a C+, stating "It was okay. Not great, not horrible. Funny, but not hilarious. There was a noticeable lack of proselytizing, which can be a good or a bad thing".^[5]

References

External links

• "Super Fun Time" Full episode at South Park Studios
• "Super Fun Time" Episode guide at South Park Studios
• "Super Fun Time" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Super Fun Time" at TV.com