Talk:Super Best Friends/Archive 1

Scientology
Has anyone else noticed how the episode seems to parody scientology? The 'Blaintology' thing, cartman explaining how it is isn't a cult much like the way scientologists do and when Stand tries to leave at the beginning. There are other little bits (The book its based on etc.) Wondering if this is all a coincidence?

EDIT: Also just noticed at the end, how it says you shouldn't have to pay money to get more out of the religion, something else to do with Scientology.

I just was watching it, and I realised that too. It has the same things that the Scientology episode had. Kyle didn't know he was sad, the blaintologists told him this, he needed money to be happy, just like Stan in the Scientology episode. Also, they have David Blaine's book they need to read, like Dianetics.

Crazydog115 11:46, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Technical question
From the current version: "This episode did air in its entirety without modification on WMLW-CA in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Friday, May 28th 2006 at 3:00am during its normal timeslot. This is despite many minor modifications to other South Park episodes [emphasis added]." Did the person who wrote this mean to say that the episode will air then, or is the date just a typo? Wbeaumo 03:25, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Why David Blaine?
This summary misses a important point - why is street magician David Blaine the one fronting the cult? What is the motive/backstory for this (unflattering) position? 203.144.160.243 06:02, 25 May 2006 (UTC) Z-that-loves-SP-but-have-yet-to-see-all-eps-due-to-relocation

Cartman's betrayal
I think the plot summary should include that Cartman actually betrays Kyle and is responsible for his imprisonment. What do you think? 213.112.139.121 23:12, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Trivia
When sea-man opens the console in the super-friends, its the same noise used in moving from map to base in X-COM. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.9.94.157 (talk) 06:18, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

''I'm moving this here. Trivia sections are NOT the way to organize articles. This information needs to either be incorporated into the main flow, or removed.--Eloquence* 02:46, 14 July 2006 (UTC)''


 * When Cartman and Kyle are going from door to door promoting Blaintology, they wear name tags that read "Elder Cartman" and "Elder Kyle." This is a spoof on the name tags worn by Mormon missionaries. Unlike Mormon missionaries however, they refer to one another by the unrelated title of "Brother" which may be interpreted as a continuity error.
 * This episode shows a view of the White House in which all of the characters from That's My Bush! are talking about the crisis.
 * When Kyle wakes up Cartman to ask if he will leave with him, Cartman is awakened from a dream where he is being molested by Paula Poundstone.
 * Cartman complains that he doesn't want to die because he hasn't got his pubic hair yet. A week later, "Scott Tenorman Must Die" aired.
 * The Super Best Friends is a parody of the cartoon Super Friends which had major characters from DC Comics uniting to fight evil. This in turn was inspired by the comic book Justice League of America or JLA, which featured what are known as the "Big 7": Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Aquaman (the subsequent animated series Justice League replaced Aquaman with Hawkgirl).
 * Each Super Friend has a special "super power." Jesus' super power is master carpentry skills as was his profession.  Other episodes have also depicted him as a healer, such as "Red Sleigh Down."
 * Unlike the reaction of Islam to the depictions of the prophet Muhammad in Danish cartoons in early 2006, this episode went unnoticed by the Muslim world at the time, despite its portrayal of Muhammad as a superhero who can shoot fire. This issue is later addressed in the Season 10 two part episode "Cartoon Wars Part I" and "Cartoon Wars Part II", which appeared to censor all images of Muhammad (he was in fact visible in the opening credits and those of the previous episode "Smug Alert!" and in "The Return of Chef", and in syndication.
 * Oddly enough, this episode's portrayal of Krishna is somewhat accurate. According to Hindu myth, Krishna was the incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, who is famous for coming to Earth in a variety of forms to safeguard it. But, then again, some Hindu sects also believe Buddha was a form of Vishnu and that iconography from other religions, including Christianity, is occasionally seen in a Hindu context.
 * Although Joseph Smith is presented as the embodiment of a religion distinct from Christianity, Mormons do consider themselves Christians and Mormons continue to worship Jesus Christ as the Lord, and the Son of God. However many Catholics and Protestants do not consider Mormons to be Christians.
 * The depiction of Muhammad as possessing command over fire hearkens back to the narratives contained in the Abrahamic scriptures (the Torah, the Tanakh, the New Testament and the Qur'an) in which prophets would sometimes call down fire from the sky.
 * This episode touches on the fact that without their hats or hair, all the characters would look alike (except, of course, for Cartman and Token).
 * The summary speech given by Stan at the end of the episode is, ironically, little more than an endorsement of yet another religious tradition (namely, Theosophy). As it is doubtful that the writers knew anything about Theosophy itself and do not appear to subscribe to its tenets, the correlation between Stan's message and that of Theosophy can probably be attributed to the diffusion of theosophical concepts into the American mainstream since the 1960s. The irony of Stan appearing to advocate religious unity and ecumenical reconciliation while in fact preaching yet another distinct religious message and setting it up as superior to those represented by the Super Best Friends was probably unintentional.
 * Despite meeting Joseph Smith and seeing him in action as a member of the Super Best Friends, Stan later claims never to have heard of him in "All About the Mormons?"
 * When Jesus takes Stan to the hall of Super Best Friends he goes on a plane implying that he can't fly, but, at the end of the episode all the Super Best Friends fly away including Jesus.
 * Super Best Friends is also a reference to the title "Super Best Friends league"; A group of friends that influence moderator bias at the popular gaming community website HeavenGames.
 * David Blaine ate his own head in this episode. This trick was referenced in Team America: World Police (a film made by the creators of South Park) when Gary was asked if he ever saw a man eat his own head.
 * In the beginning of the episode Cartman and Butters ask Stan and Kyle where they got ice cream. This question was never answered.
 * All the characters (Except Cartman and Token) look the same when their hair is shaved off. Stan even got confused who he was during his and Kyle's arguement and had to put on his hat to remember.
 * On David Blaine's flier, It reads "Punch and Pie!!!" on the bottom, a reference to South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.

The concept
I expected this article to discuss the concept of super best friends, which is a platonic loving relationship between a man and a woman. I think this usage is quite common, esp in the UK. Disambiguation needed? --81.105.251.160 18:02, 27 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I have never heard that useage of the phrase "Super Best Friends", and I'm from the UK. Maybe it's from a specific region or community, but unless you want to make an article regarding that useage, theres no point to a disambiguation page. Jacobshaven3 22:46, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Cultural references & Reaction,and other additions
Hey everyone, hope nobody minds but I reorganised the information here slightly under the titles "Cultural references" and "Reaction", as per the Wikipedia guidelines, and I also added some stuff on Scientology and Paula Poundstone (with references). Let me know if ye have any big problems with this and i'm sure we can sort it out - but i hope not, i think it's pretty standard. Does anyone have any references for the Branch Davidians stuff? I had to add a little parenthesis about it being unconfirmed, but i guess it's surely correct, just a reference would make everything nice and above board :) any comments? peace Warchef 19:37, 9 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Now that I take a second look over the history page, I see that a previous entry on the scientology stuff was deleted as O.R. I'd just like to point out the reference to my addition of this stuff, which links to an audio file of the dvd commentary, in which parker confirms that this is the case. Just so ye know it's legal and all :) Warchef 19:40, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Why were the images out?
There where 2 images more some days ago, why they went out ? --Fixman 02:43, 13 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Some knee-jerk reaction, I suppose.--Steven X 10:01, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

Imaginationland
"including Joseph Smith, who, as the only real person to appear in Imaginationland" Didn't the persons known as (both are titles rather than names according to their respective articles) Buddha and Lao Tzu (and likely depicted in this episode) exist? The articles about them state thoughts of historians about when they lived, I would therefore assume that they acctually did live (although the stories about them are probably mostely made up). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.187.48.165 (talk) 14:16, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Banned in UK?
I saw this episode last night on U.K. tv, paramount comedy, so it obviously isn't banned unless they didn't mean to show it. Anyone who can elaborate on this?

Portrayal of Muhammad
After reading about the Muhammad cartoons fiasco, I remembered this particular episode of South Park, and have started wondering why nothing happened about this... T ConX 17:51, 4 February 2006 (UTC)


 * Shhhh be vevvy vevvy quiet :p, i expect the religious nutjobs will now start a revert war on this, the concept of NPOV doesn't seem to work on people who believe everyone else is going to hell. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.46.144.194 (talk • contribs)
 * They found it, it's down :( —Preceding unsigned comment added by Simanos (talk • contribs) 10:15, 23 April 2010 (UTC)

Err...I was wondering about why this never evoked any wrath in the Islamic world, and then I checked the original airdate: July 4, 2001. This never came up in discussions of September 11th, but you've gotta wonder if somehow there was a connection on some level. (D.B. Echo, February 17th, 2006) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.213.220.62 (talk • contribs)

I obeject to the picture on this page. Muhamed can claerly be slightly seen in it. I object for what ever reason it is that people are objecting and killing to the pictures in danish newspapers. Change the picture or face allah's wrath

While Islamic fundamentalists do have access to those cartoons, they don't have access to this one. Let's keep it that way. The media haven't published anything about South Park (that I know of) and millions of people have no idea the show even exists, which is a good thing, because loads of people would be offended by it, some of whom would make a huge deal about it and probably try to have the show canceled, which would be very bad. As someone else stated, we had best keep this quiet, and the religious nutjobs won't do a thing.

69.138.229.246 02:22, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
 * Shouldn't we deleate this conversation then.--143.92.1.33 06:04, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
 * What conversation? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.168.114.39 (talk • contribs)
 * I object to the portrayal of David Blaine, mmtwahhh - WkpdTed 13:35, 15 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Maybe I should tell the world about this? It will be huge. —Preceding unsigned comment added by WkpdTed (talk • contribs)

It is forbidden by some interpretations of Islam to create a depiction, but the aniconism rule does not apply to non-Muslims; it doesn't even apply to all Muslims. Some of the Jyllands-Posten cartoons were offensive and caused a huge controversy. Super Best Friends was as respectful to the religious figures as a South Park episode could be.

That's the key difference. As long as it is not an offensive depiction (e.g., with a bomb in his turban) it will rarely, if ever, cause a problem. Many companies, such as Comedy Central, will no longer allow depictions as a CYA policy. I note that it has aired very recently and with no incident.

--Kevin L&#39;Huillier 19:40, 8 June 2006 (UTC)

I do hope they take offence and use terroisim against Stone and Parker, so we don't have to watch their boring repetative immaute bulls**t programs anymore. Learn to draw losers!

Like you can do any better troll? Iamhungey 18:23, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

Nothing is mentioned that clips of Muhammed and the super best friends flying being shown in the opening credits of episodes during season 6.

May I remember everyone of the fact that the riots didn't happen because people were offended by the cartoons in Jyllands-Posten but were caused by fake pictures some imams from Denmark showed during a trip to, I believe, the Middle East (on of these fakes supposedly featured a picture of pigs and a remark in which the 'cartonists' compared muslims to pigs). I always thought that things weren't offensive as such, just that people TAKE offense. It's just their own fault that they're so hot tempered. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 145.53.138.11 (talk) 18:58, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Mohammed reaction?
Was there any reaction on the apearance of the prophet mohammed? There were large terrorist-attacks in Denmart for the same reason. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.134.154.25 (talk) 19:03, 4 April 2010 (UTC)


 * Not at the time of its original airing, as far as I know. Evercat (talk) 18:24, 26 April 2010 (UTC)

even though it is only a foot deep
Plenty enough to drown in. 86.45.199.69 (talk) 13:07, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

controversy
As of today, April 22nd, this episode has been removed from www.southparkstudios.com. This is in addition to the unavailability of the "201" episode on the website so far (after airing last night, April 21st). I believe that there should be a section on this page concerning the recent controversy over the image of Mohammed and the corresponding censorship online. Any thoughts? Lily17 (talk) 19:29, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Was there actually a picture on this page of Mohammad from this episode up at one time? I could just be imagining things though.--Exer 505 (talk) 23:34, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

@Exer 505: The whole episode was available for streaming, but it was removed following the controversy about episodes 200 & 201. This should be mentioned in the article. I can't check southparkstudios.com without looking for a US-proxy, but on southpark.de it's not available anymore. @Lili17: Episodes are usually available on the website for one week after the original airing and then made available again after some time. I think the removal of episode 200 has nothing to do with the controversy. Autoplombe (talk) 00:57, 24 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Needs secondary WP:RS sources to back this up, for it to be added to the article. -- Cirt (talk) 01:00, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

it clearly does have todo with episode 200 it was removed right after.(129.161.200.79 (talk) 06:01, 26 April 2010 (UTC))

As of 11:30PM, April 26, the episode was streamed and available on Comedy Network, despite the quick removal that was supposedly based on "NOR" --Spmarshall42 (talk) 03:51, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

200 / 201
I've not actually seen 200 or 201 so someone who has might want to comment on whether it's 200 or 201 wherein Muhammad appears in a bear suit. 33° (talk) 18:12, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

The character in the bear suit appears in both episodes. In 201, it is revealed that the character in the bear suit is Santa Claus rather than Muhammad. 69.68.125.6 (talk) 03:25, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

Censorship of Season 5 DVD
There has been a rumor circulating that Comedy Central is re-releasing the South Park Season 5 DVD without the episode Super Best Friends as a result of the recent muslim threats. Can anyone confirm this and if so should it be included as a significant notation in the article for this episode? 96.243.189.48 (talk) 17:30, 12 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Not sure if that has been documented yet, in independent reliable secondary sources. -- Cirt (talk) 21:58, 12 June 2010 (UTC)
 * The episode has been removed from www.southpark.nl. Not sure how to make footnote here, but here is the website http://www.southpark.nl/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.72.102.207 (talk) 19:53, 4 July 2011 (UTC)