Super Fun Time

Synopsis
"Super Fun Time" is the seventh episode of the twelfth season of South Park. It originally aired on April 23, 2008 and in Canada, it originally aired on May 9, 2008. It was the final episode of the first half of the season,  which returned on October 8th.

Plot
Mr. Garrison takes the fourth grade class on an educational field trip to "Pioneer Village" (based on the Hiwan Homestead Museum in Evergreen, Colorado) where dedicated workers act as their counterparts from 1864 and never break character. Mr. Garrison tells the students to move in pairs and hold hands. Stan and Wendy match up and Stan admits to them dating once again. Cartman is forced to take Butters as his partner and Mr. Garrison tells Butters not to let go of Cartman's hand until they were both back on the bus.

Cartman forces Butters to ditch the field trip and go to the amusement center located two blocks away, "Super Phun Thyme", based on the Littleton, Colorado entertainment complex called "Fat City" (fomerly "Fun Plex"), located off of Kipling.[3]. Butters refuses to let go of Cartman's hand, and they are forced to cooperate until back on the bus. While the rest of the kids are bored in the village, a group of trigger-happy thieves led by a man called Franz (modeled after Alan Rickman's character Hans Gruber from Die Hard) have robbed a Burger King and fled 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 mine shaft door in the back of the park that is locked. They start to interrogate the workers to find the code to the lock, but none of them will break character, not even to save their own lives. One of the townsfolk gets killed by pioneer Paul for breaking character in the attempt to give the lock code.

Meanwhile, Cartman and Butters are at "Super Phun Thyme", and Butters still won't let go of Cartman's hand. This leads to Butters sullenly being dragged around as Cartman plays arcade games, rides bumper cars, plays Air hockey with himself, and ride a coin-operated motorcycle ala the handcuffed motorcycle chase in Tomorrow Never Dies. When they finally decide to return, they see the police and assume that they are searching for the two of them. They attempt to sneak back in but become stuck on a traffic light. By then, seeing that interrogating the workers isn't going to work, Franz threatens to kill the kids instead, starting with Kenny, but the workers still refuse to break character. In a last ditch effort to save Kenny's life, Stan makes "the ultimate sacrifice" (looking like a dork in front of Wendy) and assumes a disguise portraying an out of towner and manages to give the workers an in-character way to divulge the door code, 1864.

Cartman and Butters jump the fence into the village, where one of the thieves sees and attacks them. In an attempt to capture the two he tries to make them put their hands on their heads. A very dedicated Butters simply will not let go. Upon threatening to shoot their hands off Butters uses Cartman as a weapon, bodily flinging him at the robber, and running away. Cartman and Butters, in their attempt to flee, are knocked out by a grenade. The confusion allows the police to raid the camp, killing and capturing some of the thieves. Finally a bell rings, signaling the end of the work day, and all of the village workers break character and head off to T.G.I. Friday's for some jalapeño poppers. As Franz is being arrested, he "learns something", that people in 1864 didn't have the conveniences that people in modern times take for granted. The episode ends as Butters drags an unconscious Cartman all the way back into the school bus, firmly stating, "Teacher, my partner is back on the bus," finally letting go of his hand before passing out from exhaustion.

Image Gallery

 * See Super Fun Time/Images for more images

Video Clips

 * See Super Fun Time/Videos for more videos

Script

 * See Super Fun Time/Script for this episode's script

Trivia

 * The criminals parody the gang if thieves from Die Hard.
 * When Cartmen and Butters ride the motercycle it parodies a scene from the movie Tomorrow Never Dies.
 * The 'I learned something today' part is parodying the same sentence Kyle or Stan would say at the end of the earlier episodes.


 * Other notable pairings that are seen include Bebe and Lola, Token and Clyde, Craig and Kenny, Nelly and Bradley, and Millie and Heidi


 * If you look closely, a girl resembling Rebecca Cotswolds is present at the Pioneer villiage.


 * Kevin and Rebecca, two students who did not appear at the beginning of the episode, are present during the final scene.