Volcano

"Volcano" is episode 3 of Comedy Central's series South Park. It originally aired on August 20, 1997. The episode is generally advertised as the series' third episode, although it aired second.

Plot
Stan's Uncle Jimbo and his war buddy Ned take Stan, Kenny, Kyle and Cartman on a hunting trip in the mountains. When they arrive in the wilderness (just outside of South Park), Jimbo gives each of the boys a gun, a can of beer and a pack of cigarettes, and the hunting festivities begin.

It soon becomes apparent that Jimbo and Ned's idea of hunting is to slaughter every living thing in sight via military weaponry, regardless of the regulations, which they get around by yelling "It's coming right for us!" in order to exploit the loophole that they can kill any animal in self defense. Stan proves to not have the proper temperament to enjoy hunting (or at least Jimbo and Ned's idea of hunting), and finds himself unable to shoot a living target when provided the opportunity. However, Jimbo appears impressed with Kenny, who drinks gasoline straight from the can. While hunting the boys realize that one of the nearby mountains is rumbling, a fact Ned and Jimbo ignore until it is too late.

Back in town, at the South Park Center for Seismic Activity, Stan's dad, Randy, discovers that the mountain is going to erupt.

Meanwhile, on the mountain, Jimbo accidentally sets Ned on fire while the boys are roasting hot dogs, and Cartman tells the story of Scuzzlebutt. Cartman describes Scuzzlebutt as a creature that lives on the mountain and kills anyone who dares to climb to the top because it likes the taste of blood and to add pieces to its deformed body. Instead of a left hand he has a piece of celery and one of his legs is missing and has been replaced with Patrick Duffy. He also claims that he weaves wicker baskets as a hobby.

The boys don't believe Cartman's tale, so he decides to dress up as the creature the next morning in order to scare them. His plan backfires, however, when the boys tell Jimbo and Ned that Cartman is missing. Once Cartman dressed up as Scuzzlebutt is found, they realize they could become famous by shooting Scuzzlebutt. They start shooting at him until Cartman reveals that he isn't Scuzzlebutt. At a lower elevation, some of the townspeople are organizing a search and rescue mission for the hunting party (yet unaware that the mountain is a volcano and about to erupt) while other South Park residents dig a trench, under the guidance of Randy, to divert the lava away from the town. Suddenly, the mountain erupts, and the hunting group tries to flee only to find themselves trapped on the other side of the trench.

The real Scuzzlebutt then appears and weaves a wicker basket, carrying the hunting party to safety. The lava then flows through the trench and, due to Randy's miscalculation, destroys Denver. Stan then kills Scuzzlebutt in a misguided attempt to prove he can kill something and make Uncle Jimbo proud. Unfortunately, Jimbo is less than impressed, saying the "some things you do kill and some you don't." Stan doesn't understand, since earlier in the episode, Jimbo would have shot an endangered species, and the boys decide that hunting sucks and go to watch cartoons.

Kenny's Death

 * When the volcano erupts, a ball of lava comes flying at Kenny, but misses. The kids and adults assume Kenny died, so Stan says the catchphrase "Oh my God, it killed Kenny!" Then, when Kenny comes from behind the rock of lava, the rock rolls a little and you can hear a squishing sound, assumed to be Kenny getting squashed by the rock. Towards the end of the episode, Kenny comes out of nowhere, apparently not dead. After Stan kills Scuzzlebutt, Ned vows not to use a gun ever again, drops the gun, and the impact of the gun landing fires a single round and kills Kenny. Rats then come to eat the remains.

Trivia

 * In this episode, the townspeople are shown a volcano safety film which is a parody of Duck and Cover
 * Randy Marsh is introduced in this episode but is never mentioned as Stan's dad.
 * Randy Marsh is missing eyebrows for (almost) the entire episode. They appear near the end.
 * The third episode of the series, this is also the first episode to feature a variation on the "They killed Kenny" routine.
 * In the Spanish dub, Scuzzlebutt's leg is replaced with Ricky Martin instead of Patrick Duffy; in the Hungarian version it is replaced with Tom Cruise.
 * Happy Tarts are also mentioned in another Trey Parker work, Orgazmo.
 * Cartman mentions that his mom told him that there are a lot of black people in Africa, he then repeats this in Conjoined Fetus Lady, but with China instead of Africa.

Goofs

 * In one short scene, where Cartman is describing Scuzzlebutt, Stan's arms are missing.
 * Ned attempts to shoot Scuzzlebutt and runs out of of ammo, yet when he drops his gun it still goes off and kills Kenny.
 * When Uncle Jimbo sees the deer, he says, "looks like a .46-gauge," then he is seen with a rocket launcher. The shotgun gauge system works such that smaller numbers describe larger barrels, so a .46-gauge would actually be very small.