Super Best Friends

Super Best Friends is episode 504 of the Comedy Central series South Park, aired on July 4, 2001.

Plot
A street magician named David Blaine comes to South Park, and his amazing feats lead to all the boys deciding to go to one of his "camps", which is actually a front for a cult he has developed, which views Blaine as a kind of messianic figure and calls all of his achievements "miracles." There, the boys are indoctrinated into joining the "Blaintologists", but Stan, after joining, is creeped out and wants to leave. He tries to convince Kyle to come with him, but Kyle refuses, and declares that if Stan cannot accept his new religion then the two of them aren't friends anymore. Stan, rejected, leaves, and after nearly being run over by a pair of Blaintologists, goes to the one person he can think of to possibly give him aid: South Park's own resident messiah, Jesus.

At Blaine's big show in Denver, filled with Blaintologists and those interested in Blaintology as well, Jesus appears and challenges Blaine, and shows one of his famous miracles, the miracle of the loaves and fishes. However, this miracle proves to be very weak (he has everybody in the audience turn around to do it), and Blaine manages to win the crowd with much more powerful enchantments. Jesus realizes he needs help, and calls the Super Best Friends, a group of major religious figures including Krishna, Joseph Smith, Lao Tse, Muhammad, Buddha, Seaman, and Moses who defend the world against evil (except for Buddha who doesn't really believe in evil).

The Blaintologists, meanwhile, petition the government for tax-exempt status, which would make them a real religion and therefore unstoppable; when they are denied, all the Blaintologists are told they are to commit mass suicide in Washington, D.C. Kyle realizes now that the cult is evil, but when he tries to convince Cartman that they should flee, he is imprisoned in a glass bubble and told he will be killed involuntarily at the mass suicide. When word gets out to the SBF, they consult Moses for advice.

At Washington, the Blaintologists begin to drown themselves in the Reflecting Pool (even though it is only about a foot deep), and a hose begins to fill Kyle's prison with water. The Super Best Friends arrive, but Blaine brings the statue of Abraham Lincoln to life to fight them. To defeat the Abraham Lincoln statue, the SBF create a giant stone John Wilkes Booth, and it shoots Blaine's puppet in the head. The resulting fall shatters Kyle's prison and the pool is frozen using Joseph Smith's ice powers to prevent more suicides. Kyle reconciles with Stan. Cartman remarks in a fake sweet voice "Aah! That's so sweet you guys!" then asks them if they want to get a room to make out for a while and laughs, but then ends up getting repeated kicks in the testicles from both of them.

Blaine flies away in a rocket ship, and Stan announces to everyone that any religion that forces you to give up your money or control of your life is really a cult. The Super Best Friends then fly away, to await when the world will need their aid again.

Interestingly, this episode shows a different usage of Stan and Kyle's famous lines, "Oh my god! They killed Kenny!" "You bastard." While looking for Kyle amongst the suicidal Blaintologists in the Reflecting Pool, Stan finds Kenny, already dead, (though it takes him a short time to recognise Kenny without his hair and Parka) and says his line. He then hears Kyle's response and repeats his line again. Again Kyle responds and Stan uses this to find him faster.

The Jyllands-Posten controversy
Although the original airing of the episode in 2001 wasn't controversial, controversy erupted over the episode in early 2006 following the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy due to the visual depictions of Muhammad it contained. Paramount Comedy in the United Kingdom has banned the episode following the controversy, despite airing adverts for South Park that state Muslims (among others) should be very offended. However the episode was aired in the United Kingdom by MTV with no special warning other than the standard South Park disclaimer which appears before every episode. A Bosnian TV station aired this episode in July 2006, sparking some outrage from local Muslim leaders. The controversy was referenced in the South Park episodes Cartoon Wars Part I and Cartoon Wars Part II from the tenth season, which parodied the censorship of Muhammad in the media. The episodes, however, focused on Muhammad's portrayal on Family Guy (which never actually happened) rather than on South Park itself. The controversy was mentioned again in 200 and 201, which both contain several references to this episode.

Hidden Visitor(s)
Two visitors appear in this episode:
 * Upside down in Jesus's reflection when he lines up with the others.
 * Part of one appears at the David Baine show in Denver in the overhead screen.

Scientology
Although it is often thought that Trapped in the Closet was the first episode to parody Scientology, this episode does it in a more subtle manner. For example, the references to being told you are unhappy, and having to join the organization to become happy again is used in Trapped in the Closet. In addition, "Blaintology" is an obvious play on "Scientology" whilst the book written by Blaine in the episode, "Teachings", can be seen as a parody of the Scientology book "Dianetics". Furthermore, statements within the episode about "Blaintology" requiring members to pay money to learn the teachings of the cult, as well as the actions of the member who barred Stan's exit from the compound are both references to common criticisms of Church of Scientology policies. The goal of the parody religion "Blaintology", to gain tax-exempt status in the United States, is a mimicry of the Church of Scientology's main focus at the time the cartoon was made. It should be noted that Scientology did succeed to get their tax exemption.

The way that Stan was harassed upon leaving "Blaintology" mirrors treatment reported (and occasionally recorded, such as cases posted on the website Operation Clambake) by those who have left Scientology as well as those who have voiced criticisms of Scientology.

Members, and their Powers

 * Jesus Christ - Extremely fast construction, carpentry skills, resurrection
 * Krishna - Animal Morphing
 * Joseph Smith - Ice breath
 * Lao Tse - Psychic powers
 * Muhammad - Pyrokinesis, flight
 * Buddha - Invisibility (never shown using said power)
 * Seaman and Swallow - Underwater breathing and communication with sea-life
 * Moses - Supercomputer (who looks like the MCP from Tron)

Triva

 * Paula Poundstone is a real person. She was accused of molesting her children.
 * Super Best Friends is a parody of "The Superfriends." "The Superfriends" are based off "The Justice League of America."
 * Blainetology is a parody of Scientology.
 * Kenny is shown unobscured by the hood in this episode, however looks the same as every other child there.
 * At the bottom of the invitation to the Blaintology convention it says "Free Punch and Pie", which is the technique Cartman tells the other boys to use to get more people to show up to La Resistance meeting in South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.
 * It's possible when Kyle and Cartman are going door to door it's making fun of Mormon Missionaries.
 * Seaman is the only Super Best Friend who is not a religious figure. Instead he is a parody of Aquaman, from DC comics and also a member of the "Superfriend" and "Justice League of America". Also the other members often joke about his name, calling him Seman (Sounds like Semen) which always angers him. Ironically, he has a pet bird named Swallow.
 * This is the only episode where Muhammad is featured uncensored.
 * This episode makes the second appearance of Moses.