An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig

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"Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride"

"An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig"

"Death"

"An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig"
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 5
Guest stars	Frank Welker
Production no.	105
Original airdate	September 10, 1997
Episode chronology Previous Next "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" "Death"
List of all South Park episodes

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"An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig" is the 5th episode of Season One, and the 5th overall episode of South Park. It first aired on September 10, 1997.

Synopsis

Kyle's mom will not let him keep his new pet, an elephant because it is so huge. So the boys turn to Dr. Mephesto to genetically engineer a smaller elephant.

Plot

Spoiler warning! Plot details follow.

The boys are waiting at the bus stop when Cartman notices that Stan has a black eye. He reveals that his sister, Shelley, has been beating him up every day and he doesn't know what to do. Kyle has problems of his own, as his mom won't let him keep his new pet elephant (that he got in mail order from Africa) in the house. None of the boys take interest in Stan's problem or offer any solutions.

At school, Mr. Hat teaches the class about genetic engineering, which prompts Kyle to suggest splicing his elephant with Cartman's pot-bellied pig, Fluffy, to make little "pot-bellied elephants". Many of the children in class express an interest in such a creature, but classmate Terrance bets Kyle that he can clone a whole person before Kyle can get a pot-bellied elephant. Mr. Garrison suggests the boys use their genetic modifications for the upcoming science fair and that Kyle and crew should check out the genetic engineering ranch outside of town. Mr. Garrison then asks Stan to stay after class to talk about his black eye. Though he initially appears comforting, offering Stan cocoa and asking which of his parents does this, after Stan explains that bruise is from his sister Mr. Garrison calls him a pansy and sends him home.

Once at home, Shelley insists Stan is staring at her orthodontic headgear and again beats him up and throws him out the window, where the guys are waiting for him. They head off for the South Park Genetic Engineering Ranch, which is situated atop a creepy hill. Cartman insists that they leave Fluffy alone until they are greeted by Dr. Mephesto who welcomes them inside. While at the ranch, Dr. Mephesto shows them his genetically engineered collection, including several animals with multiple asses (including a four-assed monkey) and some eccentric hybrids. When they explain their intentions, Mephesto explains that, just like the Loverboy song says, "pig and elephant DNA just will not splice." He then steals a blood sample from Stan and the boys flee in terror.

Back at school the boys are confronted in the cafeteria by Terrance, Bill and Fosse who have successfully cloned a human foot. The boys go to Chef with their genetic engineering problem, and after he too cites the Loverboy song, he gives them the idea to try to have the animals "make sweet love" to breed instead. Stan goes home and gets beaten up by Shelley once more. That evening, the boys attempt to get the pig and the elephant drunk to get them to make sweet love, but it does not seem to be working until Chef stops by and sings to the animals with a little help from Elton John, which causes many couples in town to also make love.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mephesto and his assistant have created a human clone of Stan from the blood sample, and intend to use it as a science project for Terrance, who is revealed to be Mephesto's son. Mephesto expresses disappointment the clone has only a single ass and plans to burn the room, but the cloned Stan breaks free, escapes the ranch and proceeds to terrorize the town. Mephesto expresses concern that townspeople are in danger, but Terrance ignores him and leaves with Bill and Fosse.

The clone rampages throughout town, assaulting Mr. Garrison and destroying Jimbo's Guns, and despite his limited speech and oversized head, is assumed by everyone to be Stan, who is blamed on the news by the anchor for destroying the town. When they encounter the actual boys, Garrison and Jimbo Kern both threaten to tell Stan's father about his actions. The boys help Stan locate the clown in town and he leads it to his house and persuades it to attack Shelley, which it does after destroying the house and indirectly killing Kenny. Mephesto shows up and kills the clone with a gunshot, apologizing to the children for the inconvenience and upsetting his son.

Everyone else leaves Stan behind at home, however, and he is afraid he will be in trouble for everything the clone did and sent away, watching as the townspeople tell his parents outside what has happened. When Randy and Sharon arrive home to scold him, Shelley, in a brief moment of kindness, takes the heat, and they believe her. Stan explains he has learned about the meaning of family, to which Shelley responds by beating him up again.

When the science projects are due the next day, Terrance presents a now five assed monkey, but Kyle has nothing until the pig gives birth to a pot-bellied pig that bares an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Garrison. Garrison quickly awards it first prize over Terrance's five-assed monkey, and Cartman remarks "That'll do, pig."

Censorship

In the initial airing of the episode, there is a brief scene where Shelley repeatedly lights Stan on fire with matches, putting him out with water between each lighting. Shortly later, Comedy Central removed the scene for fear that the show would come under the same controversy that Beavis and Butt-Head did in 1993 after a little boy set his trailer on fire killing his two-year-old sister, where the cartoon was blamed, and episodes of the show were altered to remove scenes of characters playing with or mentioning fire. The unedited scene has never been re-released on home video or streaming services.

In the edited version of the scene that appeared in reruns and on VHS and DVD, Stan sits in a puddle inexplicably when he threatens Shelley that one day he will be bigger and stronger than her. In the director's commentary for the episode on the DVD release, Matt and Trey both cannot remember why there is a puddle of water under Stan all of a sudden.

In the high-definition version of the episode later made available for online streaming and on Blu-ray, the puddle was removed completely.