Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride/Trivia

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This page contains trivia for "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride". Remember, trivia must be factual, provable, and it is always best to cite your source for not-so-obvious trivia. If you would like to dispute a trivia point, please discuss it in the talk page.

Trivia

• This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. In the same year, The Simpsons won an Emmy for the episode "Homer's Phobia", which also dealt with homosexuality.
• Sparky is voiced by George Clooney.
  • Despite this, he does not have any lines.
  • He would later receive a line in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut as a doctor who failed to revive Kenny.
• In this episode, Clyde's voice is different than in other episodes, despite him first speaking two episodes earlier. Instead of his normal nasal tone, his voice sounds exactly like Butters'.
• Mr. Garrison expressed his hate against homosexuals in this episode, although he himself is revealed to be homosexual.
• In Fireside Chats, Trey Parker says there is an Easter egg in this episode, which is a picture of Matt Stone's mom having sex with him. This did not materialize in the episode proper.
• The player number -3 of Middle Park Elementary bears resemblance to 6th Grader Leader.
• This was the only South Park episode that displayed the Comedy Central "card scan" closing logo when it first debuted as all the other episodes of the season used the "transmitter" closing logo.
• A white version of Tolkien can be seen sitting in front of Mrs. Cartman at the football game.
• This is the first episode where Mr. Garrison is shown without his glasses.
• TV Guide refused to advertise this episode under its actual name for fear of offending readers and instead called it "Big Al's Boat Ride".
• Starting with this episode, Cartman's cut-out model looks slightly different from previous episodes. His chin line was redrawn and his left shoe was altered. He remained this way from every episode onwards.
• When this episode first aired on Comedy Central, one of the sports announcers' lines was, "And the South Park Cows are getting absolutely molested by the Cowboys. I haven't seen this many children molested since Michael Jackson came to town". On all re-runs, video, and DVD versions of this episode, the line is cut to remove the reference to Michael Jackson.
• In the classroom, several nonsensical mathematical equations are written on the blackboard, such as "πr²=2πr". πr² gives the area of a circle of radius r while 2πr gives the circumference; they do not equate to one another, unless r = 0 or r = 2.
• This episode marks the first appearance of Bill Allen and Fosse McDonald.
• This is the first episode in the series to center around homosexuality.
• Aside from the pilot and screaming in " Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", this is Pip Pirrip's first speaking role in the series.
• Butters and Wendy are not shown in Mr. Garrison's classroom and have been replaced with Bill and Bebe respectively. For Butters, his absence in the desks continues up until "Clubhouses", although he checks out the crossbreeding experiment in "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig" and is briefly shown walking into class in "Death" despite not being seated in his desk, while Wendy returns to the classroom in "Starvin' Marvin".
  • This is the first time Bebe is shown in Mr. Garrison's classroom. She previously only appeared on the bus in "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" and as the play narrator in "Weight Gain 4000".

References to Popular Culture

• The deliberately over-the top gay stereotype of Big Gay Al on South Park is a tribute to Alan Sues' Big Al character on the sketch comedy show Laugh-In.
• Instead of writing about Asian culture, Cartman writes an essay on how the characters on the TV series Simon & Simon are not brothers in real life.
• Fosse asks Stan if his dog Sparky has been in any pride marches recently. Pride marches are common practice of gay pride movements all over the world.
• Bill suggests that Stan takes Sparky to a Barbra Streisand concert (implying that Barbra Streisand has a large fanbase of gay people).
• Singing at the football game half time show is Richard Stamos, the older brother of actor John Stamos. The song he is going to sing is "Lovin' You" which was originally sung by Minnie Riperton. Also, in real life, John Stamos does not have an older brother named Richard.
• The notion of triggering explosives with a simple note draws inspiration from the exploding piano gag made famous in various Looney Tunes episodes.
• Cartman believes God hates gay people and he believe it is why he "smote those sodomies in France." Cartman is confusing the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as told in the Bible.
• Stan wishes his dog could be a "Rin-Tin-Tin". Rin-Tin-Tin was a heroic dog featured in a series of radio and television programs of the 1920s & 30s.
• Chef's words of wisdom "you can't teach a gay dog straight tricks" is a play on the phrase "you can't teach an old dog new tricks".
• The sports announcer, when watching a tackle states he had not seen a beating like that since Rodney King. In 1991, Rodney King was recorded being beaten by six LAPD police officers. The incident sparked tensions in LA that eventually led to the 1992 LA Riots.
  • When Pip is tackled later, he states that he has not seen an Englishman take a blow like that since Hugh Grant, which references Hugh Grant's arrest in June 1995 when he was caught performing a lewd act in public with a Hollywood prostitute.
• While Stan is on Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride, a portion of it features a number of miniature characters singing a song called "We Are Gay", which is a parody of the ride It's a Small World, an attraction at the Disneyland theme park and its other sister parks in Florida, Paris, Japan and Hong Kong. Among the dancing miniatures is Olympic figure skater Brian Boitano.
• The disappearance of Big Gay Al at the end of the episode is a spoof of Dr. Lao's disappearance at the end of the movie The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao.
• The song played during the closing credits is "Now You're a Man" by DVDA, a band that includes South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker. This song was also featured in their film Orgazmo.

Goofs

• When Kenny receives the punt, the announcer says he was number 23. However, the number on his jersey is 13.
• About a minute into the episode, the number 14 is seen on the back of Kyle's jersey; when the shot switches to the front, it displays the number 12. The number on the front continues switching from 12 to 14 periodically throughout the episode.
• When Stan removes Sparky's scarf, it briefly returns around his neck when Stan tells him "Don't be gay."
• When Tolkien is sitting on the bleachers, his face appears to be like a white character but his hands are still black.
• There are two Butters watching the football game: one of them is sitting with aliens, another sitting with Cartman's mother, Liane Cartman.
• There are two Bebes and Reds watching the game.
• When Ike is dancing on the bleachers, Butters is shown wearing Kevin Stoley's jacket.
• After Kyle scores a touchdown, one of the announcers exclaims, "I haven't seen a Jew run like that since Poland, 1938". This is a reference to Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland, which actually occurred in 1939.
• When everyone is jumping, a person wearing a shirt with a cow on it can be seen jumping; the person is jumping, but the cow picture stays in place.
• Kenny is shown to be alive in a few scenes after his death.
• When the boys are getting off the bus, Ms. Crabtree is nowhere to be seen.
• Before everyone places their bets on the South Park Cows winning the game, Mr. Garrison can be seen standing behind Jimbo, then he ceases to exist after.
• In the HD remaster of the episode, the brown floor of Carl's Bombs and Explosives and Accessories has been removed, so Jimbo, Ned, and Carl appear to be floating.
• When the bus pulls up at the beginning of the episode, Ms. Crabtree is not seen driving the bus. This was later fixed when the show is remastered in HD.
• In the HD remaster, during the scene where Sparky is running away, part of the screen is cut off due to the background not being properly expanded.

Kenny's Death

• In this episode, Kenny is tackled by three Middle Park players, causing his head and arms to rip off. Rats chew on his corpse, following an early running gag. As Stan was not present at the time, Kyle says the entire phrase: "Oh, my God, they killed Kenny! You Bastards!" on his own.

Hidden Visitor(s)

• Two visitors can be seen in the upper right of the crowd at the football game wearing cow hats.

Dubbing Changes

International Titles

Language	Title	Translation
Czech	Velká růžová plavba teplého Ala	The big pink cruise of Big Gay Al
Finnish	Homokoiran veneretki	Gay dog boat trip
French (France)	Une promenade complètement folle avec Al Super Gay	A crazy walk with Al Super Gay
French (Canada)	Une promenade complètement folle avec Big Gay Al's	A crazy ride with Big Gay Al's
German	Ein Heim für Tiertunten	A home for pet pansies
Hungarian	Meleg Al meleg vízitúrája	Gay Al's gay water ride
Italian	Gay è bello	Gay is cool
Japanese	愛犬スパーキーのおホモだち (Aiken supākī no o homodachi)	My dog Sparky's homo friend
Latvian	Lielā geja Ala, lielais laivu pārbrauciens	Big Gay Al, the big boat crossing
Mandarin Chinese	基哥哥愛之船 (Jī gēgē ài zhī chuán)	Big Gay Al's love boat
Polish	Wielki gejowski rejs Wielkiego Geja Ala	Big Gay Al's big gay cruise
Portuguese (Brazil)	Santuário de animais gays do Big Gay Al	Big Gay Al's gay animal sanctuary
Russian	Большой Эл-гомосек и его гомояхта	Big Gay Al and his homo-yacht
Spanish (Latin America)	El gran crucero del Gran Gay Al	Big Gay Al's grand cruise
Spanish (Spain)	Mi perro es gay	My dog is gay
Ukrainian	Голубий пес (Holubyy pes)	Gay dog

Common

• Richard Stamos is dubbed as other celebrities in the following dubs:
  • Hungarian - Ricky Martin
  • Spanish (Latin America; 1st) and Spanish (Spain) - Enrique Iglesias
• Instead of a Barbra Streisand concert, Bill suggests Sparky attend a concert of other singers:
  • Hungarian: Elton John
  • Mandarin Chinese: Leslie Cheung
• Instead of a Cheese sandwich, Big Gay Al offers Stan other food items in the following dubs:
  • French: Croque monsieur
  • German: Cheese tart
  • Hungarian: Warmed sandwich
  • Italian (1st): Cheese
  • Japanese: French toast
  • Mandarin Chinese: Dim sum
  • Spanish (Latin America; 1st): Melted cheese bites
  • No items are brought up in the Cantonese and Czech dubs.

Czech

• The reference to Rodney King is removed.

French

• Instead of quoting Nazi-esque patterns (of behavior), Mr. Garrison highlights cannibalism as one of the homosexual traits.
• Cartman's claim of "God smiting sodomies in France" is tweaked, changing to "God sends all sodomies to France".

German

• The term "beating the spread" is referred to as Unter der Durchschnittsquote (lit. "below the average rate").
• Cartman's report is changed as follows: "And now, it should be clear to everyone that Magnum only drove a Ferrari in the TV series, and not in real life." This carries a reference to Thomas Magnum, a character from the crime drama series Magnum, P.I. who drives a Ferrari 308 GTS.
• The reference to Rodney King is changed to Mike Tyson.
• When Kyle is in possession of the football, the line "I haven't seen a Jew run like that since Poland, 1938!" is replaced with the nonsensical "The last time I've seen a kid run like that was during the battle for the Zitfree-Cup in 1987!"

Italian (1st)

• Cartman's claim of "God hating gay people" is replaced where he claims that: "Homosexuals eat children. It'll be a mess if your dog is a fag."
• Instead of a Barbra Streisand concert, Bill suggests Sparky watch The Ugly Dachshund, a 1966 American comedy film.

Japanese

• No references to Simon & Simon are brought up by Cartman.

Mandarin Chinese

• Sylvester is dubbed as Sylvester Stallone.
• Instead of being confused over "Middle Park" and "homecoming", Kyle and Cartman comment that they would the lose match against Middle Park anyway.
• Cartman's report on Asian culture is changed where he describes the term "贛林老木" (Gàn lín lǎo mù) being a thousand-year-old tree (老木) from a forest (林) in the Jiangxi province (贛) of mainland China. In reality, the term is an alternative writing to the Chinese profanity of "幹你老母" ("Fuck your mother"). Cartman is given a C- for his report.
• Cartman's claim of "God smiting sodomies in France" is replaced where he claims that: "Homosexuals can only find happiness in a cesspit."
• Enrique, the mascot for Middle Park Elementary, is unnamed in this dubbing.
• Frank Hammond, the commentator for the football match, is dubbed as 法克 (Fǎ kè), which is a Chinese transliteration for "fuck".
• All of the commentator's references to celebrities or events are removed and replaced with other phrases:
  • 沒想到他們兩隊的實力相差那麼懸殊 ("I didn't think the strengths of both teams would differ by a lot.")
  • 我真不懂為什麼家長會願意讓孩子來這裡互相屠殺 ("I don't understand why parents would let kids come here and kill each other.")
  • 他的表現太好了，讓我對客家人從此改觀 ("What a good performance, this changes how I feel about the Hakka people.")
• At the Big Gay Boat Ride, the displays of Christians and Republicans and Nazis are dubbed as "religious, political and education ministries" respectively.

Spanish (Latin America; 1st)

• Cartman's report is changed where he describes two unnamed persons "having a divorce before they won an Oscar".

Ukrainian

• Majority of Richard Stamos' performance of "Loving You" during the halftime show are unintelligible, with the exception of "beautiful".