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Prehistoric Ice Man "Prehistoric Ice Man" "Rainforest Shmainforest" "Spontaneous Combustion" Spontaneous Combustion
"Rainforest Shmainforest"
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301
Episode no. Season 3
Episode 1
Guest stars Jennifer Aniston
Production no. 301
Original airdate April 7, 1999
Episode chronology
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"Prehistoric Ice Man" "Spontaneous Combustion"
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"Rainforest Shmainforest" is the first episode of Season Three, and the 32nd overall episode of South Park. It first aired on April 7, 1999.[1]

Synopsis[]

The boys travel to the Costa Rica as a part of the "Getting Gay with Kids" choir tour.[1]

Plot[]

SPW pic -- Spoiler Spoiler warning!
Plot details follow.

Ms. Stevens is in Mr. Garrison's class recruiting students for a rainforest saving choir tour called "Getting Gay With Kids". All of the students are uninterested except Kenny who falls for one of the girls in the choir named Kelly. Cartman doubts whether Kyle is the suitable person for the choir due to his usual bigotry against Jews, claiming that Jewish people do not have any rhythm at all. Kyle in return yells "Shut up fatass!" at Cartman. Stan simply says that choirs suck. Mr. Garrison rebukes the boys for their poor behaviors but Cartman still refers to information packets as toilet paper. Mr. Garrison has no choice but to send the boys to Mr. Mackey's office.

The boys enter Mr. Mackey's room after Craig, who has just been sent out for flipping off Mr. Mackey several times. As punishment for the boys' rudeness, Mr. Mackey decides to sign them up for the choir tour, which delights Kenny but upsets Stan, Kyle, and Cartman, who do not even care about the rainforest.

The children are on their way to San José, Costa Rica. Kenny sits next to Kelly on the bus, and Kelly calls him Lenny, Benny, Johnny, and pretty much any other name that sounds similar to Kenny, because she is not sure what his real name is due to Kenny's muffled speaking. Ms. Stevens tells Cartman that she plans on changing his negative attitude about the rainforest, knowing Cartman's reputation for bigotry in advance. They learn the choreography during the trip. Upon arriving, Eric Cartman finds out that Costa Rica is a very poor country, then he provokes the country as well as its people like he always does. Ms. Stevens manages to keep Cartman's trouble-making mouth shut by promising him some ice cream.

The children meet the Costa Rican President who does not understand English; they wait for Mr. Mackey who communicates with him in Spanish. They do a preview of their song and dance routine outside the Capitol Building. Kyle is apparently off the beat, to the dismay of Ms. Stevens. The local people pay no attention to this performance.

On their tour of the rainforest, the children see the 'wonders' of the rainforest (all of which Cartman hits with a stick to "assert his authoritah"). Then, the group's tour guide is killed and is eaten alive by a man-eating coral snake, even though he happens to be explaining that "they're more scared of us than we are of them". Cartman infuriates the snake with his stick and narrowly escapes death by constriction.

The accident leaves Ms. Stevens and the children on their own in the jungle, very scared. Kenny takes advantage of this by being supportive and protective of Kelly, which successfully earns her affection. In spite of this, their relationship would not last long, according to Kelly, because they live on opposite sides of the country. The night falls with a terrible thunderstorm. As lightning flashes, Tony Danza suddenly shows up between Ms. Stevens and Kelly.

On the next day, Mr. Mackey and the president of Costa Rica both discover that the choir group has never returned to the hotel, and they become pretty concerned. Meanwhile, in the rainforest, a giant insect lands on Ms. Stevens' back, painstakingly she gets it off. Then they run into a group of revolutionaries and try to ask for help, by giving "a gift of song". The rebel leader replies: "We're not getting gay with any kids", then he threatens to kill them because he hates Americans. When he is just about to do it, government troops arrive and start a battle, during which Ms. Stevens and the children narrowly escape. As the group gets back to wandering aimlessly around the rainforest, Cartman decides to leave this "stupid hippie activist", walks off, and finds himself a friendly crew working on a deforestation project. He demands medium spicy chicken wings for food at once.

Back in San José, with the concert about an hour away from starting and the kids still not showing up, the President stalls for time by telling Polack jokes. Meanwhile, Ms. Stevens and the remaining children find the Yanagopa Tribe that intend upon killing them. They try to run away but get caught in quicksand, thus being captured and then taken to a Yanagopa village, where the Yanagopas' plan to sacrifice Ms. Stevens. At this point; she finally changes her mind and believes that the rainforest is a horrible place after all. Cartman and the construction workers arrive just in time to save everyone.

As they make their way back to San José; Kelly finally decides to become Kenny's girlfriend, even if they live far away from each other, which makes Kenny happy. Just then, he is struck and killed by a bolt of lightning. Kyle and Stan say their usual lines, but when Kelly asks them who "they" are since Kenny was killed by lightning, not people, Kyle and Stan are unable to answer her, claiming: "You know, They. They're bastards." Kelly then performs CPR and successfully saves Kenny, to the amazement of Stan and Kyle.

The group makes it to San José and perform their song. Since Ms. Stevens and the children hated their time in the rainforest so much they changed the lyrics to their song. This new version rebukes the rainforest instead of praising it and is considered inspiring by some of the audience. At the end of the episode, a fictional public service message is shown, which tells the viewers that multiple cancer-causing compounds come from the rainforest and that hundreds of people die as a result of it every year, urging the viewers to help destroy rainforests around the world.

References[]


  301: "Rainforest Shmainforest" edit
Story Elements

Ms. StevensJennifer AnistonKellyYanagopa TribeCosta RicaGetting Gay With Kids • "Getting Gay With Kids"

Media

ImagesScriptExtrasWatch Episode

Release

South Park: The Complete Third SeasonSouth Park: The Chef Experience

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