Weight Gain 4000/Trivia

General

Trivia

Images

Script

Extras

Watch Episode

"Cartman Gets an Anal Probe/Trivia"

"Weight Gain 4000/Trivia"

"Volcano/Trivia"

This page contains trivia for "Weight Gain 4000". 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 marks the first appearance of Mayor McDaniels and Jimbo Kern.
• This episode marks the first speaking roles of Bebe Stevens and Clyde Donovan.
• In this episode, Bebe was voiced by the late voice actress, Mary Kay Bergman. In subsequent appearances, she is voiced by the show's supervising producer, Jennifer Howell.
• Mr. Garrison and Kathie Lee Gifford were shown competing in a grade school talent show even though Kathie Lee grew up in Maryland and Mr. Garrison grew up in Arkansas, as shown in "World Wide Recorder Concert".
• The chalkboard in the students' classroom bears sentences "Chupe mis Chi Chis", "No me Toquen los Huevos" and "Mi verga es Fea y Morena". In Spanish, these sentences read "Suck My Boobs", "Don't Touch my Balls", and "My dick is ugly and black".
• This is the first episode where Pip Pirrip is shown without his hat.
• During the scene in which Mr. Garrison is ready to snipe Kathy Lee, he is seen with his normal sweater instead of the trench coat. However, he most likely took it off in the depository.
• Mayor McDaniels lips are not thin and straight as they usually are.
• This is the first episode where Mr. Hat appears to be a separate entity from Mr. Garrison.
• Although this was the third South Park episode broadcasted, it was the second one to be made, and is nearly always shown second on re-runs.
• Ms. Crabtree appears to look younger in this episode, as well as not having bags under her eyes. She also appears to look less obese.
• Bebe is shown wearing a pink jacket in this episode rather than her normal red one.
• When Wendy tries to search for Cartman's report in the classroom, there is a picture of Cartman as "Student of the Week".
• In the US Version, the part where Kenny dies there is dramatic music playing. In the international version the music is absent.
• This was the first episode to include computer animation.
• Clips from this episode were featured in the SpongeBob SquarePants special Square Roots: The Story of SpongeBob SquarePants.

References to Popular Culture

• Kathy Lee Gifford visits South Park. At the time this episode was made, she was popular for being the co-host of Live With Regis and Kathy Lee, a daytime talk show she co-hosted with Regis Philbin.
• One of Mayor McDaniels' aides makes a crack about Kathy Lee especially liking kids if "they work in a sweat shop". In 1996, the National Labor Committee had reported that a line of Kathy Lee brand clothing, distributed through Wal-Mart, was made using sweatshop labor.
• Wendy rebuffs Cartman's boasts of fame by telling him that N*** leader Adolf Hitler was also famous.
• Chef states that his penis is at least three times bigger than Frank Gifford's. Frank Gifford was an NFL football player for the New York Giants and was also the husband of Kathy Lee Gifford.
• Kathie Lee singing "If My Friends Could See Me Now" is a parody of her singing the same song in real life in Carnival Cruise Lines commercials.
• Weight Gain 4000 and the commercial selling it are a spoof on "bulk up" powders used by those who would like to gain more muscle mass. Commonly known for their dubious promises, usually they're only effective if one exercises regularly, and most can cause serious health problems, which is why the end of the commercial contains the warning "May cause irreversible damage to the kidneys and liver."
• According to the history of South Park, the land was originally inhabited by the Ute Indians. The Ute tribe did live on land that would become the States of Colorado and Utah.
• Mr. Garrison and Mr. Hat attempt to shoot Kathie Lee from the book depository, which is analogous to Lee Harvey Oswald shooting John F. Kennedy from the Texas School Book Depository. See The JFK Assassination.
• Kathy Lee Gifford is shown traveling in a domed vehicle; this is a play on the Pope Mobile, a vehicle that had been specially modified with a bullet proof glass area for the Pope following the 1981 failed assassination of Pope John Paul II.
• Chef states that Kathy Lee is more special than Mary Tyler Moore, an actress famous for her role in the 1970s TV series The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
• Chef also says that Kathy Lee is more special than a "Value Meal at Happy Burger", probably a reference to Burger King's own value meals.
• When Mayor McDaniels is introducing Cartman to the crowd, she mistakenly calls him Eric Kaufman. The use of the last name "Kaufman" is probably a nod to filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman, co-owner of Troma Entertainment; Troma was the company that released Trey Parker and Matt Stone's first feature film Cannibal! The Musical.
• Mr. Hat states that they could have gotten away with murdering Kathy Lee if not for those "meddling kids." This line is usually uttered by a captured criminal caught by the Scooby-Doo gang from the TV series Scooby Doo.
• The episode ends with Cartman finally getting on TV, on a talk show hosted by Geraldo, who, before becoming a regular at Fox News in 2001, had his own day time talk show on NBC.
• There is a golden version of Trey Parker and Matt Stone's Orgazmo on top of Kathy Lee's trophy.
• The scene where Mr. Hat's head spins parodies The Exorcist.
• "It is… too late for me, young Wendy" was paraphrased from Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, where Luke tries to bring his father back from the Dark Side.
• Mr. Hat and Mr. Garrison arguing over killing Gifford is a parody of many books and films where the ventriloquist has multiple personality disorder and argues with his puppet, including Magic.
• The scene where Mr. Garrison is at Jimbo's Guns talking to himself in the mirror is from the Robert De Niro film, Taxi Driver in which the same lines are spoken by Travis Bickle (DeNiro).
• Cartman wins the contest by stealing the work of Henry David Thoreau, Walden, simply changing the author's name to his.

Continuity

• There is a reference to the original short Jesus vs. Santa where Kyle almost completely quotes an exact line he said in the short about Cartman. "Goddamn, that's a big fat fuck". The difference is he replaces "fuck" with "ass".

Goofs

• In the HD remaster, as Cartman begins to explain his hatred for rainbows, he is seen with his gloves. They would not reappear for the rest of the scene.
• While Stan is responding to Cartman's explanation, a small part of his head is poking through the back of his hat.
• When Mr. Garrison whispers to Mr. Hat to not kill Kathie Lee his voice becomes very loud and quiet again.
• As Mr. Garrison addresses the class at the start of the episode, when he blinks his closed eyes appear in front of his glasses. This is remedied in the following shots and in the HD remaster.
• The "Welcome Kathie Lee" flag is textless in early Comedy Central promos focusing on Kenny.
• For a moment, the writing on the chalk board disappears while Mr. Garrison is reading the note to the class, this was fixed in the HD remaster.
• At the beginning when the kids are talking to Chef, Kenny is not wearing his gloves, and part of his head is slightly visible between the orange and brown part of his hood, both in one scene.
• Before the talent show flashback, the middle line on Mr. Hat's clothes disappear every time Mr. Garrison folds Mr. Hat's arms inwards, this was fixed in the HD remaster.
• In this episode, Garrison, as a child, is gray-haired and bald. In one of the scenes of "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty S***", he is also youth, where he has brown hair.
• The Beefcake advertiser's hand comes out of Cartman's TV screen.
• Before Chef sings his song, he calls Mayor McDaniels "Mr. Mayor" even though she is a female.
• Later in the episode, the wood texture in Mr. Garrison's assault rifle turns from wood to metal, and then back to wood again in the following scene. It is seen during the conversation with Officer Barbrady.
• Mr. Garrison's forehead wrinkles disappear while asking Mr. Hat why he was looking at him that way, and again when being dragged away by Officer Barbrady, both fixed in HD remaster.
• When Wendy is pulling out papers, she is wearing gloves, however, immediately before and immediately after this scene, she is not, this was fixed in the HD remaster.
• When Cartman is trying to get through the bus doors, Ms. Crabtree is nowhere to be seen.
• When Mr. Garrison is showing the play to Mayor McDaniels, Kevin is assigned as a pioneer but later appears as an Indian when he falls next to Bebe.
  • Kevin's jacket and gloves are also unusally dark when he falls in this scene.
• When Wendy tells Officer Barbrady that Mr. Garrison was gonna kill Kathie Lee Gifford, Officer Barbrady's hat moves up a bit, showing part of his bald head.
• While Mr. Garrison is waiting to take his shot, his eye brows disappear on and off, along with part of his arm during one of the later times this scene is shown. The eyebrow error was fixed in the HD remaster, but the missing arm was not.
• Several characters have their mouths disappear at certain points during the episode, these were all fixed in the HD remaster.
  • Kyle when he is talking to Chef.
  • Stan and Wendy when Officer Barbrady is speaking to them.
  • Red and Pip during the play, when the pioneers are attacking the Indians.
    • Red's mouth is also missing in the beginning when she walks to her desk in class.
  • Mr. Garrison as he recalls the talent show, and while he is walking to Officer Barbrady whilst holding his gun.
• According to Wendy, Cartman's awarding winning essay should be nothing but exactly the same as Walden. However, the first sentence Wendy reads from it is a bit different from the original.
  • "When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone in the woods on the shore of..." (Cartman's version)
  • "When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond..." (original)

Kenny's Death

• Accidentally shot by Mr. Garrison, which launches him into the air and impales him on a flagpole.

Dubbing Changes

International Titles

Language	Title	Translation
Cantonese	增肥4000 (zang1 fei4 4000)	Gaining weight 4000
Czech	Posilovač 4000	Booster 4000
Finnish	Painonlisäys 4000	Weight gain 4000
French	Muscle Plus 4000	Muscle Plus 4000
German	Wie werde ich ein Kampfkoloß?	How do I become a Battletruck?
Hungarian	Testsúly 4000	Body weight 4000
Italian	E se ingrasso... Ciccia	If I get fat... Fat
Japanese	カートマン、ダイエットで体重激増 (Kātoman, daietto de taijū gekizō)	Cartman, weight gain diet
Latvian	Svara pieaugums 4000	Weight gain 4000
Mandarin Chinese	豪你勇4000 (Háo nǐ yǒng 4000)	How brave you are 4000
Polish	Wizja Jeden title: Pakerator 4000	Packer 4000
	Netflix title: Wzrost Masy 4000	Weight Gain 4000
Portuguese (Brazil)	Ganhe peso 4000	Weight gain 4000
Russian	Набор веса 4000	Weight gain 4000
Spanish (Latin America)	Aumento de peso 4000	Weight gain 4000
Spanish (Spain)	First title: Formula Para Ganar Peso 4000	Weight Gain Formula 4000
	Second title: Aumento 4000	Increase 4000
Ukrainian	Вигода ваги 4000	Weight gain 4000

Common

• While watching the Weight Gain 4000 commercial, Cartman claims that he is of different weights:
  • French and Hungarian: 50 kg (110 lbs)
  • German: 45 kg (99 lbs)
  • Italian (2nd): 30 kg (66 lbs)
  • Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish (Comedy Central), Spanish (Latin America; 1st and 2nd), Spanish (Spain) and Ukrainian: 40 kg (88 lbs)
  • No weights are given in the Cantonese dub.
• Walden, the book which Cartman tried to steal for his essay, is replaced with other titles in the following dubs:
  • French: White Fang by Jack London
  • Mandarin Chinese: With the People Always in My Heart, a 1999 memoir by former Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui. Wendy, on the other hand, assumes that Cartman had tried to copy from a "Japanese book".
• In the French and Italian (1st) dubs, no species of dolphin is specified by Wendy for her essay subject.
• In the French, German, Italian (1st), European Spanish and Latin Spanish (2nd) dubs, while sneaking in the classroom, Wendy reads aloud her essay title, along with the written comments.
• As the crowd leaves the town square, Wendy claims the crowd would know about Walden if it was of another genre:
  • German: Animated series
  • Spanish (Spain): Telenovela
• Table of songs that are dubbed or re-recorded:

Song	CS	DE	ES-ES	ES-LA (1)	ES-LA (2)	FR	HU	IT (2)	JA	PL (WJ)	PL (CC)	PT-BR	UK	ZH-HK	ZH-TW
"If My Friends Could See Me Now"
"I'm Gonna Be On Television"
"Oh Kathie Lee"

Cantonese

• Kathie Lee Gifford is dubbed as Hong Kong novelist Xi Xi.
• At the start of the performance by the class, Mr. Garrison addresses Bebe as "Wendy".
• The Stratford 12mm rifle given to Garrison at Jimbo's Guns is replaced with the AK-47 rifle.

French

• In reaction to Cartman winning the essay contest, Stan comments that Cartman does not know the difference between a humpback whale and a battered fish.
• At the start of the performance by the class, Mr. Garrison addresses Bebe as "Barbara".

German

• In the flashback to the National Talents Show Finals, Mr. Garrison's joke is replaced with: Bistum. Bistum nicht froh dass ich nicht „Papst“ gesagt habe? (lit. "Diocese. Diocese not happy that I didn't say "Pope"?).

Italian (2nd)

• In reaction to Cartman winning the essay contest, Stan comments that Cartman does not know the difference between a rainforest and an ice cream cake.
• In reaction to Kenny's death, Kyle's translated line of "Oh my God, they killed Kenny" (Oh mio Dio, hanno ucciso Kenny!) is changed to "Porca puttana! Hanno ammazzato Kenny!" ("Fucking hell! They killed Kenny!")

Japanese

• In the flashback to the National Talents Show Finals, Mr. Garrison's performance is replaced as follows:
  • Mr. Garrison: ハット君，綺麗な帽子だねドイツの？(Hatto-kun, kireina bōshida ne doitsuno?, "That's a nice hat, Mr. Hat. Isn't it from Germany?")
  • Mr. Hat: オランダ！(Oranda!, "Netherlands!")
  • Mr. Garrison: ドイツ製じゃなくて オランダ製か？(Doitsu-sei janakute Oranda-sei ka?, "It's made in the Netherlands, not Germany?")
  • Mr. Hat: オランダつの！(Oranda tsuno!, "It's the Netherlands!")
• While sneaking in the classroom, Wendy reads aloud the score for her essay.
• While Mr. Garrison is walking down the street with his rifle, the first townsman he encounters does not address Garrison by name, and instead uses the honorific of 先生 (Sensei).
• Mr. Garrison does not address Officer Barbrady by name, and instead uses the title 保安官 (Hoankan, "Sheriff").

Mandarin Chinese

• Kathie Lee Gifford is renamed to 花蝴蝶寶寶 (Huā húdié bǎobǎo, lit. "Baby butterfly").
• Instead of teasing Cartman for not knowing "a rain-forest from a Pop-Tart", Stan claims that Cartman does not even know how to write his own name.
• The subject for Wendy's essay is changed to the "Spiritual Reformation in South Park."
• The lyrics to "If My Friends Could See Me Now" are rewritten, where Kathie Lee dreams of traveling around the world.
• Instead of arguing about dolphins at the bus stop, Cartman claims that "Wendy is just as ugly as her mother, who in turn is so ugly that her husband would not have sex with her".
• The timeline of the Indian play is set at about 50 years ago.
• When Mr. Garrison goes to buy a gun at Jimbo's store, Jimbo asks Garrison the explicit option of "to kill someone" instead of simply "other".
• As the crowd leaves the town square, Wendy bets they would pay attention if she had dressed up as a stripper.
• When watching Cartman on television at the end, Chef comments that his body fat is enough to make 5,000 dumplings.

Spanish (Latin America; 1st)

• In the flashback to the National Talents Show Finals, Kathie Lee Gifford is addressed as only "Kathie Lee".
• The battle cries by the Indians during the school performance is delayed, only triggering after Stan makes his first hit towards Clyde.

Spanish (Spain)

• All mentions of "Kathie Lee Gifford" by full name is changed to refer the singer as simply "Kathie Lee".
• In reaction to Cartman winning the essay contest, Stan comments that Cartman does not know the difference between a rainforest and a piece of chocolate.
• The subject of bottle-nose dolphins in Wendy's essay is changed to porpoises.
• In the flashback to the National Talents Show Finals, Mr. Garrison's joke is replaced with: Ave. La vecina del piso de al lado (lit. "Bird. The neighbor next door.")
• Kyle's gasp is played prematurely in reaction to Kenny's death.
• Stan invites Wendy for tuna salads instead of tuna sandwiches.