Imaginationland Episode III

"Imaginationland Episode III" is the twelfth episode in the eleventh season of Comedy Central's animated television series South Park. It originally aired on October 31, 2007.^[1] It is the third and final episode in a three-part story arc that won the 2008 Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program for One Hour or More. The three episodes were later reissued together, along with previously unreleased footage, as the uncensored Imaginationland: The Movie.

Plot

In the conclusion from the previous two episodes, in which terrorists attacked the embodiment of human imagination, Imaginationland, and destroyed the barrier within that realm separating evil fictional characters from the good innocent ones, the armies of evil characters march towards Castle Sunshine, at which the last surviving good characters, who are mostly untrained for combat, have taken refuge. Also at Castle Sunshine is Butters Stotch, who was transported to Imaginationland, and has been informed that he is the key to repelling the evil hordes because, as a real person, he has the power to conjure up good characters from his imagination to fight the evil ones. However, the milquetoast Butters' initial attempts to conjure up allies are unsuccessful, at which point the evil army is almost at Castle Sunshine. Aslan says they need to bring Santa back first for he was killed in the terrorist attack. Butters asks how he can do this, members of the Council of Nine tell him he just has to focus on Santa and nothing else; whatever he focuses on will become real. Butters closes his eyes and thinks, and suddenly his father appears yelling "You're grounded!" and then manifests into a monstrous creature, a humanoid version of a beast and a mountain goat, yelling "Grounded!". Butters is terrified and shakes his head yelling for it to go and it fades away

Meanwhile, in the real world, Al Gore, who has previously attempted to warn the public of the danger of ManBearPig, shows his staff the video made of that creature's appearance at The Pentagon in the previous episode, and embarks on an investigation of those events on behalf of the American people.

Kyle Broflovski awakens from his coma to see that Eric Cartman is making preparations in anticipation of Kyle sucking his testicles, setting up a photo-shoot. Kyle finds that he has a telepathic link to Stan in Imaginationland, who alerts him to the events transpiring in that realm, where the good characters, outnumbered and largely untrained for combat, charge the evil army.

After Al Gore leaks the ManBearPig video to the public, The Pentagon informs the public of the recent events in Imaginationland and their plans to attack that realm with a nuclear weapon, setting off a public and legal controversy over whether the federal government has the jurisdiction to do this. Legal pundits discuss the state court case stemming from Cartman and Kyle's bet, Cartman v. Broflovski which ruled that imaginary characters are indeed real, which would preclude the government from taking action against the public's imagination.

On the battlefield, the good characters seem doomed. Lead by Jesus, the good characters charge, but they are suffering from many characters. Aslan orders Butters he must imagine Santa which Butters imagines, yet this version is a monstrous cephalopod creature. Butters is terrified and it abruptly fades away. However, Butters manages to master his conjuring ability, and summons appropriate forces that join the battle, and turn the tide in good's favor by focusing and imaging on the good.

The Supreme Court overturns the "Cartman vs. Broflovski decision" that imaginary creatures are real – imaginary creatures are declared not really real, so the government can bomb Imaginationland. Kyle is no longer legally required to suck Cartman's testicles, and he is instructed by Stan to stall the launch.

Kyle leaves the hospital, with a raging Cartman following closely behind. Kyle is initially turned down by security, but receives encouragement from Stan and several imaginary characters. Cartman breaks into the Pentagon again, and tries to manipulate the scientists into admitting that Imaginationland is real, for the sole purpose of winning his bet. He is quickly followed by Kyle, who finally agrees with him and convinces the officials to not bomb Imaginationland by arguing that imaginary creatures are just as real as real people because of the impact they have on people's lives. Cartman responds by telling Kyle that since imaginary creatures are real after all, then he loses their bet, and still has to suck Cartman's testicles. Kyle finally snaps and berates Cartman for not caring about the danger Stan and Butters are in just because of a stupid bet and that he doesn't care who won, because Kyle would rather go to jail than humiliate himself by sucking Cartman's testicles. Suddenly, Al Gore barges into the room, asking why the bomb hasn't been launched yet. When he finds out that the launch sequence has been aborted, he says "ManBearPig has to die", he then mashes at the portal's control panel to try and launch the bomb himself, which causes the portal to destabilize and suck everyone in the room, as well as the nuclear missile, into Imaginationland.

The good characters' victory is interrupted by the missile's explosion, destroying everything in Imaginationland and killing everyone in it (including the people from the real world), and leaving nothing but a vast white emptiness. Butters, on the other hand, somehow survives the explosion and restores the realm with his imagination, back to how it was before the initial terrorist attack. He even manages to bring back Kyle, Stan and Cartman. Everyone is alive again, the evil imaginary characters are imprisoned once again, and everyone cheers for Butters for saving the day. Cartman acknowledges Butters for using his imagination to restore everything, then realizing the power of the realm, Cartman creates duplicates of himself and Kyle, in which imaginary Kyle sucks imaginary Cartman's testicles (off-screen). Kyle angrily states the scene is imaginary, to which Cartman insists that, in one's imagination, imaginary creatures are "real", as Kyle himself said earlier, therefore Kyle's agreement with Cartman is finally fulfilled. The Mayor agrees that at least here in Imaginationland, it is real. Santa then states that it's time for the boys to go home.

Butters suddenly wakes up in the real world, in his bedroom. His parents come in, and he tells them about the dream he just had. They inform Butters that it wasn't a dream, as they read about it in a newspaper, but they proceed to ground him anyway for not coming back from Imaginationland in time to clear out the basement. Enraged by this, Butters tries to use his powers to get out of being grounded, but is told by his parents that his powers only work in Imaginationland, and not in the real world. Disappointed, Butters lies back in bed and ends the episode with a low, unhappy and uncensored mutter of "Aw, shit".

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Imaginationland

• Imaginationland Episode III. South Park Studios
• Imaginationland: The Movie - Free streaming video of the entire movie at the official South Park website.
• Pictures of Imaginationland characters.t South Park Scriptorium