Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods

"Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" is the eleventh episode of the second season of the animated television series South Park, and the 24th episode of the series overall. "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" originally aired in the United States on September 2, 1998 on Comedy Central. This episode spoofs the Star Trek episode "Dagger of the Mind".^[1] The episode's title refers to the film critic, Roger Ebert, having his own constellation (which can be seen when the kids go to the planetarium for the first time).

Plot

The class goes on a bus trip to the local planetarium. Once arriving, Cartman is tempted by a Cheesy Poofs truck parked outside, auditioning kids to sing the Cheesy Poofs song on their next TV advertisement. The kids all think they will hate the planetarium, but after watching the star show, they want to go back again after the field trip. Not only do they go back, they all start volunteering to work at the planetarium. This turns out to be because the director, Dr. Adams (who has a speech disorder where he cannot pronounce the 't' in 'planetarium', but can pronounce the letter in other words), is using a brainwashing device on them.

Cartman sings the Cheesy Poofs song and then gets selected to sing it on TV, after cheating and browbeating his way past the other contestants. His performance is so bad, though, that only one word of it ("lame", with Cartman in a ridiculous Cheesy Poof costume) is used in the final advertisement. Nevertheless, Cartman is thrilled that he was on television.

In the meantime, Stan and Kyle become concerned about the planetarium's star show. When they have Kenny go and witness the show while Stan and Kyle examine the controls, they accidentally increase the star projector's powers, causing Kenny's head to explode. Horrified, Stan and Kyle go to Officer Barbrady and tell him about what has happened; Officer Barbrady is skeptical but accompanies them to question Dr. Adams. Because of this, Dr. Adams brainwashes Officer Barbrady to believe that he is Elvis; he then reveals his brainwashing scheme to the boys - to have people work at the planetarium because nobody found planetariums interesting. While this is going on, school counselor Mr. Mackey, who uses an ancient school counselor technique called a "mind meld", and school nurse Nurse Gollum have learned of the mind control device through a kid named Van Gelder who earlier escaped the planetarium. They race to stop Dr. Adams, and a showdown occurs at the planetarium, with Stan, Kyle, Mr. Mackey and Nurse Gollum against Dr. Adams and the Elvis/Officer Barbrady. The boys, Mackey, and Nurse Gollum are quickly captured, tied down, and brainwashed into forgetting everything they found out.

However, in the middle of the process, Cartman, upon discovering the other boys missed his commercial debut, angrily kicks the star projector ("Planetariums suck ass!" he proclaims), sending the full blast of the mind control machine into Dr. Adams' brain. With no one around to say anything, Dr. Adams becomes a mindless shell collapsed against the back wall, which fascinates Kyle and Stan. Cartman is elated that he not only was on TV, but saved the day as well. At the end, his mom, Liane, tells Eric not to "pick his nose" when he was simply scratching an itch (this was a running gag in the episode).

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods

• "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" Full Episode at South Park Studios
• "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" Episode Guide At South Park Studios
• "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" at TV.com