"Rainforest Schmainforest" (also known as "Choir Tour") is the 32nd episode of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired on April 7, 1999. This episode features Jennifer Aniston providing the voice for Miss Stevens.
This episode was inspired by Trey Parker's personal intense distaste towards rainforests that he formed after a visit to Costa Rica. Parker explains on the DVD commentary that, at the suggestion of Flea, member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Parker and his girlfriend went to Costa Rica and hated the area, and that everything Cartman says about the rainforests during the episode is how he (Parker) personally feels.[1]
Plot
Miss Stevens (played by Jennifer Aniston), the leader of the "Getting Gay With Kids" environmentalist choir tour, visits South Park Elementary, trying to recruit more kids to the group. The boys cause trouble, calling the choir names and belittling their cause. They are sent to the office, where Mr. Mackey punishes the boys by forcing them to join the choir. Kenny is the only one who is happy about it, since he has developed a crush on a girl in the choir named Kelly.
The episode is filled with famous environmentalist clichés, such as, "We must take only photos and leave only footprints", "It's more afraid of us than we are of it" and "We have to respect mother nature and she will respect us".
The choir goes to San José, Costa Rica to tour, where Miss Stevens tells Cartman that she plans on changing his views on third-world countries. Upon arriving, Cartman immediately starts to make trouble, including yelling at Costa Ricans, directing everyones attention to prostitutes and commenting that San Jose "smells like ass." The children get to meet the Costa Rican President and do a preview dance routine, but Miss Stevens is dismayed by Kyle's lack of co-ordination.
The children then take a tour to see the 'wonders' of the rainforest (squirrel monkeys and a three-toed sloth). Eventually their tour guide is killed and eaten by a coral snake, leaving Miss Stevens and the children on their own in the jungle. They run into a group of guerrilla rebels and try to convince them to save the rainforest, but the leader replies, "We're not getting gay with any kids!" When government troops arrive the choir has to run away. After more time spent wandering lost, Cartman announces that he's leaving the "hippie" group. Only moments later he finds a friendly crew tearing down trees. Meanwhile, Kelly takes Kenny to one side and admits her feelings for him, but tries to stop herself from going too far, as she lives on the other side of the USA and she fears having her heart broken, which annoys Kenny.
Back in San José, the concert is about an hour away from starting, and the President stalls for time by telling poorly thought out "Polak" jokes. Miss Stevens and the remaining children are captured by a tribe of natives who offer Miss Stevens, now dressed in a cheerleading outfit, to a giant native (à la King Kong). At this point, Miss Stevens changes her mind, and decides the rainforest is not such a good place after all. She screams profanities about everything rainforest-related, much to the shock of the kids (and the natives, too). Just then, Cartman and the construction workers arrive to destroy the village and save the kids. Kelly tells Kenny that, in order to keep up their "long distance relationship," they have to call every other day. However, Kenny is then immediately struck and apparently killed by a bolt of lightning. After unsuccessfully trying to get Stan and Kyle, who are, as usual, indifferent to his death to help him, Kelly manages to resuscitate Kenny. When the group escapes the forest, Miss Stevens and the children are so happy that they literally change their tune about the rainforest. They do a different version of the original song, which rebukes the rainforest rather than praising it as the original did, which meets with a positive response from the audience. The episode ends with a message telling people about the dangers of the rainforest and to help stop it now.
Goof
When the choir is fleeing from the indigenous people, you can see Cartman on the right side of the screen when the scene switches to the group fleeing downward. Considering Cartman was at the lumberjack camp at that moment, it's impossible.
References
- ^ South Park: Season 3 DVD Boxset Episode Commentary
External links
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