Season 1 Episode 3 – Volcano

Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny go on a hunting trip with Stan’s Uncle Jimbo and his friend Ned.

Original Airdate

27^th August 1997

Featured Music

• Kumbaya (sung by Jimbo and Ned)

Character Debuts

• Ned Gerblansky
• Randy Marsh

Synopsis

The four boys go on a hunting trip with Jimbo and Ned, while Stan’s dad Randy is getting some concerning readings in his office… and a view of a smoking mountain – a VOLCANO! Will South Park be doomed?! The hunting trip also shows great results, and when the volcano erupts, Scuzzlebutt saves the day!

Kenny's Death

Set on fire from a fireball from the volcano, and then crushed by it… then finished by Ned’s misfire after Stan kills Scuzzlebutt.

My Thoughts Back Then

Ned’s voice I found funny from the get go, watching this on the tape I rented in 2004. Cartman’s mum mollycoddling him resonated me with too, as I was 13 and was unsure how much of my parents I wanted with me in public at the time.

Jimbo and Ned’s rationale for hunting I found amusing too – this was my first real exposure to hunting, living somewhere hunting isn’t very common, especially for a suburban teenage boy like myself. The scenes with the powerful weapons appealed to me strongly as a war game-loving lad, and I cracked myself laughing when Ned is set on fire with gasoline, and then the jeep blows up! Then Kenny drinks gasoline when the boys are offered gin.

I also loved the scene where enough fish to for a year’s worth of chips and peas are killed courtesy of a grenade, and duck and cover epically FAILS when the volcano erupts. The 1950s-era public information film reminded me of things I saw on my then-favourite show The Simpsons.

The ending, where the boys are sick of hunting and go to watch cartoons, reminded me of my own boyhood, when I’d prefer to watch Pokemon than go camping.

My Thoughts Now

Another fireside chat (video and DVD only) with the changing dogs starts this one off, I enjoy watching these mini-summaries.

Jimbo being shocked that 8 year olds not drinking beer I noticed more, especially as an old-fashioned man who NEVER drinks and drives. Not to mention how Jimbo is more concerned about spilled beer than mishandling of firearms! Then there’s Cartman’s fake Vietnam flashbacks, and how Cartman uses an on-fire Ned to cook hot dogs!

Mayor McDaniels confusing gynaecologists and geologists went over my head when I was 13, but makes me giggle at 30. Nice use of music when Randy presents the findings to the Mayor too – a sign I should have done media in high school perhaps?

Back to the mountains, Cartman tells Stan, Kyle and Kenny the story of Scuzzlebutt… with celery in place of a left hand, and Patrick Duffy (from TV’s Step by Step) as a leg – never saw that show, but I am a fan of Duffy’s co-star Suzanne Somers in the 1970s/1980s sitcom Three’s Company.

Even with impending doom, the hunting continues, and the remaining party are FOOLED with Cartman is disguised as Scuzzlebutt (when you can clearly see his trousers and the bottom of his jacket!) The volcano canyon plan is also so silly, but at 13 you don’t think THAT much about whether or not it would work.

Just when Jimbo and Ned realise they almost killed Cartman, the volcano erupts… and the trench has been dug in an unrealistic timeline… and Scuzzlebutt is REAL! The lava goes to… Denver! Chef then celebrates with a song about hot lava 😉