Editing Good Times with Weapons

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox television episode
| series         = [[South Park]]
| image          = Good Times with Weapons.jpg
| image_size     = 250
| caption        = The boys in their ninja personae
| season         = 8
| episode        = 1
| director       = [[Trey Parker]]
| writer         = Trey Parker
| production     = 801
| airdate        = {{Start date|2004|03|17}}
| guests         = 
| prev           = [[It's Christmas in Canada]]
| next           = [[Up the Down Steroid]]
| season_article = South Park season 8
| episode_list   = List of South Park episodes
}}

"'''Good Times with Weapons'''" is the first episode of the eighth season of the American [[animated series]] [[South Park]] and the 112th episode of the series. It originally aired on March 17, 2004. In the episode, the boys are transformed into Japanese warriors after they buy martial arts weapons at a local market. Their sworn enemy, Professor Chaos, confronts them and a highly stylized battle ensues. The episode's [[animation]] routinely switches from the usual [[cutout animation|cutout]]-and-solid-color style to a highly stylized [[anime]] theme.

This was the first episode with [[April Stewart]] as the bulk of the female characters following [[Eliza Schneider]]'s departure. The episode was written by series co-creator [[Trey Parker]]. In 2015, he and co-creator [[Matt Stone]] listed it as their second favorite episode of the series.<ref name="ew">{{cite magazine|title='South Park': Matt Stone and Trey Parker Name Their 15 Best Episodes (and 53 Worst)|url=https://ew.com/gallery/south-park-matt-stone-and-trey-parker-name-their-15-best-episodes-and-53-worst/|date=November 3, 2015|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|access-date=March 21, 2016|archive-date=November 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211126155229/https://ew.com/gallery/south-park-matt-stone-and-trey-parker-name-their-15-best-episodes-and-53-worst/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The episode was rated [[TV-MA L]] in the United States.

==Plot==
At the [[Park County, Colorado|Park County]] Fair, the boys find a vendor selling East Asian weapons. The vendor says that he cannot sell weapons to people under 18 without parental approval, so the boys lie by claiming that they are brothers and that their parents died in a car accident the previous year, convincing the vendor to give them the weapons. [[Stan Marsh|Stan]] purchases a pair of [[Tonfa]], [[Kyle Broflovski|Kyle]] gets [[nunchaku]], [[Eric Cartman|Cartman]] buys a pair of [[sai (weapon)|sai]], and [[Kenny McCormick|Kenny]] purchases a pair of [[shuriken|''shaken''-style shuriken]]. After showing their weapons off to [[Craig (South Park)|Craig]], [[Clyde (South Park)|Clyde]], and [[Tolkien Black|Token]] the boys go around town pretending to be ninjas, becoming [[anime]]-like characters with their own individual [[Superpower (ability)|superpower]]s. The animation style takes on an overall Japanese look and switches to a [[Anamorphic format|cinemascope]] aspect ratio whenever this happens in the original print at 4:3.

Butters sees them playing and wants to join but the boys refuse to let him. Butters then goes home and becomes his [[supervillain]] [[alter ego]], [[Butters Stotch#Professor Chaos|Professor Chaos]], and sets off to get his revenge on the four ninjas. Professor Chaos neutralizes Kyle and Stan, so Kenny comes to their defense and throws one of his shuriken. It hits Butters in the eye and becomes lodged in it, ending the boys' playtime. They realize that Butters needs medical attention, but taking him to the local hospital would result in their parents discovering their purchases. When an attempt to extract the shuriken from his eye fails, the boys decide to dress Butters up like a dog by gluing Sparky's fur to him and take him to a veterinarian.

On the way, the boys encounter Craig, [[Jimmy (South Park)|Jimmy]], Clyde, and Token and have to hide Butters in an abandoned oven so nobody sees him. Much to their chagrin, they have copied the boys and obtained weapons from the same vendor. The two ninja groups fight, but in the midst of all the chaos, Butters escapes. The four boys force Craig's group to help them search for Butters, threatening to tell on them if they do not. A weakened, delirious Butters makes his way to the hospital, but his disguise fools the attending doctor, who sends Butters to the local animal shelter. There, the veterinarian determines that the only thing to do is to [[animal euthanasia|put Butters to sleep]], but Butters escapes.

The boys decide to dispose of the evidence and return to the fair to have the vendor refund their money, which he refuses to do. Craig and the others inform them that they have seen Butters wandering around on the other side of the fair towards an auction that all their parents are attending. Cartman decides to use his ninja power of [[invisibility]] to walk across the auction stage to get to Butters undetected and removes his clothes. However, in real life, Cartman inadvertently ends up [[streaking]] across the stage. Butters staggers onto the stage and collapses.

The final scene shows the townsfolk protesting at an emergency meeting at the community center due to an outrage at the auction. The boys believe the outrage in question is Butters' injury (which has been medically treated by this time), but it soon transpires that the real issue is Cartman's [[public nudity]]. Cartman explains that it was a "[[wardrobe malfunction]]" (a reference to the [[Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy]] that occurred six weeks prior to the episode's airing), and the episode ends with Stan, Kyle, and Kenny addressing the issue that adults are more offended by sex than violence, allowing them to keep their weapons after Kyle suggested that Cartman should be punished. The episode ends with a freeze-frame of Stan, Kyle, and Kenny in anime style posing.

==Production==
This episode features some ninja counterparts of the original cast of characters that appears to be modeled after the video game sprites from [[Capcom]]'s ''[[Street Fighter Alpha 3]]''.  "Let's Fighting Love" is a [[theme music|theme song]] that mixes Japanese and English lyrics in a [[Pastiche|style parody]] of [[anime]] theme songs including that of ''[[Dragon Ball Z]]''. The song is performed by Parker.<ref name="GTW1">Audio Commentary on "Good Times with Weapons" with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, "South Park: The Hits, Vol. 1", Comedy Central Home Entertainment, 2006.</ref>

==Home media==
"Good Times with Weapons", along with the thirteen other episodes from ''South Park''{{'}}s eighth season, was released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on August 29, 2006. The set includes brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode.<ref>{{cite web |title=South Park: The Complete Eighth Season DVD Review |website=[[IGN]] |date=August 26, 2006 |last=Schorn |first=Peter |url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2006/08/29/south-park-the-complete-eighth-season |access-date=April 25, 2017}}</ref> In 2006, the episode was also included in ''South Park – The Hits: Volume 1'', a DVD compilation which features Parker and Stone's ten favorite episodes.<ref name="hits_pr">{{Cite press release |url=http://press.cc.com/press-release/2006/09/19/091906_south_park_hits_dvd |title=COMEDY CENTRAL Home Entertainment Celebrates 10 Years of 'South Park' With the DVD Release of 'South Park The Hits: Volume 1' (October 3) Featuring Trey Parker and Matt Stone's 10 Favorite Episodes and, for the First Time-Ever, 'The Spirit of Christmas' Animated Short |date=September 19, 2006 |location=New York |publisher=Comedy Central |access-date=January 23, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130119151556/http://www.comedycentral.com/press/press_releases/2006/091906_south_park_hits_dvd.jhtml |archive-date=January 19, 2013 }}</ref>

On March 6, 2007, the day before the 11th season began, this episode was re-rendered in HD at 16:9 widescreen and was free with purchases of an [[Xbox 360]] console or  [[Xbox 360 HD DVD Player|HD DVD Drive]] at [[Best Buy]] on a single [[HD DVD]] disc from March 20 to April 3. It was also free on the Xbox 360 marketplace for two weeks from March 6 to March 20.<ref>{{Cite press release |url=https://press.cc.com/press-release/2007/03/05/030507_southpark_highdef |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319024310/https://press.cc.com/press-release/2007/03/05/030507_southpark_highdef |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 19, 2021 |title="South Park" to Release First-Ever High Definition Episode, "Good Times with Weapons," Exclusively On Xbox 360 On Tuesday, March 6|date=March 5, 2007|location=New York |publisher=Comedy Central|access-date=March 7, 2022}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|date=2024-03-26|En-Good-Times-with-Weapons-article.ogg}}
{{wikiquote|South Park#Good Times with Weapons .5B8.1.5D|Good Times with Weapons}}
* [https://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/2znij2/south-park-good-times-with-weapons-season-8-ep-1 "Good Times with Weapons"] Full episode at South Park Studios
* {{IMDb episode|0705928}}

{{South Park episodes|8}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Good Times With Weapons}}
[[Category:Ninja parodies]]
[[Category:South Park season 8 episodes]]
[[Category:Anime-influenced animation]]
[[Category:Japan in non-Japanese culture]]
[[Category:Fiction about invisibility]]