Line #15 Recap/SouthParkS8E7Goobacks


1	[[quoteright:318:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/goobacks.png]]
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3	'''Original air date:''' 4/28/2004
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5	A man from the year 3045 travels back to South Park looking for work due to the poor economic state of the future. Soon more people from his time show up they start to take the townspeople's jobs.
6
7	!!"Goobacks" contains examples of:
8	* AnAesop:
9	** Basically, the entire episode goes with TakeAThirdOption on the issues on illegal immigration by suggesting that improving their livelihood of their home countries, which is portrayed by the town's attempt to reduce pollution through green energy and recycling, would prevent the Goobacks/illegal immigrants from leaving in the first place rather than falling into fallacies of "kick them all out" or "let them stay".
10	** The last few minutes has its own Aesop, making a song about how you should think about the present and work for a better tomorrow, or else the future will face the consequences.
11	* BadFuture: Apparently, an OverpopulationCrisis will be the fate of America 1,000 years into the future.
12	* BrokenRecord: "Chicken sandwich?"
13	* CompoundInterestTimeTravelGambit: The people from the future don't earn much in the present but it's worth it due to the effects of compound interest.
14	* DemotedToExtra: While Stan is the protagonist here, Kenny, Cartman and Kyle are only given cameos in spite of being seen with Stan for most of the episode.
15	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: A group of people bypass the United States' standard immigration procedures to take menial jobs that will provide their families back home with enough money to live but cause several citizens to become unemployed because they undercut them by offering to work for less pay.
16	* DumbassHasAPoint: Despite the opposition arguing that the rednecks are bigots, the cold hard truth is that the future immigrants are in fact putting them out of their jobs and, unlike them, they can't travel to a past time to get work.
17	* EternalEnglish: Averted. The only word that hasn't changed in 1,000 years is "balls," and even then, likely as a slang for "testicles."
18	* FanDisservice: The massive, ''massive'' gay orgy is enough to put anyone off sex forever.
19	* FantasticSlur: Everyone who hates the time travelers begins referring to them as "Goobacks" due to the purple goo they have on them when they emerge from the time portal. It also serves as a pun for the fact that they've gone back in time.
20	* FictionIsntFair: The plot involves people from the future traveling to the present and taking everyone's jobs because [[ComicallySmallDemand they were willing to work for 20 cents an hour]]. At no point does anyone even ''try'' enforcing minimum wage laws. Although this is often TruthInTelevision for arguments about wage deflation caused by illegal immigrants.
21	* GoodIsBoring: After Stan has his GoldenMoment, the town begins to focus on clean energy and repairing the environment in order to make the future decent enough for the Goobacks to not have a reason to go back in time. While it [[GreenAesop proves to work]], Stan decides that the act of doing so is "even gayer than the gay orgy" idea, which they quickly fall back on.
22	* GreenAesop: After hearing Stan's speech, the townspeople eventually decide that the best way to avert the BadFuture the Goobacks come from is to invest in renewable energy, recycle more, and plant more trees so that the world will be a nicer place in the future.
23	* {{Hypocrite}}: Randy. He supports the future people coming to the present, ignores the grievances of those who lost their jobs, and punishes his son for calling them "Goobacks," but the second he loses ''his'' job to a time immigrant, he becomes the rednecks' de facto spokesman.
24	* InsaneTrollLogic:
25	** Chet, a redneck suggested exacerbating GlobalWarming as a method to quicken humanity's extinction and they could do so by polluting more. Chet's attempts to connect global warming to an ice age made absolutely no sense and even so, Chet's idea most likely would have only ''sped'' up the Goobacks' poverty-ridden future into happening sooner. Darryl understandably shoots the idea down.
26	--->'''Darryl:''' How in the hell is ''global warming'' gonna cause an '''ice age'''?!
27	** Apparently everyone is in agreement that being environmentally conscious, helping people in third-world countries and striving for world peace is "gayer" than a literal gay orgy and prefer doing the latter even after we see that the former produces the results they want (undoing the BadFuture the Goobacks come from).
28	* InTheFutureHumansWillBeOneRace: Humans in 3045 are all AmbiguouslyBrown and bald. The show takes it further by having their language also be a combination of every present-day language and sound like unintelligible grunting, except for the word "balls," which remains unchanged somehow.
29	* ItOnlyWorksOnce: Time travel follows ''[[Film/TheTerminator Terminator]]'' rules in that people can only travel to their destination one time and going back to their origin is impossible.
30	* IWarnedYou: Stan's reaction after Randy loses his job.
31	* NewAgeRetroHippie: The Aging Hippie Liberal Douche.
32	* NoEnding: The issue of the time travelers and the growing unemployment in South Park is never resolved. The people decide that working for a better future is too "gay" and elect to go back into the gay orgy that previously wasn't having any effect. Everything is inexplicably back to normal by the next episode.
33	* NoSympathy: The people who support the time travelers have no sympathy for the people who've lost their jobs to them, claiming that they just take menial jobs that no one wants.
34	-->'''Stan:''' I wanted ''my'' job.
35	* OpinionFlipFlop: Randy supports the time travelers and dismisses Stan's complaints as bigotry. But once ''he'' loses his job to one of them, he becomes the spokesperson of the protest movement.
36	* PunctuationShaker: Heavily present in the gooback-language.
37	* RidiculousFutureInflation: The future immigrants are willing to work for cents on the dollar, which they then put into a bank account so that in their time the interest has built up to the point that they have billions of dollars. Of course, by that time, billions of dollars is just enough to have a decent living.
38	* RippleEffectIndicator: The people from the future start fading away once people work for a better future, at least until they realize that was in fact "gayer than all the men getting in a big pile and having sex with each other". Thus, the real reason that the future people disappear is because humanity goes extinct due to everyone turning gay.
39	* RuleOfThree: Played for dramatic effect with the visual of the Goobacks entering our time:
40	** The first time we see the scene is when the first Gooback comes through at the beginning of the episode.
41	** The second time is after Stan expresses awe at the first Gooback, [[HopeSpot actually excited at their potential prospects]]. It proves to be something of a WhamShot as we see their plan was successful, and a few ''more'' people enter our time; it is the moment the episode starts heading in a more dramatic direction.
42	** Finally, the third time is after we see the newer Goobacks starting to leech away lower jobs. By this time, we are aware of the negative aspects they're putting on the town, and thus, when the portal ''expands'' and we see ''entire families'' coming through, it's a sign things are about to go FromBadToWorse.
43	* RunningGag: Any instance of someone saying "They took my job!" is followed by someone else saying "They took yer job!"
44	* {{Satire}}: This episode serves as a satire of both illegal immigrants (Goobacks) and their liberal sympathizers (Hippie Douche and Stan's parents). Though the opposition to illegal immigrants are portrayed as irrational bigots with their solutions ranging from self-destructive (causing pollution to the point of extinction to prevent Goobacks) to outrageous (homosexual orgies to "produce no scions").
45	* SpeakingSimlish: The people from the future speak a grunt-like language that is described as a combination of all world languages.
46	* TheStoic: None of the future people ever change their neutral expression, which makes the sight of a group of them showing off the hydraulics of their futuristic hovering lowrider to the boys [[TheComicallySerious even funnier]].
47	* StrawCharacter: The hippie liberal and the redneck spokesman.
48	* YouAreGrounded: Stan is temporarily grounded by Randy for angrily calling the future people "Goobacks" a second time while trying to order a cheeseburger and fries. He is later taken out of his grounding after Randy loses his job and becomes just as pissed.

Context Recap / SouthParkS8E7Goobacks