Original air date: 3/19/2003
The boys experience déjà vu from the first episode ("Cartman Gets an Anal Probe") and discover that Earth and its inhabitants are part of an intergalactic reality show that's about to be canceled.
Tropes
- Actually Pretty Funny: Cartman continuously farting in Kyle's face when the latter goes to activate the satellite begins to annoy Chef, only for him to find it funny when Cartman does it yet again.
- Affably Evil: The aliens in general are this, with the Joozian producers at the head of it. They think nothing about intentionally turning Earth into a hellhole full of species and races that can't stand each other all for the entertainment of the universe, and the most they feel about blowing it up is disappointment that the show has to be canceled. That being said, they are all very open, friendly, and accommodating to the boys.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Parodied. Nagix initially appears as Randy, invoking this trope, but the boys don't like that idea. They force their host to take many forms until agreeing on a anthropomorphic taco that poops ice cream.
- Aliens Are Bastards: Sadistic ones who enjoy seeing humans suffer for the sake of entertainment, to be specific.
- Big Brother Bully: Kyle naturally, kicking his baby brother.Ike: Don't kick the goddamn baby!
- Black Mail: Kenny takes a compromising photo of the Joozian producers, which is used to save the Earth from cancellation.
- Bookends: The episode ends replaying the beginning of the pilot again, but this time, Kenny comes in with the incriminating photo of the Joozians, which Chef tells him to keep safe.
- Breather Episode: After an entire Season without Kenny after dying in "Kenny Dies", he's back in the usual South Park antics in this episode.
- Continuity Nod:
- The episode begins by replaying the opening events from "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" almost word for word before the characters start getting a sense of déjà vu.
- When the boys get inside the spaceship and see Earth outside the window, they remark that this is their second time in outer space, referencing "Starvin Marvin In Space". Cartman adds that it's his fifth time, once again recalling the two times he was abducted in the pilot.
- G-Rated Sex: The Joozians are able to engage in sex acts with each other without any censorship because their anatomy is so indescribably alien that it's hard to tell if it actually is sex to human eyes.Stan: (while he and the rest of the boys are watching the Joozians suck on each other's jagons and touch their thrushers) Dude, I have no idea what we're seeing right now, but I have a feeling it's really, really wrong.
- Gladiator Games: It turns out that all wars on Earth are this to the aliens.
- Hookers and Blow: The boys are forced to watch the Joozian producers indulge in this, including the two producers having sex with each other. At one point, Kenny snorts some powder with the producers.
- Insane Troll Logic: Jeff, the scientist Chef consults, is able to deduce what is going on through increasingly ridiculous jumping off points such as butt sex. Eventually Chef gets annoyed at how preposterously accurate he is.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The scientist Chef consults with is obviously modeled on Jeff Goldblum. His name tag reads "Dr. Goldbloom", spelled different but pronounced the same.
- "Not So Different" Remark: The boys try to call out the aliens for making humans suffer for the sake of entertainment as part of a universal television program, but they eventually realize that they do the same thing on Earth all the time.Kyle: You mean that you aliens actually enjoy sitting around and watching us fight and kill each other?! Dude, that's messed up.
Nagix: Why?
Stan: Why?! Because you're playing with people's lives! You're turning people's problems into entertainment!
Cartman: Yeah! We'd never do that on Earth! (The boys just look at each other, slowly realizing that they do that on Earth all the time) - Reset Button: After being blackmailed, the Joozians press this by wiping Earth's memory of the episode's events, the only remnant being the photo Kenny took.
- Running Gag:
- Cartman farting in Kyle's face whenever the latter attempts to activate the satellite.
- Nagix in his taco form randomly pooping ice cream.
- Jeff the scientist connecting the dots in the most ludicrous ways possible.
- Skewed Priorities: The boys discover a massive planet wide conspiracy involving aliens, but spend their first moments on the alien ship making their host pick a form they are happy with.
- Spiritual Sequel: To the pilot episode, up to the point that the first half of this episode is supposed to be déjà vu of "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe".
- Take That!: To Contact which the boys cite as the main reason to force Nagix to change forms after appearing as Randy, an idea he got from the film.
- "Truman Show" Plot: This episode reveals that Earth has just been a reality show for aliens this whole time, and the boys are having deja vu because the show got cancelled and is going into reruns.Cartman: (Sarcastically) Tell us about it.
