Heh, I totally missed that.
It just occurred to me that Jay Leno has a cat named Cheese…
Call me a sentimental old fool but this one is going down as one of my favorites.
I even pulled out my “Heavy Metal” DVD the night before and watched it just to make sure I’d catch all the references in the SP episode.
I definitely heard both songs in the episode. Don Felder’s and Sammy Hager’s.
Great episode. The first one I’ve watched twice in a row in a long time.
“Appease the gods by bathing her boobs in soapy suds.”
“OKAY!”
I loved Cartman’s obliviousness when Kyle asked him if he saw a parallel with anything else from history. And Gerald’s press conference with Sheila at his side was perfect. Sheila had that same pained “what the hell am I doing up here?” look on her face as Spitzer’s wife. The part with Kenny battling Gerald while both were under the influence of the “cheese” was hysterical!
And did anyone catch it when Kenny and that hot babe were flying on the back of the bird creature and her boobs were bouncing all over the top of his head?
What is this “Heavy Metal”* referenced by the show? A movie, a video game, a YouTube phenomenon, or what?
- Aside from a genre of hard rock. I knew that much, at least.
An animated movie from 1981: Heavy Metal.
*Heavy Metal * was an animated film in the 80s which used stories from the comic magazine of the same title. Naturally, lots of heavy metal music (Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, etc.) was on the soundtrack. It has a strong cult following, and it’s a lot of low brow fun.
It also had much of the voice acting done by the SCTV comedy troop and a small bonus of Dean Wormer as a prosecutor.
How did you know there would be “Heavy Metal” references in the episode before it aired?
I remember John Candy. Who were the others?
It was also prohibited from being released on video for years because of rights issues, so the only way to watch it was bootlegs or the occassional appearance on cable TV.
I liked the episode well enough. I really loved at the end when Stan’s dad said
“you never get to really see her boobs anyway”
That spoke to me for some reason.
Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty & Harold Ramis at least.
I can’t speak for SHAKES, but the commercials, specifically the one with Kenny and the girl, made it very obvious. Music, theme, animation style were all straight from Heavy Metal.
The South Park Home page apparently had it up ahead of time as a “Heavy Metal” Tribute.
Ah, okay, makes sense. I myself managed to avoid all mention of this episode till it aired.
You know, it’s also beginning to grow on me. I liked it a whole lot more than the Britney one and the AIDS one. Though seriously–making Cartman’s cat a guy is pissing me off.
The Trans-Am flying down from the sky was right out of the opening scene of the movie as well (with the same background song).
Heavy Metal was one of my favorite movies in high school. I taped it off HBO and used to toke up and watch it with my burnout friends all the time. It was practically an every day, after school ritual. I think we could say most every line, so this episode was right in my wheelhouse. Somehow that movie perfectly captured the pothead imagination. The music, the animation styles and short enough stories (with enough changes in tone and humor) so that it didn’t get long or boring. Plus it had boobies in it. Just hearing the Don Felder theme makes feel baked again.
And it was second only to the Rocky Horror Picture Show for long running midnight movies. That’s where I first saw it more than a decade after its release.
I didn’t care very much for the episode myself. A little too much “Hey look! A pop culture reference!” and not enough of anything else. On the other hand I really enjoyed the Britney episode mainly because it took an interesting idea and ran with it.
Actually “The Wall” ran longer than “Heavy Metal” at least in South Cal and NJ. I remember “Wizards” lasted a long time too and that one started in 1977.
Rocky Horror was the Queen of them all though. 
Yes you can speak for me.
This thread is making me feel old that some people don’t get the reference.