More Information About elementary school musical
"Elementary School Musical" is the thirteenth episode of the twelfth season of the animated series South Park[1]. The episode aired November 12, 2008. The episode is a parody of the High School Musical film series[2]. The episode was rated TV-MA L in the United States.
Plot
The boys are at lunch and Butters announces he's going to see the movie High School Musical 3 again. Stan and Kyle question what this is and realize they (along with Cartman and Kenny) are unaware about the newest fad. Wendy, along with other girls and boys and a third grader named Bridon Gueermo (Trey Parker), begin singing in the cafeteria. Soon, Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny are the only children present who aren't singing and they go home. After watching the movie, they hate it, and vow never to become a part of this fad. The next day at school the boys find everyone singing again in class, and Stan fears that Wendy is becoming close with Bridon because they tend to share lead roles in the musical routines. Although Wendy shrugs off his concern and kisses him on the cheek, Stan is still uneasy, believing that Bridon will develop a crush on Wendy. After refusing to sing his own song to several kids as he walks through the hallways, Stan talks to Bridon in hopes of directing him away from Wendy, and finds out Bridon would prefer to play basketball instead of singing. However, Bridon's theater-crazed, metrosexual father refuses to allow him to play a "sissy" sport. Stan convinces Bridon to stand up for himself, but Bridon's father slaps his mother after she suggests Bridon should be allowed to play basketball.
Stan pressures Bridon to try out with the basketball team anyway, but when Mr. Gueermo discovers his son in the gym, he exhibits a violent outburst towards the basketball coach, Mr. Mackey, and aggressively drags Bridon away by his arm. Stan reports this to Child Protective Services, but Bridon's father slaps the CPS agents until they flee. Later, Bridon tries to run away, but his father stops him and threatens to slap him. Fed up, Bridon punches his father in the nose, causing him to cry, and his mother also begins beating his father. The next day, Bridon plays at a basketball game and does well; his father rather enjoys the musical aspects and choreographed cheering.
Meanwhile, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny are hanging out with an unpopular boy named Scott Malkinson, (Matt Stone) who is ridiculed by fellow students for his lisp and diabetes. At school, the kids try to persuade Stan to sing again, but instead of performing a modern impromptu pop song, he sings off-key versions of old folk songs, making a fool of himself. Despite having vowed against it, Stan then decides to join the trend and studies the High School Musical series intensively. Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny try to convince him otherwise, reminding him of their vow, but he successfully counters them by explaining that things are changing and that Butters is now more popular than they are.
The next day, Bebe asks Bridon why he missed rehearsals for the school musical, which he explains was due to his basketball game. Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny then successfully perform a song along with an equally elaborate dance routine about Bridon following his own dreams, but everyone else is uninterested and goes to watch Bridon play Basketball instead. Scott stops them after their long dance routine and explains the school kids just liked Bridon and not the fad itself, upon which Stan laments at their having gone to so much effort for nothing.
Reception
IGN and 411mania.com both gave the episode relatively positive reviews, rating it 7.5 and 7.4 out of 10, respectively. IGN's Travis Fickett commented that the episode "doesn't make as much of the idea as it could", while 411mania's DC Perry compared it favorably to other episodes of the season, but wrote that "[b]eing one of the best episodes of this season isn't really an accomplishment ... It just feels like they're running out of ideas."[3][4]
In early airings of this episode, Bridon's singing is noticeably off-key. In subsequent airings, the intonation has been corrected.
References
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