"Chef Aid/Trivia" | "Spookyfish/Trivia" | "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!/Trivia" |
This page contains trivia for "Spookyfish". Remember, trivia must be factual, provable, and it is always best to cite your source for not-so-obvious trivia. If you would like to dispute a trivia point, please discuss it in the talk page.
Trivia[]
- Stan's treehouse from the episode "Clubhouses" is seen when Barbrady was smashed by the spade shovel.
- The Tiny Alien being run over by Ms. Crabtree's bus in the beginning of the episode was also seen in "Starvin' Marvin in Space" and in "Goobacks". It was also seen in "Le Petit Tourette" but as a toy in the store Cartman is at in the beginning. It was also seen in "Cancelled", eating at the alien cafeteria.
- Kenny's house is shown to leak and have power outages during thunderstorms.
- In the evil parallel universe, Cartman is nice, Stan and Kyle are mean, Kenny is rich, and Chef is a skinny white insurance salesman.
- Running Gag: Sharon burying bodies in the backyard and becoming sensitive of Stan thinking it was him that killed the people when it was actually the fish
- Running Gag: Cartman saying "hella" throughout the entire episode.
- This was the first episode that Stan wore his pajamas when he was sleeping.
- It is shown that Sharon goes through mood swings whenever her Aunt Flo comes to visit as well as making Randy sleep on the couch during her visits.
- On January 13, 1999, Comedy Central aired "Spookyfish" without Spooky Vision.
References to Popular Culture[]
- The entire episode was shown in "Spooky-Vision", with every frame having the words written round the edge of the screen and pictures of Barbra Streisand in the four corners, which change every commercial break. This is in response to a May 1998 interview Barbra Streisand had with Mirabella magazine where she commented on her portrayal in the South Park episode "Mecha-Streisand". She stated that "I enjoy satire and parody, [but] I wonder if shows like South Park and Beavis and Butt-head don't add to the cynicism and negativity in our culture, especially in children."
- The alien creature that emerges from the space ship at the beginning of the episode resembles the xenomorph aliens common to the Alien franchise.
- The Cartman doppelganger and the majority of the plot elements revolving around his character are a parody of the Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror" which aired October 6, 1967. This episode was the first in the Star Trek franchise to introduce the concept of parallel worlds. It featured a mirror world where the Federation was evil, and each crew member of the Enterprise had an evil doppelganger, including Mr. Spock. The Spock duplicate had a beard much like the Cartman doppelganger in this episode.
- The boys mock the doppelganger Cartman by asking him if he is dressed up like actor Luke Perry. Perry was best known for his role in the original Beverly Hills, 90210 which ran from 1990 to 2000. During the time this episode aired, Perry was sporting a beard.
- Aunt Flo is a personified parody of a woman's menstrual cycle.
- Cartman begins using the phrase "hella", which has its origins San Francisco's Hunters Point neighborhood. It is a slang term meaning "very" or "really".
- The goldfish writing the word "Kill" on the fish bowl is a call to the Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark" wherein an alien of the Hortian race writes "No, Kill I".
- When Sharon believes that Stan is murdering people and tries to cover up for him she says "I've got such a good boy, Mommy's little angel" it is a parody of a similar scene from the 1956 movie The Bad Seed.
- When Stan tries to explain to Sharon that the fish killed people and not him, Sharon begins singing a variation of the traditional children's lullaby Hush, Little Baby.
- When the boys ask Cartman why he is at the bus stop, he responds sarcastically by asking them if they were expecting talk show host Maury Povich.
- Whenever Cartman and his doppelganger are seen side by side, there is a visible line down the middle of the screen. This is a nod to the old film splicing effect that used to be done to make an actor play two roles and appear to be standing side by side. If the process was not done properly the splice line could be easily seen. Instances of this include Kenny being unevenly placed between the lines as well as other distortions done purposely.
- One of the photos of missing people that Officer Barbrady shows Sharon is actor William Shatner, best known for his role as Captain James T. Kirk on the original Star Trek.
- When Officer Barbrady is bonked on the head with a shovel he says the phrase "Tennis Anyone?" This is a cliché joke phrase that was originally said by actor Humphrey Bogart during his early career on Broadway.
- Aunt Flo has Parkinson's disease a degenerative disease that attacks the central nervous system.
- One transition between scenes in the third act features Barbra Streisand's head quickly zooming toward the screen as a sound effect from Super Friends is played.
- While tied up in the Marsh's basement, Officer Barbrady sings the song Blue Tail Fly aka "Jimmy Crack Corn" a song that originated from a 1840s Minstrel show and eventually became adopted as a popular American children's song.
- When Kenny's mother says "you'd be drunk too if you'd lost your boy" is another reference to The Bad Seed.
- When the pet store owner opens the "Employees Only" door revealing a portal to the doppelganger Cartman's world, it is another reference to Poltergeist. In the film the closet in Carol Anne's room has a portal to the spirit dimension.
- The concept of pets made evil by spirits of deceased Indians derives from the Stephen King novel Pet Semetary.
- The episode also references a long-forgotten direct-to-television film The Lake which was released 8 months prior to "Spookyfish". Its general plot follows a family dealing with the sudden behavioral changes of their extended family members and towns people. In reality, they're imposters from a Parallel Earth, intent on taking over (having rendered their own Earth uninhabitable). Just as in "Spookyfish", the denizens of the parallel earth are arguably hostile, with the exception of an elderly character (whose health improvement causes astonishment and alarm) showing genuine concern for "his daughter" from the inhabitable Earth.
- Apparently the Indians buried under the Indian Burial Ground Pet Shop are member of the Wampanoag tribe. This race of natives were not indigenous of Colorado however, they mostly inhabited Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
- When the kids agree to carve the squash and enter it into the pumpkin carving contest Stan says "Yeah. You know, I never thought it was such a bad, little squash. It just needs some tender, loving care." This line is a reference to what Linus says in the Peanuts Christmas special A Charlie Brown Christmas regarding the flimsy Christmas tree Charlie Brown picked out.
- The rifle Evil Stan and Evil Kyle have to send things back to their universe is similar to the phaser rifles of the Next Generation era of Star Trek.
- Cartman tricks the boys into sending the Cartman doppelganger back to his home dimension by saying "Time is running out. You'll have to destroy us both." This is yet another Star Trek reference. This time to the episode "Whom Gods Destroy". When witnessing a battle between Kirk and shape shifter Captain Garth of Izar, Spock is able to tell the two apart when the real Kirk orders Spock to shoot them both.
- However, these both reference a story in the Old Testament of the Bible where King Solomon has to judge two woman fighting over an infant. He orders the baby to be cut in half, so that they both have an equal share. One woman agrees with king's decision, while the true mother said that the other woman could have him. King Solomon then gave the baby to the true mother.
Goofs[]
- In the "Terrance and Phillip Halloween Special" when Phillip farts, Terrance says "That fart was absolutely ghoulish, Terrance." when he should have said "That fart was absolutely ghoulish, Phillip", which unintentionally implies he is talking to himself.
- In the HD version of the episode, Sharon asks "How do you like your fish, Stanley?", but her mouth does not move when she says it.
- When Cartman is on Aunt Flo's lap, it shows him still standing on the floor with the other boys next to "Good" Cartman.
- When the Pumpkin Carving Contest is first shown, there are crickets chirping despite the scene being in the daytime, when crickets are nocturnal.
- When Stan drags Sharon into his room over fear of his goldfish killing him, his pajama top is shown to have buttons on it, much like his everyday clothes. When Aunt Flo walks into the room, the buttons on his top are gone.
Kenny’s Death[]
- Killed by Stan's pet goldfish along with Aunt Flo and several other people. Because Stan and Kyle do not notice him getting killed by the fish, they do not say their lines.
Hidden Visitor(s)[]
- Before Cartman meets his evil counterpart, the woman on the sign has a visitor's head.
- When Stan's dog is digging up the dead bodies a (green) Visitor can be found behind a tree.
Dubbing Changes[]
International Titles[]
Language | Title | Translation |
---|---|---|
Czech | Strašidelná rybička | Scary little fish |
Finnish | Karseannäköinen kala | Rough-looking fish |
French | Poisson sanglant | Bloody fish |
German | Böser, böser Fisch | Evil, evil fish |
Hungarian | A kísértethal | The ghostfish |
Italian | Spookyfish - Lo speciale di Halloween | Sppokyfish - The Halloween special |
Japanese | 殺人金魚の事件簿 (Satsujin kingyo no jiken-bo) |
Killer goldfish case file |
Latvian | Spocīgā zivs | Ghostly fish |
Polish | Strachoza | Scarecrow |
Portuguese (Brazil) | Peixe assustador | Spookyfish |
Russian | Страшная рыбка (Strashnaya rybka) |
Scary fish |
Spanish (Latin America) | Pez tenebroso | Scary fish |
Spanish (Spain) | El pez endemoniado | The demon fish |
Ukrainian | Страхітлива рибка (Strakhitlyva rybka) |
Terrible fish |
Common[]
- List of changes to Chef's Halloween menu:
- German: Roast meat with vegetables, dumplings, Schaumrollen, and milkshake.
- Hungarian: Replaced hash browns with falafel. Specified Ischler cookies for cookies.
- Mandarin Chinese: Specified worm cookies and milkshake for "cookies and milk". Replaced napkin with a fish named 宋楚魚 (Sòng chǔ yú), parodying Taiwanese politician James Soong.
- Spanish (Latin America): Removed fries. Replaced hash browns with chips.
- Portuguese (Brazil): Replaced hash browns with mashed potatoes.
- The squash which Kenny brought for the carving contest is identified as other food items in the following dubs:
- German, Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish (Latin America): Zucchini
- Hungarian: Pear
- Mandarin Chinese: Cucumber
German[]
- All instances of Barbra's images zooming out and back are removed.
Hungarian[]
- After Officer Barbrady gets knocked out, the sound effect for Barbara Streisand's image zooming out and back is muted.
Japanese[]
- The Spookyfish's message to Stan "YES I WILL" is translated as 僕は無敵さ (Boku wa muteki-sa, I am invincible).
Mandarin Chinese[]
- Mentions of Luke Perry by Kyle is replaced with Taiwanese singer Chang Chen-yue.
- The lyrics for "Hush, Little Baby" are rewritten, where Sharon suggests getting Stan a girlfriend or a blow-up doll to calm him down.
- Officer Barbrady takes a different reaction to his imprisonment by Sharon, thinking that it is an act of sadomasochism.
- Sharon explains that she took Officer Barbrady's pants off as she was inspired by typical television series involving kidnapping to do so.
- The pet store which the evil animals are sold at is named "亂葬崗寵物店" (Pinyin: Luàn zàng gǎng chǒngwù diàn, lit. Mass Grave Pet Store).
- The vulgar phrase "媽啦" (Mā la) or "他媽的" (Tā mā de), which is used to express dissatisfaction and carry many meanings such as "fuck" or "shit", is uttered by the boys more frequently as compared to any other episodes, effectively making this a running gag for this episode. Kyle is often heard berating Cartman for using these terms.
Portuguese (Brazil)[]
- As Officer Barbrady gets knocked out by Sharon, he calls out "Oh, meu amor." (Oh, my love) before fainting.
- Officer Barbrady sings the song "Sábado de Sol" by Brazilian rock band Mamonas Assasinas instead of "Blue-Tail Fly".
| |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Story Elements |
Flo Kimble • Spookyfish • The Evil Boys • Barbra Streisand • Indian Burial Ground Pet Store • Tiny Alien • "Jimmy Crack Corn" • "My Best Friends" • "Hush, Little Baby" | ||||
Media |
Images • Script • Extras • Watch Episode | ||||
Release |