The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers

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"A Ladder to Heaven"

"The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers"

"The Death Camp of Tolerance"

"The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers"
Episode no.	Season 6 Episode 13
Production no.	613
Original airdate	November 13, 2002
Episode chronology Previous Next "A Ladder to Heaven" "The Death Camp of Tolerance"
List of all South Park episodes

2-Time Featured Article Winner May 2013, December 2016

"The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers" is the thirteenth episode of Season Six, and the 92nd overall episode of South Park. It first aired on November 13, 2002.

Synopsis

The boys embark upon a mythical quest as they set out to return their copy of the "The Lord of the Rings" movie to their local video store.

Plot

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Spoiler warning! Plot details follow.

Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny (currently possessing Cartman) are seen playing "The Lord of the Rings". Randy and Sharon have rented the movie, The Lord of the Rings, and tell Stan, Kyle and Cartman to bring it to Butters' parents (Linda Stotch, Stephen Stotch), as they had asked to borrow it. Still caught up in their game, the boys see this assignment as a "quest", and set off on their journey. When the boys leave, Stan's parents try to watch Back Door Sluts 9, a pornographic movie described as the most "hardcore" porno ever and the "single most vile, twisted, dark piece of porn ever produced." It is said that Backdoor Sluts 9 makes Crotch Capers 3 look like Naughty Nurses 2. To their horror, they discover that Randy accidentally got The Lord of the Rings video and the pornographic movie mixed up, and realize that Butters is now watching it at his house.

The two drive to Butters' house, and come across the boys returning home, having already delivered the tape. Stan's father plays into the boys' imagination and sends them on their greatest quest ever: retrieve the tape - but to not look at it - as it "holds an evil power." Excited, the boys eagerly comply and set off toward Butters' house. They arrive and take the tape, but not before discovering that Butters, though not realizing the nature of it, has watched the movie and becomes obsessed with it. Denied the video and excluded from the boys' game, Butters' becomes steadily more insane, and remains secluded in the basement, muttering about his "precious" and generally acting like Gollum (from Lord of the Rings). At this point the Marshes, who have grown worried that the boys have not returned, show up. Distraught at Butters' behavior, they assume that the boys now have the tape and are watching it. Contacting the other parents, they go on a desperate search to find the missing children and "put it into context."

Returning home, the boys run into some 6th graders, who look inside the box and realize that the tape is actually a pornographic movie. Although they try to take the tape, the boys are able to escape and decide to take it to the council of the High Elf of Faragon (Clyde Donovan). At the council, at which most of the fourth-graders are present (in The Lord of the Rings costumes), it is decided that to determine the tape's power, they should send one of their own to watch it for a few minutes. Talangar the Black (Tolkien Black) is volunteered, and steps inside his house for a moment. He soon comes out, expressionless, and announces that he is not playing anymore without an explanation. Now truly convinced of the tape's power, the council decides the tape must be returned to the Two Towers video store "from whence it came", and forms the "Fellowship of The Lord of the Rings", which consists of Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Craig Tucker, Jimmy Valmer, Filmore Anderson, and Eric Cartman, who is possessed by Kenny McCormick.

The boys go to the store and, after avoiding a run-in with the 6th graders, in which their party loses Jimmy (who oddly does not query the fact that it was a porno-tape when confronted by the adults), they join Butters, who offers to guide them to the store in a thinly veiled attempt to get the tape back. Soon all the boys wind up at the Two Towers, and with the 6th graders in hot pursuit they desperately try to return the tape to the drop box. When Butters refuses to let go of it, Kyle throws him and the tape into the drop box. Angered at losing their movie, the 6th graders threaten to beat the boys up, but flee when the parents arrive. The parents then go into a long discussion with the astonished boys about sex, touching on such subjects as 69ing and double penetration. The boys (who never actually watched the movie that their parents are so graphically describing) are speechless. Back in the video store, Butters emerges from a pile of other returned tapes in the drop box, clutching his "precious".