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This page contains trivia for "Up the Down Steroid". 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[]

  • This is the first episode we see Nathan, Francis, Michael, Chad Handler, Dennis Murray, Reggie Burke, Colette Francis, and Lenora, who will later appear in "Crippled Summer", "Funnybot", "Sponsored Content", and "Moss Piglets".
  • This is the second time Cartman's mom lies to get him onto/into something. The first time was in "Freak Strike".
  • Kyle assumes that Cartman would be going to Hell, which contradicts Kyle's Jewish faith due to there being no such thing as Hell.
  • Cartman mentions that Kyle has never seen The Passion of the Christ. In the next episode, "The Passion of the Jew", Kyle eventually sees the film and goes as far to admit that Cartman's antisemitism may actually be well placed.
  • Jimmy's final speech confessing to using steroids is similar to that of Stephen Stotch at the end of "Butters' Very Own Episode" in that while he was confessing to doing something, he was also trying to shame others into confessing the same thing.
  • The program Cartman uses to write his essays is called "WordWriter?", a parody of popular modern word processing programs, such as Microsoft Word.
  • When Cartman is writing his essay on retards, all of the sections of his essay say the same thing.
  • Cartman's shirt he wears for the Special Olympics is similar to the former Nick Jr mascot Face.

References to Popular Culture[]

  • There has been some controversy surrounding this episode and the movie The Ringer, as both feature the same plot: someone pretending to be mentally retarded in order to compete in the Special Olympics. The Ringer was written and filmed months before this episode, but it was released after this episode aired. According to the episode's commentary, Trey and Matt did not think it would be a big deal, since the idea to them did not seem hard to come up with, and it was only a secondary storyline to the episode. They even expressed concern to how someone could extend said storyline to two hours.
  • The episode title refers to the 1964 young adult novel Up the Down Staircase, by Bel Kaufman, which was made into a 1967 movie starring Sandy Dennis. Trey Parker admitted he had to perform this story in a high school play and hated it.
  • This episode is based on an HBO Lifestories: Families in Crisis episode entitled "A Body to Die For: The Aaron Henry Story" starring Ben Affleck as a steroid-abusing high school athlete who ends up beating up his girlfriend.
  • During the scenes in which Cartman and Jimmy are training for and also competing in the Special Olympics, a slightly remixed version of the song "Push It to the Limit", from the 1983 movie Scarface, is playing.
  • The trio of American baseball players who present the awards at the end of the Special Olympics are Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, and Mark McGwire, all of whom have been linked, or allegedly linked, to use of steroids in Major League Baseball. In the scene in which Jimmy confesses his use of steroids, the camera cuts to the baseball players, implying that they used steroids as well. This scene is reminiscent of the scene in "Butters' Very Own Episode" where Mr. Stotch screams about "slimy scumbag liars" and "murdering murderers" while the camera cuts to Gary Condit, O.J. Simpson, and John and Patricia Ramsey.
  • In the opening scene, the boys are playing the same "Investigative Reports with Bill Kurtis" funtime game as they did in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA".
  • The scene when Jimmy's father asks Jimmy if he was masturbating is reminiscent of a scene in the American comedy film American Pie, when the father of one of the main characters asks his son, Jim Levenstein, if he was masturbating before he entered the room.
  • During Cartman and Jimmy's training montage scenes, Cartman can be seen using a Mac, however the theme of Microsoft Word is from Windows 2000.
  • The use of Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" in a scene of violence mirrors Platoon and the episode of The Simpsons "The Strong Arms of the Ma."
  • In Cartman's room, there is a poster of Mel Gibson in the film Braveheart, that poster was also seen in the episode The Passion of the Jew.
  • During the training montage, Cartman studies the movements of singer Kid Rock. This is not Kid Rock's only connection to South Park, as he was also featured in the soundtrack to South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
  • In the shots of Jimmy's bedroom, there is a "The Six Billion Dollar Man" poster on the wall.

Goofs[]

Francis-brown-hair

Francis with a brown hair.

  • When Jimmy does the long jump, he lands towards the edge of the sandbox. In the scene after his coach notes his improvement, the place where Jimmy has landed seems to have changed.
  • A clone of Francis with brown hair can be seen in the crowd at the end of the episode.
  • When Jimmy is slipping the steroids back into his bag, he asks Timmy if they could go out for a soda later on, but when he says this, the word "donut" is more pronounced than "soda".
  • When Nancy enters Jimmy's room she is holding two books, but when Jimmy says "Dad, Jesus C-Christ!" She is not holding anything.

Dubbing Changes[]

International Titles[]

Language Title Translation
Czech Vzhůru se steroidy Up with Steroids
French Les Stéroïdes, ça déchire Steroids rock
German Mit der Spritze an die Spitze With the syringe to the top
Hungarian Szteroidok hatása alatt Under the influence of steroids
Italian Forza steroidi Power to steroids
Japanese ステロイドで金メダル!?
(Suteroido de kinmedaru!?)
Gold medal on steroids!?
Polish Ułomne koksy Defective coke
Ukrainian Стероїди
(Steroyidy)
Steroids

Common[]

  • Liane declares Cartman's "condition" using alternate terms over "retarded" in the following dubs:
    • Japanese: 知的障害 (Chiteki shōgai, "Intellectual disability")
    • Ukrainian: Бідний на розум (Bidnyy na rozum, "poor-minded")

Ukrainian[]

  • While registering Cartman for the Special Olympics, Liane declares Cartman's age at 10 years old instead of 9.


  803: "Up the Down Steroid" edit
Story Elements

Timmy BurchJimmy ValmerEric CartmanNancyNathan • "Adagio for Strings" • "Push It to the Limit"

Media

ImagesScriptExtrasWatch Episode

Release

South Park: The Complete Eighth SeasonSouth Park: The Cult of Cartman

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