Towelie

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"Towelie"
South Park episode
"... You wanna get high?"
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 8
Written by	Trey Parker
Directed by	Trey Parker
Production no.	508
Original airdate	August 8, 2001
Season 5 episodes
South Park – Season 5 June 20, 2001 – December 12, 2001
Scott Tenorman Must Die It Hits the Fan Cripple Fight Super Best Friends Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow Cartmanland Proper Condom Use Towelie Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants How to Eat with Your Butt The Entity Here Comes the Neighborhood Kenny Dies Butters' Very Own Episode
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List of South Park episodes

"Towelie" is episode 508 of Comedy Central's South Park. It originally aired on August 8, 2001.

[edit] Synopsis

While at Stan's house, Cartman discovers a used tampon which he mistakes for an aborted fetus in the garbage. In an effort to get the kids to never mention the tampon again, Stan's mother buys the kids a video game system, the Okama Gamesphere. The boys are completely fascinated by the Okama Gamesphere, and intend to play with it for the entire weekend, without sleeping. During their playing, a talking towel called "Towelie" comes in whenever they mention any subject involving water and advises them to keep a towel handy, before asking if they want to get "high". However, the boys largely ignore him and tell him to go away.

When Monday comes around, the boys are forced to go to school. At the bus stop, a car pulls up and a man in the car asks if the boys have seen a talking towel anywhere. When the boys ask if he is talking about Towelie, the man yells into a walkie-talkie, and drives off, watching the boys suspiciously. After school, the boys run to Stan's house, but the Okama Gamesphere isn't there. In its place is a ransom call, saying that if the boys want to get their Okama Gamesphere, they'll have to take Towelie to a secluded gas station during the night. The boys locate Towelie and take him to the gas station. An elderly man that works for the company that made Towelie is there, and he thanks the boys for bringing Towelie to him. When the boys ask for their Okama Gamesphere, the old man realizes that it is a trap, and the United States Military ambushes them. During the fight, Towelie and the boys escape.

Before the episode goes to a commercial break, a fake commercial plays. The commercial advertises Towelie T-shirts. There are T-shirts that say "I love Towelie" for people who love Towelie, and there are T-shirts that say "I hate Towelie" for people who hate Towelie. It also shows a Towelie towel which looks like Towelie and says some of his catchphrases. The commercial assures the audience that the merchandise is not available, but will be sold soon.

For the rest of the episode, the boys and Towelie go back and forth between a military base (aptly named "Secret Government Base") and the company that made Towelie (Tynacorp) in an effort to get their Okama Gamesphere. The plot gets increasingly thick, involving aliens trying to take over Earth using genetically modified Towelies. All throughout the story, the boys say they don't care, and that they just want their Okama Gamesphere; in spite of their utter indifference, the increasingly complicated plot continues to surround them and the two sides play them against the other. In the midst of a confrontation between the military and the company that made Towelie, the boys find their Okama Gamesphere, but before they can play for long the building is blown up in order to kill the aliens that want to rule the world. Kenny falls in a pool of lava, but the other boys and Towelie escape with the Okama Gamesphere. The boys and Towelie go home and play the Okama Gamesphere, with Towelie, as he has been for much of the episode, high. The boys all share a laugh, which leads Cartman to tell him, "You're the worst character ever, Towelie", to which Towelie complacently replies, "I know."

[edit] Production

Towelie's catchphrase, "don't forget to bring a towel", originated on a boat trip the writers and friends took. People were constantly telling each other "don’t forget to bring a towel" with the phrase having eventually morphed into "Towelie says to bring a towel." Parker and Stone have asserted that they were becoming increasingly aware as to how heavily merchandised and exploited their creations were becoming. Towelie was their way of poking fun at themselves. They designed Towelie as a shallow, two-dimensional (both literally and figuratively) character who has no real purpose except to "spout catch phrases and merchandise the hell out of". This is why they threw in the fake commercial during the show, and also why, in the episode Cartman calls him the "worst character ever." This is mentioned in the DVD commentary for the episode, as well as in the 2003 VH1 special.^[1]

[edit] Cultural references

Whenever Towelie gets high, the famous spinach-eating music from Popeye is played in the background.

[edit] Notes