The Secrets of
"Towelie"

by Wild Willie Westwood, with sources from all over the Web

"a bloody cotton thing wrapped in toilet paper" — apparently, Cartman has forgotten all about the tampons they encountered in "Are you there, God? It's me, Jesus" and "Cherokee Hair Tampons." Mrs. Marsh still can't talk to the boys about sexual matters. And whatever it is he sees looks like food at first. Cartman goes on to think this bloody cotton thing is actually an aborted fetus.

"The 2001 Okama Game Sphere?" — a spoof of various other console names, like GameCube and the X Box. I trust the boys can play all their current video games on the new console.

Okama — Japanese for "gay person" or "male transvestite."

"a hundred twenty eight gigahertz DRAM" — This is memory, and it's usually measure in bytes and access time, not chip speed. Of course, Kyle admits he doesn't know what it means.

This is the first time you see the boys' nostrils as their noses are pressed against the window. This didn't happen when they visited the dialysis center in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" last year.

Hmm. Lately, Cartman has been emphasizing his efforts in getting the things he wants in life. In "Cartmanland" he detailed just what he went through with his Grandma to deserve the million he got from her. Here, he reminds the other boys of his part in getting the Okama GameSphere. He's trying to define himself as something more than the asshole his friends love to hate.

Okama GameSphere: $399.99. At that price it had better have 128 GHz DRAM. :D (128 GHz = 1/128 nanoseconds = 7.8125 picoseconds)

The boys would need to stop play at 5:30 Monday morning in order to prepare for school.

The talking towel concept seems to be borrowed from Doonesbury comic strips, which are full of such characterrs as the talking, walking cigarette butt, the talking feather, and the talking cowboy hat. Also from the Chevron cars and other talking objects in TV commercials. And if you've read "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", you'd know where your towel is.

Baseball practice on a Sunday night?

Sometimes there are stains on the wall behind the sofa at Stan's house, sometimes not.

The dials on Stan's TV change color throughout the episode.

Love how the official's voice changed in a hurry when he said "Omigod!"

TNA = T&A

Popeye's theme music plays whenever Towelie lights up. But Towelie doesn't get any stronger or smarter when he smokes. Except when it really counts: he stretches to get high, and then to save himself and the boys.

"there isn't a towel left within a hundred miles." — The primary goal was to eliminate towels within a 1000 mile radius. One hundred miles is not enough.

The boys land silently on the military base grounds. No unclasping noises or anything.

Kyle's hemorrhoid is truly in remission. And he's gotten better at climbing over a fence, even if it has razor wire along the top.

"Well let's look in here." — the lips say Kyle, but the voice says Stan.

Movie References

  1. Up in Smoke — The way Towelie says "Wanna get high?" In this movie, Chong is teaching a bird to say that same phrase in the same tonalities.
  2. The Outlaw Josey Wales — "it's not for usin', it's just for lookin' through"
  3. Sling Blade — "You shouldn'ta done that. He's just a boih. Poor little feller." He says similar stuff when he brings up that bloody tampon.
  4. Alien Resurrection — Towelie saying "k-k-kill me" when the boys discover him. *
  5. Terminator 2 — Kenny's death scene, and the new, buffed-up Towelie (think the T-1000). Also, Tynacorp looks like Cyberdyne Systems.
  6. The Arrival, Men in Black — the head of Tynacorp is discovered to be an alien.
* Both movies have a main character and a clone.

Episode References

  1. Chimpokomon (Japanese video game fixation)
  2. Ike's Wee Wee (marijuana use)
  3. Cartman Gets An Anal Probe (aliens)
  4. Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo (Hankey-like character with a message)