Free Hat

Episode aired Jul 10, 2002
TV-MA
22m

IMDb RATING

8.2/10

3.5K

YOUR RATING

Animation Comedy

The boys start a group to stop a maniacal Steven Spielberg and George Lucas from altering Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) while also catering to a group who demand a trailer-trash toddler mur... Read allThe boys start a group to stop a maniacal Steven Spielberg and George Lucas from altering Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) while also catering to a group who demand a trailer-trash toddler murderer be freed.The boys start a group to stop a maniacal Steven Spielberg and George Lucas from altering Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) while also catering to a group who demand a trailer-trash toddler murderer be freed.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.2/10

3.5K

YOUR RATING

4User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos5

Top Cast6

Edit

Trey Parker

Stan Marsh…

Matt Stone

Kyle Broflovski
(voice)
…

Mona Marshall

Crowd Vocals
(voice)

Eliza Schneider

Woman in Crowd
(voice)

Isaac Hayes

Chef
(credit only)

Maria Elena Heredia

Shelly Marsh
(uncredited)
…

User reviews4

8.23.4K

Featured reviews

10qrwilson

To Make A Long Story Short, It's A Rock-Solid Episode

For starters, the plot here is freaking hillarious. The idea of a group of people trying to free a child killer is outrageous enough as it is. But then you realize that it has nothing to do with what the four boys are trying to do, that being to stop directors from making changes to their movies. Somehow, the fact that these two groups with completely different goals somehow crossed paths is absolutely hillarious.

If I could make another comment about this episode, I liked what they did with Tweek here, especially in one scene towards the end. Seeing Tweek being brave for once while making homage to Raiders was a great bit, considering how he's usually too freaked out to do anything.

Finally, I'll say that the message here aged like a fine wine. With the amount of mediocre reboots that have come out in recent years, the episode's subject matter is able to stay fresh 20 years later. I really can't say enough good things about this episode. Definetely gets my reccomendation!

8gangstahippie

Good episode

Free hat brings up the issue of directors altering their films and re-releasing them.It happened to Star Wars and it happened to ET.There is also a hilarious fake commercial where Trey Parker and Matt Stone talk about remastering the first episode "Cartman Gets An Anal Probe".The boys and Tweek get sick of directors altering their movies, so they start a club to get directors to stop altering their films.They add "Free Hat" to their sign so more people will come.However the people who came want to free a man named Hat who was convicted(and probably did it) of murdering toddlers.So they try to fight both causes(though they don't really care about the latter one).The boys try to stop Spielberg and Lucas from altering "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" and there are some really funny homage scenes to that movie such as when tweek is hiding with the rocket launcher, the movie causing peoples skin to melt and the ending.This is a fairly good episode with some funny scenes.

Trivia
When the boys are in George Lucas's house the boys perform a cool island dance. It is the same dance and costumes from the movie BASEketball (1998) which stars Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Dian Bachar who is also a series regular

Goofs
When the boys are watching the trailer for the "re-re-release" of Saving Private Ryan (1998), the announcer states that the word "Nazi" is changed to "persons with political differences." In reality, the word "Nazi" is never spoken once during the entirety of the actual film.

Quotes
Voiceover: Coming, this summer! It's the digitally enhanced re-release of the very first pilot episode of South Park! Yes, the classic, rough, hand-made first episode is getting a make-over for 2002! The simple, funny aliens are now super badass and cool! Flying saucer? No longer cheap construction paper, but a 4.0 megapixel constructed through a masterpiece of technology! Everything's new! New is better!
Trey Parker: When we first made South Park, we didn't wanna use construction paper. We just had to because it was cheap.
Matt Stone: And now with new technology we can finally remaster South Park, make it look sharp, clean and focused.
Trey Parker: Expensive.
Voiceover: Yes, all the charm of a simple little cartoon will melt before your eyes as it is replaced by newer and more standardized animation!
Trey Parker: For instance, in the scene at the bus stop, we always meant to have Imperial walkers and giant dewback lizards in the background, but simply couldn't afford it.
Voiceover: Get this special enhanced version quick, because another enhanced version will likely be coming out for 2003!