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Originally conceived as a feature length film, South Park: Imaginationland was scaled down to be run as a trilogy of episodes of the popular television series. 

Cartman has made a bet with Kyle that he can prove that he’s seen a leprechaun in the woods near South Park, and if he loses, he owes Kyle $10, but if they do find a leprechaun, Kyle must finally make true Cartman’s frequent vulgarity, and suck his balls.  Shockingly, they do find a leprechaun, who seems terrified, not of the boys, but of an impending terrorist attack, and promptly disappears.

Cartman gloats, and Kyle refuses to settle their wager.  The next day the boys meet a strange man who invites them aboard his flying machine when they tell him that they’ve seen a leprechaun recently.  He takes them to Imaginationland, courtesy of a song involving nothing but the repetition of the word ‘imagination’.  This man is the mayor of Imaginationland, which is constructed of everything that the imaginations of the real world have ever dreamed up in stories and film.  The boys mention that the leprechaun was warning of a terrorist attack just seconds before the attack actually hits, destroying the fantasy creatures in a hail of gunfire and explosions.  Stan and Kyle escape courtesy of a flying dragon, but Butters is accidentally left behind, taken prisoner by the terrorists.

The U.S. Government receives a taped message from the terrorists, taking credit for the attack on our imaginations, and threatening further violence.  Cartman has meanwhile taken his signed paperwork regarding he and Kyle’s bet to the highest authorities, and Kyle is found to be bound in a contract, and sentenced to carry out the agreement within 24 hours. 

Imaginationland is in grave danger as the terrorists begin to destroy the barrier between the good side of that world and the bad side, releasing all the evil creations who will destroy the innocent creatures.  Butters is discovered to be ‘the key’ for the innocent creatures, as he can recreate the fallen fantasy characters using his imagination.  The U.S. Military enters Imaginationland via a Stargate style portal, led by Kurt Russel (!), only to fall victim to the evil creatures, which causes the panicked Government to call for more drastic measures, and it’s up to the kids to stop them from destroying this fantasy world out of fear and ignorance.  Kyle would obviously prefer to find a loophole in his court settlement with Cartman, if at all possible.

The hour long special is chock full of cartoon, commercial, comic book, fantasy, sci-fi and film characters, which are fun to try and spot, including appearances by Pinhead, Jason, the Predator, Strawberry Shortcake and Snarf from the Thundercats to name just a small handful.  Produced in late 2007, the episodes seem to be a clever reaction to years of a war on terror, what with the constant refrain of how the terrorists attacked and ‘our imaginations have gone wild’.

The bonus material on the disc consists of a commentary by creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, as well as two episodes of the show that introduced some of the fantasy characters that appear in the feature.  While not integral to anything, Manbearpig and Woodland Critter Christmas both introduce peripheral characters that turn up in the main story, so I’d recommend watching these two before diving into the main attraction.

South Park: Imaginationland is fun stuff featuring the same biting satire, casual sacrilege and vulgarity that fans of the show have come to expect.  I think that the only thing to scare anyone away from this release is possibly waiting to see if it’s released as part of the regular season when that comes out.

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