‘South Park’ Season 5’s Epic Timmy and Jimmy Fight Was Animated to This Movie

South Park does a lot of things that are so wrong, yet somehow Trey Parker and Matt Stone pull it off. One early example was the second episode of season 5. Two characters with disabilities, Timmy and Jimmy, get into a fistfight. Of course, Cartman even has a politically incorrect way to describe it. Parker and Stone also said they modeled the brawl after a specific movie. 

Parker and Stone discussed the episode on the South Park Season 5 DVD. In their mini commentary track, they discussed a version of Timmy vs. Jimmy that was even closer to this legendary movie brawl.

‘South Park’ character Jimmy Valmer makes his debut in this episode

Episode 2 of Season 5 introduced Jimmy Valmer. While Jimmy was originally a kid from a different school, Jimmy is in the same Boy Scout troop as the boys. Since Jimmy uses crutches, Timmy gets jealous because he’s no longer the only kid with a disability. Timmy uses a wheelchair. Jimmy would eventually join South Park Elementary in future episodes, but would always use his standup comedy to keep a positive perspective. That’s what made his fistfight with Timmy even more uncharacteristic. 

“The actual fight where they’re in the backlot and they’re fighting was the fight sequence from They Live,” Stone said. “We took the fight sequence where Roddy Piper and [Keith David] have this knockdown dragout fight in this alley in They Live.”

There was a version of Timmy vs. Jimmy with Roddy Piper and Keith David sounds 

In They Live, Piper’s character discovers sunglasses that let him see subliminal messages, as well as aliens in human disguises. David’s character refuses to wear them, so Piper fights him to force him to see. In South Park, Timmy refuses to wear a silly hat for Jimmy’s standup comedy act. The beats of their beat down actually follow They Live closely, complete with Jimmy demanding Timmy wear the hat.

“We actually animated to that soundtrack,” Parker said. “For a while, before we put our own sounds in, it was Timmy and Jimmy fighting but it was the grunts from Rowdy Roddy Piper. It was actually pretty funny that way. I think it ended up on the internet that way. “

Both South Park animators loved the John Carpenter directed classic. The fight scene goes on for several minutes and often winds up on lists of the best fight scenes in Hollywood.

“It’s a great fight sequence in They Live,” Stone said.

This ‘South Park’ episode almost gave Trey Parker a nervous breakdown

The first episode of Season 5 was “It Hits the Fan.” Parker said after producing that episode, he struggled to think of ideas for the rest of the season.

“I remember distinctly on this show, it was a Sunday on this show, I almost had my first nervous breakdown which was because I was realizing we had a whole season ahead and had nothing really written,” Parker said. “I was just freaking out.”

Parker and Stone produce each South Park episode in six days. After 24 seasons, the pressure has waned.

“Now we’re used to it,” Stone said. “Now we’re used to that crappy, empty feeling.”