Original air date: 11/8/2006
Continuing from the last episode, Cartman finds himself in a atheistic future. Cartman couldn't care less about that though, and instead tries to find a Wii to play on.
Tropes:
- Accidental Hero: Cartman manages to end the war between the atheists by merely trying to call his teacher and inadvertently revealing to Richard Dawkins that Garrison is transgender, breaking them up, altering the past so that the three factions unite into a singular empire, and leading the world down to a (relatively) better future.
- Added Alliterative Appeal: The Sea Otters insist that the name of their singular atheist nation should be the "Allied Atheist Alliance." That way, it has three As.
- An Aesop: As a critique against religion-free technological utopia espoused by naïve atheists, the episode portrayed that eliminating religion will not end wars, as conflicts can arise for many reasons/excuses (in the episode's case, naming their government). Furthermore, as pointed out by the Otters' Wise One right before he was mauled by the group, atheists themselves are shown to be impulsive and irrational despite their worship of "science" and "logic".
- Aesop Amnesia: Cartman seemingly learns his lesson about patience, until he realises he was sent over a month earlier than before and has to wait even longer for the Wii. He begins pondering his alternatives again, before he gets a phone call from another Cartman in the future warning him against it. Present-day-Cartman dismisses it as a prank by Kyle and hangs up, just like his past self did to him earlier.
- All for Nothing: Cartman manages to snag a Nintendo Wii in the future, but is unable to play it, or even have it connected, because the world's technology is too advanced to support the ancient console. When he returns to his own time, he decides to wait for the next three weeks to get a Nintendo Wii. Then he finds out that he is sent back two months, prompting him into another attempt to freeze himself.
- Bouncy Bubbles: Cartman receives a phone call from his future self asking him not to freeze himself until the future for a second time, or else he'll wake up in an era where people have to mount difficult-to-control colored bubbles to move around. The present-era Cartman disregards the advice.
- Cassandra Truth: Cartman's attempts to prevent his past self from freezing himself go unheeded. Past!Cartman assumes it is Kyle and both phone calls devolve into the both of them screaming insults at each other until Past!Cartman hangs up. As shown by the ending, Future!Cartman is not any wiser from this incident.
- Cosmic Retcon: The war is resolved when Cartman accidentally causes an Unsettling Gender-Reveal on Dawkins, mentioning that Garrison is a male-to-female Transgender, and accidentally breaking them up.
- Debating Names: It's revealed that the sole reason why the three largest atheist factions in the distant future are warring against each other is due to a widespread disagreement on how to name the unified faction that would bring them together, as each one wants to name it after their own legion: Unified Atheist League (the name of the first faction), United Atheist Alliance (name of the second), or Allied Atheist Alliance (name of the third). Cartman (who is trapped in this future era) tries to settle the conflict by doing a time-travel phone call to Ms. Garrison (who, along with Richard Dawkins, had turned atheism into a global mandate in the first place) and ask for her opinion on the matter, but he's answered by Dawkins instead and inadvertently informs him that Ms. Garrison had transitioned gender, which makes him feel uncomfortable and leave Ms. Garrison. This changes history, erasing all the events that led to the episode's story.
- Didn't Think This Through: Cartman is able to obtain a Wii from an old museum, but the old VHS hookup no longer exists after centuries of technological development.
- Fantastic Racism: Against the talking otters in the future.
- Hard Truth Aesop:
- So-called "rational" people are just as capable of doing dumb shit as religious fundamentalists.
- Also, war isn't something that will ever "end." Even though Cartman does make a better future, the formerly atheist factions are still fighting territorial wars.
- Here We Go Again!: The episode ends with Cartman getting a phone call from his future self urging to not freeze himself again. Cartman assumes this is just another prank from Kyle and hangs up, implying he's going to go through more time-traveling shenanigans very soon.
- The Horseshoe Effect: The various atheist groups in the episode ironically show very many similarities to the worst trappings of religious extremists & fundamentalists. They devoutly worship & revere atheist figures such as Richard Dawkins. They also have very little tolerance for those who disagree with their beliefs, resulting in The Wise One being murdered for epousing non-atheistic views. as well as The Various Atheist Groups having a schism and war merely over what their group's name should be.
- I Hate Past Me: Cartman's attempts to stop his past self from freezing himself end with both Cartmans pissed off.Cartman: What an asshole!
- In Spite of a Nail: The future is Atheist despite the Cosmic Retcon, but the difference is that there's peace.note
- Insufferable Genius: The future society, as created by Dawkins and Garrison, is full of nutcases who fight whole wars over what to call their society.
- Misapplied Phlebotinum: They have telephones that can contact the past. They are only used to make prank calls. Justified, in that it is against the law to use them for anything else due to the risks in altering the past.
- Mundane Utility: In the future, there are phones that can be used to call the past. They're used by children to make prank calls. In fact, it's against the law to use them for anything else, due to the risks of altering the past (not that you'd notice). Not that that stops Cartman.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: K-10, and later KIT-9, are concerned about Cartman's messing with time, but still are loyal to him despite this. They also have no qualms about stealing someone else's time phone.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: The Wise Old Otter who says to the other otters that maybe religion isn't as bad as they say. The otters think about it for a moment, then they promptly kill him for it.
- Never My Fault: At one point Cartman complains about how everyone in his past is so stupid they think he's crank-calling them, ignoring how his own attitude gives them all a good reason not to believe a call claiming to be Eric Cartman from the future.
- Not in This for Your Revolution: Cartman bounces between the three warring atheist factions all so he can get a Wii. He honestly couldn't give a crap over which of them ultimately prevails or what they all want of him.
- No, You: Cartman does this to his past self when their phone call starts to fall apart.Past!Cartman: Suck my balls.
Future!Cartman: No, you suck my balls! - Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions: The atheist future that Cartman visits have this view of religion. When Cartman uses a religious expletive ("goddamnit"), one of the scientists remarks about him believing in fairy tales. However, it is quickly show the future atheists aren't much less insane or jerkish than religious societies.
- Pet the Dog: Despite acting like a jerk to K-10 throughout the episode, who only ever showed loyalty to him, Cartman tell the robot (who's since been changed to a bird) that he'll miss him before he goes back to the past.
- Punny Name: Parodied with Cartman's Robot Buddy, a robotic dog whose designation number subverts the obvious pun by being called K-10. Later Cosmic Retcons turn it into a robotic cat named KIT-9 and a cockatoo called KOK-A-3.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Cartman attempts to do this by calling his past self, Butters, and Kyle to prevent his past self being frozen. This fails, fortunately, he manages to do so by revealing to Richard Dawkins that Mrs. Garrison is a post-op transgender woman, breaking them up and preventing the war between atheists in the future.
- Shout-Out: The Previously on… segment and following intro parody the opening to Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, even reusing the theme song.
- Silly Reason for War: The atheist sects are waging war over what to name the united atheist government.
- The Otters themselves also included their views towards humans using tables rather than their tummies as illogical for another reason in their conflict with the other two atheist groups.
- In the altered future, there are still wars. But wars are no longer fought over any "-isms", instead the three groups are at war with the "French-Chinese" over legal ownership of Hawaii.
- Skewed Priorities: Despite being stranded in the far future, caught in a three-way war where every faction considers him to be some sort of Chosen One, and having access to technology that can likely produce video games that are far more advanced than anything he could have ever experienced in his time, Cartman is still only concerned about getting and playing a Wii which is ancient in future times.
- Talking Animal: The otters.
- Toxic Friend Influence: The war between the atheist nations is due to the influence that Garrison had on Dawkins and worldwide atheism, teaching him that it's not enough to use logic and reason, but that "you also have to be a dick to everyone who doesn't think like you."
- Un-Installment: Rather than picking up where the last episode left off, this episode instead skips an indeterminate amount of time later, with the opening offering a glimpse of all the adventures Cartman went on in the interim. This is reflected in the title, which is labeled as if it's the 12th installment of a longer series.
- The Unreveal:
- In the altered future, the three groups had needed Cartman for something else, but not even Cartman knew what it was.
- It's never explained why the three factions are so interested in Cartman being on their side, or why he was unfrozen in the first place. While he is from the time in which Garrison and Dawkins got together and led their world to one of atheism, it's never made clear why they wanted him specifically.
- We ARE Struggling Together: Ultimately what the whole war amounts to. The three atheist factions originally intended to become a singular alliance or empire, but they ended up going to war against one another simply because they couldn't agree on a name for their union.
