Original air date: 11/9/2011
The boys accidentally uncover the true origins of Thanksgiving.
"A History Channel Thanksgiving" contains examples of:
- Absence of Evidence; In the Ancient Aliens documentary, one of the "historical experts" thinks that aliens could have been at the First Thanksgiving because there isn't any evidence saying that they weren't there.
- Arkham's Razor: Pretty much every harebrained conspiracy theory about Thanksgiving turns out to be true. Even Kyle, who was making it all up off the top of his head in condemnation of the Ancient Aliens crew's crazy conclusions.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: The Pilgrims and Native Americans were both aliens.
- Circular Reasoning: The guys from Ancient Aliens seem to think that watching their show makes you an expert that they desperately need in their research, treating the boy's report (which was ripped straight from their show) as a profound new discovery.Head Agent: What do we do, Professor Broflovski?
Kyle: I'm not a professor.
Head Agent: The History Channel said you were!
Kyle: YOU ARE THE FUCKING HISTORY CHANNEL! - Here We Go Again!: The episode ends with The History Channel putting forth a theory that ghosts were also present in the first Thanksgiving, much to Kyle's frustration.
- Human Aliens: As seen with Beethoven Was an Alien Spy above, the Pilgrims and Native Americans look identical to their historical versions.
- The Main Characters Do Everything: In typical South Park fashion, the History Channel agents make Kyle be the one to convince Natalie Portman to open the wormhole the Plymouth.
- Morton's Fork: Captain Standish's way of deducing if David Sawitski is an enemy force from his planet. He stuffs a device in his mouth that brutally disintergrates him. Apparently that means Sawitski was telling the truth.
- Sarcasm-Blind: Kyle's clearly sarcastic rant about the Thanksgiving conspiracy is taken entirely serious by the people from the History Channel.
- Soapbox Sadie: David "Running Horse" Sawitski preaches being one sixteenth Native American and when the boys supposedly besmirch "his" people with their unwitting theories he forces them at gunpoint to officially debunk all of it. When Captain Standish appears and opposes him much more violently, Sawitski very quickly tries to migitate his ties to Native Americans. It doesn't save him.
- Take That!: To Green Lantern (2011), DeVry Institute, Natalie Portman, and The History Channel.
- Unobtanium: Not only does Thanksgiving stuffing come from mines, Earth's supply of stuffing originates from an uneasy, intergalactic treaty with Plymouth (homeworld of the Pilgrims) and Indi (homeworld of the Indians). When the treaty ends, the first thing the Indians do is raid Plymouth's stuffing mines.
- Whole-Plot Reference: Styled after Thor.
- Would Hurt a Child: David Sawitski has the boys at gunpoint and threatens to shoot them.
