THE UNSUNG HERO
The following deleted scene from "South Park Bigger, Longer and Uncut" answers an obvious question raised by the film's dramatic ending: Why did Kenny go to Hell first and then to Heaven? Will of the Scriptorium has given us a very logical and, indeed, beautiful explanation:
"That beam of light shining on Kenny before Satan meets him is God giving him his missions to fulfill before entering Heaven:
1. To free Satan from Saddam's clutches and restore him to all his evil glory;
2. To warn of Satan's and Saddam's arrival should Terrance and Phillip die."
But, although I never doubted that analysis, I have now--purely by accident--stumbled upon a document revealing the true answer. It is one of the preliminary drafts of the script--not the "8th draft" which is on some sites, but another that has never before been seen. It contains several scenes that ended up unused, the last of which is here presented for the first time!
As you will recall, Kenny's wish was that Satan restore everything to the way it was before the war. As a result of this "almost-Armageddon" the rules changed--swearing was no longer a sin. And the change was retroactive to the day the war began. So those still alive as of that day were absolved for all swearing they ever did, no matter when they did it, and would go to Heaven as long as they had no sins other than swearing; but the old rules still applied to those who died before the start of the war, and that's why Kenny's wish didn't free HIM from Hell. What DID free him was a girl named Flower, who therefore qualifies as another hero--uncredited for it until now--and who is still visible at several points in the film!
We all saw Flower in the schoolyard, listening to Gregory's speech (you can see that scene at http://fruitbowl.spcomplete.com/images/Flower.jpg); and again at the meeting in Carl's Warehouse, singing the "La Resistance" song with Gregory. During that period--as I discovered from the deleted scenes--she was actually a spy, gathering data on the kids' plans and reporting it to the Mothers Against Canada, who had employed her for that purpose. The only reason the army installed the alarm system, which resulted in the Mole getting caught, was that Flower had already told the General of the kids' rescue plans.
When she saw all the people dying on the battlefield, Flower (like the mothers) had a change of heart and realized that she had been wrong. With tears of remorse (in another deleted scene) she scrambled desperately to join the other kids in their last-minute effort to save Terrance and Phillip as the armed soldiers prepared to surround them.
But before she could get there, she herself fell to a stray bullet. We all saw her again at the end, among the kids who gather around Terrance and Phillip, trying to save them from being shot--but that was only her ghost! She had repented before dying, so Heaven was still open to her; but for Kenny, apparently, it was too late. Knowing that she had helped to bring on this catastrophe, poor Flower now felt responsible for the injustice to Kenny; and her one desire, before leaving Earth, was to save Kenny from Hell if she could.
Here it is--the beautiful, incredible, heart-rending final deleted scene from that draft, which was meant to immediately precede the climax in which Kenny shoots gloriously up through the clouds!
Stan: Goodbye, Flower. Sorry you died trying to help us.
Kyle: We forgive you for spying on us.
Stan: Poor Kenny! I'll never be happy again, knowing where he is.
Flower: Don't worry, guys. Kenny's going to Heaven after all.
Cartman: He is? How?
Flower (choking back her tears): I--I gotta go now. (She hurries away.)
Kyle: I wonder... (He heads off in another direction.)
(The other kids discuss this development, wondering what Flower meant. A few minutes later Kyle returns, frantically waving a paper.)
Kyle: Guys! You'll never believe this!
Others: What?
Kyle: When Satan said he'd grant Kenny's wish, I saw Flower heading toward the Cosmic Control Center--where they have the computer that keeps the records of where everybody's going when they die. She musta sneaked in there somehow. I found this in the trash bin behind the building--it's the printout of what she did. See, these are everybody's Heaven and Hell passwords.
Cartman: How could Flower get access to the passwords?
Kyle: You know what a computer genius she was. She could hack her way into anything.
Stan: Anyway, she did. That's her access code at the top of the sheet.
Cartman: So she changed Kenny's password from Hell to Heaven?
Kyle: No. See... (pointing) she tried to, but the computer rejected it. To do that, she had to make up a NEW password that's never been used yet. When you do that, the computer validates it against a secret check-digit system, like the ones that defeat people making up random credit card numbers. And if you fail two or three times, you get locked out. So she didn't dare try again.
Stan: Then how did she do it?
Kyle: She did a double-cut-and-paste operation, where you select two items and switch them around. This is her password here, and that's Kenny's password over there. You can see that they're both marked as "selected." Flower interchanged them.
Cartman: You mean she sent herself to Hell in place of Kenny?
Stan: She wanted to save him...
Kyle: ...And that was the only way she could!
The following deleted scene from "South Park Bigger, Longer and Uncut" answers an obvious question raised by the film's dramatic ending: Why did Kenny go to Hell first and then to Heaven? Will of the Scriptorium has given us a very logical and, indeed, beautiful explanation:
"That beam of light shining on Kenny before Satan meets him is God giving him his missions to fulfill before entering Heaven:
1. To free Satan from Saddam's clutches and restore him to all his evil glory;
2. To warn of Satan's and Saddam's arrival should Terrance and Phillip die."
But, although I never doubted that analysis, I have now--purely by accident--stumbled upon a document revealing the true answer. It is one of the preliminary drafts of the script--not the "8th draft" which is on some sites, but another that has never before been seen. It contains several scenes that ended up unused, the last of which is here presented for the first time!
As you will recall, Kenny's wish was that Satan restore everything to the way it was before the war. As a result of this "almost-Armageddon" the rules changed--swearing was no longer a sin. And the change was retroactive to the day the war began. So those still alive as of that day were absolved for all swearing they ever did, no matter when they did it, and would go to Heaven as long as they had no sins other than swearing; but the old rules still applied to those who died before the start of the war, and that's why Kenny's wish didn't free HIM from Hell. What DID free him was a girl named Flower, who therefore qualifies as another hero--uncredited for it until now--and who is still visible at several points in the film!
We all saw Flower in the schoolyard, listening to Gregory's speech (you can see that scene at http://fruitbowl.spcomplete.com/images/Flower.jpg); and again at the meeting in Carl's Warehouse, singing the "La Resistance" song with Gregory. During that period--as I discovered from the deleted scenes--she was actually a spy, gathering data on the kids' plans and reporting it to the Mothers Against Canada, who had employed her for that purpose. The only reason the army installed the alarm system, which resulted in the Mole getting caught, was that Flower had already told the General of the kids' rescue plans.
When she saw all the people dying on the battlefield, Flower (like the mothers) had a change of heart and realized that she had been wrong. With tears of remorse (in another deleted scene) she scrambled desperately to join the other kids in their last-minute effort to save Terrance and Phillip as the armed soldiers prepared to surround them.
But before she could get there, she herself fell to a stray bullet. We all saw her again at the end, among the kids who gather around Terrance and Phillip, trying to save them from being shot--but that was only her ghost! She had repented before dying, so Heaven was still open to her; but for Kenny, apparently, it was too late. Knowing that she had helped to bring on this catastrophe, poor Flower now felt responsible for the injustice to Kenny; and her one desire, before leaving Earth, was to save Kenny from Hell if she could.
Here it is--the beautiful, incredible, heart-rending final deleted scene from that draft, which was meant to immediately precede the climax in which Kenny shoots gloriously up through the clouds!
Stan: Goodbye, Flower. Sorry you died trying to help us.
Kyle: We forgive you for spying on us.
Stan: Poor Kenny! I'll never be happy again, knowing where he is.
Flower: Don't worry, guys. Kenny's going to Heaven after all.
Cartman: He is? How?
Flower (choking back her tears): I--I gotta go now. (She hurries away.)
Kyle: I wonder... (He heads off in another direction.)
(The other kids discuss this development, wondering what Flower meant. A few minutes later Kyle returns, frantically waving a paper.)
Kyle: Guys! You'll never believe this!
Others: What?
Kyle: When Satan said he'd grant Kenny's wish, I saw Flower heading toward the Cosmic Control Center--where they have the computer that keeps the records of where everybody's going when they die. She musta sneaked in there somehow. I found this in the trash bin behind the building--it's the printout of what she did. See, these are everybody's Heaven and Hell passwords.
Cartman: How could Flower get access to the passwords?
Kyle: You know what a computer genius she was. She could hack her way into anything.
Stan: Anyway, she did. That's her access code at the top of the sheet.
Cartman: So she changed Kenny's password from Hell to Heaven?
Kyle: No. See... (pointing) she tried to, but the computer rejected it. To do that, she had to make up a NEW password that's never been used yet. When you do that, the computer validates it against a secret check-digit system, like the ones that defeat people making up random credit card numbers. And if you fail two or three times, you get locked out. So she didn't dare try again.
Stan: Then how did she do it?
Kyle: She did a double-cut-and-paste operation, where you select two items and switch them around. This is her password here, and that's Kenny's password over there. You can see that they're both marked as "selected." Flower interchanged them.
Cartman: You mean she sent herself to Hell in place of Kenny?
Stan: She wanted to save him...
Kyle: ...And that was the only way she could!
