Trapped in the Closet

Season 9, Episode 12, Aired
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Episode Summary

Stan finds out that he's depressed after taking a test given to him by Scientologists. After joining his new religion, the other members realize that he is the reincarnation of their leader. Upon hearing this, the Scientology masses arrive outside his house, but several members end up in the closet instead.moreless
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Cast & Crew

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  • Trey Parker

    Voice of Stan Marsh; Eric Theodore Cartman; Herbert Garrison; Officer Barbrady; Terrance; Timmy; Ned Gerblanski; Satan; Randy Ma

  •

    Matt Stone

    Voice of Kyle Broflovski; Kenny McKormick; Gerald Broflovski; Pip Pirrup; Jesus; Jimbo Kearn; Phillip; Saddam; Various Others

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    Trey Parker

Fan Episode Reviews (57)

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  • Clever and brilliant. A very important episode in the series' history because of the controversy.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By grindhouseninja, Dec 09, 2011 Report Abuse
    This episode was brilliant. The humor was clever but still had that 'crossing the line' brand of funny. I loved the fact that they used the whole, "trapped in the closet" metaphor and relentlessly mocked them in the classic south park style. Before they did this, no one had the guts to say anything about them. The way I look at it was that they took on the bullies in the school yard. It reminds me of a movie that was similar in topic and comedy style, Mind Polish: Master Hubbard's Special Reserve. This was also a parody of scientology and had that extreme humor that ticks people off. I think that movie goes farther though, of course. It's a movie so they can get away with stuff you can't on tv. I just like anything that tackles a topic your not supposed to talk about on tv and goes "way too far." This episode was historical because it caused so much controversy. In fact, they stopped airing it for awhile because Tom Cruise threatened to not promote Mission Impossible, which was made by comedy central's parent company paramount. Not only did they not back down but they did another episode in response to Isaac Hayes' departure from the show as result of trapped in the closet. They also did a two parter about freedom of speech regarding family guy but it was obvious what they were trying to say. It spawned a total of 3 other episodes to comment on the response of this episode and I think the filmmaker behind Mind Polish was probably inspired by this episode.moreless

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  • Episode 12, Season 9: Trapped in the Closet

    8.8
    "Great"
    By gingerhunter, Jun 14, 2011 Report Abuse
    Having never seen this episode on Paramount, and having heard all the media hubbubb about this episode, I thought I'd go check it up on the internet to see if it was really as great an episode as everyone says. The outcome? I think it is a pretty good episode, with a large amount of humourous moments and a typically South Park storyline, but not quite as mind blowing as it was hyped up to be. Having said that, it is still a very funny episode and continues to push the boundaries of how far South Park is prepared to go to amuse people, and how little they care about pushing controvertial buttons. 8.8/10moreless

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  • You just end up laughing at it too much for being so ridiculous!

    10
    "Perfect"
    By AdrenalinDragon, May 24, 2008 Report Abuse
    "Trapped In The Closet"

    GRADE: A*

    I found this episode hilarious, because of the way Matt and Trey told the truth about Scientology and how ridiculous the whole religion is. I mean, brainwashed alien souls, emeters, aliens. The whole thing is absolutely stupid. Guys like Tom Cruise and John Travolta as Scientologists think the religion helps them, when the truth is that it was made up by some idiotic writer who ended up making loads of money out of the religion.

    The episode starts with Stan taking a Scientology Personality test and they say he's a depressed kid. They said if he pays the money to join Scientology he'd become a happier person again. He pays it, and does an emeter reading. When the reading reads OT9, the Scientologists think this is a problem, but then the headquarters discover that Stan is the reincarnation of L Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology.
    So everyone starts praising Stan for being the new L Ron Hubbard, until he discovers Tom Cruise in his bedroom. He asks Stan what he thinks of his movies, but Stan thinks he's ok. Feeling depressed and upset, Tom runs into the closet, locking the door. They try to get Tom out of the closet, but no luck.
    Just then, the other Scientologists want Stan to carry on L Ron Hubbard's work. They first tell him the big Scientology secret (which is a load of crap) and then he starts to write.
    However, once the president of Scientology tells Stan that the whole Scientology thing is one big money scam, Stan refuses to continue and says the whole Scientology religion is a big fake. Tom comes out of the closet, and everyone is threatening to sue Stan for mocking their religion.

    Just goes to show. This episode only speaks the truth. Did you know that the voice of Chef, Issac Hayes, left because of this episode? What a joke! It's only Scientology and everyone knows it's all made up. When you watch this episode, you just end up laughing at them for being so stupid. Sometimes you wonder why the whole religion existed in the first place!

    There were some very funny moments in it as well, such as Stan insulting Tom Cruise with his honest opinions about him. R Kelly threatening everyone with a gun. John Travolta's "OH MY GAWD!" and when the president of Scientology tells Stan that Scientology is a load of crap. This episode shows what South Park is really all about. Mocking religions, mocking things, stupid plots, and clever moments.moreless

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  • stanietology

    8.1
    "Great"
    By heylin_prince, Feb 10, 2008 Report Abuse
    the episode's main plot is stan joins the church of scientology and gtes the same scientology rate as scientology founder l.ron hubbard and think stan is his reincarnation . all, scientologists come to south park to see stan including tom cruise. when stan says he doesn't like tom cruise's acting , tom locks himself in stan's closet. john travolta and r kelly later joined him. in my honest opinion the episode was decent nothing to get all hiped up about but still great nevertheless. the ending was a bit stupid but i liked it when nicole kidman was trying to talk tom out of what he was doing and mentioned katie holmes. lol. it was decent but it wasn't the best.moreless

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  • The secrets of scientology get revealed and Tom Cruise finally comes out

    9.9
    "Superb"
    By gengar1993, Jan 04, 2008 Report Abuse
    This is one of my favorite episodes !!
    So Stan does a test and the "church" of scientology begins to call him the reincarnation of a sci-fi writer who founded this sci-fi like religion, they say Stan is the new leader. And Stan believes all that sh*t Even Tom Cruise visits him but after a short exchanging of words, he jumps into the closet and locks himself in. Everybody wants him to come out but he resists. In the end Stan learns the truth about feeding lies to people, quits scientology and three men finally come out of the closet. Tom Cruise and the scientologists say they'll sue Stan and he says that's fine.

    I know that this episode caused quite some rage among scientologists. Is that because their secrets got revealed now ? Also Tom Cruise did some ridiculous power play about his movie Mission Impossible 3 but I didn't give a damn about that. Instead, I told my action-liking friends to boycott the movie. And Tom Cruise should stop being such an assh*le. Who cares about this ugly, conceited, stupid, untalented cheap action hero anyway ? And of course he's not gay He's just bi-curious. A bi-curious man who sues everyone and everything.moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • Trivia

    ADD TRIVIA
    • John Travolta seems to be portraying his characters from Grease and Saturday Night Fever with the heavy accent and "Oh my God" references, yet in the episode, The Entity, he speaks in a normal tone. Edit
    • The alien souls look like colourful sperm. Edit
    • If the interstellar overlord had planned on the souls escaping, wouldn't he have a plan for some science fiction writer figuring it all out and writing it down? Also, how would no-one else in human history have had even the slightest snippet of this info before L. Ron Hubbard discovered all of it? Response: Um, possibly because L. Ron Hubbard didn't think to go back and edit his STORY to cover up his giant, gaping plot-holes. Edit

  • Notes

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    • In 2008, The Emmys Academy chose the most memorable comedy TV moments. The scene where John Travolta joins Tom Cruise in the closet, was in the top 5. Edit
    • At the end of the episode you can see that all the names in the credits are either John or Jane Smith, presumably so Tom Cruise can't sue as he threatened to do at the end of the episode. Edit
    • This episode was nominated for the 2006 Emmy Award for "Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)". Edit

  • Quotes

    ADD QUOTES
    • Scientology President: You see, Stan, there is a reason for people feeling sad and depressed. An alien reason. It all began 75 million years ago. Back then there was a galactic federation of planets which was ruled over by the evil Lord Xenu. Xenu thought his galaxy was overpopulated, and so he rounded up countless aliens from all different planets, and then had those aliens frozen. The frozen alien bodies were loaded onto Xenu's galactic cruisers, which looked like DC-8s, except with rocket engines. The cruisers then took the frozen alien bodies to our planet, Earth, and dumped them into the volcanoes of Hawaii. The aliens were no longer frozen, they were dead. The souls of those aliens, however, lived on, and all floated up towards the sky. But the evil Lord Xenu had prepared for this. Xenu didn't want their souls to return! And so he built giant soul-catchers in the sky! The souls were taken to a huge soul brain-washing facility, which Xenu had also built on Earth. There the souls were forced to watch days of brainwashing material which tricked them into believing a false reality. Xenu then released the alien souls, which roamed the earth aimlessly in a fog of confusion. At the dawn of man, the souls finally found bodies which they could grab onto. They attached themselves to all mankind, which still to this day causes all our fears, our confusions, and our problems. L. Ron Hubbard did an amazing thing telling the world this incredible truth. Now all we're asking you to do is pick up where he left off. Edit
    • Stan: …Huh? Brian: Yeah, I'm afraid that you are completely miserable and totally depressed. Stan: I am? I didn't know that! Edit

    • Kyle: Oh dude, check it out. I got a Jake Plummer. Cartman: Aw man, I got a crappy AJ Feeley again! Kyle: How come you didn't buy any cards, Stan? Stan: I can't spend any money. I'm saving up for that bike I want. Cartman: Saving money! Duh!

      Edit

  • Allusions

    ADD ALLUSIONS
    • Scientology/Star Wars: This episode reveals that Stan's Thetan levels are OT9, higher than any other living creatures. The president of Scientology decides that Stan, a mere child, is the second coming of L. Ron Hubbard. In a strange parallel, a young Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars has the highest known number of midi-chlorians, even higher than experienced Jedi masters. Qui-Gon Jinn believes that Anakin is "The Chosen One." Edit
    • Katie Holmes: Stan: Look, is this a religion? Because my family is like, Catholic or something. Katie Holmes has recently started studying Scientology, and Tom Cruise claims that this has no interference with her Roman Catholic upbringing. Edit
    • Xenu, Alien Souls and Volcanoes: This story was also told in L. Ron Hubbard's novel Battlefield Earth. This book is more than 800 pages long and probably cheaper than joining the Church of Scientology. Edit

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