Is South Park episode 11x3 based on any sci fi film?

Question

The plot of the show shows all the kids in the 4th grade getting head lice.

There's a subplot of the show where the lice on Clyde's have developed into a thriving culture and they discover their world is alive and conscience. It seems like this was derived from some film or book.

Am I right? Is this episode derived from some past movie?

Answer 1

Calling the episode based directly on a scifi book or movie is bit of a stretch.

The episode does have numerous cameos and references to popular scifi elements. To name a few :

• The Cartman headlice test closely resembles the tests done in The Thing (1982)
• All the talk about "The forbidden zone" might be linked to The old space hunter flicks (1983) fanned by Trey Parker, the writer of the episode. Could also be a reference to Planet of the Apes where a similar desolate area exists beyond civilization.
• The scene where a louse argues with the Vice President is similar to a scene with Dennis Quaid from The Day After Tomorrow.
• The scene featuring lice running through a "forest" of hair is a reference to Apocalypto.

There are even references to Lord of the Rings in there as well.

Answer 2

There are a couple of possible influences.

There's an SF story which I can't track down at the moment where a man has an abscess on his tooth, but delays going to the dentist, in which time it evolves into a complex intelligent society.

The other one that springs to mind is Greg Bear's story Blood Music (later expanded into a novel of the same name) where a scientist infects himself with microscopic intelligent computers which quickly develop into a civilization, taking over first his own body and then the rest of humanity's.

Answer 3

When I saw the episode, it reminded me of The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett.