Randy, blamed for the crisis, is stripped of his Nobel Prize, and stoned and forced to walk through the town with his own statue on his back, being denied by his friends (as Jesus was in the Stations of the Cross).
However, Stan tells him that he learned something from the Stations of the Cross: Even though Jesus was hated by all the people he knew and denied by his friends, he still did what he had to do and, as he was dying, raised his right hand and stated, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" (which Kyle later points out is a quote from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan).
This works well, and he ends up winning the town's accolades again, and gets his Nobel Prize back three weeks later, at which point the boys suddenly remember they had left Cartman out on the cross that long.
"Spontaneous Combustion" was written by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and writer David Goodman.
Paramount Pictures executives were not happy with the arrangement and preferred for Parker and Stone to stop working on the television series to focus on the film.
A church prayer, in which Priest Maxi prays for the success of the Denver Broncos, an NFL football team, has also been described as a satire on the way sports can take on a religious status due to the seriousness with which fans regard it.
Clasquin said "Spontaneous Combustion" also demonstrates the ease with which people blend their religious convictions with lessons from pop culture, particularly with Stan's confusion of a biblical verse and a Star Trek quote.
[3][4] Cartman and the other South Park children reenact the Stations of the Cross, the depiction of the Passion (final hours) of Jesus, which end with his crucifixion.
Capill, who was campaigning against the film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, which was released around the same time "Spontaneous Combustion" was broadcast, took exception to the episode's portrayal of the Stations of the Cross reenactment.
[7] Paul Thompson, of the Waikato Times, praised the episode and said it "had all the show's ingredients: obnoxious kids, hypocritical adults and barbed humour.
"[4] Robert Bianco of USA Today recommended the episode, but said it was "almost certain to offend large segments of the population", particularly for its take on the Stations of the Cross.
"[9] The Chicago Tribune included "Spontaneous Combustion" in a list of seven South Park episodes illustrating the show's tendency to tackle controversial subjects, particularly with regard to religion.