Identify reference: yelling "It's a cookbook!" when things are going crazy
In the animated movie, Madagascar, there's a scene where the villainous 'Foosa' are attacking the lemurs, and things get crazy, and someone starts shouting, "It's a Good Book!" before they are shushed (Look for 'good book' in the script here: http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/m/madagascar-script-transcript.html)
What is "it's a good book" referring to? What is the joke?
I seem to recall originally encountering a similar joke in Mad Magazine 20+ years ago, but I didn't get it then either.
Is there some movie or show or play where during some apocalyptic scene, someone is yelling 'it's a good book', possibly in reference to the bible?
Update: apparently they are actually yelling 'it's a cookbook' - the script-o-rama script was in error (as was my recollection).
Best Answer
What is "it's a good book" referring to? What is the joke?
Unfortunately, you have been deceived by script-o-rama!
The actual dialogue in the film is,
It's a cookbook! It's a cookbook!
with the title of the book being "To Serve Lemur".
This is a reference to an episode of The Twilight Zone, where aliens visit Earth [under the pretense of peace] and then try to eat humans. They have with them a book whose title is eventually translated as, "To Serve Man". I.e., it's a cookbook on how to prepare and serve humans.
"The Twilight Zone" To Serve Man (TV Episode 1962) - IMDb
It is actually referring to the sci-fi short story titled, "To Serve Man" by Damon Knight, which inspired the Twilight Zone episode.
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Scream 5 (2022). Richie and Amber's Plan
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