The Official South Park Thread

[Andrew]

I'm glad they avoided the standard Kyle vs Cartman Part 537 approach and kept the confrontation small, with Cartman being kept away from the regular characters for the bulk of the episode. I didn't mind the A story/B story approach but both plots were just okay. Nothing awful, but nothing special either.

[Indy]

I think Matt and Trey had this whole thing planned. Garrison comes out as a gay man, Garrison gets sex change, becomes straight women, Garrison becomes lesbian women, Garrison gets changed back and is now a straight man.

[el badman]

I wonder if Mr. Slave will take him back now.

[Oznogrd]

I wonder if Mr. Slave will take him back now.

Nope remember Mr. Slave married Big Gay Al

[Indy]

He's in to women remember?

[Andrew]

I think Matt and Trey had this whole thing planned. Garrison comes out as a gay man, Garrison gets sex change, becomes straight women, Garrison becomes lesbian women, Garrison gets changed back and is now a straight man.

Mr Garrison came out in the fourth season though, so that assumes they had eight seasons worth of character development plotted out. Since there were a couple of renewals during that period - which for all the show's popularity could have gone the other way, or they could have decided not to keep doing the show - they were taking a gamble on rolling out that story arc over such a long period of time.

[Andrew]

Over Logging wasn't really full of laughs and a lot of the stuff with Randy was just downright wrong but having worked in technical support for an ISP, I enjoyed the parody of people freaking out because they couldn't get online and of course, the simple power cycle resolution to the whole problem.

[Oznogrd]

I dont know i found it pretty hysterical that having no internet turned america in to Grapes of Wrath all over again. One of the better ones of this run

[benji]

Well, considering they lifted scenes straight from the movie version, you'd have to be familiar with Grapes of Wrath. I don't know if it's well-known in Aussieland, I mean here it's taught from in schools.

[Andrew]

That's probably a big part of it, I'm not familiar with the Grapes of Wrath. I figured those scenes were a parody of something but didn't know what, so that part was wasted on me.

[ixcuincle]

Yesterday's episode was a nice ending to South Park , at least until more new ones come out in October.

"I don't know nothing about no fancy door code."

[Andrew]

Good episode, I was actually expecting "Pioneer Paul" to reveal himself as being in collusion with the thieves in a parody of needless twists in action movies for a while there but the way it played out with them refusing to break character was much better, especially the payoff at the end where he does break character and uselessly tells them everything they've already worked out.

The first half of the season has been kind of hit and miss for me, in part because I'm not familiar with some of the references but a few of the episodes had jokes that just dragged on beyond being funny, Britney's New Look to name one. It wasn't that the joke wasn't funny to begin with or that I was offended by it at all, it just kind of lost its impact as the episode wore on.

[ixcuincle]

A brand new season of South Park starts today.

[Andrew]

Looking forward to the new episodes, though as I said back in April so far I've found the current season very hit and miss. South Park has probably been the most consistent of the animated shows since it found its satirical voice around its fifth season but this season they've been a bit off their game.

[ixcuincle]

I thought the episode was all right. Others however said it was a disappointment...

[Oznogrd]

i thought it was good *shrugs* little odd i was watching it with my grandmother. But anyway: the SP guys do better when they focus on 1 story or at least have interrelated A:B stories...the A:B stories just didnt combine well in this episode

[el badman]

I thought that was kind of an awkward episode.
It had its moments but I didn't think it was as good as what they've done before when they have two stories going on at the same time. Even though it was much more extreme and not just a 30 second joke, the Indiana Jones stuff sorta reminded me of what Andrew says about Family Guy, when they take shots at a celebrity or a movie, but it comes out too excessive and gratuitous to be actually funny. Well, it was kind of funny, but I thought they could have done without the "rape flashbacks" for example...

[Andrew]

I actually thought it was hilarious. I know that goes against my usual criticism of a show excessively bashing another show or movie, but the absurdity and downright disturbing nature of the whole "rape" angle oddly made for a more agreeable tone. It wasn't some smug and scathing blog-like swipe where the story has to stop for the writers to sound off about something they don't like, it was woven into the plot quite well.

When the episode began though, I had a feeling I wouldn't enjoy it as it looked like it would be another tired "Cartman does something offensive, Kyle gets upset and opposes him, they both kind of win and kind of lose at the end of the episode" type of plot but they didn't go that way and the episode was much better for it. Cartman's plot was pretty standard stuff and you could see the racist Chinese stereotype costumes coming a mile away but all the "You shot him in the dick!" stuff worked.

All in all, I think it was a return to form after the first half of the season was a bit shaky. Great ep, in my opinion.

[Oznogrd]

Breast Cancer Show Ever: just proved my point about the south park guys do better with just one plot. It was funny, even if you knew the whole time what was going to happen. To quote the first season "You don't fuck with Wendy Testaberger". Also: I'm a little confused as to Stan being considered "with" wendy again...did they get back together during "the list"? i didnt think they did

[ixcuincle]

Yeah they got together sometime during the List , during the last couple of episodes it was referenced they were together (even during the Western city one)

This episode was pretty disappointing for me , in addition no recent news or celebrities were mocked in this episode.

[Andrew]

That doesn't really bother me. It's not that I don't episodes where they do that but they don't need to do it every single episode or just for the sake of doing it.

Once again, I was a bit wary of the premise at the beginning of the episode because "Cartman does something offensive and then manipulates everyone throughout the episode" plots are really overdone the ones where Kyle opposes him but this is the kind of episode I like; just kids being kids and Cartman being a brat, ultimately getting what should be his comeuppence but Cartman being Cartman, he doesn't get it and still thinks he came out a winner. They even managed to work a bit of a message in there without coming off as being preachy, which isn't what I watch South Park for but it's kinda cool on when they do that all the same.

I didn't think the episode had as many laughs as last week though. Cartman taking a dump on Mr Garrison's desk, eating his underwear and throwing it back up ("That's where I left those!") and Butters' "If you got beat up a girl, everyone would think you're a faggot!" line delivered in his good natured manner were probably the funniest bits. The fight scene was good too.

[el badman]

I actually thought this one was absolutely hilarious. I didn't think there would actually be a fight in the end, so the ending was a good surprise for me, even though Cartman still managed to get something "positive" out of it.
Like DrGonzo said, I think they always do a better job with one main plot.

[Andrew]

For a moment I thought they were going to have Cartman win the fight but I'm glad they didn't as it was much funnier they didn't.

[Andrew]

Pandemic

I was a bit underwhelmed by it. Craig breaking the fourth wall with his analysis of the gang and how their adventures get started was good and the randomness of the guinea pigs (though it makes sense given the Peruvian connection) was great but I'm not all that excited about another multi-part epic involving a government conspiracy that the boys somehow get caught up in. Hopefully the payoff will be worth it but as much as I liked Cartoon Wars, Go God Go and Imaginationland I'm not too keen on this one so far.

[Oznogrd]

I was pretty amused at the cloverfield/blair witch refrences and continually saying that indiana jones was raped And the guinea pigs were also funny. I want to see where they go with this one. But i've never seen a peruvian flute band so im curious if they got pissed off at one and decided to make that a "problem" Usually i know what they're talking about or referencing but they have officially lost me till next week