South Park - General Discussion

[AwesomO4000]

I really liked this episode.

 

That fake commercial had my hubby and I laughing our butts off... mainly because we've seen adds almost exactly like that during football.

 

I had to explain Freemium games to my hubby who was "I don't get it," and I said "yup, that's the point. You don't really get it free. To get the "real" game, you have to pay for extras, but the actual 'it' is always just around the corner." Hubby: "I still don't get it." Hee - fortunately the episode did a great job explaining the "logic" behind the games. And funny that the Candian Freemium game was just a little bit more lame (I'm guessing - I've not played any real Freemium games and only know about Candy Crush) than the usual games with a goal of rebuilding a Canada.... and that's what they were using the money for! Ha! Way to give away your evil plan.

 

Loved that Stan asking for help got him Satan... who actually helped... Hee. I hope they keep that a thing. We need more Satan in South Park. And Beelzeboot was awesome.
 

And of course the Canadians wondering who to root for was great.

 

That was a nice little detail.

 

I also liked Randy asking Stan how many songs he'd have to write to pay off $25k and Stan replying, "One."

 

I wonder how much he got for the "Push" song... which ironically I'm still sometimes randomly singing the chorus to weeks later including (and especially) "I am Lorde, ya ya ya. I am Lorde."

[AwesomO4000]

Barbra Streisand, not Celine Dion - it's a callback to the MechaStreisand episode.

 

Which was awesome and still one of my favorites... which going back to this question from way back (I'm slow getting here to the "South Park" section)...

 

Here's a starting point: What is your favorite musical number in the show's history?

 

I'm not sure what this is going to say about me (and I'm also right there with you, Princess Sparkle, on the Woodland Critters, but for me it was even more so their re-appearance in the "Imaginationland" saga), but one of the musical moments I remember the most is from that episode with Cartman singing "Day is never-ending, master's got me working." It was so wrong, but it still makes me smirk thinking about it. (it's an in joke with me and my Hubby now. I sing it if I help hubby do yard work or some similar chore.)

 

I also liked the "Push" song - my new favorite now I think. And I agree with Princess Sparkle again that the "Water Helen" number is also great. The "Vunder Slash" song from the crack baby episode was also quite catchy even if I'd never be able to remember the words.

 

Edited to add: and how could I forget! I also love Butter's "My Robot Friend and Me" song from the AwesomO episode and the "Me and Chuthulu" song from the Mysterion / Coon and Friends episodes.

Edited November 11, 2014 by AwesomO4000

[Princess Sparkle]

Which was awesome and still one of my favorites... which going back to this question from way back (I'm slow getting here to the "South Park" section)...

I'm not sure what this is going to say about me (and I'm also right there with you, Princess Sparkle, on the Woodland Critters, but for me it was even more so their re-appearance in the "Imaginationland" saga), but one of the musical moments I remember the most is from that episode with Cartman singing "Day is never-ending, master's got me working." It was so wrong, but it still makes me smirk thinking about it. (it's an in joke with me and my Hubby now. I sing it if I help hubby do yard work or some similar chore.)

I also liked the "Push" song - my new favorite now I think. And I agree with Princess Sparkle again that the "Water Helen" number is also great. The "Vunder Slash" song from the crack baby episode was also quite catchy even if I'd never be able to remember the words.

Edited to add: and how could I forget! I also love Butter's "My Robot Friend and Me" song from the AwesomO episode and the "Me and Chuthulu" song from the Mysterion / Coon and Friends episodes.

I love when they come back in Imaginationland! "I DO NOT want to meet the kid that dreamt up these guys."

[AwesomO4000]

(Paraphrase)

 

"Oh look, here come some cute little woodland creatures..."

 

"Run... don't ask why, just run..."

 

Hee.

[Princess Sparkle]

And my god, I shouldn't find it funny (I'm a terrible person I guess), but Kurt Russell screaming "THEY'RE RAPING ME!!!!!" is funny every time.

[Galileo908]

Butters with Oculus Rift (well, a pair of goggles & earmuffs in an elaborate prank by Cartman) is a recipe for success. Even if it was all a prank, Butters finally kicking his dad in the nuts was oddly satisfying.

 

Well, the reveal of everyone on Oculus at some point made me so confused, but I love how it was all a paradox created by Steve from Customer Service. And the reveal that STAN was the one wearing the headset and that everyone was live-action was a genius reveal. I actually couldn't believe they found kids that were dead ringers for the kids' sketches from Free Willyx.

 

The scene where Steve called himself was both confusing and hilarious. It was hard to tell, but one Steve was voiced by Trey Parker, and the other was Bill Hader.

[benteen]

This got hilariously over the top.

 

Real or fake, it was great to see Butters punch his father in the nuts.

[Lantern7]

I think this was an average episode saved by a killer ending. And yes, watching Butters punch his dad in the nuts was awesome. Too bad it was all an illusion in Stan's simulation.

[Spartan Girl]

The oh so sweet satisfaction of seeing Butters suckerpunch his dad in the balls wasn't ruined by the fact it was part of the virtual reality.  I loathe the Stotches and would love to see them get some real comeuppance soon, because it's long overdue.

 

This episode was definitely a trip and my jaw dropped at seeing the "real" versions of the guys.  I had to laugh at the Customer Service dudes: we get those kind of calls from people claiming to be from Windows Support but are really a scam, so it was also satisfying to see Cartman and the guys to tell them to fuck off.

[Spartan Girl]

At some point in the show, I would love it if the guys finally decided it was time to take down Butters' horrible parents.  Either by calling Social Services or having a future version of Mysterion come back from the future to kill Butters' parents and stop them from abusing him into a fully-fledged eviler version of Professor Chaos.

[ganesh]

That was a long way to go for the live ending punchline but I think it worked. I like when some of the episodes are just whacked out. 

[SomeJabroni]

This episode made me laugh out loud several times.  I'm always partial to a Butters-centric episode, and this one did not disappoint.  Though not a fan myself, many of 'the boys' in our family love movies like "The Matrix," "Total Recall," et al., which means I "get" to watch them, too.  Combined with the fact the makers of the "Oculus Rift" game released a kickstarter fundraiser a couple of weeks ago...the whole thing just cracked me up.  I love that Trey and Matt's social commentary gets so layered that many of the jokes go over my head until I hit Google or the kids explain it to me.  And count me in on the Stotches' desperate need for comeuppance!  Maybe Cartman needs to make another batch of chili.

[scootypuffjr]

This episode had me guessing start to finish, but I don't think anybody saw that ending coming!  Absolute genius.  In a way, it would have been a good final episode, revealing the whole series with its primitive graphics had all taken place in virtual reality.  But I love South Park, so I'm glad this wasn't the finale, no matter how appropriate it might have been.  I've been over the Simpsons for a quite few years now, but SP after so long still remains fresh and funny, IMO.  Not every episode is a winner, but enough of them are.  Long live Matt and Trey, and long live South Park!

[amensisterfriend]

What are your favorite and least favorite seasons? I'll go with Season 8, Season 7, and Season 4  as my top three. 15-20 all-time favorite episodes (or at least the ones I watch the most!), in chronological order:

 

1. Rainforest Schaminforest

2. Sexual Harassment Panda

3. Cartman's Silly Hate Crime

4. Cartman Joins NAMBLA

5. The Entity 

6. Lil' Crime Stoppers

7. Casa Bonita 

8. All About Mormons 

9. Good Times w/ Weapons 

10. Passion of the Jew

11. Cartman's Incredible Gift 

12. Cartman Sucks 

13. The Ungroundable 

14. City Sushi 

15. The Poor Kid 

16. Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Poseur 

 

Oh, and Ginger Kids! And Fat Camp. And Butters' Very Own Episode. And Biggest Douche in the Universe. And South Park is Gay. And AWESOM-O.... 

[Princess Sparkle]

It would take me a bit to come up with my top 10 (if I even could limit it to 10), but off the top of my head, Imaginationland and Helen Keller: The Musical are the episodes I can watch repeatedly and never get tired of them.

My all-time favorite line reading from any character though is Cartman in Cartman Joins NAMBLA. "Well, someone's gonna have to go out there....and take one for the team" makes me laugh every single time, even though I know it's coming. "I'm pissed off Rick, how are you?" is a close second (from Fat Camp). It's all in the delivery.

[Lantern7]

I like the boys' horrified reactions to Cartman's suggestion. Then he volunteers Butters for the task, forcing the little guy to wonder what kind of team he was on.

[VCRTracking]

I noticed that there wasn't any more continuity nods that we had all season. Either they stopped it or that it was a way of saying this episode wasn't canon?

[Lantern7]

Press release for "Cock Magic." Even with a rated-PG-sounding synopsis, I'm still scared about the implications of the title.

[OnceSane]

Kenny excels at playing the game, Magic: The Gathering. He has the boys' full attention until a new, hard-core activity gets in the way. When Wendy tries to get Stan to pay attention to what she's doing, she realizes that what he does with his guy friends always comes first.

[amensisterfriend]

I read recently that Trey Parker and Matt Stone pretty much hate every S1-S3 episode. I have to say that S2 and S3 contain some of my favorites. Now if they were more inclined to dislike most of what they've done the past two seasons, I'd be more in agreement :) 

[Galileo908]

Not gonna lie, I laughed really hard at the cockfighting roosters playing Magic.

 

So not only is Randy Lorde but also the Great Flydini? I loved how the drum music followed Randy everywhere, plus we saw an actual drummer.

 

This episode was great up until that ending. Still no clue what's going on.

[benteen]

Funny, funny episode.

[Lantern7]

People still play Magic: The Gathering? Yu-Gi-Oh! made more sense to me, as least when the anime was on. What saves the episode? Cocks fighting with cards instead of talons, and the Amazingly Randy. Seriously, when was the last time Stan facepalmed over his father's sheer stupidity?

 

I did think the bit with the dong coming out of the cop's mouth was overkill. Brrrrrrrrrrrr.

[redlaces]

We get it.. You're allowed to say shit. I'm not liking this season at all so far. Damn. 

[Amarsir]

This episode didn't do that much for me.

 

Their Magic accuracy was maybe 50%. They used real card names and reasonable mockups of cardbacks, but the gameplay was pretty off.  Not nearly as good as the WoW episode.  (Although miles better than that Magic-like card game they pretend to play on Big Bang Theory.)

 

I understand why.  They took a 20-minute game about bluffing and making odds calls and turned it into a 20-second action sequence.  I don't blame them for doing that given the plot they wanted - and sometimes I think the Magic's developers would rather the game played that way as well.  But it made the whole think seem more like a cheap reference than theme-inspired episode.  (Again, unlike when they did WoW.)

 

Randy was very much in character.  But since they already had a ridiculous Randy theme this season with Lorde, I kept wondering why they'd dropped that.  Either Lorde should have been a 1-episode thing or they should have run it throughout the season and not made him Amazingly Randy

 

Overall I could only give the episode a C.  One of the weaker episodes for me this season along with The Cissy.

Edited November 20, 2014 by Amarsir

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Ha, all i could think about while watching this was the cock fighting episode on Seinfeld: "Jerry, it's 3:30 in the morning. I'm at a cock fight. What am I clinging to?"

 

Then when Amazingly Randy pretended to guillotine his own cock at a six year old's birthday part, I was reminded of Phoebe's date on Friends saying, "I write erotic novels for children. They're wildly unpopular." How or why Randy thought his act was appropriate for a kiddie party is beyond me! I did love the drummer in the bathroom.

[AConspiracy]

I know there is a card game called that, but have never played it.

So the episode fell flat for me, oh well.

[Mindymoo]

This episode was hilarious to me. I have never played Magic the Gathering, but everything was so absurd that I didn't care. These are my favorite kinds of episodes: no jumbled, half-assed social commentary, just some wacky, bizarre insanity. Don't get me wrong, sometimes they get social commentary right, but lately they completely miss the mark with it. When Randy first started his cock magic, I sat there with my mouth agape. And then there he was with the drummer in the bathroom, and then with the birthday party, and then as the cock magic halftime show. It just kept getting weirder and weirder and I loved it.

[Princess Sparkle]

I realize I occasionally can have the humor of a 12 year old, but every time Randy was doing his cock magic routine, I was in tears. The boys on the couch just staring in horror, with a Stan face palm (which in and of themselves always funny to me), mixed with Randy's delighted face was perfect.

[Writing Wrongs]

We get it.. You're allowed to say shit. I'm not liking this season at all so far. Damn. 

Yeah. They started doing that on American Dad since it moved to TBS and I don't find it nearly as funny as the bleeps.

 

Randy's cock magic was hilarious.

[benteen]

What are your favorite and least favorite seasons? I'll go with Season 8, Season 7, and Season 4  as my top three. 15-20 all-time favorite episodes (or at least the ones I watch the most!), in chronological order:

 

1. Rainforest Schaminforest

2. Sexual Harassment Panda

3. Cartman's Silly Hate Crime

4. Cartman Joins NAMBLA

5. The Entity 

6. Lil' Crime Stoppers

7. Casa Bonita 

8. All About Mormons 

9. Good Times w/ Weapons 

10. Passion of the Jew

11. Cartman's Incredible Gift 

12. Cartman Sucks 

13. The Ungroundable 

14. City Sushi 

15. The Poor Kid 

16. Goth Kids 3: Dawn of the Poseur 

 

Oh, and Ginger Kids! And Fat Camp. And Butters' Very Own Episode. And Biggest Douche in the Universe. And South Park is Gay. And AWESOM-O.... 

 

I loved the Rainforest episode.  Still one of my all-time favorites.  A ton of great lines (many by Cartman, no surprise) and Jennifer Aniston was a fun guest voice.

 

I read an Entertainment Weekly article where Trey and Matt picked every episode of the first three years as their worst episodes.  I disagree with that as well, as there were a number of funny episodes.  I think by Season 3 the initial media attention/high ratings wore off and by the start of Season 4 really set the tone for the way the show is now.

[ganesh]

This episode was hilarious to me. I have never played Magic the Gathering, but everything was so absurd that I didn't care.

 

I like when they do absurd. You didn't need to have played the game to get it; it wasn't about the game. It's roosters playing cards! 

 

This season has been great for Randy. Usually he just overreacts and does stupid stuff. He actually has things going on. There was a drummer in the bathroom with him. I was dying. 

[SeanC]

When Randy seemed to cut off his own penis, I initially thought it was real and there was going to be a "Randy accidentally cuts off his own dick" subplot.

[Mindymoo]

I like when they do absurd. You didn't need to have played the game to get it; it wasn't about the game. It's roosters playing cards! 

Exactly! They could have been playing euchre and it would have been just as ridiculous.

[Latverian Diplomat]

To me, the winning joke was "ESPN Illegal" which seems like one of those jokes that could be predictive, if Disney could figure out a way to get away with it.

Edited November 22, 2014 by Latverian Diplomat

[Zima]

This episode didn't do that much for me.

 

Their Magic accuracy was maybe 50%. They used real card names and reasonable mockups of cardbacks, but the gameplay was pretty off.  Not nearly as good as the WoW episode.  (Although miles better than that Magic-like card game they pretend to play on Big Bang Theory.)

 

I understand why.  They took a 20-minute game about bluffing and making odds calls and turned it into a 20-second action sequence.  I don't blame them for doing that given the plot they wanted - and sometimes I think the Magic's developers would rather the game played that way as well.  But it made the whole think seem more like a cheap reference than theme-inspired episode.  (Again, unlike when they did WoW.)

 

 

 

The Magic the Gathering inaccuracies bothered me, but yeah, I understand why they had to alter the game-play that way for the show.

 

The WoW episode was awesome, but I did have a gripe about how they could grind up to level 60 by killing level 5 pigs (I'm not sure of the exact level they stated in the episode) for days on end. We all know that once you get to a certain level, those level 5 pigs will no longer give any XP!  

 

Randy's Cock Magic was the best part of the episode. 

[Charlesman]

Was there any continuity to previous episodes this season? I didn't catch any specific reference.

[Lantern7]

From the show's Comedy Central site: no new episode this Wednesday.

[opus]

Don't know if there's ever been a new ep on USA "Thanksgiving Eve".

[Lantern7]

Heads up  . . Comedy Central will be airing all three South Park Thanksgiving-themed episodes tonight:

 

9 p.m. "Starvin' Marvin"

9:30 p.m. "Starvin' Marvin In Space" (not a Turkey Day special, but an amusing follow-up)

10 p.m. "Helen Keller: The Musical" (with Gobbles the Disabled Turkey!)

10:30 p.m. "A History Channel Thanksgiving" (featuring a halfway decent takeoff on Thor)

[TyranAmiros]

Having been on a Ancient Aliens bender recently, I love A History Channel Thanksgiving, if only for the slogan "Where the Truth is History"--love the accuracy of that!

[OnceSane]

GOBBLES! I love Gobbles and Starvin' Marvin.

[Princess Sparkle]

I've even mentioned it before in this thread, but Helen Keller: The Musical is one of my top-5 favorite episodes of South Park.  There are so many little things that just crack me up, and the throw-away lines just kill me:

 

"C'mon you blind bitch, channel your spirit through me!"

"Timmy's the only person who knows the part of Helen Keller!"

"Dammit, I rigged the wrong light!"

Every single thing that the musical theater guy sang

And, of course: "Water Helen, WAAAAAAAAAAA-TERRRRRRRR"

Edited December 1, 2014 by Princess Sparkle

[Lantern7]

Continuity rears its head in "#Rehash."

[OnceSane]

Kyle can't figure out why Ike and his friends want to watch people comment on things going on around them rather than experience it for themselves. Meanwhile, the Marsh family needs money after Stan spent it all on freemium games, so Randy is forced to perform live to bring in some cash.

[Galileo908]

"What's a PewDiePie?" Cartman becomes the ultimate Let's Player: He's doing a Let's Play on life. I thought the fourth wall breaking on him at the end was fantastic.

 

So..just about ALL of the running gags came into play tonight. Gluten, Lorde, Canada, Cock Magic, Freemium gaming. Hell, Michael Jackson came back in hologram form!

 

Hologram Tupac being sent after Hologram MJ? Gold.Sharon sleeping with hologram Tupac? Also gold.

 

Man, can't wait for next week.

[benteen]

LOL on Tupac being the first hologram.  So true.

 

Loved that all the storylines this year are coming together in an epic two-parter.  Can't wait for next week.

 

I love South Park commenting on this.  It's like people who go to concerts and events and spend the whole time filming it.  I think Louie CK had a bit on that.  Why the hell do they go to those events and spend the entire time filming in on their tiny phones?

[Lantern7]

That was weird. And off-putting. Or maybe I'm being a fuddy-duddy like Kyle and Stan. Next week's finale should be interesting, or it could be a car accident waiting to happen.

[Amarsir]

That was weird. And off-putting. Or maybe I'm being a fuddy-duddy like Kyle and Stan. Next week's finale should be interesting, or it could be a car accident waiting to happen.

I know what you mean. South Park has done other buildups where the ending turned out to be ... fine, but not as clever as the multiple threads would have implied. I like how they're keeping up with season continuity, but I'm not getting myself psyched for a big tie-it-all-together conclusion.

[Spartan Girl]

Yay, more continuity!  And I had a feeling this season would end with another two parter.

 

The thing about commentary being bigger than the actual entertainment is so true.  Just look at us: we all come here to read everyone else's thoughts about a show.  That's funny and scary at the same time.