South Park (Seasons 1-19, 21-present)

From Qualitipedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
ALTIN.png

This is a featured article!
This article has been reviewed by one of our administrators as one of the best articles on the Qualitipedia Wiki.

Warning! Mature Content!

This following work contains material and themes that may include coarse language (albeit censored due to New Qualitipedia rules), sexual references, and/or graphic violent images that may be disturbing to some viewers.
Mature articles are recommended for those who are 18 years of age or above.
If you are 18 years old or above, or are comfortable with mature content, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another one. Reader discretion is advised.

Halt hand.png
South Park
Southpark.jpeg
"I’m goin' down to South Park, gonna have myself a time…"
Genre: Animated sitcom
Dark comedy
Satire
Drama
Running Time: 22 minutes
Country: United States
Release Date: August 13, 1997 - present (Overall)
August 13, 1997 - December 9, 2015, September 13, 2017 - present (seasons 1-19, 21-present)
Network(s): Comedy Central
Created by: Trey Parker
Matt Stone
Distributed by: Paramount Media Networks (original broadcasts)
CBS Media Ventures (syndication)
Starring: Trey Parker
Matt Stone
Mary Kay Bergman (1997-1999)
Isaac Hayes (1997-2006)
Eliza Schneider (1999-2004)
April Stewart (2004-present)
Mona Marshall
Jessica Makinson
Jennifer Howell
Seasons: 26
Episodes: 325


South Park is an American animated sitcom that aired on Comedy Central in 1997 and is currently ongoing. It is the second longest-running animated series to date, the third is Arthur and the first is The Simpsons.

Plot

The series focuses on 4 foul-mouthed children: Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh, and Kenny McCormick. They get into many weird mishaps while learning a valuable lesson at the end.

Why These Seasons Will Make You Want to Meet Some Friends o' Theirs

  1. Kenny's deaths in the earlier episodes are always hilarious and creative.
  2. Numerous of clever cultural references.
  3. Has countered numerous attacks on entertainment by moral guardians with episodes dealing with censorship and was one of the main focuses of the film.
  4. Eric Cartman and his crazy (and at times, downright evil) schemes.
  5. Tons of amazing and likable characters, such as:
  6. Season 19 attacked both woke and outraged cultures with a season-long story arc. South Park is one of the few shows on TV that attacks woke culture and people who are too mentally outraged by everything they see.
    • This does not mean the show doesn’t attack the right wing; indeed, there are too many episodes to count where racism, homophobia, and religious fundamentalism were mocked and ridiculed. This earns South Park the lofty honor of being one of the few shows centered around political humor to promote rationalism and healthy skepticism.
  7. Many episodes focus on current events due to the fact episodes take a week to make. Case-in-point: the 20th season episode "The Very First Gentleman" was changed to "Oh, Jeez" after Donald Trump's unexpected victory in the presidential election, as the episode (and indeed, the rest of the season) had been made with the expectation that Hillary Clinton would win; as the election was on Tuesday and new episodes air on Wednesdays, they animated and voiced the new stuff in under 24 hours.
  8. The voice acting is great, considering that it is mostly done by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, a roasting cast of female voice actors, and some members of the South Park team like storyboarder Adrien Beard (who voices Tolkien).
  9. A lot of valuable life lessons and morals for adults and teenagers to learn such as:
    • "Free Speech is important" ("Cartoon Wars 1 & 2")
    • "Intolerance is ugly" ("Chef Goes Nanners")
    • "Perseverance pays off" ("Make Love Not Warcraft")
    • "Even your close friends have limits" ("SHOTS!")
    • "Parents will snap eventually" ("SHOTS!")
    • "Discussions about sex are healthy" ("Proper Condom Use")
    • "Life moves on" ("4th Grade")
    • "We can all change" ("Covid Special Part 1")
    • "Looks aren't everything" ("The List")
    • "Respect other religions" ("All About Mormons")
    • "Fire isn't as fun as you think" ("Butt Out" and "Preschool")
    • "It's OK to feel sad" ("Raisins")
    • "Forgiveness is important no matter what you have done" (Post Covid specials)
    • "Friends come first" ("Guitar Queer-O")
    • "Being independent for a while is good" ("Do The Handicapped Go To Hell?")
    • "Boastfulness can bite you back" ("Breast Cancer Show Ever")
    • "Swearing is meaningless" ("It Hits The Fan")
    • "Moderation is everything" (various episode)
    • "Psychos come from the least obvious place" ("Cripple Fight")
    • "Reward yourself when you have accomplished your goals" ("A Million Little Fibers")
    • "If your dream is to be famous, prepare to be ridiculed" ("Fishsticks")
    • "Patience is a virtue" ("Go God Go")
    • "Native people are not as welcoming as you think" ("Rainforest Shmainforest")
    • "Breakups aren’t the end of the world" ("Raisins")
    • "Parents are a vital part of life" ("The Wacky Molestation Adventure")
    • "Big business’s hurt small shops" ("Something Walmart This Way Comes" & "Bike Parade")
    • "Family Isn’t About Blood" ("Ike’s Wee Wee")
    • "Money can't buy you happiness" ("Cartmanland")
    • "Even your enemies can help you" ("You Have 0 Friends")
    • "Big brands aren't as innocent as you think" ("Chinpokomon")
    • "Sometimes, other people have come up with an idea you have thought of" ("Simpsons Already Did It")
    • "Don't treat people like objects" ("Butters Bottom Bitch")
    • "The grass isn't always greener on the other side" ("Cartman Joins NAMBLA")
    • "It's OK to be gay" ("Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride")
    • "How people can scam you" ("Cash for Gold")
    • "The ownership of content" ("Free Hat")
    • "Learn to love yourself" ("Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?")
    • "Voting is important" ("Douche And Turd")
    • "Some words are not as innocent as you might think" ("With Apologies to Jesse Jackson")
    • "Open your eyes to a new way of doing things" ("Helen Keller the Musical")
    • "Even the sweetest people can give bad advice" ("Not Funny")
    • "Even adults can't always be trusted" (Season 20)
    • "People shouldn't ignore school shootings" ("Dead Kids")
  10. When people criticized the show for poor animation and fart jokes, the creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker responded by creating the characters of Terrance and Philip.
  11. It spawned hilarious video games, especially the first three South Park games, which were well-received.
  12. Though the animation isn’t the best, it has a certain charm and parodies paper cutout animation very well.
    • The original pilot was done in cutout animation, keeping continuity in art style over the years.
    • The animation is very easy to make, taking about 6_7 days, as a result, some episodes are made quickly to catch up with modern topics and media, therefore making it more relevant.
    • The character designs are amazing too.
  13. The celebrity parodies are hysterical, especially Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, and Kanye West.
  14. A great vanity logo that is memorable to fans at the end of each South Park episode from season 1 to season 10 episode 2: "BRANIFF!! BELIEVE IT!"
  15. The show has lots of continuity, with many seasons having continuous story threads.
  16. They ridicule everything and everyone on the planet, especially those who are widely disliked or who deserve it.
  17. The show doesn’t choose either side of the political spectrum, as both left and right-wingers are ridiculously mocked.
  18. It’s one of the first American shows that challenged the stereotype that animation is only for children.
  19. The famous quote "Oh my God! They killed Kenny! You bastards!"
  20. The animation quality has greatly improved in later seasons, with characters showing more movements.
  21. Hilarious and unforgettable moments like Mr. Mackey’s failed drug education class and Cartman singing "Kyle' Mom's a Bitch" in "Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo" and in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
  22. Clever writing that mocks other animated shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy.
  23. Good dubs such as Cantonese, Japanese, Italian, and French dubs.
  24. Great pacing for a lot of episodes.
  25. Hilarious villains such as Mecha-Streisand, Saddam Hussein, the Woodland Critters, and Mel Gibson.
  26. Overall, this show does an amazing job at showcasing that animation isn’t just for children - it also acts as a sort of ongoing and long-running experiment by Matt Stone and Trey Parker to see what they could get away with on TV.

Bad Qualities That Killed Kenny

  1. Although this may be a nitpick, there have been many times where the show has gone so far that it has become outright offensive as this show was made with the sole purpose of being the most offensive thing to ever air on television. Some examples of the show’s vulgarities going too far for some include:
    • Kenny McCormick is being arrested for giving Howard Stern a "Hummer" in "Fat Camp".
    • An imposter of Kenny crawling up Ms. Crabtree's vagina… and then coming back out, covered in her bodily fluids and completely crushed in the same episode.
    • Cartman drinking a cup of semen.
    • Cartman sticking Butters's penis in his mouth, taking a picture of it, showing it in class, and later attempting to trick a prank, the problem is that it was outright sexual assault.
    • Cartman "milking" a dog by using the red rocket technique.
    • Cartman's hand puppet (Mitch Conner) giving Ben Affleck a handjob in "Fat Butt and Pancake Head".
    • Randy Marsh masturbates to very disgusting forms of porn and eventually covers his entire body in semen in "Over Logging". This is, however, one of the funniest scenes in the show.
    • Naked adults chasing young boys attempting to assault them in "Cartman Joins NAMBLA".
    • Chef being brainwashed into joining a Scientology-esque club of child molesters in "The Return of Chef". In the same episode, he is seen getting stabbed by a large stick and torn apart by a cougar and a large brown bear while being shot multiple times… and then defecates in his pants before he dies.
      • Ironically, Chef's voice actor, the late Isaac Hayes was a Scientologist in real life and quit the show over disagreements over his organization's portrayal in the show. The episode itself was made as a Take That! to Isaac Hayes quitting the show.
    • The multiple scenes of the Woodland Critters performing satanic rituals and raping and killing people in "Woodland Critter Christmas".
    • Randy unintentionally said the N word in "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson".
    • Mr. Slave shoving Paris Hilton up his rectum in "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playlist", and also a rodent (Lemmiwinks) in "The Death Camp of Tolerance".
    • The episode "Crack Baby Athletic Association" revolves around crack-addicted babies fighting each other.
    • The scenes in "China Problem" where Steven Spielberg and George Lucas rape Indiana Jones multiple times, which are arguably the most disturbing scenes ever.
    • The majority of "Britney's New Look" literally being nothing but full-blown, infuriating Britney Spears torture.
    • Butters having the whole world drink his fluids (referred to as his "Creamy Goo") in "Sarcastaball" can be hard to watch.
    • When the school gets shot up multiple times in "Dead Kids" is disturbing and the fact that no one seems to care makes it even worse.
    • The episode, "The Wacky Molestation Adventure" includes scenes where children turn into antagonists due to false accusations of parents getting molested by children, resulting in many plot holes in real life, and the show itself. Thus, making it a non-canon episode rather than a legit one, despite being a cult in making a Children of the Corn reference.
  2. From seasons 18-20, you have to watch every single episode to see what’s going on. When season 21 rolled around, there was still continuity, but it was much looser to the point that each episode can be enjoyed individually (one episode bashing the opioid epidemic and guest-starring Josh Gad is completely standalone).
  3. A somewhat excessive amount of toilet/gross-out humor at times, to the point most of the critics of the show point at the excessive cursing and gross-out scenes as the major flaw of the show. For example, Mr. Hankey (a sentient piece of fecal matter) can be a disgusting character to some people. Thankfully, later seasons dialed down the toilet humor to a reasonable amount.
  4. Despite having some awesome seasons, this show has had its share of either okay or mediocre seasons:
    • The first two seasons, while decent, aren’t as good as the show was after season 3 and how it is now, mostly due to the writing being a little bit tamer in a few episodes with some of it having bad animation, tons of flatulence jokes (mostly in the first episode) and bad facial expressions.
    • Season 20 was the most controversial, mainly due to the unaired "The Very First Gentleman" having to be reworked into "Oh, Jeez" after Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, forcing Matt Stone and Trey Parker to scrap their plans for the entire season.
    • Season 23, begins focusing too much on Stan's father (Randy Marsh). Luckily, as mentioned above, the show is looking to get back on track, in "The Pandemic Special" and "The Vaccination Special", which are very enjoyable specials.
    • Speaking of that, starting with the Tegridy Weed plot in Season 22, this is a sure sign that the show is now going the same fate as The Simpsons, Family Guy, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, The Loud House, Johnny Test, and Fireman Sam.
  5. Some unlikable and mean-spirited characters such as:
    • Butters' parents often punish their son with physical abuse (such as beating him at the end of "Jared Has Aides" believing he cussed them out on the phone earlier when it was Cartman and chaining him in the basement at the end of "Marjorine" while feeding him a dead person.
    • Wendy Testaburger, during seasons 7-10 and 13-17 has been flanderized as she went from a kind-hearted girlfriend who is having an adorable date with her boyfriend Stan to an irredeemable bitch who's mean towards girls and boys (mostly Stan, her boyfriend) which makes her very unlikable and worse from the new season. She did, however, regained her major status in season 17, redeemed herself in the video game South Park: The Fractured But Whole, and has regained her lovable self since season 18.
    • Shelly Marsh during seasons 1-7 is unlikable for self-explanatory reasons, as she beats up her brother repeatedly and even dated a 22-year old despite being 13.
    • Some characters are underutilized. The most notable example is Brimmy, who has only spoken once!
  6. A handful of bad and/or mediocre episodes aside from season 20, such as:
    • "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" (while funny, was a pretty weak way to start the series)
    • "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut" (an unfortunate conclusion to "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut")
    • "Pip"
    • "The Wacky Molestation Adventure" (a terrible episode due to the children getting away with falsely claiming that their parents sexually assaulted them and getting away with it.)
    • "Toilet Paper"
    • "Stanley's Cup" (an extremely mean-spirited episode, especially considering the ending)
    • "The China Probrem" (a poor episode that portrays Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas as evil sociopaths who like raping their own characters)
    • "Pandemic" and "Pandemic 2: The Starling"
    • "Pinewood Derby"
    • "Marjorine"
    • "Britney's New Look" (while not bad, it's very depressing and infuriating and it'll make you hate the media even more for the way they treated Britney Spears)
    • "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina" is easily the absolute worst episode of the entire series as there is live action footage of a sex change and the subplot with Kyle wanting to become tall and black is extremely offensive.
    • "HumancentiPad" (also considered the worst episodes of the entire series as it shows Cartman at his worst and most manipulative self and it's nothing but a Kyle torture episode. It also infamously mocked The Human Centipede)
    • "Dead Kids"
    • "Jakovasaurs"
    • "Funnybot"
    • "Douche and Turd" is a huge Stan torture fest due him not wanting to vote and getting exiled just because of it.
    • "Raisins" is the third worst episode of the entire series as it shows how selfish Wendy can be and it's nothing but a Stan torture episode.
    • "Pinewood Derby"
    • "Ginger Cow"
    • "Splatty Tomato" is not really bad either, but it was a pretty weak way to end Season 21 and brings back a lot of bad memories from season 20.
    • "A Million Little Fibers" is also one of the worst episodes of the series and the lowest rated episode on IMDb.
    • "Pajama Day"
    • "Board Girls" is the second worst episode of the entire series as it is extremely Transphobic (and not in a good way like Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride was) and it's nothing but a torture episode for PC Principal.
    • "Credigree Weed St. Patrick's Day Special"
  7. As mentioned in BQ#3, ever since Tegridy Farms was introduced in season 22, Cartman, Kenny, and Kyle don't seem to get as much focus as before, with more of it going to Stan, Randy and Tegridy Farms.
  8. Despited being a fan-favorite character and one of the main members of the group, Kenny is VERY underused in several episodes.
  9. Plenty of jokes in the series can be quite offensive to plenty of people, especially towards Jewish people.
  10. The Latin dub, which is done in Miami, has been getting worse. The cast is very small, and all the voices (except for Patricia Azan, the voice of Kyle and Cartman) are terrible. The transition is also bad, such as in the Spanish version of "Do What You Wanna Do".
    • The Mexican dub, which covered seasons 1 and 2, is also badly received due to the use of Mexican idioms to soften the rudeness.
  11. Unfortunately, due to his actor not being able to speak anymore due to his suffering a stroke and due to someone making Isaac quit the show without his consent, Chef left South Park in 2006, making the end of him very sad and he probably will never appear again in the show.

Episodes with Their Own Pages and Other Good Episodes

  1. "Weight Gain 4000"
  2. "Ike's Wee Wee"
  3. "It Hits the Fan"
  4. "Scott Tenorman Must Die"
  5. "Simpsons Already Did It"
  6. "Cancelled"
  7. "Casa Bonita"
  8. "Good Times with Weapons"
  9. "Awesom-O"
  10. "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playlist"
  11. "Woodland Critter Christmas"
  12. "Best Friends Forever"
  13. "Trapped in the Closet"
  14. "The Return of Chef"
  15. "Cartoon Wars" (Parts 1 and 2)
  16. "Make Love, Not Warcraft"
  17. "Imaginationland" (Parts 1, 2, and 3)
  18. "Canada on Strike"
  19. "The Coon"
  20. "200" and "201"
  21. "Funnybot"
  22. "Tweek X Craig"
  23. "Basic Cable"
  24. "Black Friday"
  25. "A Song of Ass and Fire"
  26. "Titties and Dragons"
  27. "Wieners Out"
  28. "A Nightmare on Face Time"
  29. "I Should Have Never Gone Ziplining"
  30. "Broadway Bro Down"
  31. "You're Getting Old"
  32. "Ass Burgers"
  33. "Breast Cancer Show Ever"
  34. "Guitar Queer-O"
  35. "Christian Rock Hard"
  36. "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers"
  37. "Fun with Veal"
  38. "#HappyHolograms"
  39. "PC Principal Final Justice"
  40. "Mexican Joker"
  41. "Band in China"
  42. "The Pandemic Special"
  43. "South ParQ Vaccination Special"
  44. "South Park: Post COVID"
  45. "South Park: Post COVID: The Return of COVID"
  46. "Streaming Wars"
  47. "Deep Learning"
  48. "South Park: Joining the Pandaverse"
  49. "South Park (Not Suitable for Children)"

Reception

South Park has received critical acclaim from both the critics and the audience alike and has also been featured on many "Best Shows of All Time" lists by several publications. The show is well known globally and has received numerous accolades, including five Primetime Emmys and a Peabody Award, and is known as one of the most successful Comedy Central shows.

Trivia

  • The episode "Band in China" mentions how the Chinese government banned Winnie-the-Pooh and Disney's version of the character in mid-2017 due to unfavorable comparisons to the Chinese President and General Secretary of the Communist Party Xi Jinping, which subsequently led to the film Christopher Robin not receiving a release there, as well as the country’s severe censorship and authoritarianism. Said episode ended up getting the entire series banned… in China. Trey Parker and Matt Stone would respond with a fake apology that mocked the NBA's pandering to the Chinese Government.
  • After South ParQ Vaccination Special, the show went on hiatus, with only two specials on Paramount+ and only six episodes on seasons 25 and 26.

Comments

Loading comments...
Retrieved from "https://newqualitipedia.telepedia.net/index.php?title=South_Park_(seasons_1-19,_21-present)&oldid=142663"