South Park: Classic or Dud?

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the Not Without My Anus was killer for me in that it was the most bizarro/non-sequitor thing they've ever done.

More non-sequitor than fighting the frizzies? More bizarro than Niblet, Mecha Streisand, Russel Crowe's tv show or TOWELIE??? NWMA almost feels like it was made to be so tedious and flat on purpose, our anger over not knowing who Cartman's mom is thus being enlarged by outrage over how crappy what they're showing us instead is...which is funny conceptually but, you know, not much fun to sit through.

They were also proud that they got the Canadian National Anthem on twice on american tv within 22 minutes.

Now that truly is cool.

Daniel_Rf (Daniel_Rf), Thursday, 8 April 2004 12:11 (twenty years ago) link

i guess the problem here is that people are highlighting South Park's all-out parody episodes, which whilst hilarious are perhaps 'obvious' in their sending-up - does the nature of their parodies not seem a bit laboured? as in 'The Simpsons and Family Guy do this so much we better had too'? I mean one of South Park's biggest strengths is when they have a simple but effective story that's just poking fun at the nuances of life, childhood, hypocrisy among adults and mis-interpretation rather than any direct spoofing of movies. Same goes for the other shows there too though (a big reason why King Of The Hill is so great - they avoid the spoof gimmick, which has been done to death in animated series really).

stevem (blueski), Thursday, 8 April 2004 12:12 (twenty years ago) link

wtf was up with that episode i saw recently where they start turning into Simpsons-style cariactures as well, incredible

That would be the "Simpsons did it" episode

ModJ (ModJ), Thursday, 8 April 2004 12:18 (twenty years ago) link

And Lemmiwinks is back next week, apparently

ModJ (ModJ), Thursday, 8 April 2004 12:19 (twenty years ago) link

stevem is almost OTM; many of their parody/homage shows are ridiculously great, too.

The "You Got Served" episode was weak (way to underutilize the guest stars, guys), but really anything was going to be weak after the Passion episode. Also, I now think Butters is one of the greatest characters ever conceived for television.

VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 8 April 2004 12:32 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, the LOTR one was just amazing - you can really tell that the guys are fans.

This is very high on my 'to watch' list. I'm patient these days, though.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 8 April 2004 13:11 (twenty years ago) link

No. The genius of Ren and Stimpy can be summed up in 6 cartoons: "Stimpy's Invention" (the Happy Helmet); "Black Hole"; "Space Madness"; "Son of Stimpy" (...and it made as souuuunnnnd!); "Yak Shaving Day"; and the "All Kids Love Log" spots.

please don't leave out eggyolkio. i only saw it twice. it was a full half hour long. genius. anyone else ever see it?

the angry cowboy (dick), Thursday, 8 April 2004 14:10 (twenty years ago) link

oh and also, yeah, south park. it's funny.

i'm always amazed with how quickly they come up with their funny. something happens and the next week you've got a hilarious south park episode dealing with that something.

the angry cowboy (dick), Thursday, 8 April 2004 14:11 (twenty years ago) link

what's the one with the film agent? i was hysterical

stevem (blueski), Thursday, 8 April 2004 14:12 (twenty years ago) link

(Ren & Stimpy i mean)

stevem (blueski), Thursday, 8 April 2004 14:12 (twenty years ago) link

ren and stimpy episode guides. wrong thread, i know...

the angry cowboy (dick), Thursday, 8 April 2004 14:20 (twenty years ago) link

Once this show got over trying to be shocking for shock's sake (sometime in the first season), it was pretty damn great. One episode that had me in tears from this season: the goth one. Easy target but so dead on and a great use of Air Supply. Anyone know whether the goth song they used in the bedroom scene was a real song or just a great spoof?

Vinnie (vprabhu), Thursday, 8 April 2004 14:38 (twenty years ago) link

The Passion of the Jew was unfunny.

'Child Abduction Is Not Funny' is one of my favourites ever, especially the Ghost of Human Kindness (GOHC: Do you think you can learn to trust people? Tweek: I...I guess so. GOHC: Good, now why don't you let me give you a lift home in my van...) and the whole GODDAMN MONGORIENS thing.

The Ninja one and the Special Olympics one are two of the funniest I've seen. Butters is just like the most relentlessly tragic cartoon character ever, he's like Ralph Wiggum times a million.

ferg (Ferg), Thursday, 8 April 2004 14:46 (twenty years ago) link

x-post - I love the goth kid who contemptuously flicks his hair out of his face every seven seconds the entire time he's on screen.

ferg (Ferg), Thursday, 8 April 2004 14:48 (twenty years ago) link

that episode was fuckin' awesome. Truly Butters is a god

Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Thursday, 8 April 2004 14:55 (twenty years ago) link

The only thing I ever enjoyed about Ren & Stimpy was the line "It's better than bad, it's good!" The artwork was hideous (whereas SP is total eye candy).

the art wasn't pretty, but the animation was a hell of a lot more expressive (and funny) than SP's bland computerized cut-outs. i agree that the first season was the only good one, but that's because nickelodeon fired john kricfalusi and replaced him with slugs corporate dolts who didn't understand cartoons. it'd be like saying "roadrunner cartoons sucked because they weren't any good when chuck jones wasn't making them anymore."

J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 8 April 2004 15:03 (twenty years ago) link

Um.

...in bed. (Chris Piuma), Thursday, 8 April 2004 17:59 (twenty years ago) link

Goddammit. Better?

...in bed. (Chris Piuma), Thursday, 8 April 2004 18:00 (twenty years ago) link

No, that's it.

...in bed. (Chris Piuma), Thursday, 8 April 2004 18:00 (twenty years ago) link

I stopped watching regularly ages ago, because it got tiresome, particularly the "fight a big movie monster" story template they were always relying on. But still whenever I flick past it there's something funny being said. I'm just tired of the voices, I think (and people talking in the voices in real life. Please stop).

anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Thursday, 8 April 2004 18:04 (twenty years ago) link

South Park's limited animation style (which they occasionally show they're not limited to: see the LoTR episode or perhaps the recent "playing with weapons" one) is actually more expressive because of its limited vocabulary. It's, you know, it's almost like an Ozu movie or something.

The Passion episode wasn't that good -- I was expecting more.

AKM, they don't use that schtick very often these days (compared to the first few seasons).

...in bed. (Chris Piuma), Thursday, 8 April 2004 18:09 (twenty years ago) link

Did you say Ozu? Holy shit.

Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Thursday, 8 April 2004 18:27 (twenty years ago) link

Playing with weapons was awesome -- it just seemed so right in reg. to the way that kids see themselves while playing.

Terrace and Phillip are Beavis and Butthead, no?

ModJ (ModJ), Thursday, 8 April 2004 18:50 (twenty years ago) link

Scott is better than Terrance and Phillip -- "I'm giving you cancer -- WITH MY MIND!".

El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:01 (twenty years ago) link

playing with weapons was excellent.

Ask For Samantha (thatgirl), Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:07 (twenty years ago) link

Also, I now think Butters is one of the greatest characters ever conceived for television.

Maybe, but his voice is one of my all-time favorites. I giggle even if he doesn't actually say anything funny. The sound of him morosely barking is etched into my brain.

oops (Oops), Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:12 (twenty years ago) link

Ha, the new episode was nice! But it was probably better if you have been following the show -- my favorite part was the new twist on "how can we torture Butters".

...in bed. (Chris Piuma), Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:17 (twenty years ago) link

also, somewhere, Trey & Matt said that Butters is the nickname for their animation producer. They love Butters.

Kingfish Balzac (Kingfish), Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:25 (twenty years ago) link

Butters reminds me of myself.

latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:47 (twenty years ago) link

"That's me!"

Butters (Dan Perry), Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:47 (twenty years ago) link

:)

latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 8 April 2004 19:54 (twenty years ago) link

Butters is fantastic, but I hope that, after all they've done to him in the last few episodes, they leave him alone for a bit. More Tweak!

...in bed. (Chris Piuma), Friday, 9 April 2004 03:02 (twenty years ago) link

i think the show has actually gotten stronger as it has gone on... they do a great job of toying with all of the media-generated temporary hysterias of american life. that being said, i think the funniest moment of the show was during the jesus/santa cabaret scene in the "mr hankey's christmas classics" episode when santa starts singing "rio" by duran duran. classic.

Aaron Grossman (aajjgg), Friday, 9 April 2004 18:40 (twenty years ago) link

please don't leave out eggyolkio.
Sorry. Never saw that one.

The Passion episode wasn't that good -- I was expecting more.
I give Trey and Matt credit for coming out and courageously saying what needed to be said about The Passion: "This isn't entertainment. It's a snuff film."
Never were truer words spoken.

Lord Custos Omicron (Lord Custos Omicron), Saturday, 10 April 2004 02:14 (twenty years ago) link

Sure. I mean, they were written in my local weekly months before they got around to saying it, but they do admittedly have a slightly larger audience.

...in bed. (Chris Piuma), Saturday, 10 April 2004 02:33 (twenty years ago) link

OMG YOU JUST GOT GOTHSERVED WTF

teeny (teeny), Saturday, 10 April 2004 12:55 (twenty years ago) link

That was my favorite thing! And the goth dancing was all too accurate.

El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Saturday, 10 April 2004 13:19 (twenty years ago) link

they should have included the 'clawing the cobwebs away' and 'reaching out of the grave' variants.

teeny (teeny), Saturday, 10 April 2004 13:46 (twenty years ago) link

The trick is to always look like you are dancing alone in your suffering, no matter how many people you are with.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 10 April 2004 13:49 (twenty years ago) link

"Dancing isn't something you do in public -- you do it alone at 3 am in your bedroom!"

El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Saturday, 10 April 2004 13:53 (twenty years ago) link

one month passes...
It's my day off, and I'm watching You Got Served during lunch purely because of the South Park episode.

Tep (ktepi), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 16:58 (nineteen years ago) link

This sounds like a fine reason!

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 19 May 2004 17:01 (nineteen years ago) link

Now its on.

Spinktor, Wednesday, 19 May 2004 17:02 (nineteen years ago) link

seven months pass...
blood orgy! blood orgy!

teeny (teeny), Monday, 27 December 2004 01:08 (nineteen years ago) link

That was fantastic.

The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 December 2004 03:27 (nineteen years ago) link

Also, it's amazing how much funnier the You Got Served episode is on repeated viewings.

Also, BLOOD ORGY!

The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 December 2004 03:37 (nineteen years ago) link

That Woodland Critters episode almost made my head explode. I think the show's as funny as it's ever been. And it's in the zone now where the Simpsons was after 4 or 5 years, where the writing is still sharp and the ideas are still pretty fresh, but it's been absorbed into the culture enough that nobody's really paying much attention to it anymore -- which allows them to kind of fly below the radar in plain sight, and get away with things they couldn't have in the first few seasons.

gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Monday, 27 December 2004 04:14 (nineteen years ago) link

It's my day off, and I'm watching You Got Served during lunch purely because of the South Park episode.

haha omg mr teeny just tivo'd this movie!

teeny (teeny), Monday, 27 December 2004 04:52 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm going to say occasionally classic, but usually dud.

The Christian Rock episode was one of the funniest things I've ever seen ("I Might Be Born Again, But I Wasn't Born Again Yesterday")

Hurting (Hurting), Monday, 27 December 2004 04:53 (nineteen years ago) link

blood orgy!

teeny (teeny), Monday, 27 December 2004 16:04 (nineteen years ago) link


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