God must really want those kids dead. -- South Park
(S10E06) I'm like, totally cereal, guys.
If nothing else, last night's episode proved that South Park is still an equal opportunity offender. In this episode, Al Gore comes to South Park to warn everyone about Manbearpig (read: global warming), a creature who is half man, half bear, and half pig. Or possibly half man and half bearpig. No one really knows for sure because Gore is apparently the only one who believes he exists.
Al Gore is depicted as a crazed, friendless drifter who believes he's doing the right thing but only manages to hurt those he's trying to help. The gist of the show is that despite Gore's supposedly noble intentions, he's really just using issues to get people to pay attention to him. I was almost expecting the episode to culminate into a message about global warming, but of course, they already did that once. Instead, it was essentially about Gore's tactics, which is fair game for satire as much as anything else, but I felt like they belabored the point more than a little. The episode felt like one joke stretched out for a half hour.
On the other hand, the scenes with the boys trapped in the cave were a nice throwback to the show's earlier days when the episodes were written around the characters themselves. I always love when they explore the relationship between Cartman, who is willing to put himself through serious physical stress to satisfy his own insatiable greed (he eats what he thinks is actual pirate treasure in order to sneak it out of the cave) and Kyle, whose compassion and willingness to forgive causes him to try and save Cartman from drowning under the weight of all the treasure. Of course, Kyle doesn't know Cartman ate all that treasure, and Cartman doesn't tell him.
So yeah, probably not the best episode of the season in my opinion, but it wasn't without its moments.
Giveaways reminder: Office, Eli Stone, Supernatural, South Park
Giveaway Thursday: Tickets to the New York Television Festival ... all of it!
I miss the media-friendly John McCain - VIDEOS
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
4-27-2006 @ 11:41AM
Doron said...
This season has been alot about stretching one joke too much. The Opera thing, the whole Smug/Fart Smelling episode...
Reply
4-27-2006 @ 11:56AM
Chaim said...
Obviously as a conservative, I found this very funny. It actually makes me feel better about seeing how much Bush get's killed on TV these days. I'm all for potshots, as long as they come evenly at both sides.
Reply
4-27-2006 @ 12:00PM
Michael said...
I don't care how far they stretch a joke if Towlie is involved. The Manbearpig thing was really funny, but I think you, Adam, do a much better job of making their point than Matt & Trey did last night. Still, Cartman shitting fake gold is all I really needed to see to enjoy the episode!
Reply
4-27-2006 @ 12:07PM
Mif said...
Michael has written right. I don't care how many this joke is stretched, but if it's really funny I enjoy it. And this episode was awesome, especially Gore
Reply
4-27-2006 @ 12:16PM
bd said...
This episode killed me. Every time Gore said "cereal" I laughed my ass off.
It easily was about Global Warming, the movie he wanted to make about Manbearpig = his global warming movie.
Reply
4-27-2006 @ 12:58PM
Brent said...
It was a swipe at global warming talks. The cave was a symbol of earth. The tour guide said the cave stays at a near constant of 57 degrees (like earth). Once and a while there are winds. Al Gore trying to fix earth would involve us ruining the way we live, symbolized by him trapping the four in a cave.
Reply
4-27-2006 @ 1:01PM
Elliott said...
I watched the old episode that aired before it at 9:30 and now I have the stupid music stuck in my head.
Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb Dumb.
Reply
4-28-2006 @ 6:44PM
Worst Episode Evar said...
This was the worst episode ever. I would say
the same thing if it were Bill O'Reilly being
spiked. It just wasn't funny- the whole cereal thing was JUST SO LAME!!!
Please go back to picking on jennifer lopez.
taco flavored keeses to all of you-
Reply
4-29-2006 @ 1:33AM
Bob Beltran said...
Last week, after the Oprah's vagina/Towlie episode, I opined to friends that I had the terrible feeling that South Park had "jumped the shark." After this week's Al Gore/manbearpig episode, I truly fear fo rthe show. What has hppened? Did Tom Cruise get to them? Did the show's great writing talent get Scientologically lobotomized? these were the two worst episodes in S.P. history. Utterly humorless. Utterly messageless. Utterly pointless. Sure, if you don't like Al Gore or Oprah, you might find some empty satsfaction is seeing them dissed, and if you're in a perpetually marijuana-induced stupor, you might find any stupidity involving Towlie to be entertaining, but face it, folks, these two episodes are totally devoid of entertainment value. And or me, at least, any deeper meaning the shows might have had is far too deep for me to devine.
Reply
4-29-2006 @ 2:00PM
The Libertarian Guy said...
You know what'll happen next... the liberals will whine and insist that South Park be covered by the "Fairness" Doctrine.
Reply
4-29-2006 @ 9:05PM
BRBI B said...
"I'm so seriel!" This statement is not about global warming or cereal. This goes back to Gore's interview on Opera while running for President. Opera asked what his favorite cereal and he said, "Opera" Which is not a cereal or seriel but a series. So Gore was confused and SouthPark is making serious "seriel" fun of him. I love South Park but this season has been a bit weird. Even if I understood A Million Little Fibers because it was based on James Frey's "fraud" from A Million Little Pieces.
Reply
4-30-2006 @ 7:58AM
dangitman said...
This episode was utterly stupid. I don't see why they go after Gore, as he is no longer relevant in poltics - and it was Bush who mentioned that he was against human/animal hybrids in the SOTU address. So why are they trying to say Gore is into scare tactics about genetic engineering?
Aside from the incredibly off-the-mark politics, it just wasn't funny. That also goes for the episode about Oprah's vagina. The double episode about Family Guy was fantastic. Where the hell did they pull this crap from? Seems like they are just desperate to bash someone who is not a Republican.
Reply
4-30-2006 @ 12:40PM
Adam said...
That Oprah thing may be true, but using "cereal" in place of "serious" is a gag that's been around longer than South Park has. My friends and I were saying it as far back as high school (early 90s). Not sure where it started, though.
Reply
5-01-2006 @ 12:09AM
Doober said...
After all these years South Park is still tops. This episode was funny as all hell. Anyone know where I can get a "Together we can stop ManBearPig" bumpersticker? I want one, I'm super serial!
South Park still dominates. Excelcior!!
Reply
5-01-2006 @ 1:40AM
Jim said...
This episode is hilarious, I don't care what you other guys say. To me, this show can make any subject absolutely hilarious. GOOD SHOW! =)
Reply
5-08-2006 @ 12:32PM
erika said...
manbearpig 1/2 man 1/2 bear and 1/2 pig
yes very funny shit and "im cereal"...lol.. its been a while and i still talk and laugh about it with people and friends!!it cracks em up!
some people need to stop being so uptight and just laugh about it, its meant to be stupidly funny....
Reply
5-15-2006 @ 12:30PM
Weasler said...
I saw this for the first time yesterday. Was absolutely hilarious! Almost as funny as the Michael Jackson episode. The defecation scenes at the end were a little gross (why not have him simply throw up?), and the cave penis formations were over-the-top,
but the jabs at Madman Al Gore were TERRIFIC!
Reply
5-19-2006 @ 3:56PM
Petey Pablo said...
I love SP, but clearly their worst moments, at least this season, have come when they stretch a joke and/or truth to zing liberals. Funny: the idea of burying your head in the sand to avoid the Muhammed controversy. Not funny: the 'liberal' media represented in that episode, the whole Al Gore episode, etc. Plus, you know, global warming won't be quite so funny during this hurricane season.
Reply
5-23-2006 @ 7:12PM
Dave Foster said...
Hmmm. I wonder if we took a survey... It has been my experience that most conservatives can laugh at themselves and at shows depicting them as goof-balls, but most liberals are completely unable to do the same. I wonder if we did take that survey how it would come out. Most of the episodes panned as "unfunny" and/or "totally lame" in the above comments were the ones taking potshots at liberal icons and or pet causes. Funny how that works out, eh?
Reply
5-24-2006 @ 1:06AM
d dog said...
manbearpig - funny
"i'm serial" - funny
al gore not having any friends - funny
stalagtite penises - very funny
cartman hording the "treasure" and then blowing it out the backside - made the episode
it's good to see that noone's safe from the wrath of s.p.
having said that, and you can quote me:
"al gore will win the democratic primary and the general election to become our next president!!!"
Reply