| Wednesday, April 12, 2006 |
00:13 - It's wrawng. It's wrawng!
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You know, I really, honestly expected this whole "two-parter" South Park thing to all be a gag; I never expected there to be a second episode at all. The "preview" shots just didn't look plausible.
So I wasn't as taken aback as everyone else in the room at the lead-in fake-out of "The second half of 'Cartoon Wars'... will not be seen tonight! Instead, we bring you a special episode of Terrance & Philip!"
I was, however, surprised to find that that wasn't where it all ended—that it switched back to the real South Park, and off it went on the very episode they'd promised last week.
I tell you, it was amusing sitting in a room full of avowed Bush-haters and watch an animated Bush stare down an incredulous press corps who had never before heard of this insidious new assault on Americans' safety called "the First Amendment". And it was gratifying beyond measure to sit in a room full of Family Guy lovers and watch as Trey and Matt explained that the show is in fact written by a tank full of manatees randomly picking "idea balls" from a giant hopper and putting them one after another in a hole where they settled, like Powerball numbers, into an ingeniously interchangeable joke that could be stuck anywhere in an episode.
But I don't think anything's going to top "Al Qaeda Films"' merciless retaliation for Family Guy's insensitive portrayal of Mohammed.
It's... wrawng!
UPDATE: Oh yes, and as for the "Mohammed scene" on which the whole episode hinges, which was replaced with a "Comedy Central has decided not to show the image of Mohammed" card—it's my guess that the episode was written around the assumption that Comedy Central wouldn't allow an uncensored image, so there wasn't really any suspense about it (not like what was portrayed in the episode about whether to air the uncensored Family Guy episode that was its analog). After all, the scene itself was nonsensical, inoffensive, and eyeblink-short. The comedic timing makes it feel like it was written around the censor card from the outset—I doubt the tiny flash of Mohammed standing in the door with the salmon helmet would have taken the same amount of time as they spent on the censor card, though of course they could have edited it. And of course Comedy Central didn't balk at airing the "Super Best Friends" episode a few years ago, though perhaps (as Mr. Marsh noted) times and standards have changed since the Danish cartoon fiasco, and the uncensored image would have had far more significance in this episode (where it's the focus of two weeks of suspense and worldwide attention, not just a throwaway in an episode about something else). But our expectations were set up for this last week with the "Will Comedy Central puss out?" question, and I don't think anyone was that surprised that they "did", nor do I think the greater significance was lost on anyone.
Unfortunately, we probably won't find out anything concrete when the episode shows up on iTunes this weekend. Because the episodes of South Park and Drawn Together that show up there aren't culled from master tapes or anything—they're presented as broadcast, with Comedy Central station bumps and credits and everything. We'll have to wait for the DVD commentary.
But I'm sure we'll hear the whole story in an interview before that happens. After all, this episode's whole premise came out of this interview...
UPDATE: Puss out.
UPDATE: What? SomethingAwful bandwagoning? Say it ain't so!
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Brian Tiemann
