Saturday, July 10, 2010

My Top 15 Episodes of South Park



After going through every episode of South Park (through season 13) in order for the last year and a half, I decided that it would be a fun idea to pick out my favorite episodes. Below is a list of my 15 favorite episodes (in order), followed by some honorable mentions. It was really hard to pick favorites: I originally was only going to do a top 10, but I had to go with 15 because I didn't feel right weeding anymore out. Also, I did rank them 1-15 (from most favorite to least favorite), but many of these episodes could easily be changed in the order either way. Also, I have not seen any episodes from season 14 (the current season) yet, so none of these could be included in the list. And so, with all that in mind, here are my favorite 15 episodes of South Park:


1. Chinpokomon
(Season 3)

As someone who admittedly was totally obsessed with Pokemon as a kid, this episode automatically got a special place in my heart just because of its subject matter. But it's the two Japanese men in the episode that really make this the funniest episode of South Park to me.

2. Make Love, Not Warcraft (Season 10)

Perhaps the most well known episode, this one is a brilliant parody of World of Warcraft, and Blizzard (the company who created WoW) contributed to help make the episode. A truly hilarious episode from start to finish.

3. Trapped in the Closet (Season 9)

This episode exposes and mocks Scientology for what it really is (a scam), and features Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Nicole Kidman, and funniest of all, R. Kelly (none of which are actually voiced by the real person, obviously).

4. Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy (Season 10)

Ike (a kindergartner) gets involved romantically with his teacher (who happens to be a young, attractive woman), but no one in society seems to mind because it's a female teacher. The police, on being informed of this, joke that they should award him the "luckiest little boy in the world award." This episode also rips Dog the bounty hunter, and features the catchphrase "Nice."

5. Go God Go (parts I and XII) (Season 10)

While many South Park episodes rip various religions, the South Park creators once again show a sense of equality (of making fun of everything) by poking fun at atheism. The episode centers around Cartman and the lengths he goes to to try to acquire a Nintendo Wii without having to wait for it to come out. Also parodies the old TV sci-fi show "Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century."

6. Canada on Strike (Season 12)

The country of Canada decides to go on strike to teach the world a lesson about respecting them. I personally love any time Canadians are portrayed on South Park, and this one also has the famous YouTube battle scene.

7. Christian Rock Hard (Season 7)

Realizing that it's easier to make it in the Christian music industry than in the Mainstream, Cartman decides to start a Christian worship band to win a bet with Kyle that he can get a platinum album first. Also makes fun of celebrity musicians complaining that downloading music illegally is greatly hurting them financially.

8. Scott Tenorman Must Die (Season 5)

Cartman will go to any lengths to get a back at an older boy who has been constantly tricking him. Also features an appearance by Radiohead (actually voiced by themselves).

9. Simpsons Already Did It (Season 6)

Butters, aka Professor Chaos, tries to devise evil schemes to spread chaos throughout South Park, but every time he thinks of something, he realizes it's already been done on an episode of the Simpsons. The boys are also afraid they may have accidentally killed one of their teachers. Features the short but funny "Sea People" song.

10. Night of the Living Homeless (Season 11)

More and more homeless people start showing up in South Park begging for "change" (like loose coins). This problem soon grows to epic proportions.

11. Fishsticks (Season 13)

Jimmy (with the "help" of Cartman) invents the greatest joke in the history of the world, which everyone loves except for Kanye West, who becomes very angry and eventually even questions his own identity because he doesn't understand it. Also rips on Carlos Mencia and features a hilarious song.

12. All About Mormons? (Season 7)

When Stan meets a new Mormon family that has just moved into town, he learns all about the history and roots of Mormonism.

13. The Red Badge of Gayness (Season 3)

Cartman makes a bet with the other boys that this year he can get the South to win in the yearly South Park civil war reenactment.

14. Fat Camp (Season 4)

Because he is overweight, Cartman is sent to fat camp, while the boys learn that Kenny will do anything for money. Also contains "The Prostitute Song" by Chef (featuring James Taylor), which is my favorite Chef song of all time.

15. 4th Grade (Season 4)

The boys and their classmates, which have all now gone on to fourth grade, wish they could go back to third grade, while their new teacher tries to figure out how to control and communicate to them. Features the song "Third Grade" by Eric Cartmen.



Honorable Mentions:


-Gnomes (Season 2)

Step 1: Steal Underpants.
Step 2: ?
Step 3: Profit.

-Rainforest Schmainforest (Season 3)

An episode featuring the voice of Jennifer Aniston as a class teacher that makes fun of empty-hearted activism just for the sake of being seen as an "activist."

-Cartmanland (Season 5)

After inheriting a huge amount of money, Cartman buys his own amusement park that only he is allowed to go to.

-The New Terrance and Phillip Trailer (Season 6)

This episode gets an honorable mention because of the Russel Crowe show "Fightin' Round the World."

-Douche & Turd (Season 9)

Stan tries to abstain from voting for the new school mascot, but P. Diddy and his "Vote or Die" campaign have other ideas.


Almost every episode of South Park is a good episode, but these are the best of the best (to me). I would love to hear your opinions on my list, as I'm sure some people will disagree with me about what I did or did not include. I welcome any comments/feedback, and would love to see what your favorite episodes of South Park are. Thanks!

2 comments:

Sean said...

I enjoy the imaginationland episodes (the directors part is priceless with Bay, Shyamalan and Gibson), as well as "A Ladder to Heaven" (season 6), "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers" (season 6) though it ends very very very awkwardly and "Elementary School Musical" (Season 12) which is just funny. I think your list is very well made though as always.

lespaulio said...

Those are all good episodes as well. The Return of the Fellowship one was on the first draft of my list, but unfortunately it got cut.

P.S. I hate you Sadclown.