Whatever your thoughts on the enduring success of Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s anarchically satirical animated show South Park, the bar was set low from the get-go.
With a title like ‘Cartman Gets an Anal Probe’, the premiere episode’s non-consensual alien invasion in 1997 made it clear that the misadventures of Eric Cartman and Stan Marsh (both voiced by Parker), plus Kyle Broflovski and the eternally doomed (at least up until season six) Kenny McCormick (both voiced by Stone) weren’t going to pass the good-taste barometer. So much so, that commissioning broadcaster Fox baulked, and the show’s imminent global success was enjoyed by Comedy Central.
Stream season 1, episode 1 at SBS On Demand:
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Cartman Gets an A... Probe
episode • South Park • animated • 21m
M
episode • South Park • animated • 21m
M
With the whiff of Mr Hankey the talking poo never far away, it’s exactly this joyously juvenile silliness that punches up the satirical strikes against toxic politics and its proponents when South Park uses its chaos powers for good.
Adored episode ‘Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Boat Ride’, with a cameo appearance by George Clooney as Stan’s gay dog Sparky, takes aim at the ridiculousness of homophobia, including slurs commonly hurled by sports reporters on live TV in the ‘90s. It was awarded by LGBTQIA+ organisation GLAAD, joining the show’s bunch of Emmys.
Stream Season 1, episode 4 at SBS On Demand:
Stream free On Demand
Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride
episode • South Park • animated • 21m
MA15+
episode • South Park • animated • 21m
MA15+
, audiences will no doubt observe some missing episodes across the box set. You might be compelled to ask, where has the line been drawn? After all, Parker and Stone are infamous for throwing mud left, far-right (Hitler appears occasionally, including hanging in Hell with Satan in big screen adventure South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut), and centre.
Which 'South Park' episodes are missing, and why?
There are five episodes from the Peabody award-winning series' 27-year history that are now unavailable to license, worldwide. They're not legally available to stream anywhere, and that includes SBS, the original home of South Park in Australia.
Season 5, episode 3: ‘Super Best Friends’
This episode went to air on Comedy Central in July 2001 uncensored; the backlash came later. The banned episode depicts the arrival of real-life magician David Blaine, to recruit the boys and establish a cult, 'Blainetology', in a thinly disguised jab at The Church of Scientology. But a justice league of superheroes shows up to save them, including, Jesus, Buddha, Krishna — and the Prophet Muhammed.
The depiction of Islam's supreme prophet flouted centuries of tradition, however the backlash wasn’t instantaneous. Parker and Stone pushed the bit further still.
Season 10 episodes 3 and 4: ‘Cartoon Wars’ (Parts 1 and 2)
Igniting an ongoing feud with Seth MacFarlane’s animated show Family Guy, Parker and Stone have Cartman declaring war on Hollywood because he’s incensed by that show depicting the prophet Muhammed. The storyline was inspired by over Danish newspaper 'Jyllands-Posten' publishing cartoon depictions of him in 2005. They were republished by French magazine ‘Charlie Hebdo’ one year later, sparking an uproar. In 2015, 12 people were killed in an al-Qaeda attack on ‘Charlie Hebdo’.
‘Cartoon Wars’ was held back by Comedy Central’s execs, then broadcast with the prophet sequence blacked out, against the wishes of Parker and Stone, who have always maintained they are not Islamophobic and they lambast all religions equally.
Flashpoint
Season 14, episodes 4 and 5: ‘200’ and ‘201’
The creative team got into hot water with a season 14 two-parter, which also went to air on Comedy Central in 2010 with modifications. The episodes feature a celebrity rebellion, led by noted Scientologist Tom Cruise. In it, Cruise and a convoy of A-listers who have all been mocked by South Park over the years, raise a class action against the show, in a meta-textual commentary about how they’ve been mercilessly depicted. The stand-off leads to the return of the Super Best Friends, including the prophet.
Parker and Stone doubled down on all that they had gotten away with before, and all hell broke loose. Despite considerable censorship by Comedy Central, including bleeped dialogue and black box coverage, the episodes created a storm of controversy, and culminated in death threats sent to the studio. All the five episodes were pulled and remain AWOL on streaming services. Even when bootleg copies show up online, they’re speedily taken down.
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