Scott Tennerman must die. Great episode.John Edwards the biggest douche in the universe. Thye priest rallying against church pedophilia was also. Out of the closet with Travolta and some other obscure actor was fun too.
I hate to chime in without knowing the title but the ninja Anime one where Cartman thinks he is invisible is at the top of my list.
Tom Cruise was in the closet. Travolta and R. Kelly were trying to get him to come out.
I like a lot of the episodes listed above but I think my all-time favorote would still have to be The Biggest Douche in the Universe.
Some trivia appropriate to the date of the OP. In Episode 802, AWESOME-O, Butters mentions that his birthday is September 11.
Love the AWESOME-O episode, but the Saints joke hurts me on the inside every time.
Then they joined him in the closet and decided they liked it in there, ne pas?
Good Times With Weapons
Actually, they were riffing on Pet Sematary – which, by King’s admission, does owe something to “The Monkey’s Paw.”
I counter your wikipedia cite with my own:
[Anoyingly Thorough And Righteous Cartman Voice]A specific reference to a resurrected son and the fact that The Monkey’s Paw was written over 80 years before your ‘reference’ means I win. [/ATARCV]
They’re not, though, “conservative” in the sense that most people think of it (right wing), and they’ll bash the right too.
“Scott Tenorman Must Die” is indeed the best episode. With many occasions of Cartman’s schemes failing, and several instances of failure suspected in this episode, the climax is unbeatable. The whole walkthrough is so matter-of-factly direct. It is hilarious to see Cartman unfold the whole plot and then taste Scott’s tears, taunting “I made you eat your parents!”. By far the most perfect episode of South Park ever!
“Dude, let’s never piss Cartman off again.”
“Agreed.”
To the best of my knowledge, they haven’t since that episode.
Can’t it be both?
The scene you describe is definitely inspired by The Monkey’s Paw, but the circumstances of the attempt to resurrect Butters - reburying him - comes straight from Pet Semetary. As does the dialogue from the guy who gives Butters’s father the idea.
FTR, (since I started this thing) here are my thoughts on some of the episode mentioned by other posters, in no particular order:
Marjorine - Still the best because of brilliant qualities across the board; see my posts above. Admittedly, does not contain the “the best” gag(s) in the entire series, but there are no weak links.
Scott Tenorman Must Die - Spectactular episode, mostly for it’s surprise ending as others have noted. Definately within the top five ever, but if it didn’t have such a good pay-off, this episode would rate a C+ at best.
Awsome-O - A fantastic premise gets this episode started in very high gear, but the dumb shoot-em-up ending keeps this episode out of the hall of fame, I’m afraid.
Cartman’s J-Lo Handpuppet - The handpuppet business may qualify as the all-time funniest single gag the series ever produced, giving this show high, high marks in my book. It certainly makes my top five. Sadly, whenever the puppet wasn’t on screen the action dragged, and the scenes of crabby real-life J-Lo and self-absorbed Bennifer were just annoying.
Invisible Cartman - Another fantastic, clever episode, to be sure, with very high overall scores, but not high enough to topple Marjorine.
**The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers ** - An ingenius premise, consitantly well executed. Maybe not in my top five, but real close.
Tom Cruise in the Closet, John Edwards, Mecha-Streisand, etc - Some of these episodes had their moments, but they certainly don’t qualify for the top tier of shows, IMO.
My nomination for Most Perfect South Park Episode is the one where they return “Whalezyx” to his home, the moon.
As was said earlier,
Plus, there’s a great payoff at the end, just like the Scott Tenorman ep.
The end credits roll, but without the theme music. The image on screen is that of a dead killer whale lying on the moon’s surface.
My explanation doesn’t really do the end justice, but if you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about.
I love the episode, but I don’t like the looney tune ending thing. It should’ve been better if it’d finished off on that brutal, overkill note.
It also had some logical flaws/plot holes.
But it’s still pretty awesome.
Fine by me.
Actually, I had stepped away just before the burial* so I missed that bit.
*: Why I stepped away when I was watching it off my DVR I don’t know.
I’m sorry, the notion that Matt and Trey don’t have a huge hard-on for lefties as opposed to righties is absolutely ludicrous. They may bash the occasional rightie – can’t remember any offhand, but they go after lefties wholesale. And generally they go after them with such fervor that they lose their comic edge. Look at the baddies in Team America, World Police: Janeane Garafolo, Alec Baldwin, Michael Moore, Danny Glover, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Helen Hunt … you’d have to be REALLY REALLY unobservant not to get the point here …
They’re libertarians - who hate what the mainstream right wing has become as much as left wingers do, and if they’re anything like me, calling them right wing would be a pretty strong insult. I wanted to defend that.
Of course, I’ve been called “extreme right ring” and “very liberal” and everything in between. People have very little room for ideas about political ideologies other than what’s laid out to them by a two-party system.