RJ Writing Ink

South Park, Season 23 Episode 1 Review- Mexican Joker

Fall is finally here, and that means it’s time for our favorite shows to come out with new seasons. Of course, this means it’s time for new episodes of South Park. I’ve been waiting all year to write about Comedy Central’s topical hit, and after the promo from this earlier this week, I had high hopes. After seeing the season premiere of “Mexican Joker”, though, I felt like the show only met us 65% of the way.

After a hilarious opening focusing on Tegridy Farms, the weed farm Randy started last season, we then get into the main plots of the episode. The first one is how Randy feels his business is threatened when people start growing their own weed, leading him to try and get it banned. He tries justifying it by saying it’s taking away his livelihood and threatening his kids health and future, but I see through him. He only cares about the money, like how he’s the only one in his family invested in the farm.

I get the appeal behind Randy: he’s an idiotic man child that lets the show do things they can’t do with the kids. But it can get old relying on one guy all the time. Personally, I hoped that the Tegridy Farms would have flopped last season, so we could put some focus back on the four main boys.

The Boys are Back

Regarding the boys themselves, their story was the funnier of the two. When Cartman learns about ICE arresting potential illegal immigrants, he does what you’d expect: sic them on Kyle’s family and laugh his butt off. It’s such a classic Cartman thing for him to do, and even though we know it’s reprehensible, we can’t help but laugh at it.

So Kyle gets sent to a Detention Camp by himself, and the show could have easily run with the joke that ICE thinks he’s an illegal immigrant, they do something better.

Over the summer, people have debated over whether ICE’s detainment camps are “concentration camps”. So when the guards realize Kyle’s Jewish and American, they have an “Oh Crap” moment, and realize this will make them look like racists. So they offer to let Kyle go, but in true Kyle fashion, he demands all the kids be set free.

Kyle’s long been the voice of reason on the show, but after the whole PC Principal thing, that side of him started to be downplayed. Seeing him stand up for what he thinks is right is a return to his roots that I appreciated seeing.

What’s Happening Now?

Then things took a turn for the weirder. Kyle’s comparison of the kids mistreatment to a supervillains origin story is clever, but saying it would create a “Mexican Joker” fell flat for me. Erik Killmonger came to my mind first; I never even considered Joker. Since it’s South Park, though, the guards get the wrong idea and just try to get the kids to not hate them.

Then Randy goes full on Heath Ledger Joker and blows up everyone’s weed gardens. To be honest, I wasn’t paying attention to his story, caring more about Kyle. Unfortunately, the episode ends on a cliffhanger. Everyone’s now afraid of Mexican Joker and the kids still locked up in detention camps. Which means South Park’s still using serialized stories.

So what was South Park trying to say here, again? Were they ripping on ICE by comparing the camps they run to concentration camps? Were they cashing in on the upcoming Joker film? And why do they still care about Tegridy Farms? There are a lot of ways this story could go this season, but this was a shaky start. Hopefully, next week will resolve the detention camp story in an entertaining fashion. That, and I want to see how far Randy will fall before Tegridy Farms goes under.

I Give “Mexican Joker” a 3/5. Lots of Potential, Poor Delivery

Stray Observations

• I thought it was genuinely hilarious when Cartman realized Kyle+Detention Camp= Sensitive Subject. How did he forget Kyle’s Jewish
• Cartman’s completely nonchalant about being sent to the camp by Stan is so him.
• I want Tegridy Farms to burn down so Stan can move back to South Park
• ICE named the princess in their puppet show Star. Is that a coincidence? Because I hope so.

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I’ve been waiting all year to do this. South Park is back for their 23rd season, and I have every intention of covering it. Starting this week, I’ll be reviewing every new episode of South Park, you guys.

In this episode, I think Cartman just invented the idea of ICEing people. It’s like Swatting, but calling the ICE on them.

Jay’s Favorite April Fools Day Pranks

Ah, April Fools TDay. The day of the year when people take the time out of their day to celebrate practical jokes and harmless mischief. I may not be able to spend the time to pull pranks, but I love this holiday, nonetheless!

This year, to celebrate April Fools Day, I thought I would talk about some of the best pranks that I’ve ever seen or heard of. Buckle up, people, we’re going in hot.

Toonami’s Back, Baby!

If you haven’t seen Adult Swim’s April Fools Day pranks, then you have been missing out. Every year since 2004, Cartoon Network’s late night adult block has gone out of their way to play some hilarious pranks. This one, though, was less of a prank, and more like an awesome gift.

If you’re a 90’s kid and love anime, then chances are you got that love from watching Toonami on Cartoon Network. So when it was cancelled in 2008, fans were so upset.

Then, for April Fool’s Day 2012, Adult Swim surprised everyone by bringing Toonami back from the dead for one night only. The next day, it was all anyone could talk about. The overwhelming support for the prank led to Adult Swim announcing the return of Toonami. Since May 26th, 2012, Toonami has aired nearly every Saturday. Best. Prank. Ever.

Rick and Morty Returns

You may recall how, two years ago, people were clamoring for McDonald’s to bring back the szechuan teriyaki dipping sauce they used to promote the Disney film Mulan. If you didn’t know what led to that, the answer can be found with Adult Swim’s hit animated show Rick and Morty.

For their April Fools Day prank for 2017, Adult Swim gave fans of Rick and Morty a huge surprise. With no prior announcement or marketing, they aired the Season Three premiere of Rick and Morty. Long story short, it sees Rick break out of an intergalactic prison and then single-handedly topple the intergalactic government. And Adult Swim aired it over and over all night long.

This is the best part: at one point in the episode, Rick talks about his love for the Mulan szechuan sauce and how he wants to bring it back. The fan base proceeded to turn it into a viral movement that McDonald’s ultimately gave into. They brought back the sauce for one day, but their inability to provide enough of the sauce for customers led to fans freaking out.

Wait, I wonder if the people from Rick and Morty did it because they knew fans would start a movement and that McDonald’s would screw up? Maybe that was the real prank. Either way, I loved it. I didn’t even care that Samurai Jack and Dragonball Super didn’t come on that night!

Google Maps Pac-Man

Every year, Google likes to get in on the April Fools Day Pranks, and a few years back, they gave us one of the best pranks I’ve ever seen: Google Maps Pac-Man.

On April Fools Day and a few days afterwards, Google Maps got an added feature allowing people to play games of Pac-Man. Unlike the traditional version, this one relied on the real world locations of streets. Go to major cities and it was amazing. I just wish they brought it back for this year!

Toonami in Japanese Subs!

You may be noticing a trend here, but I can’t help it. Adult Swim does some good pranks. And when Toonami happened to coincide with April Fools Day last year, they decided to do something fun.

They aired everything in Japanese! For one night, Toonami was a part of the Enligsh subtitle camp. This wasn’t as epic as when Toonami came back for one night, but it was still a lot of fun. Fans even got a sneak preview of FLCL: Alternative. Months before it was supposed to air. That is amazing.

Spaghetti Trees

This one was so good, it had thousands of people convinced that it was true. In 1957, BBC aired a three minute broadcast on a Swiss family harvesting spaghetti noodles from spaghetti trees. At the time, a lot of people in the UK didn’t know that spaghetti was a pasta because most didn’t eat it. Thousands of people ended up calling in asking them how to grow their own spaghetti trees. To this day, this elaborate prank is considered to be one of the greatest April Fools Day jokes of all time. Given the level of detail that BBC put towards this hoax, it’s easy to see why its so good.

South Park Terrence and Phillip Prank

Back when South Park was still a new show on the block, it ended up attracting a lot of controversy. And not in the good, South Park way. The Season One finale to the show left viewers with a cliffhanger, as it was about to reveal the identity of Eric Cartman’s father. Despite promising that they would learn the truth with the Season Premiere on April 1st, Matt Stone and Trey Parker decided to air a special starring the fictional Canadian duo, Terrence and Phillip.

While the fake out itself isn’t that funny, what was funny was how the fans weren’t amused by Stone and Parker’s stunt.

To be fair, though, it’s far from the worst decision that the show’s ever made.

Do you agree with my picks? What’s your favorite April Fools Day Prank? Let me know!

*The following was originally published on FANDOM. Due to the FANDOM Contributor Program being shut down, it has been copied and moved to my blog. Thank you!

Not every video game based on a cartoon is going to be good. In fact, one of the most reviled games in history is based on a superhero cartoon! It’s actually better that video games based on cartoons don’t try and appeal to critics. It’s more important that these games stay true to their cartoons, as fans are the ones most likely to want to play the game.

Gameplay and critical reception aside, what the players and fans of the shows think about a game can be of bigger importance. In that regard, these five games live up to the fans’ love for their respective shows.

RUGRATS: THE SEARCH FOR REPTAR

Nickelodeon’s Rugrats was one of its first shows, and one of its most successful. This success led to several movies, spin-offs, and even video games such as Rugrats: The Search For Reptar. The game focuses on the efforts of Tommy Pickles and his friends to find his missing Reptar puzzle. This means going through more than a dozen levels, most of them based off episodes from the show itself.

Now, the graphics for this platformer have not aged well over the years, but that doesn’t stop it from being a fun game. For any kid who watched Rugrats on TV, being able to play through different episodes would have been a dream. This game ended up a huge hit with kids on the PlayStation, enough to be re-released under Sony’s “Greatest Hits” brand. Plus, how awesome was it to rampage through a city as the big dinosaur himself, Reptar?

SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS: THE BATTLE FOR BIKINI BOTTOM

In his latest scheme to steal the Krabby Patty Formula, Plankton builds a massive army of robots in Spongebob Squarepants: The Battle For Bikini Bottom. It backfires, though, when the robots throw him out of the Chum Bucket. They proceed to run amok in Bikini Bottom, leaving it up to Spongebob, Patrick, and Sandy to clean up the mess — which includes giant robot versions of themselves.

This action-adventure game is so enjoyable because it stays true to the show by being as silly as possible. Even the character’s moves are ridiculous — Spongebob’s moves revolve around bubble-blowing! This game has gotten a cult following over the years and will likely be one of Spongebob’s best games. Also, if you 100% the entire game, you will get a special reward …

ED EDD N’ EDDY — THE MIS-EDVENTURES

Cartoon Network’s trio of idiots may have had a hit TV show, but their short track record with games made us want refunds. The exception to this was their console release, Ed Edd N’ Eddy — The Mis-Edventures. Ed-fans get to control their favorite trio as they run through the Cul-De-Sac and annoy the other kids. That, or earn money for Jawbreakers — if you saw the jawbreakers, you’d understand.

This 3D platformer is short at six hours, and there is no overarching plot at work. This can hinder the game’s creative potential as a whole, but at the same time, each level feels episodic. Combine that with the game retaining the art style and humor of the show, and it’s clear why fans of the show like it. This makes for a short, but fun, romp through one of Cartoon Network’s most successful shows.

THE ADVENTURES OF JIMMY NEUTRON BOY GENIUS: ATTACK OF THE TWONKIES

Players control Jimmy as he saves Retroville from the menace of the Twonkies in this game based on the Jimmy Neutron special. Yeah, they may look cute at first, but when they hear music, they go full Gremlin and wreak havoc. So, it’s up to us to use terrible singing and a Ghostbusters-esque vacuum to round them up and ship them off to space.

The most impressive thing about this game is that it takes a single TV special and expands it into a full video game. Not something a lot of video games have done that or have done so in as entertaining a fashion. By the end of the game, players will have traveled all over Retroville and visited places found in the show. This action-adventure is a must-have for fans of this 2000’s Nicktoon, and it’s a fun parody of the Gremlin movies, to boot.

SOUTH PARK: THE STICK OF TRUTH

If the other games were like episodes of a cartoon, then this was an entire flipping season! Since no one else could do it right, the creators of South Park decided to make their own game for their hit show. The end result is South Park: The Stick of Truth.

You play the game as a new kid who has recently moved to South Park and go outside to make friends. Before you know it, you’re caught in this giant fantasy game played out by the town’s kids. That’s only how it starts, though: there are Nazi Zombies, Aliens, and Al Gore dressed as ManBearPig. It’s something you have to play to believe.

Since the game’s made by the show’s writers and actors, it resembles the show on every level. Not only is the art style the same as the show, but the show’s love of ripping on everything carries over, as the game pokes fun at RPG tropes every chance it gets. Even the in-game items contain callbacks and references to the show’s history. Bottom line, if you’re a South Park fan, you have to play this game.

South Park and Christmas

Howdy-ho, people! It’s time for another 25 days of Christmas. Since South Park will be wrapping up its 22nd season, I thought it would be appropriate to cover one of their Christmas specials.

More than any other show on TV, South Park has a strong connection to Christmas. The whole reason the show even exists is that Matt Stone and Trey Parker made a short film in their college days called “The Spirit of Christmas” that parodied Frosty the Snowman

Then that Executive from Fox asked them to make a sequel for a video Christmas Card called “Jesus vs. Santa”

The rest is history. Rather than argue about which South Park Christmas Special was the best, I’m skipping that and going with the one I loved the most: Woodland Critter Christmas

A Twisted Woodland Critter Christmas

This is one of the funniest and most original Christmas Specials I have ever seen, and I love every minute of it! It starts off like a simple Rankin/Bass special, with a bunch of cute little animals who “befriend” Stan Marsh and get him to kill the mountain lion that keeps eating the chosen mother of their savior. 

Since it’s South Park, though, nothing is ever that simple. The writers make everyone feel bad when it’s revealed the lion had three cubs. But then they pulled a plot twist on us by revealing the critters are Satanists giving birth to the Anti-Christ! I wasn’t sure if I should be laughing or just saying “Stan, dude, you f***d up big time”.

So even though Stan just wants to forget about everything, the Narrator forces him to go back and stop the critters. That goes about as well as you think, so he has to take the lion cubs to learn abortions so they can kill the Anti-Christ.

Oh, and the critters kidnap Kyle to use him as a vessel for the Anti-Christ.

So the Anti-Christ is born, and now the only one able to stop the madness is Santa, who rides in on his sleigh with a shotgun and kills them all, only for Kyle to let himself be possessed. PLOT TWIST!

Cartman’s Story

The best part, though, is when it’s revealed that everything that’s happened was part of a story Cartman made for class. Kyle tries to stop it, but everyone wants to know what happens next. If I were his teacher, I know I would be curious myself. This was a good story. It also explains why there is another son of the devil. Damian hasn’t been seen since Season 1, but he’s still there. Also, the Satan in South Park can be a chill guy.

So the Mountain Lions abort the Anti-Christ, though how, I don’t know. All that matters is that it’s dead. And as a reward for Stan, Santa uses his magic to bring back the mountain lion mom. 

I have been a fan of South Park for years, and I always look forward to seeing what they make fun of each week. I especially love their holiday specials, and this was one of their best ones ever. After this, there was nearly a ten year gap in Christmas Specials for South Park, so if this was going to have been their final one, they went out with a bang. It’s a great parody of Christmas Specials, though of what, I don’t know.

Who cares? Cartman probably got an A+, Christmas was saved, and everyone lived happily ever after… except for Kyle, who died of AIDS two weeks later. I knew Cartman would jab at Kyle. MERRY WOODLAND CRITTER CHRISTMAS!

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