Come on Down to Ponyville and Meet Some Friends of Mine · 3:43am Oct 30th, 2019
For about the last three years, the last line of my story ideas document has held five words. Right at the bottom, at the very end of the 'crossovers' section (I've never written a crossover, and have only enjoyed reading a single one, so you can see just how low-priority they are for me), it says:
Twilight Sparkle in South Park
(I love the double duty this picture pulls here).
I remember seeing Bigger, Longer and Uncut at a sleepover. It had its funny moments, but overall I didn't really get it. I saw Timmy 2000 sometime after that, and, again, it had some funny moments, but I couldn't see what all the fuss was about. Fart jokes and over-the-top crudeness. On the other hand, I saw Team America: World Police, and I loved it to bits.
Some years ago it snowed, so my band and I bundled down to the park to mess around in the snow and take photos of us being idiots together. Then we all went back to my guitarist's student house, where we were all friends with all his housemates too, and we grabbed some food. People went their separate ways, and I ended up looking in on the metalhead Christian girl. She was tucked up in bed, watching South Park on her laptop, and invited me to join her. So there, snuggled away from the snowy outside, we watched The F Word. Everything changed. Every episode was like a mini Team America, with the perfect balance of offensiveness, absurdism, and razor-sharp satire.
It is amazing how much more bold political and social observations can be when your show sets out to offend everyone anyway. No other show comes close to being that accurate.
It's also, strangely enough, a wonderful tale of friendship. Stan and Kyle are still best friends (I rewatched Kenny Dies earlier, where there bond is particularly human). After 22 years of his antics, they still hang out with Cartman. Indeed, in the first episode where PC Principal shows up, they're cheering him.
And that's because at its heart is the most beautiful friendship of all. Two men from Colorado who met at university, found they shared a sense of humour and were annoyed by the same sanctimonious nonsense, and moved to LA together, sleeping on floors while trying to catch their big break.
Since then they've released two feature films to cinemas and written the most successful musical of the last four decades. They continue to write, voice and direct ten South Park episodes a year, each with the aforementioned six day schedule, which they have only missed once in all that time (when there was a power cut). And somehow, despite that pressure and that routine for that long, they're still best friends and haven't murdered each other.
Here they are on the red carpet together in 2000. Blame Canada, a song from Bigger, Longer and Uncut was nominated for an oscar. Really. And the oscars are the polar opposite of everything South Park stand for, so they went in drag while high on acid. And copied last year's headline-making dresses.
(Obviously Jennifer Lopez, yes. But honestly, I think Matt wore it better than Gwyneth).
South Park's quality threshold is insane. It's not consistent - when you take an episode from completely non-existent to aired on TV in six days, then consistency is too much to ask for - and there are definitely episodes which drag, or don't work as well. But no show has managed anything like the number of genuinely jaw-dropping moments and episodes they have.
It's Randy's talk with Stan in The Cissy, and the revelation that follows. It's Jimmy's refusal to back down in Sponsored Content, and his subsequent responses and escalations throughout the episode. The cycle and Stan's phone calls in Cash for Gold. The song in Put it Down. Tom Cruise in the closet. Mysterion's dark secret. Mecha-Streisand. The power of mint and berries, yet with a satisfying, tasty crunch. Above all else, it's the end of You're Getting Old.
This is a series I've cared about for a long time, and a series perfect for crossing over with ponies. In some ways, they'd be an ideal match. In others, they literally could not be more opposed.
It's not practical, though. Because the two shows have such opposite worldviews (optimism keeping us aiming high vs cynicism keeping our eyes open), then either the MLP characters must learn to be more South Park (and lose everything we love them for), or the South Park characters must learn to be more pony (and lose everything we love them for).
So those five words remained untouched at the bottom of my story ideas document, where they belonged.
There are 22 seasons of South Park. That's a lot of DVDs, so I haven't bothered, and just stuck with allsp for watching them online. But in the last month, a few seasons have gone up on Netflix, and I've been rewatching them. For the remainder, some DVDs have now made it onto my Christmas list.
I rewatched one episode, which had always been a favourite, and realised just how stupidly wonderful it is. And I thought about it. Then I thought about it some more, and I realised some parallels.
And I think, after all this time, that I know how to write a pony South Park crossover. And I think I'll give it a try.
(Not like that. But I love that it has 'Let's Fighting Love' on the soundtrack at the end).
Have to agree.
I never really got the appeal of South Park, which is to say I watched every episode up through season three while it was on the air, then it fell out of my life somehow and I am continually astonished when people tell me it's still around.
I don't say this often, but Jesus fuck. I mean, haven't they run out of shit to talk about by now?
Love those underwear gnomes though.
5147960 I would say that if the main bit you watched was the first three seasons, I'm not surprised you weren't so enamoured with it. Even the creators can't stand those seasons anymore. I really do think it's more like Team America now than it is early South Park. I'd say jump in at season 13 if you ever fancied giving it another chance; the episode order doesn't make much difference between about seasons 7 and 14.
I guess there is just that much stupidity in the world for them to work through and clean up
5147964
I guess I just never found smug sanctimony all that appealing. :B
5147971
Yet you like Sunset Shimmer...
5148008
Excuse you, Sunset Shimmer is pure awesome. >:V
5148020 She certainly thinks so!
Can't say I'm really into it, since I've never watched South Park in my life. Not that I find it offensive or anything, it just never clicked.
5148079 I'm hoping the story should still be accessible, but yeah, that's totally fair if it's not your thing.
I held off replying to this because I was trying to think of one episode to suggest, if you ever fancied giving South Park a try. I rewatched Good Times with Weapons yesterday and laughed a lot, so, if you were curious, that's and episode I'd recommend. But that's not to say that yeah, you should totally watch that. Just a good one to try if you did want to.