Joystiq review: South Park makes love, not Warcraft [update 2]

by Ross Miller { Oct 4th 2006 at 11:30PM }

To kick off the fall season of South Park, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone decided to take on gaming phenomenon World of Warcraft. The episode kicks off in Goldshire. Cartman, "a mighty dwarf," takes back from a bathroom break before they all take on a quest. The boys collide with a half-naked avatar who dances and then kills the boys ... without agreeing to a duel! Ooh, he breaks the rules. Blizzard is helpless to stop them -- he can actually kill admins. So all the children -- even Butters, who had to switch from Hello Kitty Island Adventures -- all band together to stop the foe. Failing that, the boys power-level for over 17 days in the small hope that they can overcome the foe with "absolutely no life."

A majority of the episode takes place in World of Warcraft, and the in-game choreography is superb. The episode is more of an homage to WOW than a satire, though it has its moments of absurdities (especially when involving the Blizzard staff). It's the hardcore World of Warcraft players that get the butt of most jokes. Portrayed as overweight, Rockstar-drinking, pimple-faced nerds with carpal tunnel syndrome, these "pros" are shown as possibly having even less than no life.

It's the craziness you would expect from Parker and Stone, with due respect given to the source material. Relation to video games aside, it's a great social satire that ranks with some of the better episodes.

"Scroll over him with your mouse cursor and ... right click!"

[Update 1: Here's another take on the episode from sister site TV Squad. 2: Grab the entire episode over at You NEWB.]

Tags: blizzard, matt stone, MattStone, south park, SouthPark, trey parker, TreyParker, warcraft, world of warcraft, WorldOfWarcraft

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Matt @ Oct 4th 2006 11:38PM

Dang, I wanted to watch that one! :(

Cole @ Oct 4th 2006 11:39PM

I love South Park! Can't wait for next weeks episode... and the one after that... and the one after that... If only there could be new episodes every week.

Elise @ Oct 4th 2006 11:41PM

Awesome episode. I would just like to say to those who are possibly takeing this way to seriously and are pulling out the obvious flaws and saying that it sucked......obviously your sense of humour is dry...very very dry. ALL THAT ASIDE! Big props to the SP boys. Gotta love them.

Mars10 @ Oct 4th 2006 11:44PM

Mom! Bathroom. Bathrooooooom!

Raynre @ Oct 4th 2006 11:44PM

Im sad to say that, while they were showing the shots from Arathi Highlands, I was commenting to myself: "Those people arent level 40. Look at that pathetic armor. There's no way they could have made it all the way there and lived long enough to make it out of the outpost."

Im going to cry myself to sleep tonight...

Judd @ Oct 4th 2006 11:49PM

I'm a big South Park fan and I just didn't like this episode that much. Like Ross said most of the episode takes place in game but I don't know it wasn't that funny. Ok I get it people who play this game have no life. The way the episode played out was fairly obvious. On the one hand I admire the fact that South Park picks a topic that no other show covers, like Warcraft or Scientology. On the other hand I feel like some of the episodes in the past few years (with a few exceptions each season), is just one topic with a very predicatable plot.

spencer @ Oct 4th 2006 11:50PM

Couldn't agree with you more, Judd

MosquitoControl @ Oct 4th 2006 11:50PM

It wasn't very funny if you hadn't played.

It did, however, remind me why I only subscribed for two weeks. After 15 days I'd had it. Game was awful. So boring, so very, very boring.

Firegirl @ Oct 4th 2006 11:56PM

I think the SP boy are genius. They can take the most serious of thing and make them hilarious. Or, they can show people how retarded they act sometimes.

Matt @ Oct 5th 2006 12:08AM

#9,
I agree completely. It takes a pretty strong mindset to be able to step back from all that is popular (no matter the group of popularity) and insult the crap out of it, risking lawsuits and bad press to get a point accross.

Pheonix Gamma @ Oct 5th 2006 12:09AM

It was just great seeing Kenny's character's mouth move but only hear mumbling :3

Necros @ Oct 5th 2006 12:18AM

Did anyone else get almost a .hack feel from the episode? For instance, when the Blizzard admins were talking about the guy who couldn't be killed "because he didn't have a life," they kept talking about reaching previously unknown levels, going around killing characters (though obviously no comas), killing admins, and existing outside of the rules. That just screams .hack to me.

Not that I'm criticizing it; in fact, I loved the episode. (Though I could have done without the "bathroom" scene.) Just wondering if anyone else got the same vibe that I did.

I can't wait for next week's episode!

Ogre @ Oct 5th 2006 12:29AM

I was a little disappointed there was no "LEEEEROYYYYY JENKINS!" reference.....

kokernutz @ Oct 5th 2006 12:31AM

I haven't played WoW specifically, but consider myself a gamer. Not only was it a laugh-out-loud episode, but one that turned on the big internal-grin. A++

digitalFrequency @ Oct 5th 2006 12:32AM

I wouldn't be surprised if someone who plays WoW was awestruck and disappointed by the absolute inaccuracies they imposed in the episode. I'd be less surprised if someone made a thread bashing that on the WoW forums.

I thought the episode was pretty funny. And I personally found those inaccuracies pretty funny too.

pacokorn77 @ Oct 5th 2006 12:34AM

#13 - I KNEW something was missing. >.<

#14 - I felt the same way.

Jeff @ Oct 5th 2006 12:39AM

I thought the way the SP kids talked while playing the game was spot on...I don't even play the game and I've heard it plenty of times.

That said, I thought it was really funny in some parts but boring in others, which is how most SP episodes are. Luckily, the funny outweighs the boring.

Nowhere near the funny of my favorite SP, Fun With Weapons, though.

David @ Oct 5th 2006 12:44AM

This episode was the greatest yet. I don't play WoW, most of my friends don't play WoW, but we all found the episode hillarious. There was the usual level of technical errors that happens with TV shows trying to show gamers. All in all a good episode.

Chris @ Oct 5th 2006 12:46AM

It was pretty good...they make Stans dad the funniest character now....lol....he's hilarious....ever since the "Day After 2Morrow" and the Baseball episodes he's been on top

makesevenupyours @ Oct 5th 2006 1:01AM

i thought it was a GREAT episode.

my favorite part though...

when the blizzard admins are trying to get the sword into the game to give to them, and neither of them have an account. so his dad is all like "i have an account!!"

they go to best buy and log in at the demo booth, and there is the big "world of warcraft: the burning crusade" sign over top of them.

he comes to give him the sword and they make it all dramatic and he's like "ok, now take the sword...uhh...how do i give you the sword?"

"you have to open your inventory, control i"

"ok..."

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!

"THAT WAS SOME UBER PWN4GE!!"

and the inaccuracies were fine...dont worry about it.

oh ya, my FAVORITE part was when they gather all the world of warcraft addicts for a meeting, and butters says he doesnt have it.

"butters, i thought you spend all your time on the computer"

"i do, playing hello kitty: island adventures"

"[frustrated voice]ok...butters, go buy world of warcraft, install it on your computer, and make an account before we all kill you right now."

i thought it was a great episode!!

josh @ Oct 5th 2006 1:52AM

It was funny, but had too many missed opportunities where it could have been funny. Cartman was barely himself in it at all. There was tons of opportunity for really good trash talk and silly "true to the game" leet geek speak.

In South Park reality Cartman would have looked up the the story's antagonist and become one of his followers in some treacherous twist.

Why kenny wasn't a rogue wearing a red Defias mask or ebon hood is beyond my comprehension.

I laughed and it was funny. But they could have done a bit more work on the plot, and hired another WoW expert consultant or two. It felt a bit amateur compared to many of their other works.

I'd love to have seen Cartman doing some griefing, and maybe even pulling a gold scam on kyle to get his money. Cartman could have set up a chinese sweatshop of farmers over the net to amass an in game empire. Etc and so forth. So many funny plots to be had, but they picked a kinda dorky wanna be Matrix thing. Meh.

christopherr @ Oct 5th 2006 2:18AM

After watching this, I had a major WoW craving, but after remembering myself spending 10 minutes running somewhere I decided it would be best if I never reactivate my account. I miss the battlegrounds!

@ #12

I know exactly what you mean. I kept wanting to say something to my friends, but they'd have no freaking idea what I was even talking about.

mark @ Oct 5th 2006 3:15AM

One of the funniest things ive seen in a while.

TehDestroyer @ Oct 5th 2006 3:19AM

It'd be great if the inaccuracies were done in jest and they made them glaringly obvious, but they seem like the predictable mistakes people make when they try to cover a topic from the outside. One that really made me mad or at least made my inner gamer cry a bit: They say they can level to 60 via killing boars...I don't need to tell any gamer how wrong that is. If getting to 60 was that easy I'd open my own powerleveling service.

Jau_Peacecraft @ Oct 5th 2006 3:37AM

I second necros comment about .hack. I immedatly was reminded of it when the player started killing everyone, reaching a level previously unknown. The Sword they used at the end especially reminded me of .hack

I actually thought this was the best episode yet, it reminded me of the Anime episode which was like the best south park since mech streisand in terms of randomness (NOBODY saw robert smith coming, nobody lol). All in all good show, SP, good show. Needless to say I might not try Warcraft anytime soon, Id rather play The Specialists, Halo, Goldeneyesource or Metal Gear Solid Online.

Joe A. @ Oct 5th 2006 3:40AM

A former co-worker of mine is an artist in South Park Studios and the first thing he told me after his first season on-staff is that EVERYONE in SPS plays WoW.

aphallatosis @ Oct 5th 2006 4:33AM

BLIZZARD BLIZZARD BLIZZARD

This was South Parks version of the Boost Mobile Aqua Teen episode. Matt and Trey didn't make a tribute or a satire they just sold out. Also the episode wasn't funny.

NoHitHair @ Oct 5th 2006 5:01AM

Having played World of Warcraft on and off since its release, I found this episode jaw-droppingly hilarious. But when I think about it, it probably wasn't all too humorous to those who haven't played WoW.

Trust me, if you actually have played WoW for even a couple weeks, these esoteric jokes are much funnier.

YLA G @ Oct 5th 2006 5:58AM

any youtube link?

Vinsm @ Oct 5th 2006 6:42AM

Worst. Episode. Ever.

Martin @ Oct 5th 2006 7:41AM

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4887084348700090964&q=world+of+warcraft+%2B+south+park+duration%3Along&hl=en

It was found on GoogleVideo

Spilt_Milk @ Oct 5th 2006 8:04AM

@TehDestroyer

They were killing boars to get to 60...bores...get it?

You sound like the comicbook store guy from The Simpsons.

jadeheart6 @ Oct 5th 2006 8:13AM

I loved the episode. I played WoW for over a year but finally quit in January. Do I miss it? No, I don't miss the grind. I left because it had become such a huge time sink. Since I stopped playing I've lost about 30 pounds and am back to a normal weight. I doubt the hardcore players even watched this episode since they were probably stuck in the Molten Core killing Surgers for hours on end. For those of you who are complaining about accuracy, you don't seem to understand what satire is all about.

Shore @ Oct 5th 2006 8:17AM

It seems to me that the people complaining about it are exactly who SP were making fun of. They probably threw in those inaccuracies on PURPOSE, just to get you all steamed up. That's awesome.

Great, great episode!

LaughingTarget @ Oct 5th 2006 9:31AM

It looks like Blizzard actually gave Parker and Stone open access to the game engine on a private server or something. A lot of what went on, like many animations, just aren't in the actual game. Nice to see Blizzard was actively involved in this one, instead of South Park just ripping on them.

Chris @ Oct 5th 2006 10:15AM

It had the same plot as .hack lol

I don't play WoW but I love .hack, and the fact I was drawing similarities between the two made me feel like I had less then no life.

Cletus @ Oct 5th 2006 10:15AM

In my opinion this was a great episode, it could have been alot better but still elicited many harcore laughing out loud sessions for me. I have played wow though. I can completely understand why anyone who has not played wow would HATE this episode as it pretty much ignores the series overall style, storylines and conventional wisdom by being a very theme specific episode. I personally am very glad that they would devote one of their episodes to skewering wow and for me this will go down as one of the greatest south park's of all time but let me at least be a voice for wow fans and appologise to everyone else for the fact that one of this years few epsiodes was wasted in such a way. I love south park but it sucks there are so few episodes so sorry everyone who doesn't play wow, sometimes life i unfair that way.

Yaya @ Oct 5th 2006 10:17AM

One Correction: I believe they powergamed for over 7 weeks, not 17 days.

Todd @ Oct 5th 2006 10:21AM

I loved this episode. A great homage indeed to a fascinating game. For the non-gamers, you aren't expected to get all the jokes, but this isn't any different then the boys becoming consumed by religion or any other "topic" of that episode. Watch and laugh, don't concern yourself with all the other finer points if you're not into gaming.

Q Manning @ Oct 5th 2006 10:50AM

If you're complaining about the inaccuracies then you're an idiot. Please, do not whine about how "this armor wouldn't get you there" or "you can't level that way."

It was a FREAKIN' EPISODE OF A TV SHOW! Learn the phrase, "Artistic License."

Mystic @ Oct 5th 2006 11:01AM

Awesome episode!!!

#13, I agree, I was waiting for a Leroy Jenkins part.

Michael V. @ Oct 5th 2006 11:18AM

#25
They had to kill 65,340,285 boars :)

Zelos @ Oct 5th 2006 11:20AM

@christopherr

I had the same response, I got half way through the first installer disk before remembering that I uninstalled WoW because it was so dull. Strange that it has such an addictive draw.

dsub @ Oct 5th 2006 11:31AM

I made my World of Warcrack addicted friends watch this episode of South Park tonight in hopes that it would bring them away from their PC's for once. To no avail, they laughed at the show, and immediately following it went right back home to play WoW some more. God I hate that game.

js beckerist @ Oct 5th 2006 11:45AM

@22

Did you really just say "In South Park reality...?"

Farkman @ Oct 5th 2006 11:46AM

I think this episode was brilliant. I've been WoW free for over a year now and I realize that, regardless of whether you play it or not, the game takes your soul away if you take it too seriously. When the griefer loses, he has absolutely no response at all, and the boys look like they're having absolutely no fun playing it at the end.

I knew it before, but after watching it a couple times, the way they paint WoW is just like any drug. At first it might be fun, but if you go overboard it becomes just this thing you do out of habit.

Also Cartman crapping on his mom was pretty funny too.

Wulkar @ Oct 5th 2006 11:49AM

i only saw the last 5 min because i was playing saints row but i think its on tommorrow agian and i will watch it then.

i think its good that television is getting more and more intergrated with video games.

OTAM @ Oct 5th 2006 11:51AM

Just log into your account.

Account? I don't have an account,I have a life.

Basheron @ Oct 5th 2006 11:52AM

I just want to thank Trey Parker and Matt Stone for doing that episode, as a WoW player I loved every bit of it, even if I also balance a life at the same time! Good satire. I was hopeing for more Dew and Red Bull cals to go with the rockstar cans, but you really captured the essence of hard core grinding!

oh, and WTS [Sword of a Thousand Truths]