User Reviews

I have come to cherish South Park but if there's a criticism to make about the show for me personally, it is the under-utilization of Kenny to the point where he is an object on screen rather than a person with any sort of dimension. He rarely gets to engage in his own stories and so, to see him get a story here in "Major Boobage" that is also actually the focus of the episode is fantastic.

This episode also showcases the rarely seen sweet and sensitive side of Cartman, one of the most foul characters to arguably appear in all of television. His evilness is heightened by the fact that he is but a child in a cartoon series. Yet, here we see him harbouring known fugitives of the law in his basement after cats are outlawed in South Park after students were found 'cheesing' over cat urine.

Both stories work very well here. Kenny actually has plenty of great moments, especially one where he is discovered by Cartman to be in his basement cheesing over all the cats that Cartman had secretly hidden.

I really enjoyed this episode even if I feel that it could improve on a re-watch. There's a great side story with Gerald here that also adds plenty of laughs, leading to a great climax. "Major Boobage" is a classic South Park episode that showcases how absurdly people can react to the possibility of threat towards children, even if it means banning cats to prevent children from 'cheesing' themselves. A great traditional South Park satire with strong characterization and plenty of memorable moments.

The first two episodes of season 12 were somewhat disappointing, but Major Boobage has proved that Matt and Trey haven't lost the magic touch that got me hooked on South Park in the first place. Cartman's Anne Frank-style subplot was hilariously ironic and it's great to see a bit more of the adults with a Gerald Brofloski-centred storyline, although the kids still have plenty of screen time. The animation is fabulous - on par with 'Good Time With Weapons' and 'Make Love Not Warcraft' - and the script is amazing! For me though, the best part was the focus on Kenny in this episode - he's an awesome character who's been slowly hazed out over the last few years, so it's great to see him making a comeback, and now he's funnier than ever! Kyle and Stan also have their fair share of dialogue, although sadly Butters makes only a small appearance.

Overall, this has definitely gone down as one of my favourite episodes, with a fabulous script and humour that had me laughing out loud the entire time. 9/10

This was probably one of the best episodes from the recent "South Park" seasons.

The parody of the adult animated film "Heavy Metal" was just brilliant, being able to capture the most notorious elements from that movie in very brief segments, with hilarious results.

The subplot of this episode worked very well too, being probably one of the few moments in the entire series where Cartman does something generous for others without any kind of secret intention. It was something nice to see, even when at the end he still remains being...Well, Cartman.

The way in which the two plots from this episode are solved is effective and convincing, delivering some good points in a funny manner.

Also, the songs used in this episode were awesome.

I remember that in the DVD commentary track for the first Imaginationland episode Trey and Matt say that they decided to sort of answer with a real sort of satire and parody to all of those that were saying that the recent South Park episodes were only based on scatological humor and stuff. Certainly the answer of the South Park guys was amazing (for me that trilogy is the very best of South Park from 2007)... however those previous episodes, those with scatological humor (More Crap and Le Petit Tourette) were for me amazing too.

The R4 DVD set I got of Season 12 doesn't contain the mini commentaries of Trey Matt (although the box clearly indicates the contrary! Bastards!), but I easily imagine Trey and Matt saying in the commentary for Major Boobage something similar to the stuff they said in the commentary for that Imaginationland episode. I mean, I wouldn't be a surprise at all to hear Trey and Matt saying that they felt the need to do something extraordinary after all the critics they got for the previous episode (Britney's New Look). And just like with Imaginationland, here with Major Boobage we have an amazing answer (and the very best of the season) but for me this time those critics were just about correct, I mean More Crap and Le Petit Tourette were amazing but Britney's New Look...

Anyway, after finally seeing the entire Season 12 (by seeing last night Over Logging, Super Fun Time and The China Problem I finished another South Park season!) I can report Major Boobage is by far the best episode of 2008, but not only now since it's now definitely an all- time favourite of mine. It's in the vein of, and as fantastic as, Good Times With Weapons and Make Love Not Warcraft. It's in the vein of those episodes because it features a completely different style based on something many can relate to (this time is the movie HEAVY METAL) and it is nothing but a home run in that regard.

But if in Good Times With Weapons we have the anime-like animation and music theme because the kids were playing ninjas, here there must be a reason of why we have the same animation style of HEAVY METAL and the same music. So, why? Well, it's just cheesing time! There's a new drug craze, lots of kids are getting high with cat urine! A much easier and cheaper way but that soon will be also illegal. The HEAVY METAL scenes are simply amazing (and hilarious!) but not only for us but also for Kenny (and Gerald! All the stuff with Kyle's dad is great, from the Fox News report about cheesing to his final confrontation with Kenny!), we understand why he insists to destroy his life! Rockin' tits and heavy metal! For moments I felt I was seeing a new South Park movie, I mean the storytelling here is extraordinary, with each subplot working perfectly. You'll be worried about Kenny (damn, that scene with Kenny totally high, just after we first listen to Sammy Hagar's "Heavy Metal", is really f***** up), about Cartman and his cats (this subplot is fantastic, is the one that felt for me like a South Park movie. The whole "and you don't see any parallel between that and anything else in history " thing: priceless!), and you'll laugh, hell this is just pure awesomeness... and call it heavy metal!

PS - thankfully the bonus features "Behind the Scenes of Major Boobage" and "Six Days to South Park" were included in the R4 set. There are 4 parts of "Behind the Scenes of Major Boobage", certainly all of them showing how the HEAVY METAL sequences of the show were made. Eric Stough and Adrien Beard reveal the details and we can see the comparison pieces between the storyboards and stuff and the final result. The fourth part, titled "Kenny's Hot Chick", contains a commentary of Trey and Matt. They say some interesting stuff, certainly just like Stough and Beard. And some fun stuff: they all remembered HEAVY METAL but when they actually watched it again, so they could follow the plot lines, and realized that nothing happens! "It's a really bad, bad movie", says Trey but Matt adds that "but we weren't high either, and it wasn't 1981".

I have always been 'slow on the uptake', meaning I miss jokes that are obvious to most people. Having read the other reviewers of this episode, I,think that others may have missed a key joke here. Perhaps it is just so obvious to them, it isn't worth mentioning, but it took watching it two times for it to dawn on me.

Before I get to it, there is the homage to the animated film "Heavy Metal", which was enough to put this in the top-ten SP's for me. It caught me off-guard, made me laugh, and it was a fun to watch. Enough so as to get me hooked into watching the re-run for a 2nd time a few hours later in the same night. This brought me back in time, and was a well-done spoof of that rather unique animated feature film.

Did anybody catch that the name of the plane was "Jewish Princess"? Though not relevant to the spoof of "Heavy Metal", it did tie in to the episode as a whole loosely. I only mention it because I did not catch it until my 2nd viewing.

But there is more. The obvious theme about kids doing anything to get high was done before. This time, they take it to the max though. Who would take cat spray in the face just for a trip? Give me a break. That is so absurd, it is funny. First the kids just do an experiment, and Kenny goes on the first "Heavy Metal" trip. One of his friends breaks him out of his trip just shy of reaching his otherworldly bulbous ambitions.

But when Gerald, the instigator of the cat ban law is seen with a contraption to hold the cat and with the movie projector in his basement specifically for the purpose of 'cheesing' I am perplexed, but also amused. The fact that he has a projector, instead of a second cat is so absurd, it gives me a laugh. Before he indulges though, he states to us that it has been 10 years since he quit but decides to go for 'one last cheese'.

In between all this are the often-used Jewish references. In this case, we find Cartman smuggling banned cats into his attic. In a clear and obvious irony, we find Cartman playing the 'good guy' in that he is risking himself to save the cats (a.k.a. Jews). When he stashes his own cat at first, he drops a book on the floor and suggests to the cat "write a diary". A clear reference to a major icon of the Jewish holocaust known as the "Diary of Anne Frank".

Now that is tasteless as all get-out, but that is Trey and South Park. I got the joke and it became funnier when this lady comes by who knows he is saving cats and pleads with Cartman to save her cat and he complies. This character is intended to bolster the reference. Later in the episode, they add to this joke that Cartman, the supposed Jew hater, makes a statement that the cats (a.ka. Jews) 'are just victims'. If you know Cartman, this is all too much. They even cap it towards the end with Kyle making and indirect reference to a time in 'history' like this and Cartman feigns ignorance.

Finally, there is the obvious reference to the Elliot Spitzer scandal. Seemingly thrown in to make it timely to early 2008 (SP is at its best when spoofing current events). Some have called it lame, others funny. It was clearly noticed by other reviewers. It took a 2nd viewing to realize that this pulls together seemingly unrelated stories. The message of this episode is not clear? It became clear to me, but I cannot be sure it is what Parker and Stone may have intended. They often get lucky by accident, seeming to send off a joke for everybody.

If there was one coherent message, it seems consistent with the generally libertarian bias in the themes of South Park. That is: Do not persecute, imprison, or judge anybody for who they are. Also, do not pass laws that are designed to take freedoms from those that are not a harm to others than themselves. Oh, and I almost forgot, lambaste anybody who even remotely publicly states they are right about something. I may be reading it all wrong, but for 12 years now, I think there is, though a bit jumbled, a very libertarian message throughout SP.

With this in mind, all of the above was all about Elliot Spitzer at the end of the day. The 'chessers' were 'cheaters' (Elliot) and the 'cats' were 'prostitutes' (which he denounced). Like Gerald, he was a 'cheeser', preaching against it, and then later caught in the act. To me, that was the rather clever wrap-up that made this SP work. The punch-line, so to speak. The whole thing about the kids sniffing cat spray was just a contrivance to make it silly, and to fit the message into the South Park formula which might be called 'High Potty Humor'.

I think the overall message was actually strengthened by drawing together the persecution of the Jews, the prostitutes, and the drug users… all of which have fallen as victims to arbitrary laws that make them bad automatically. Are they all bad? Some perhaps, but who is to judge?

In a way, I think this episode has cleared my mind about SP. I am amazed how much they pack into such a short time.

• P

If you didn't like this episode you just don't like South Park because this episode was one of the best ones ever.

For the last 3 years Kenny has being pretty much ignored by Trey and Matt but this episode really shows us why Kenny is such a great character even though he didn't die, which is weird because almost every time they focus on Kenny they kill him. Obviously Kenny is the only character that can work this story out since he is the sex-obsessed and the one that has shown interest on drugs and alcohol before. The Heavy Metal parody was awesome and the animation was probably the best one in the history of South Park. Also the scene with Kyle's dad and Kenny fighting in the sandbox was just hilarious and so was the end with Kenny getting high on life.

The sub-plot of Cartman hiding cats in his basement to save them(referencing the Holocaust) was funny and ironic because he is anti-semitic and has shown to admire Hitler. It also shows that Cartman has feelings.

And the Elliot Spitzer parody was also really funny.

I hope this episode is the one to win an Emmy this year, it really deserves it.

I don't know if the guys are just running out of ideas, or if they're just phoning it in this season, but every episode has gotten progressively worse in season 12.

This is the first episode I would actually call 'bad' though. The storyline was jumbled, the message in the story made no sense. It reminded me of a bad jumbled up family guy episode. Everything is done halfway, and what wasn't done halfway just plain sucked. This episode is supposed to be a parody of some movie called Heavy Metal, which I have not seen, but after seeing this episode I have no desire to see it. Half the episode was wasted on this cartoon flash parody, and the whole idea in general was a complete waste of an episode. The Elliot Spitzer parody at the end just came off as contrived and did not click at all and the side story of Cartman hiding the cats just didn't really fit to anything meaningful or relevant. Even so, it was the only part of the episode which was remotely funny.

I'd seriously be hard pressed to find any South Park episode even as close to as bad as this one, and it's the first time I've ever given a South Park episode 1 star.

Try to do better in the future, guys.