Trey Gets Stoned

October 24, 2011 1:33 PM

The "South Park" creators get the "South Park" treatment OBVIOUSLY NSFW 27-minute SLYT
posted by oneswellfoop (45 comments total)

'South Park' creators Trey Parker, Matt Stone probed by Scientologists for bad-mouthing church
posted by crunchland at 1:47 PM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

probed

tee hee
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 1:48 PM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

'South Park' creators Trey Parker, Matt Stone probed by Scientologists for bad-mouthing church

The Village Voice was the first publication with this story (as noted in the linked New York Daily News article).

The Village Voice: Scientology Targeted South Park's Parker and Stone in Investigation.

They have since updated the article.

"​UPDATE: New Scientology internal documents about the investigation of Parker and Stone leaked. See our new story here."

posted by ericb at 1:59 PM on October 24, 2011

"Office of Special Affairs -- the church's intelligence and covert operations wing."

How many churches/religions have such operations?
posted by ericb at 2:01 PM on October 24, 2011 [5 favorites]

"The defection of former high ranking officials Marty Rathbun and Mike Rinder has been a nightmare for the church. As Scientology expends enormous resources to surveill and harass each of them, Rathbun continues to leak formerly secret OSA documents at his blog."

posted by ericb at 2:04 PM on October 24, 2011 [5 favorites]

How many churches/religions have such operations?

6
posted by The World Famous at 2:04 PM on October 24, 2011 [5 favorites]

welp...now i know what southpark would be like if it wasn't funny.
posted by varion at 2:05 PM on October 24, 2011 [9 favorites]

How many churches/religions have such operations

You mean besides the Vatican's?
posted by Theta States at 2:05 PM on October 24, 2011 [6 favorites]

"Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again."
posted by crunchland at 2:06 PM on October 24, 2011 [3 favorites]

All I'm saying is, you don't want to mess with the Quaker Covert Ops Team. Not unless you don't want to see your inner light, that is.
posted by scruss at 2:10 PM on October 24, 2011 [5 favorites]

*gets crunchland a comfy chair*
posted by hippybear at 2:12 PM on October 24, 2011

not... THE COMFY CHAIR!
posted by Theta States at 2:15 PM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

You won't see the Discordians' covert ops coming.

Fnord.
posted by kmz at 2:17 PM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

From: Scientology Targeted South Park's Parker and Stone in Investigation.

Rathbun says Scientologists also considered using "special collections" to gather more information about Parker, Stone and their pals - using church slang for the act of digging through trash to find dirt on others.

I almost want to pick a fight with Scientologists now just to get this level of investigation, because the kinds of filth¹ I could populate my trash with would be enough to make a sane person weep, and the idea of them digging through it to "get dirt" on me amuses me to no end.

1: You'd be amazed at the disgusting things that salt water fish tanks produce. Some of the byproducts are amongst the most foul things I've ever smelled.
posted by quin at 2:29 PM on October 24, 2011 [4 favorites]

Am I the only one feeling a weird disconnect seeing a visual style that I normally associate with clever and funny being neither of those things?
posted by calamari kid at 2:32 PM on October 24, 2011 [6 favorites]

No, you're not. The parody is well-produced, but I could only get through 4 minutes of it. It lacks the pace and 'comedy' of the original.
posted by ericb at 2:33 PM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah. That was shit.
posted by nola at 2:34 PM on October 24, 2011

now i know what southpark would be like if it wasn't funny.

Like the last seven...

Naw. Too easy.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:36 PM on October 24, 2011 [4 favorites]

It lacks the pace and 'comedy' of the original.

It was slow and introspective.
posted by KokuRyu at 3:01 PM on October 24, 2011

ericb: ""Office of Special Affairs -- the church's intelligence and covert operations wing."

How many churches/religions have such operations?"

This is a trick question, right?
posted by Splunge at 3:02 PM on October 24, 2011

The animation was spot on, but watching it without Trey and Matt's voices was just...off. Really made me realize how hysterical the voice acting on South Park truly is and how much goofiness it really adds to pure absurdity that is that show.

South Park has its on and off days, and sometimes crosses the line into some shit that has straight out offends me. But I'll be damned if the completely unashamedly unprofessional voice acting on that show is hilarious in a good way.
posted by windbox at 3:03 PM on October 24, 2011 [3 favorites]

What exactly constitutes "dirt" on the South Park guys?
posted by victors at 3:18 PM on October 24, 2011

I wouldn't have posted it if it hadn't made me laugh as many times as the last time I watched a full episode of South Park (twice).
posted by oneswellfoop at 3:28 PM on October 24, 2011

Six Days to Air: The Making of South Park
posted by crunchland at 3:43 PM on October 24, 2011

Six Days to Air: The Making of South Park

That... should probably have been an FPP on its own if it's really available in its entirety for free online viewing.
posted by hippybear at 3:48 PM on October 24, 2011

Unfortunately, it's the trailer, and some clips. Not the full documentary. Also, probably should have mentioned, NSFW.
posted by crunchland at 3:49 PM on October 24, 2011

Anyway, I became more aware of the true timecrunch that the South Park guys put themselves through when I was following the development of The Book Of Mormon, where Trey and Matt skipped a couple of awards shows because the new season of South Park had started and there was no way they could break away even if they were winning every possible award in every show.

That's part of their brilliance -- that they have set up for themselves a truly responsive development cycle which lets them incorporate very current events into their show, and they still (more often than not) deliver quality satire which holds up over time. There isn't much else which does this.
posted by hippybear at 3:50 PM on October 24, 2011 [5 favorites]

"Office of Special Affairs -- the church's intelligence and covert operations wing."
How many churches/religions have such operations?

You mean besides the Vatican's?

Except the Vatican would have a much cooler name for it. Like "Fifth Circle Ecclesiastic Arbiter" or "Cleric-non-grata General" or, no... my made up bullshit examples aren't even approaching the kind of gravitas the Vatican would produce just from sneezing :)
posted by -harlequin- at 3:51 PM on October 24, 2011 [6 favorites]

MetaFilter: the kind of gravitas the Vatican would produce just from sneezing
posted by hippybear at 3:52 PM on October 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

The timing and voice work are terrible, the dialogue is wooden and dry. If you want to beat the man, you gotta be the man.
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:02 PM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

In kinda related news: ‘Beavis and Butt-head’ return to MTV.
posted by ericb at 4:05 PM on October 24, 2011

It just makes the scientologists look that much creepier.
As if they needed help.
posted by el riesgo sempre vive at 4:40 PM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

yeah, that was horrible.
as was said above, it lacked the comedic timing and the voices.

i got the impression that this writer was thinking "what's the best insult i could give to Trey Parker? Oh yeah, [spoiler]! And let's make the characters shallow and self centered" And he spent the next 20 minutes writing a story to fill in the blanks.

This reminds me of that "half-hour news hour" lame attempt by Fox to get back at The Daily Show. Smells of adolescent anger combined with a misunderstanding of basic rules of comedy and script-writing. It's like amateur night at a comedy club, where a gangly loser thinks insulting the crowd is comedy.

You know, I don't always agree with the MO of that show, but it's brilliant in it's own right, and if you try to play their game, you'd better be good.

this was... what's the opposite of good? oh yeah... this was crapola.
posted by bitteroldman at 5:22 PM on October 24, 2011 [6 favorites]

This quote from a classic film comes to mind:

"He created KISS to destroy KISS and he lost. "
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:36 PM on October 24, 2011

varion nailed it. Kudos.

And, of course:

Shit Sandwich™
posted by dbiedny at 6:28 PM on October 24, 2011

where a gangly loser thinks insulting the crowd is comedy.

Michael Richards diss, nice.
posted by Huck500 at 6:53 PM on October 24, 2011

Haha, chicks love cartoonists.
posted by Pronoiac at 7:05 PM on October 24, 2011

I'm kinda surprised at how much they nailed the animation style - that's dead on. That must have taken a lot of work. Unfortunately for them, yeah, the writing and timing is so off it's painful to watch.
posted by fungible at 7:41 PM on October 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

Awful.
posted by littlemanclan at 8:17 PM on October 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Really made me realize how hysterical the voice acting on South Park truly is and how much goofiness it really adds to pure absurdity that is that show.

I would argue that the true genius of just about any cartoon is in the quality and direction of the voice acting, coupled with the timing. For long-running shows like Family Guy and South Park, you can close your eyes and still enjoy the shows immensely, and having sat through a table read for The Simpsons long after it had passed its prime, I can say that the show is much, much funnier when you're listening, but not watching.
posted by davejay at 9:31 PM on October 24, 2011

Now that I have watched the first two minutes of the first link (couldn't bear to watch further), I feel it reinforces my position on this tremendously.
posted by davejay at 9:34 PM on October 24, 2011

There are no jokes.
posted by devious truculent and unreliable at 3:31 AM on October 25, 2011

This reminds me of that "half-hour news hour" lame attempt by Fox to get back at The Daily Show.

You think that was bad, wait until you watch Newsbusters. Their only redeeming quality is that they're mercifully short.
posted by Evilspork at 4:38 AM on October 25, 2011

Really, if you can't find a way to artfully mock a couple of Libertarians, you're not trying.
posted by mobunited at 6:14 AM on October 25, 2011 [3 favorites]

Pretty cringe-inducing... I love South Park, but this was too earnest a parody to be good.
posted by aielen at 10:20 AM on October 25, 2011