It’s been hard to escape the news that Isaac Hayes quit South Park in the wake of last fall’s controversial episode lampooning Scientology, or that in the wake of that news, how Comedy Central scheduled and then suddenly pulled a repeat of said episode. Tonight, on the show’s season premiere, Matt and Trey struck back with both a brilliant white-hot anger and compassion, attempting to draw fire away from Hayes and toward Scientology itself instead. Throughout the episode, Chef spoke in disjointed, cut-and-pasted phrases pieced together from the nine years worth of dialogue he has recorded for previous episodes, leading the boys to realize – gasp! – Chef has been brainwashed by that “fruity little club.” Their attempts to rescue him only lead to tragedy for Chef himself, though he is resurrected at the end of the episode in a less-than-subtle (and yet knee-slappingly funny) homage to the closing scenes of Star Wars Episode III. At several points during the episode, the folks responsible for brainwashing Chef threaten to take drastic action – namely, asking Kyle, Stan, Cartman and Kenny to leave – a clear indication that it’s not over by a long shot, and Matt and Trey don’t intend to let this drop. Again, not South Park’s finest hour, but one of its most heartfelt. I almost hope we get a running thread about this throughout the season. Heck, I even hope that Isaac Hayes might come around and show up to redeem Chef again (and that way, we can get a Return Of The Jedi spoof outta the deal too!).
In other news, I’m still almost speechless about the phrase that’s been running through my head all day: “Doctor Who has been nominated for multiple Hugo Awards.” I’ll be quite honest, I’ve loved the show for most of my life, and I never envisioned it being nominated for a Hugo Award either on TV or in print. The episodes Dalek, Father’s Day, and the combined two-parter of The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances were all nominated for Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form), up against a Galactica episode (Pegasus), a Pixar short, and one or two other things I don’t recall haven’t heard of before. I’m torn between wanting Dalek and Father’s Day to win – from my own fleeting correspondences with them, writers Rob Shearman and Paul Cornell, respectively, are just damned nice guys. However, I’ve got to root for Cornell’s script hear; Dalek was a watered-down version of Shearman’s 2003 Doctor Who audio story Jubilee, but Father’s Day was pure Cornell, thought-provoking and heart-tuggingly emotional. My best wishes go to all the nominees – because from the ones I have seen, they’re all A-list stuff. (Truthfully, I’m surprised that [A] more Galactica episodes weren’t nominated, and [B] that Pegasus was the one that did get the nod; it’s worth remembering that multiple episodes of Babylon 5 were on the ballot for the ’96 Hugos, but JMS asked to have all but The Coming Of Shadows removed from consideration so there wouldn’t be a split of votes that would actually keep B5 from winning at all.)
As much as I love Doctor Who, I’m still reeling at the thought that it might soon share the same Hugo-winning stratosphere as some of the finest episodes of Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, and The Twilight Zone. Wow. Promote the hell out of that, Sci-Fi. You’re showing two Hugo-nominated shows. (Granted, Galactica’s already a Hugo winner, but still…)
It’s been hard to escape the news that Isaac Hayes quit South Park in the wake of last fall’s controversial episode lampooning Scientology, or that in the wake of that news, how Comedy Central scheduled and then suddenly pulled a repeat of said episode. Tonight, on the show’s season premiere, Matt and Trey struck back with both a brilliant white-hot anger and compassion, attempting to draw fire away from Hayes and toward Scientology itself instead. Throughout the episode, Chef spoke in disjointed, cut-and-pasted phrases pieced together from the nine years worth of dialogue he has recorded for previous episodes, leading the boys to realize – gasp! – Chef has been brainwashed by that “fruity little club.” Their attempts to rescue him only lead to tragedy for Chef himself, though he is resurrected at the end of the episode in a less-than-subtle (and yet knee-slappingly funny) homage to the closing scenes of Star Wars Episode III. At several points during the episode, the folks responsible for brainwashing Chef threaten to take drastic action – namely, asking Kyle, Stan, Cartman and Kenny to leave – a clear indication that it’s not over by a long shot, and Matt and Trey don’t intend to let this drop.
Again, not South Park’s finest hour, but one of its most heartfelt. I almost hope we get a running thread about this throughout the season. Heck, I even hope that Isaac Hayes might come around and show up to redeem Chef again (and that way, we can get a Return Of The Jedi spoof outta the deal too!).
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