Manbearpig
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| South Park episode | |
| "ManBearPig" | |
 Spreading Manbearpig awareness... |
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| Episode no. | 145 |
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| Airdate | April 26, 2006 |
| South Park - Season 10 March 22, 2006 – November 15, 2006 |
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| List of all South Park episodes | |
"Manbearpig" is episode 1006 (#145) of Comedy Central's South Park and originally aired on April 26, 2006. It revolves around the hunt for an imaginary and elusive "Manbearpig" as a spoof of Al Gore's fight for global warming awareness.
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[edit] Plot
Al Gore visits South Park Elementary, and talks about the terrible Manbearpig, who roams the Earth. Manbearpig is “half-man, half-bear and half-pig”. Randy says the former American Vice President is just desperate for attention, because he has no friends. Al Gore then phones Stan in the morning when it is still dark, and begins pestering him. Gore then breaks down on the phone, and Stan reluctantly agrees to go to a meeting, where Al Gore tells Stan and his friends that Manbearpig is hiding in the Cave of the Winds (a real attraction near Colorado Springs). At first the children are reluctant to go with him; but when he explains that he will excuse the children from school, they agree to go, though they are extremely nervous about going to see the infamous Manbearpig.
In the cave, Al Gore forces the kids to follow him off the path and begins shooting wildly with a shotgun, causing a cave-in that leaves the kids trapped in the caverns, but allowing Gore to exit the cave safely. While there, the boys search for a way out, and Cartman discovers a small cavern filled with what appears to be gold, pearls, and other treasures, but is later revealed to be worthless plastic. He keeps the others from locating it, and starts swallowing the presumed treasure piece by piece to secretly smuggle it out of the cave.
Meanwhile, a rescue team has been assembled to find the boys, despite Al Gore's pleas that the caves should be filled with molten lead in order to kill Manbearpig regardless of the children. He then diverts the flow of a nearby stream in order to cause a flood that fills the cavern in an attempt to kill the monster.
The boys meanwhile believe that Cartman — bloated with fake gold and jewels — is ill, and try to find a way out, carrying him. The cave soon floods, and Kyle risks his life to get Cartman to safety. The boys manage to escape just as a memorial service is being held for them. They scream at Al Gore for using Manbearpig to get attention, and when Cartman "craps" out all the fake gold they scream at him too. It is Cartman's turn to be upset when it is revealed to him that the treasure is fake. At the end of the episode, Al Gore dons a superhero cape and exclaims his intention to make a film starring himself.
[edit] Trivia
- The fictional Al Gore's insistence about the existence of the clearly fictive ManBearPig is a reference to the real-life politician's extensive campaign to raise awareness for global warming. Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth, which is part of that campaign, is hinted at at the end of the episode.
- Al Gore uses the word "serial" in place of "serious" and "seriously" in the episode. This is in reference to his gaffe on The Oprah Winfrey Show when he was asked for his favorite cereal and his answer was "Oprah," mistaking the word "cereal" for "serial."[1]
- He also frequently exits scenes exclaiming "Excelsior!" in reference to Stan Lee.
- In Al Gore's base of operations, an Apple Power Mac G4 Cube can be seen in the background. This is most likely a nod to the fact that Gore is a part of the board of directors of Apple.
- Al Gore laughed off his sensationalized depiction in this episode, calling the creators "nuts": "Their comic sensibility is aimed at a different demographic than the one I inhabit, but I still find a lot of what they do hilarious."[2]
- The term "Manbearpig" has become a political neologism that skeptics on blogs frequently use in place of "global warming." Sometimes "Manbearpig" is also used as a substitute for Al Gore himself.
- This episode is possibly a parody of the West Virginia Sago Mine Disaster.
- This episode also may be a parody of the Sylvester Stallone movie Daylight, which featured motorists trapped in a collapsed tunnel with the water level rising.
- "Smuggler's Den" is a parody of the cavern scenes in Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ http://archive.salon.com/ent/col/mill/2000/09/25/oprah/index1.html
- ^ http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-gore05.html
| Preceded by: "A Million Little Fibers" |
South Park episodes | Followed by: "Tsst" |
