*1703: World War Zimmerman* Post-Air Discussion

[Brendle]

Its almost like they came up with a clever title for the episode, then tried to build a story around that title. And shooting Token was pretty severe, even for Cartman. Its funny watching Cartman be reprehensible, but even for Cartman, there's a line that can be crossed where its just not funny. .

This is a good criticism. It has no air of self-entitlement...the poster is not acting as if the creators owe him anything. I also agree with this poster. Cartman shooting people is ridiculous. He's not likeable at all when he pulls sh*t like that.

I think their problem recently is relying too much on parodies and not making the parodies make sense without knowledge of the material. I haven't seen World War Z, either.

Let it be known that even when South Park makes a bad episode, the creators are doing you a favor. They are entertaining you for thirty minutes. It's so lame when people say "I just wasted 30 minutes of my precious time watching this CRAPPY episode!!!" Oh please. 30 minutes is nothing. It's not even 0.0001% of your life.

You're doing them absolutely no favors and never did anything for them. Please remember this.

[UhhIDontKnow]

Did anyone else flash back to Christian Hard Rock when Cartman shot Token?

"I'm going to kill you one day Token..."

[Aidsburger]

I was somewhat mixed on this episode (mixed leaning toward having a positive view of it) but only due to the fact that I have not yet seen World War Z.

I enjoyed some of the comedy but for reasons I've mentioned could not get many of the references.

Highlights for me from this episode were:
*Butters beatboxing
*"Fist bump bro"
*Les Miserables reference
*Cartman mentioning that black people "invented rock and roll" at the beginning (I really loved that mention, as a fan of much of the jazz and blues that 60s and 70s rock musicians borrowed from)
*The black zombie apocalypse in Cartman's nightmare
*"Black guy in the back"
*Zimmerman frying

So in my opinion, there was plenty to laugh about in this episode despite not getting the movie references. I just didn't much care for the writing or structure of the episode which I'm betting I would've understood better, had I gotten the references.

7.5-8/10

[psychaotic]

I had watched World War Z just before this came on. That threw my head sideways, since I was thinking exactly the same things about the ending.

[ChocoEClaire]

I saw World War Z, (boyfriend dragged me to see it with him) and although I thought the movie was decent, he hated it because it wasn't anything like the book. (I've never read it, but I'll take his word for it.)
I could tell that there was no way someone who hadn't seen the movie would get the references. The oversaturation of parody and in-jokes definitely would turn a lot of people off to it.
It's like a bad skit at an anime convention masquerade, where the actors forgot that not everyone in the audience has seen the show, played the game, read the books, etc. that their skit is based off of, and instead used so many references and in-jokes that anyone who's not in the fandom cannot even tell what it's about.
I'd give it a 6.5/10. Pretty forgetable episode, even though I understood all of the WWZ references.

[m1carbine6644]

To me, this is the worst episode of South Park since "Pip", for so many reasons:


1. It relies too heavily on a movie reference. This CAN work, but it rarely does. People who haven't seen the movie are alienated, plus it ages faster than other episodes with original plots. This isn't dooming, but when coupled with...

2. ...a current event plot, it becomes disastrous. It's ironic that M&T expressed hesitation to do things so "passe" like having Cartman rig the Special Olympics, yet they have been doing high-profile current event episodes like clockwork.

3. It's shocking to see M&T completely on the wrong side of the issue for once. The presentation of the evidence and the GZ trial is something I'd expect to see in Family Guy, not South Park. Especially with the emphasis on the stand your ground law to make GZ seem like the aggressor - anybody who gets their news outside of Jon Stewart could easily tell you that GZ waived the stand your ground defense before the trial started and it had 0% influence in the actual legal proceedings. But at this point it's beating a dead horse.

4. It just wasn't funny. Structurally, it didn't make any sense. As another poster said, it seems like they came up with the name of the episode before the story.

[JamesPup]

Zimmerman just got arrested, not sure if it will stick or why he was arrested. I guess he was arrested for a disturbance call. I bet it involves his wife or something. I'm not sure yet if it had anything to do with him being on South Park. It will be fun to see what happens to this guy. Great job making fun if this guy, he will be popping up in the news for years.

[BRMBug]

Good god. That Michael Buble song comes up on the music system at work all the time, and I can't not hear Cartman singing it now.

[James--76]

Good god. That Michael Buble song comes up on the music system at work all the time, and I can't not hear Cartman singing it now.

Same as when California Love still comes on the radio i still think of the scene from Night of the living homeless

[StankeyTheXmasPoo]

This episode had the potential to be funny, but for the first time ever, I'm very disappointed in the messages behind it. Sounds like M&T bit onto the "racism" story, hook, line, and sinker. They're way smarter than that 99% of the time, they ought to know that most black activism is obstruction of justice bullsh*t.
I swear, these days you can't have any negative interactions with people who happen to be "of color" without being flagged a racist by the hypocritical-ass "social justice" movement.

[JamesPup]

I wonder if Cartman will freak out about the rioters and looters in Ferguson Missouri? Go figure that blacks will act up about the criminal Michael Brown but not Trayvon Martin.

[Tortilla John]

This really didn't even have to be a "World War Z" parody. The only original aspect was the subject matter. I feel like the fact that it was a parody was just a lazy plot device.