The Making of South Park: 6 Days to Air

[StevePulaski]

The Making of South Park: 6 Days to Air focuses on the show's episode "HUMANCENTiPAD."

Rating: ★★★

I think the main reason why South Park will never be among one of the top ten animated programs of all time is because it's a show that centers around crudeness, vulgarity, and very controversial subject matter. Shows like The Simpsons overshadow South Park because of the fact that a show like that is on network TV and it's more family-orientated. South Park is and always will be in its own world.

The Making of South Park: 6 Days to Air is a special that is definitely overdue and under-stayed. This is a forty minute behind-the-scenes look at the making of the show and how everything is done in six days. During the summer and winter seasons the creators take a much needed break, while in the fall and spring seasons the animators, writers, and directors work hectically to try and put together seven or more episodes.

I always wondered why the creators don't work during the months the show is off the air. Then I figured it out; if they worked during the months the show was off the air and created episodes that centered around pop culture things set in the month of, say, June, then by the time they aired in October they'd be outdated because surely new tabloids have come out by then.

During the spring season many running jokes about actor Charlie Sheen surfaced since he was hogging the public light, and making himself out to be one of the biggest goofballs on Television. But in recent months his popularity has simmered and now no one even references his many catchphrases. Imagine if South Park made an episode about him during the June months and aired it in the months of October. It would be so outdated and old ratings might be hurting.

That's why, I believe, the show has such a strict week schedule. Every episode is created within six days, hence the title. Trey Parker and Matt Stone state that they spend so much time in the writing room before giving the idea to the animators for them to quickly animate and create it. The two also state that if they come up with some cockamamie idea (IE: people bouncing on their over-sized testicles) the animators need to find out how to make that happen. Nonetheless in a six day period.

The stress is sometimes unbearable, and the turnout isn't pleasing all the time. Trey Parker states that more often than not he is disappointed when the episode is finished, but can't hold onto it for a day more. It has to be turned in. He said that if he delayed some episodes he could be working for several more weeks to perfect it to his personal standards. And who's to say that the episode would even please him?

6 Days to Air shows the production of the episode "HUMANCENTiPAD," which was the season premiere for the show's fifteenth season. The episode is one giant joke about the lengthy and repetitive "Terms of Use" policy iTunes makes you agree to every few months. The joke is that everyone reads it except Kyle, and Kyle learns he has agreed to a very disgusting, inhumane project by Apple.

One thing the special should've included more of was the voice acting by Parker and Stone. Somehow, it's hilarious to see two grown men, one voicing a Chinese guy who is about to have diarrhea and the other voicing a young boy who is about to have a very unpleasant experience. The way they bounce back in forth, voicing almost all the male characters in the show is creative and nothing but sheer enjoyment.

I think it's because we (a) never see Parker and Stone together on camera and (b) we never really get a good look on how South Park is made. 6 Days to Air only scratches the surface on how the show is crafted, and at forty minutes, how much can you truly show and say? This is the first South Park documentary made since Goin' Down to South Park in the early nineties. Maybe in another ten years we'll get a near two hour documentary with more extensive scenes of an episode's creation and more scenes involving the animators discuss the stress and frustration of working on such a show.

What we get is very good, and a long overdue project. But the result is it's under-stayed and leaves much more to be desired. There has to be more to the writing and animating process we see. Maybe next time we'll detour a bit and talk to both creators about their reactions on their films BASEketball and Team America: World Police. There is so much more to these creators than we see on this special. It seems they just don't want to show it.

Starring: Trey Parker and Matt Stone.