Cartoon Wars Part II

"Cartoon Wars Part II" is the fourth episode in the tenth season of the American animated television series ''South Park''. The 143rd episode of the series overall, it first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 12, 2006. Following " Cartoon Wars Part I", it is the second part of a two-episode story-arc, which focuses on Cartman's efforts to get the television series ''Family Guy'' cancelled by exploiting fears of retaliation by Muslims to an upcoming ''Family Guy'' episode in which the Islamic prophet Muhammad will appear, in violation of some interpretations of Muslim law. Kyle instead urges the president of Fox, the network airing ''Family Guy'', to air the episode in an exercise of free speech.

The episodes were inspired by the ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy, which began in response to a Danish newspaper's printing of cartoons depicting Muhammed in September 2005, leading to worldwide protests and occasionally violent demonstrations and riots in early 2006. It also came from ''South Park'' creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone's general dislike of ''Family Guy'', which they viewed as overly reliant on cutaway gags for humor and less so on story. During production, the duo ran into reluctance from Comedy Central and parent company Viacom, who felt their insistence to depict Muhammad disregarded concerns for public safety. Parker and Stone argued that the network was giving in to hypothetical violence, labeling them hypocrites due to their satirizing of other religions in the past. The network interference was written into the episode's storyline.

Comedy Central eventually aired the episode with a black title card during the Muhammad sequence, censoring the depiction. The episode received positive reviews from critics; while the episode's censorship did attract headlines, it received more attention for its lampooning of ''Family Guy''. When the series was transferred to HBO Max in 2020, it was announced that "Cartoon Wars Part I" and "Cartoon Wars Part II" would be two of five episodes cut from the series, alongside " Super Best Friends", " 200," and " 201," all of which are episodes featuring Muhammad. The episode is also absent from Paramount+ for the same reason.

Plot

Eric Cartman has an intense disdain for the television program ''Family Guy'' due to frequent comparisons between his sense of humor and that of the show by his peers. When Cartman learns that an episode of the show is to feature a depiction of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, he exploits fears of retaliation to urge Fox, the network on which ''Family Guy'' airs, to pull the episode. Cartman pretends to be the sickly Danish son of a cartoonist with a broken leg, telling the Fox executives that his father was killed by terrorists during the ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy and pleading that they pull the ''Family Guy'' episode. His story touches the executives, who encourage Cartman to try to persuade the writers to yield.

The episode begins with a segment from the in-universe TV show Terrance and Phillip. Titled ''Terrance and Phillip in Mystery at the Lazy "J" Ranch'', the segment concerns the Canadian duo at a cattle ranch meeting the Muslim prophet Muhammad, with Terrance remarking that the duo have "read all aboot imin the Quran" icbefore enlisting his help to solve a murder, though the episode is censored by the Canadian Broadcasting Company, as Muhammad is continuously obscured by a censor bar. This censorship outrages the duo, leading them to confront the network president: who claims he has censored the prophet out of fear that Muslim extremists will attack Canada, citing the current predicament with Family Guy as justification. Terrance and Phillip object to the censorship, though are rebuffed by the network president: who claims that Terrance and Phillip's show has become "too preachy".

Meanwhile, Kyle, who enjoys ''Family Guy'', arrives at the Fox Studio to foil Cartman's plans assisted by an avid Family Guy fan, though is knocked unconscious by an ally of Cartman's implied to be Bart Simpson who, also wanting to destroy ''Family Guy'', restrains Kyle in a supply shed.

Cartman is introduced to the ''Family Guy'' writing staff: a group of manatees who live in a large tank, and construct the plot for each episode of the show by picking up "idea balls" from a large pile, each of which has a different noun, a verb or a pop culture reference written on it, and delivering them to a machine that then forms a cutaway gag. The manatees refuse to work if any idea ball is removed from their tank: making censorship unfeasible. Cartman therefore deduces that it may be possible to prevent the Family Guy staff from working by removing an idea ball from the tank.

Cartman reunites with a restrained Kyle, praising his enraged reaction to the scheme: proclaiming it as "emotional character development based on what's happening in the storyline! Not at all like Family Guy" and reveals his plan. The Fox president is therefore convinced that the manatees are spoiled and abusive of the executives' generosity, and he thus decides to pull the new ''Family Guy'' episode shortly before airtime. Cartman feels victorious, but Kyle shows up: claiming he convinced Cartman's coconspirator to set him free.

After a physical altercation between Cartman and Kyle, the two venture go to the Fox president's office. Kyle tells the president that Cartman has duped him into pulling the episode, though Cartman gains the upper hand by brandishing a gun. Kyle implores the president not to censor the episode, despite Cartman's threats of violence. The network president ultimately decides, in spite of the threats of violence from both Cartman and the terrorists, that ''Family Guy'' should be aired uncensored.

The ''Family Guy'' episode airs, and features a scene in which Peter Griffin compares receiving a pink slip at work to yet another encounter he had with Muhammad: in which the prophet handed him a "salmon helmet" whilst Peter wore a toga, though the scene with Muhammad was cut by Comedy Central, and is replaced by a black screen and a title card reading, "In this shot, Mohammed hands a football helmet to ''Family Guy''. Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Mohammed on their network." ic
Terrorist leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, reminding America that it was warned not to show Muhammad, initiates Al-Qaeda's retaliation — a crudely animated video depicting President George W. Bush, Carson Kressley, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, and Jesus Christ defecating on each other and the American flag. After the video ends, al-Zawahiri gloats of their "retaliation" by saying they "burned" the Americans and that it "was way funnier than ''Family Guy''."

Production

The episode was largely inspired by the ''Jyllands-Posten'' Muhammad cartoons controversy, in which twelve editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper ''Jyllands-Posten

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases