"South Park: Joining the Panderverse"
South Park episode
Promotional poster
Directed byTrey Parker
Written byTrey Parker
Original air dateOctober 27, 2023 (2023-10-27)

"South Park: Joining the Panderverse" is a 2023 American adult animated comedy television special episode. It is the fifth South Park television special, and the 326th episode of the series overall. The special premiered on October 27, 2023 on Paramount+.[1][2][3][4]

The episode parodies The Walt Disney Company, CEO Robert "Bob" Iger and Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy in particular, and the criticized practice of producing formulaic films exhibiting "forced wokeness",[5] for reasons of identity politics. The story depicts fourth grader Eric Cartman as he is transported to another universe in which all of South Park's residents are "diverse women complaining about the patriarchy", while a version of Kennedy that resembles Cartman is depicted frequently tampering with the studio's productions by repeatedly demanding, "Put a chick in it. Make her lame and gay."

Plot

Fourth grader Eric Cartman is transported to an alternate universe, designated Universe 216-B, which is populated entirely by racially diverse women, while his counterpart from that universe takes his place in his own universe. At the same time, Randy Marsh cannot find a repairman to fix his oven door. He and his neighbors learned that every handyman in town has become extremely wealthy, as the inability of people to make simple repairs has increased demand for their services, making it impossible to find such professionals. Meanwhile, Bob Iger and his board at the Walt Disney Company realize that something is "different" about board member Kathleen Kennedy (who resembles Cartman), whose practice of shoehorning racially diverse women into the company's productions has been resulting in repeated failure at the box office.

In Universe 216-B the real Kathleen Kennedy finds Cartman, and tells her that she was replaced by the other Kennedy after she began using an ancient piece of artificial intelligence called the Panderstone, which can repeatedly create the same rehashed film that appeals to everyone. When Disney began receiving hate mail as a result of these films, the real Kennedy began overutilizing the Panderstone as a crutch to fight bigotry, but this destabilized the device, and opened a portal that transported Kennedy to Universe 216-B, and the other Kennedy to their universe. When Cartman learns that she is the reason why "all Disney movies suck now", and she learns Cartman was behind all of the hate mail, they each initially blame each other for the current crisis. However, they eventually realize they each created each other, and mutually apologize.

Iger and his advisers deduce the two Kennedys have been switched, and go to South Park, where they team up with Randy and his neighbors to resolve the issue. At Randy's home, they recreate the portal in Randy's broken oven with the Panderstone, sending Cartman's adult black female counterpart back to her universe, and returning Cartman and his Kennedy home, where she tells her Disney colleagues that they will only make original content that does not pander. Randy also brings to his universe dozens of handymen to do the town's repair jobs. The Cartman-like Kathleen Kennedy is also returned to her own universe.

Voice cast

Development

On August 5, 2021, Comedy Central announced that Trey Parker and Matt Stone had signed a $900 million deal for extending the series to 30 seasons through 2027 and 14 feature films, exclusive to the Paramount+ streaming platform. It was eventually confirmed that they would be released as two films per year.[6][7] Parker and Stone would later state that the projects would not be feature films, and that it was ViacomCBS who decided to advertise them as movies.[8]

Reaction

Critical reception

Erik Kain of Forbes opened his review stating "The brilliance of South Park [...] is in Matt Stone and Trey Parker's ability to skewer all sides of a fraught cultural debate". He praised the efforts of the episode in criticizing "the general laziness" of tokenism, a current over-reliance on the multiverse in fiction, and anti-woke individuals.[9] Den of Geek's Rendy Jones wrote that the episode succeeded in its admonishing of "right-wing, anti-woke social media accounts", but criticized it for "messaging [that] could be more nuanced than the "both sides suck" area".[10] Ryan Smith, reviewing the episode for CBR, felt that in parodying both Disney's attempts to exhibit diversity for wider appeal, and the reaction by those opposed to such initiatives, the episode ironically pandered to those who take a strong stance on the subject. Nonetheless, he thought that the episode succeeded in this approach, astutely paraodying how such productions are the result of what he sees as poor decision-making.[11] Keegan Kelly with Cracked.com both praised and criticized the episode, saying that while much of it was "punchy, hilarious and incisive", the series' satirical outlook on cultural debates remained hampered by consistently summarizing them as "Douche vs. Turd".[12]

Industry reaction

The episode parodies The Walt Disney Company, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, and the company's perceived practice of producing formulaic films, for reasons of "forced wokeness".[5]

Actress Gina Carano, who had been fired from the Lucasfilm TV series The Mandalorian in 2021[13] for comments that were interpreted as a comparison of treatment of American conservatives to Jews in Nazi Germany,[14][15][16] called the episode "hilarious", and predicted that Kennedy would retaliate, writing on Twitter, "This is the part where KK demands any YouTubers get censored off of YouTube for sharing and laughing at this hilarious episode, she'll have YouTube disable the thumbs down option because of the ratio she'll receive, then she'll have her publicist ghouls make sure Variety and Hollywood Reporter run hit pieces about the South Park creators and their families smearing their names through every useful idiot she has under her thumb who would sell their soul to work for Lucas film."[17]

Josh Wilding, writing for SFFGazette.com, believed the episode was parodying individuals on both sides of the debate, and said of Carano's public statements, "Ironically, she misses the point that this episode was, as well as poking fun at Kennedy, skewering people like her."[5] Ray Flook, writing for Bleeding Cool, also thought that the episode was lampooning people on both sides of the "woke capitalism" divide, but had problems with the episode's treatment of Kennedy, and with Carano's take on it. Noting what he saw as the "hypocrisy among some white, straight viewers who are resistant to embracing characters who don't look or act like they do yet expect viewers of color and the LGBTQ community to sit quietly and accept the very same thing," Flook felt that the episode placed too much blame on Kennedy for the then-current decline of box office figures, ratings, and critical reaction to its productions, to the exclusion of various other recent company decisions by executives such as Bob Iger, Bob Chapek, and Kevin Feige, and that the episode's focus on Kennedy "felt a bit – personal." Flook added, "But worse than that, it offers red meat to the folks who don't take the time to understand or appreciate sarcasm or layered satire. That's why social media is flooded with folks who chopped up clips from the special, posting them as "proof" that Kennedy's to blame... for everything! And that includes ex-The Mandalorian supporting cast member Gina Carano, who is using the special to justify her position behind her being fired from the streaming series."[18] Echoing Wilding, Ryan Smith, writing for CBR.com, felt that Carano "missed the point of the episode entirely," which was to lampoon both decision-making by executives like Kennedy, as well as her most toxic critics.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Petski, Denise (October 11, 2023). "'South Park: Joining The Panderverse Gets Paramount+ Premiere Date; Watch Teaser". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on October 12, 2023. Retrieved October 11, 2023.
  2. ↑ Thompson, Jaden (October 11, 2023). "'South Park: Joining the Panderverse' Sets October Premiere Date on Paramount+". Variety. Retrieved October 12, 2023.
  3. ↑ Hibberd, James (October 11, 2023). "'South Park' to Tackle AI for Next Event Special, Releases Teaser". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved October 12, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Paramount+ Announces the Next South Park Exclusive Event to Premiere Friday, October 27" (Press release). October 11, 2023 – via Comedy Central.
  5. 1 2 3 Wilding, Josh (October 29, 2023). "The Mandalorian: Fired Star Gina Carano Shares Anti-Kathleen Kennedy Rant Following Recent SOUTH PARK Episode". SFFGazette.com. Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  6. ↑ "MTV Entertainment Studios inks new and expansive deal with creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone through 2027" (Press release). Comedy Central. August 5, 2021.
  7. ↑ Perry, Spencer (August 31, 2021). "Paramount+ Confirms Two New South Park Movies Coming This Year". ComicBook.
  8. ↑ Karl, Chris (October 29, 2021). "South Park Creators Clarify Paramount+ Projects Are Not Feature Films". Screen Rant. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  9. ↑ Kain, Erik (October 27, 2023). "'South Park: Joining The Panderverse' Review — Disney Satire At Its Finest". Forbes. Archived from the original on October 28, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  10. ↑ Jones, Rendy (October 30, 2023). "South Park: Joining the Panderverse Is for Everyone and No One". Den of Geek. Archived from the original on November 8, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  11. 1 2 Smith, Ryan (November 23, 2023). "South Park: Joining the Panderverse Ironically Panders to Everyone". CBR.com. Archived from the original on November 23, 2023. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
  12. ↑ Kelly, Keegan (October 27, 2023). "'South Park: Joining the Panderverse' Is Peak 'Both Sides Are Equally Dumb' 'South Park'". Cracked.com. Archived from the original on October 28, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  13. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 11, 2021). "Lucasfilm Calls Gina Carano Social Media Posts 'Abhorrent'; Actress No Longer Employed By 'Mandalorian' Studio". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 9, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  14. ↑ Lenker, Maureen Lee (February 10, 2021). "'The Mandalorian' star Gina Carano faces backlash for controversial Instagram posts". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  15. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (February 11, 2021). "'The Mandalorian' Actress Gina Carano & UTA Part Ways In Wake Of Social Media Controversy". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  16. ↑ Gonzalez, Umberto (February 11, 2021). "Gina Carano Dropped by UTA After Uproar Over Social Media Posts". TheWrap. Archived from the original on January 15, 2023. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  17. ↑ Carano, Gina (October 28, 2023). "(Untitled)". Twitter. Archived from the original on October 28, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  18. ↑ Flook, Ray (October 28, 2023). "South Park Swaps 'The Mouse' for Kathleen Kennedy; Gina Carano Big Fan". Bleeding Cool. Archived from the original on November 1, 2023. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
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