South Park Celebrates the Holidays

It's the holidays, so it's only natural that we here at IGN TV are thinking about television series that have tackled the holiday theme. With South Park however, it just so happens that several of their holiday episodes are some of the show's best episodes ever. South Park has been assaulting the holidays from every front since the inception of the show, which began with the short "The Spirit of Christmas." From its earlier surreal days to the later seasons filled with penetrating satire, the holidays have provided a ton of material for creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

Whether it's with Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo, a glaive-tossing Jesus, or Charles Manson -- South Park knows how to celebrate the holiday season So here's our way of celebrating their celebration, with our favorite South Park Holiday Episodes.

With Christmas in just a few days, that's our primary focus, but we also threw in some episodes we felt were worth spotlighting that dealt with Thanksgiving and Easter in the way only South Park can…

In this early episode -- and the first Thanksgiving special -- the boys try and be humanitarians, in order to win a watch. In doing this, they run up against Sally Struthers in one of the show's earliest offensive celebrity parodies. And, as it turns out, in this episode Struthers is the reason no humanitarian aid is getting to the needy -- because she's eating all the food.

But what does this have to do with Thanksgiving? Well, back in South Park, Chef is leading the fight against a horde of genetically engineered turkeys. Fortunately, the town is able to slaughter the turkeys and save South Park - along with Thanksgiving.

Starvin' Marvin
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A classic Christmas character is introduced in this episode: Mr. Hankey. He's a jolly, happy, upbeat Jiminy Cricket-esque talking piece of crap. He befriends Kyle, who, as a Jewish kid, feels excluded at Christmas. This was a rare instance in the first season where South Park dipped more into social commentary than its then-usual surreal antics.

Nobody else sees Mr. Hankey talking except Kyle, so when Mr. Hankey gets mad and hits Cartman, it looks like Kyle simply took a turd out of a little box and threw it at him. Which leads Guidance Counselor Mr. Mackey (in his first appearance) to advise that Kyle cannot go around "Throwing mooky stinks" at people. Mr. Hankey would go on to be a regular part of the series, as well as the central figure in a South Park's music album. More on that in our next entry...

Mr. Hankey the Christmas Poo
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This wasn't just a successful musical CD, but also a classic South Park holiday episode. Hosted by Mr. Hankey in the style of old-time variety-style Christmas specials, Hankey introduces a number of musical numbers from a variety of regular and recurring South Park characters.

There's "Christmas Time in Hell" sung by Satan (with assistance from Adolf Hitler), a revised "O Holy Night" by Cartman, a medley performed by Jesus and Santa Claus, and the closing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" lead by Mr. Hankey. This episode is one of the few instance where the show used live action humor in addition to the animation. In this case it was plugs for "Fighting the Frizzies" - an allusion to The Star Wars Holiday Special.

Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics
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Nothing says Christmas like the horrifically botched military operation that was the Battle of Mogadishu. Black Hawk Down is the subject for parody in this episode that features Santa Claus being shot down over Iraq. It's up to the South Park gang and Jesus to save the day.

What follows is a hilariously inappropriate, violent and disturbing marathon sequence that mimics the film version of Black Hawk Down's brutally realistic style. Jesus kills an awful lot of people with automatic weapons. Santa, meanwhile, is tortured and eventually kills his own torturer. In the end, despite the rescue being a success, Jesus is shot and killed. Stan puts it best when he says "This is pretty f**ked up right here."

Red Sleigh Down
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