Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Ubisoft Developers Share Their 12 Favorite South Park Episodes
Ubisoft San Francisco is currently steeped in all things South Park, and as a result they've been watching the show – a lot. While at the studio for our cover story, we gathered up their favorite episodes.
Nicholas Bonardi – lead audio designer
“I went through all of them recently when I was looking for more TV content. I really like the Mitch Connor stuff. The first Mitch Connor episodes are so great. Another one that sticks out in my head, 'F*** you whale! F*** you dolphin!'"
Scott Crisostomo – manager, game design
“The one where Butters builds a town in the junkyard. That one and the Imaginationland episodes. Those are pretty good.”
Paul Cross – director of design
“I
know I am going to be the only person to say this, I’m sure, but 'Scott
Tenorman Must Die' is such good TV. It’s got 20 minutes of ‘Eh, this is
not my favorite episode,’ and then the last two minutes of punchline are
so brilliant. At least once a week, if not more often I hear, ‘Made you
eat your parents! Made you eat your parents!’”
“'Freemium Isn’t Free' is about a million miles off from that, but it hits so close to home in terms of working in the entertainment industry, and looking at business models and the way things have gone. It’s another great example of where a lot of people look at South Park and say, ‘Well, it’s just fart jokes and them being stupid,’ but it’s actually not. They actually have a lot to say and different people find different ways of expressing themselves and expressing their point of view to the world and try and make a point, and South Park has done that for so many years. 'Freemium isn’t Free' is one of those obvious ones that’s actually pretty close to us. I want to say the movie, too, but that’s cheating.”
Jolie Menzel – narrative designer
“Season 15, episode 7. It’s called ‘You’re Getting Old’ and it is the episode where Stan turns 10 and suddenly everything sounds, and tastes, and looks like s***. It’s this layer of cynicism attached to a kid growing up, but then it’s like a layer of cynicism of doing sitcom comedy and not being able to do through plots. I like it as a turning point in the series because it’s when they started doing arcs. It’s when they started really getting into the characters and talking about them more."
Jason Schroeder – senior producer
“My favorite is a recent one. The 'Tweek X Craig' episode from season 19 I think showed a new level storytelling. The music in that episode, and the awkwardness by which all the adults deal with the information, and here’s some money and all that sort of stuff is – yeah. I think they did a really good job with that.”
Pictured left to right: Lisette, Lucas, Jason, Jolie, Scott, Kenneth, and Paul.
Kenneth Strickland – senior game designer
“My current favorite is Quantum Vindaloop. Season 19, them taking on VR and I thought it was amazing. Second behind that, mostly because I’ve seen them recently, '*** Magic', that was an amazing episode.”
Lisette Titre-Montgomery – art manager
“I
have to say, for some reason, I love the Bennifer episode. It’s just so
absolutely ridiculous. And it was at the height of when I was just sick
of Jenifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. It’s hard to pick,
there are a lot of really good episodes.”
Lucas Walker – senior animator
Lucas Walker is actually more closely connected to South Park than most of Ubisoft San Francisco, as he worked as an animator on the show for years before moving over to help with the game.
“I love 'Pandemic' one and two. It’s with the guinea pigs and Craig has to go to Peru, and the pan flutes and all that stuff. I have some fond memories of production assistants having to film guinea pigs and having to get them to pose and move when the cameras were on, and they wouldn’t do anything. You would hear people across the building yelling, “What the f***!” Walker says.
“Everything is six days. There is no episode not done in six days,” Walker told us when asked about the show's strict timeline, and how it is able to work out things like adding live-action guinea pigs to the show. Walker also told us about his favorite piece of South Park animation. "The one for 'Pandemic,' it’s not a fart joke, not crass, not nothing. It’s when they walk into the outdoor mall and the Peruvian band is playing and Kenny just starts dancing,” Walker says. “I lost it when I saw that in the retakes. I was laughing with tears for 20 minutes. I don’t know why. I like that episode, too, because of the tech. I love augmented reality, live action, and animation."
On Friday, we will have the team's favorite super hero movies, comics, and soundtracks. For all of our features, click the banner below.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
