Recently I have been playing the game South Park: Stick of Truth on my old Dell. Never in my life have I played a game based on a TV show or movie that was so well done. Kudos to Matt Stone and Trey Parker for churning out content they know fans will enjoy and greatly appreciate. Because of this I have been inspired to watch several episodes of South Park this week. And by several, I mean 40 or so. Good thing South Park is one of Comedy Central’s main cash cows; this show is on all the time. This Memorial Day Weekend, there is a marathon of it. I guess I know what I’m doing this weekend.

Here are my top 10 favorite South Park episodes from the past 17 seasons of this excellent animated program. I’m not saying they are the best but they hold the most special place in my soul.

1. Chinpokomon

An excellent take on Pokémon in the prime of its popularity. The kids of South Park become obsessed and eventually hypnotized with Chinpokomon. The Japanese use the critters to get American children to take revenge on the US for WWII. Being a huge fan of Pokémon for most of my life, I related heavily to this episode. Even the stupidest Chinpokomon, “Shoe” was purchased by children no matter who they were. This displayed the way in which fads can consume young kids and the extent that they will commit themselves to a game, show, or movie. Today still there are “90’s Kids” that play Pokémon nonstop and are totally obsessed with it.

2. Make Love Not Warcraft

This episode showed length people take to be good at certain video games. World of Warcraft has been known to take over people’s lives in reality. Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny band together to stop one omnipotent player and eventually come out triumphant in the end. The best part of the episode was the use of the detailed WoW computer animated characters with the crude South Park voice-overs. Becoming more physically disgusting in reality made their characters in the game incredibly powerful. Why did they do this? So they could eventually play the game without getting killed by this one guy. What a driven group of young men!

3. Imaginationland

This episode brilliantly showed an amalgamation of animation styles as the South Park kids found themselves in an alternate world known as Imaginationland. Within minutes of showing up, terrorists attack Imaginationland, forcing the kids to use their imagination to save this dreamlike world. One of the best parts of this episode was all of the different, nostalgic characters in the background like Yoda, Totoro, Wild Things, and most importantly Snarf from Thundercats. There was also an underlying meaning in this that I interpreted as the value of a child’s imagination. It may not save the world but in a society becoming increasingly technological and anti-human, imagination is an important ability to develop and utilize as a child.

4. Eek, A Penis!

The hardest I have ever laughed came from the episode. When the penis grown on the back of a mouse (using stem cells) begins to sing a duet with the mouse while baying at the moon, I recall completely losing it for a few minutes. The simple storyline of Ms/Mr. Garrison chasing a stem cell penis around town is priceless, as she eventually re-becomes a he in the end. Cartman also takes over the class for one day, helping the kids cheat on a standardized test. They do so well that he is promoted to help an inter-city school do just as well. Taking on the identity as the latently Hispanic Mr. Cartmanes, he helps them cheat too just like Bill Belichick intended. His words not mine.

5.Simpsons Already Did It

Man, it must be difficult for Matt Stone and Trey Parker to find things that the Simpsons have not already done. They were probably having a difficult time one week and thought to make this episode about how the Simpsons have done everything already. For some reason, the episodes with alternate animation styles always entertained me the most. Seeing South Park characters modified as if they lived in Springfield was pretty entertaining. This episode also had the death of the droopy Ms.Choksondik, the interim teacher for Mr. Garrison. While the kids bought sea monkeys, there were some semen/sea-men jokes that made for some hard laughs way back in middle school.

6. It’s a Jersey Thing

In the thick of the Jersey Shore phenomena, this episode perfectly incapsulated the trashiness that was going on culturally. The gym, the tan, the laundry. It was all there. New Jersey took over the entire country in the episode, geographically and socially. It was pretty sad but true, as this did happen in real life. I saw more people around with tight Ed Hardy shirts and gelled up hair a few years ago then I should have. Seeing Kyle mutate into a Jersey-ite was shocking as his mother revealed her strong NJ roots. They perfectly touched upon everything the Jersey “happening” encompassed those few years ago. Man this is a strange country.

7. The Jeffersons

What a beautiful voice that Mr. Jefferson had, singing of wishing trees, randomly dancing, and “shamowneh”-ing. This satire of the somewhat sad life of the late Michael Jackson hilariously showed his place in the South Park universe. He moves to South Park and poses as “Mr. Jefferson”, living with his son, Blanket who becomes a peer of the South Park gang. The children love the Jefferson house because of the toys, rides, and zoo animals. Sadly, the somewhat true relationship between Jackson and his son are displayed. Still, this episode was hilarious in the interpretation of Michael Jackson as the adults of South Park saw him as a “black man.” Certainly an interesting portrayal of one of the world’s most enigmatic celebrities. Well done South Park Studios.

8. South Park is Gay!

This shows the effect of the show, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy on the males of South Park. They all take on the metrosexual lifestyle and become overly fashion and body conscious. Because of this, it is the norm to be gay and not straight as usual. Rejecting this, Kyle is bullied for being different by all of the other kids. Meanwhile, the actually homosexual Mr. Garrison finds out the real truth of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. They are in fact Crab People. Naturally! I feel this episode had a good message showing the changing of fads of younger kids and how easily certain TV programs can change the way people may feel about certain topics and styles.

9. Cancelled

In this episode, Cartman gets an anal probe again. The gang senses that this has happened before and thus realizes that Cartman’s probe is sending a signal to space. They are then abducted by aliens and upon waking up are told that Earth is simply a reality TV show for other planets. All species on Earth are aliens from different planets like ducks, Jews, and Asians. As people on Earth find out the truth, the program is then cancelled and the planet is to be destroyed. After framing the heads of the network with an inappropriate picture, the boys save the Earth once again and their memories are wiped. This shows how reality television messes with people to a terrible extent as their privacy and lives are being watched by millions. Fox can learn something from this.

10. Fishstick

Someone told the South Park creators that Kanye West can’t take a joke. It is pretty evident that he takes his music and self pretty seriously. People do see him as the voice of a generation and I bet he believes it 100%. Jimmy comes up with a solid joke/pun involving fish dicks. Something about being a gay fish. Kanye West just did not get this joke and even went as far as beating the accused creator of the joke “Carlos Mencia.” It was also known that Mencia stole jokes from other comedians supposedly. This episode certainly showed the opinions of the writers along with several cultural icons, making it quite memorable and funny for me since Kanye is one of my favorite musical artists of all time.