Talk:Pinewood Derby (South Park)

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Pinewood Derby (South Park) has been listed as one of the Media and drama good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.

Pinewood Derby (South Park) is part of the South Park (season 13) series, a good topic. This is identified as among the best series of articles produced by the Wikipedia community. If you can update or improve it, please do so.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
April 25, 2009	Good article nominee	Listed
March 29, 2010	Good topic candidate	Promoted

A fact from this article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "Did you know?" column on April 23, 2009.

The text of the entry was: Did you know ... that Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are among the world leaders mocked in the South Park episode "Pinewood Derby"?

Current status: Good article

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Whats going on?[edit]

ALL MY EDITS ARE BEING DELETED. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.57.140.29 (talk) 02:43, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Your edits appear to be "test edits". Please use the sandbox to experiment with wikipedia. Cheers, —Terrence and Phillip 09:19, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Spanish articles[edit]

There seem to be a number of Spanish-language articles about this episode out already. My Spanish is pretty poor and Babelfish only does so well a job of translating them, could any of you Spanish-speaking South Park fans take a look at these and see if there's anything that should be added to the article? I already added a cultural reference to some of the world leaders from one of them, but if there's anything about the response from these countries to the episode, they could go under Reception, or if there's anything about the making of them or when they will air in those countries, they should go under Production. The news articles here: Google News Search. Thanks! — Hunter Kahn _(contribs) 18:18, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Those articles are Portuguese, and most talk about the Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, which is already in the article. I don't technically know Portuguese, but it's (very) similar to Spanish, so I'll see if there's anything more that stands out. Grsz¹¹ 18:44, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I can't imagine there would be anything beyond plot summary... -Verdatum (talk) 20:30, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Basically. All point out "Lula" and a few other world leaders, but nothing other than that. Grsz¹¹ 21:31, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I found this article, because the censorship to this chapter was criticized on the radio (I listened about it in Jacobo Zabludobzky's news in the 690AM).

I saw the episode on the internet, it seems to be cut in the scene of the mexican president.

What I read and hear in other sites and radio in Mexico, is that the mexican president was criticized for spending all the money in aquatic parks and for having bad relations with other countries.

The media said that they needed a special permission, because it is forbidden to use the mexican flag, it is a half true, because it is not an offensive use of a national symbol, as it was in a Paulina Rubio nude photograph covered by the mexican flag, some articles cited that case.

The real reason is evidently the criticism to president Calderon, for wasting the money, as he does in reality. But I am not suggesting to put it in the article, they have a lot of people looking for in the internet what is said about that guys, specially in wikipedia.

They insist in covering this controversial illegal government.

After all this is only propaganda, I do not even think this episode deserves an article in wikipedia.

I could say more about censorship if someone can transcribe the exact, uncut dialogs of Calderon in the original episode, here.

It can be written just as an anecdote in the political (agonizing) life of a once some democratic country. It will probably be erased, anyway, then written again, erased, written, ... endlessly.

All this just for an episode of South Park that I am not sure is so important to have an special entry in wikipedia. Maybe about the series in general but not for each episode.

Cultural References[edit]

obvious F1 reference? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.96.148.63 (talk) 23:57, 17 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, I was thinking about that, too. Even the place where they cut that hole might refer to the famous diffuser part of F1 cars. --94.21.163.51 (talk) 01:26, 18 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

isn't the whole 'space cash' thing alluding to the g20s illusionary 1 billion dollars? (especially with all the world leaders involved)

I think that the show Lie to Me is alluded to multiple times when Mr. Marsh tells Stan not to touch his ear,etc. and also when Mr. Marsh is lying to Baby Fark- McGee-zak and keeps touching his ear and rubbing his neck. For some reason I'm unable to edit this so could somebody else? thanks a ton --nezfuyaba —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nezfuyaba (talk • contribs) 02:50, 24 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The theft from CERn is a clear reference to Angels & Demons, both the book and the film, and the episode was produced while teasers and trailers for the file where at their height prior to the movie release. Mention of the reference should remain Jaxsonjo (talk) 02:51, 21 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Continuity[edit]

It's not their first landing, aliens have been in south park many times. seems like, in recent seasons they're not having older episodes apply. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wiggl3sLimited (talk • contribs) 03:18, 17 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Marklar. Jay794 (talk) 11:32, 17 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well, the humans went to Marklar to see the Marklar in their Marklar, and the 'visitors' in the first episode were more doing a sort of environmental survey and decided they liked cows the best. The Joozians never visited earth. And I think the idea is that this 'Federation' contacts a planet only when they discover warp speed, so its probably too uncertain to put in the article.Joncheetham88 (talk) 17:47, 18 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wiggl3sLimited, this is just the fun of Writing About Fiction. South Park writers are going to stick with, or ignore previous episodes as they please for the sake of comedy. If they acknowledge that aliens have landed before, then they couldn't have done all the first-contact jokes. -Verdatum (talk) 19:02, 23 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Reference[edit]

When Randy tells Stan how to lie at 2 min 10 sec in, it is a reference to microexpressions and Lie to Me*. He also doesn't follow his own advice throughout the show, when talking to Stan and the alien cops. --68.163.254.203 (talk) 07:29, 17 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

List of countries and leaders[edit]

The list of countries and leaders is obviously not complete. For example South Korea with (what appears to be) prime minister Han Seung-soo and Kenya with (what appears to be) prime minister Raila Odinga are also represented in the episode. --94.21.40.46 (talk) 20:52, 17 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I propose the entire list be removed. It's less a cultural reference than simply a reflection of the current leaders and seems non-notable. --Odie5533 (talk) 04:09, 19 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Mathematical Semi-Tonal[edit]

When Randy is talking to the Space Police for the first time, the police left them their number to contact them if the criminal shows up again. Randy promises that he will. The police officer replies "Mathematical semi-tonal will be fine." Isn't this the same method used to communicate with the aliens in Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Axeman (talk) 00:13, 18 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That's probably the implication. However, "mathematical semitonal" As a term isn't used in Close Encounters (AFAIK), and it doesn't really mean anything. Taking apart the meaning, it's just "math-based movements of musical half-steps". (If you wanna get silly, close encounters was mathematical diatonic, but nevermind). The relationship is a bit weak for an encyclopedia article. -Verdatum (talk) 18:50, 23 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

mcgee-zax is awwwwwwright![edit]

another cultural reference to 2,4 and 7 chan proving once again, matt and trey are regulars of the ch4ns and draw on them for plot ideas when they run out of original content —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.28.155.115 (talk) 23:16, 18 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"Red ones go faster" cultural reference[edit]

I realize his car is red, but is that the only relation between this and the "red ones go faster" rule? If so, then this reference would seem to be to be highly coincidental. --Odie5533 (talk) 04:10, 19 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

i know the kevin wilson song "living next door to alan" does the line "my cars faster cos its a red one" but i doubt its a reference to that82.24.174.20 (talk) 11:23, 23 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Goofs in Australia[edit]

In this episode they showed the Prime Minister of Australia to be John Howard, even though Kevin Rudd is the Prime MInister and has been since 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.188.149.134 (talk) 09:58, 19 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

And who's the idiot that said it was an 'error'? They quite obviously meant it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.191.133.37 (talk) 12:37, 26 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It's an error, whether intentional or not! So I suppose that means the idiot is you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.211.201.19 (talk) 11:24, 25 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Mythbusters[edit]

Mr Hollis is an obvious reference to Adam of Mythbusters esp in relation to the show where they build mini race cars and race them down a hillside... cant find any external references to prove that right now though.. just a lil fyi. --213.152.46.79 (talk) 19:09, 19 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

and the space police turning to leave then stopping and saying "just one more thing" is a columbo reference surely. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.152.46.79 (talk) 13:06, 28 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

A Simple Plan[edit]

The main plot (spacebucks and hiding it from the police) is straight out of the movie A Simple Plan. — Steven Andrew Miller (talk) 01:40, 21 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Nielsen Ratings?[edit]

Does anyone know where I can find the Nielsen Ratings for this episode? I usually use tvbythenumbers.com, but they don't have it this week... — Hunter Kahn _(contribs) 00:57, 23 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Gordon Brown?[edit]

Goofs?[edit]

Might be worth mentioning that Gordon Brown is Scottish and thus talks with a soft Scottish accent rather than the admittedly soft London accent in the show. Or not, just putting it out there...

it shouldnt matter if the voice sounded cockney or scottish or whatever as it does say at the start of each south park "all voices are inpersonaited... badly" so i have removed that goof.. also on the grounds that triva is discouraged 82.24.174.20 (talk) 11:20, 23 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It's highly dubious that Brown is represented by the British character. It neither looks nor sounds like him. The Telegraph reported that it was him, but without any quote from the programme makers (at the moment the Telegraph is a Downing Street sockpuppet, so I suspect the report was made in the interests of boosting his image). MultipleTom (talk) 19:55, 30 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That's a bit of a stretch. If in doubt, you should bring it to the reliable sources noticeboard. Else, I don't see any reason for it not to be used in the article. Alastairward (talk) 00:53, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It's a bigger stretch to describe that character as "Gordon Brown". It looks and sounds nothing like him!!! MultipleTom (talk) 09:57, 12 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

In the interests of cutting this off before it gets out of control, I'm inclined to agree with Tom here. I've gone back and rewatched the episode a few times and haven't seen any sign of Brown, and other news sources don't list him. I think listing his name was a mistake on the part of this one news source and that he wasn't really in the episode. — Hunter Kahn _(contribs) 15:06, 12 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hunter Kahn, I would respectfully disagree. Two world leaders have been misportrayed in the episode(and that's cited in the article itself), what of it if the writers/animators fluffed the portrayal of a third? The inclusion of this material should depend upon the quality of the cite given, not our own personal opinions of what we think we saw on screen.

I would also (respectfully) disagree with MultipleTom's rationale. MT, you refer to the Telegraph newspaper, the cited material you removed came from the Daily Star.

Where do we go from here? I see no reason (within the scope of Wikipedia policies) why the cited material should go. Alastairward (talk) 15:55, 12 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, I'm not really sure what the solution is. I don't really feel too strongly one way or the other, and I'm not sure it's such a big deal that it requires mediation or anything like that. I suppose since the reference stayed in during the GAN review, and since there is a legit source listing the name, it wouldn't be much harm to stay in. On the other hand, if a legit news source incorrect said Barack Obama was in this article, I doubt we'd include that. Does anyone beside the people who have already weighed in have an opinion? — Hunter Kahn _(contribs) 16:57, 12 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't a quick google search and found these cites from The Times, The Telegraph, The Mirror, The Sun and from the article itself, The Daily Star. It might be best to proceed on how reliable these are as sources. I certainly don't see any reason for discriminating against them because we feel they are wrong. I could pull a few cites myself for disagreeing with them. Alastairward (talk) 18:17, 12 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I would be satisfied if you found an article with quotes from Parker and/or Stone verifying that it was intended to be a portrayal of Gordon Brown specifically, as opposed to a generic British leader. All the other articles are essentially copies of the Telegraph one. MultipleTom (talk) 19:40, 12 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I will have to disagree with you here MultipleTom.

We have to decide on whether or not to include these cites not based on our own personal feelings about the subject matter, but whether we can consider them to be reliable sources. Show a few blog entries or fan sites and I'd agree that they're unreliable and thus unuseable. But these are newspapers that I've sourced, with editorial standards, pretty decent third party sources. That is my proof as it were. Since you took down the first cite based on your own opinion of a newspaper not mentioned in that cite, perhaps you could provide your own proof.

If you disagree with my opinion, I would urge you to take the issue to the reliable sources noticeboard, or ask for a third opinion. Here is some guidance on newspapers as a reliable source, note that The Times (which I noted above) is specifically mentioned. Alastairward (talk) 20:07, 12 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Watching the episode again in 2013, what is odd is that the British PM character looks and sounds remarkably like David Cameron, who was Leader of the Opposition when this episode was produced but only became PM in 2010. --Ef80 (talk) 22:14, 12 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

What to do about the cites[edit]

Sorry to bring this up again, but it's on my watchlist and so I had another look at it. I really can't see what's wrong with the cites provided. Instead of seeing them scrubbed, I would much prefer to see the cites discussed and brought to the reliable sources noticeboard if needs be. Alastairward (talk) 22:38, 5 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Iceland and UK[edit]

Does anyone else think this is suffering from a little undue weight? The ref is just one site and the idea of any reference to the UK and Iceland in this episode seems dubious to me. The episode doesn't seem to single out anything to do with the UK-Iceland disagreements, I think South Park would be a little more straightforward with any satire of the situation. Rtdixon86 (talk) 21:19, 27 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Battlestar Galactica reference?[edit]

The intergalactic police aliens with their "double faces" look like the female singers in Battlestar Galactica (original series, Saga of a Star World, in the resort on Carillon). Can anyone verify whether the resemblance is intentional or a coincidence? --Skysmurf (talk) 15:35, 14 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Disappearing universe?[edit]

At the end of the plot I read As punishment for failing, the Earth and the moon are isolated from the rest of the Universe (although it appears to have disappeared later on).

I do not understand this reference, which links to our article on the 15th season. That article does not mention anything about the rest of the universe disappearing. Or does "it" not refer to the universe, but rather to the punishment, i.e., the isolation measurees? Perhaps a link to a specific episode was intended? Please clarify. --Austrian (talk) 19:44, 8 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]

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