Hell on Earth 2006

Template:Infobox South Park episode "Hell on Earth 2006" is episode 1011 (#150) of Comedy Central's animated series South Park, aired on October 25, 2006. The episode's plot surrounds Satan, as he throws huge sweet 16-styled Halloween party. However, Satan chooses to privately organize the party and doesn't invite Roman Catholic Church, angering them, while The Notorious B.I.G. is invited but doesn't manage to get the party. Meanwhile, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy encounter trouble on bringing a Ferrari-shaped cake to the party per Satan's order.

The episode sparked controversy shortly after it was aired due to the Steve Irwin parodies it contained, and was panned by critics and Irwin's family. Despite the controversy, the episode received fairly high review ratings, as well as being favored among user-rated websites.

Plot

Template:Spoilers Satan decides that since Halloween is essentially his holiday, he is going to have a huge party — as big as a sweet 16 party. He proclaims to the spirits of the damned that anyone who wants to get in must RSVP and get a blue wristband, they must wear a costume, and that not appearing will make you a loser. He also invites many celebrities, and plots to have it become the greatest party ever by ordering a cake the size and shape of a Ferrari, which the three notorious serial killers — Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy — are ordered to bring. Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic Church, angered that Satan doesn't invite them to the party, plans to call the fire marshal the night of the party to complain, thus ruining it. Meanwhile, the South Park boys experiment with a Bloody Mary-type ritual to summon The Notorious B.I.G. and Butters succeeds in summoning him. However, Biggie already has a blue wristband and, since he is on Earth and cannot use the inter dimensional vortex opened from Hell to get to the party, demands that Butters help him get to the party.

File:1011 boys in bathroom.jpg

The boys in the bathroom, attempting to summon Biggie Smalls.

Finding out that Butters disappeared, the kids decide to try to see if the Biggie Smalls thing really works, and do the mirror trick again; Smalls, who was sitting next to Butters on a plane bound for Los Angeles where the party is located, teleports against his will to South Park again, and in a rage starts shooting at the boys because he is held up from attending the party once again. (He is later summoned against his will, once again, by Randy, Stan's dad.) The Catholic Church tries to call the fire marshal, but to their shock, they find that Satan invited him — so they decide to crash the party. Meanwhile, the three murderers, in typical Three Stooges fashion, have killed the bakers, and thus were having a hard time getting the cake to the party — every time they enlist someone's help, Dahmer or Gacy kills them. Ted Bundy's attempts to discipline them only slows progress down further. When an attempt to lift the cake fails, resulting in its destruction, the killers know they're in trouble. When trying to bake a new one, the three mutilate each other, and Satan's minions wind up getting an Acura cake.

Satan flies into a rage over the Acura cake, screaming that the party is about him despite everyone having fun. The party participants get upset, and Satan realizes that he doesn't want to be like a "rich teenage girl on MTV", and decrees that he wants everyone to enjoy his party, inviting everyone in. Butters makes it to the party and uses a makeup mirror to summon Biggie Smalls straight to the party, who invites Butters into the party as thanks. The episode ends with everyone dancing, including the Catholic priests with naked boys on leashes.

Controversy

Steve Irwin appearing in this South Park episode.

During Satan's party, he begins a conversation with Steve Irwin, who has a stingray sticking out of his chest.^[I] Satan does not realize that it's Irwin at first, thinking instead that it's someone else in a costume, and confronts the person telling him that it is a bad taste to wear such a costume due to Irwin's recent death. Finding out it is actually Irwin, Satan kicks him of the party for not wearing a costume, as he shouts back: "Wait, I thought we were friends!". This scene has sparked controversy among the media as a parody of Irwin's death shortly after the press surrounding it. A friend of Terri Irwin, Steve Irwin's widow, has issued a statement on Terri's thoughts about the episode:

"Terri is devastated Steve is being mocked in such a cruel way. Her worry is that Bindi and Bob will see it and break down. Steve had as big a sense of humour as anyone, but this goes too far too soon."

The episode has also received criticisms from press personalities. John Beyer, the director of mediawatch-uk, said that it's of bad taste to create such scene and the makers of South Park should review their decision to show it, while Steve's British naturalist pal Mark Amey has dubbed the show "distasteful shit".

Comedy Central's Tony Fox has responded to this criticism by defending the show, saying "The South Park guys do inappropriate things all the time... Their goal is to make people laugh, not to offend people." Additionally, another spokesperson for the network has said that "South Park has offended people in the past and probably will again. Regular watchers would not be shocked."

Reception

The episode received fairly high review ratings. IGN originally criticized the episode for the lack of storyline development, but later stated that "the storylines were humorous enough that we were able to put aside that there was no real social commentary (like the last three episodes), but instead madcap comedy that was funny based on silly humor alone". IGN has also praised the episode for illustrating Satan as a spoiled child and for the Three Stooges scenes involving the killers, and concluded that "although "Hell on Earth 2006" isn't as good as a couple of South Park's other Halloween episodes, it is still a very funny episode." The episode has been quite favored among user-rated websites as well, with a 8.5 average at TV.com, a weighted 7.4 average at IMDb, and an average of 7.6 at IGN.

Notes

I^ This was a likely reference to the 2006 Halloween season, in which many Americans wore Steve Irwin costumes with fake bloody stingrays or barbs attached, including television personality Bill Maher.

External links

• Official Information on the episode