ManBearPig
| "ManBearPig" |
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"ManBearPig" is episode 145 of Comedy Central's South Park and originally aired on April 26, 2006.
Plot
Al Gore visits South Park Elementary and talks about the terrible ManBearPig, who roams the Earth and attacks humans. According to Al Gore, ManBearPig is "half man, half bear, half pig". After the boys' basketball game is interrupted by another visit from Al Gore, who is disguised (poorly) as the ManBearPig, Stan's father says the former American Vice President is just desperate for attention, because he has no friends. Al Gore then phones Stan in the morning when it is still dark, and begins pestering him. Gore then breaks down on the phone, and Stan reluctantly agrees to go to a meeting, where Al Gore tells Stan and his friends that ManBearPig is hiding in the Cave of the Winds. At first the children are reluctant to go with him; but when he explains that he will excuse the children from school, they agree to go. During the course of this episode, Al Gore repeatedly states "Manbearpig must be stopped!" as well as the phrase "Excelthior!" (after "Excelsior!") and "I'm Cereal!" (meaning "serious;" see Cultural References below).
In the cave, Gore first starts asking the tour guide illogical questions and begins saying "ManBearPig, ManBearPig, Oink, Growl," trying to call ManBearPig. Al Gore forces the kids to follow him off the path saying "This looks like ManBearPig central" and begins shooting wildly with a SPAS 12 while exclaiming," I've got you now, you son of a bitch!!", causing a cave-in that leaves the kids trapped in the caverns, but allowing Gore to exit the cave safely. Gore believes ManBearPig caused the cave-in (instead of him) and that he is still at large. While there, the boys search for a way out, and Cartman discovers a small cavern filled with gold coins, pearls, and other treasures. He keeps the others from locating it, and starts swallowing the treasure piece by piece to secretly smuggle it out of the cave.
Meanwhile, a rescue team has been assembled to find the boys, despite Al Gore's pleas that the caves should be filled with molten lead in order to kill ManBearPig regardless of the children. He then diverts the flow of a nearby stream in order to cause a flood that fills the cavern in an attempt to kill the non-existent monster.
The boys meanwhile believe that Cartman, bloated with gold and jewels, is severely ill, and try to find a way out, carrying him. The cave soon floods (thanks to Gore), and Kyle risks his life to get Cartman to safety. The boys manage to escape just as a memorial service is being held for them, and Al Gore is secretly celebrating the fact he "killed" ManBearPig, and believing he is a hero. Stan accuses Al Gore of using ManBearPig to get attention, but Gore denies this, saying that the man who single-handedly killed ManBearPig is not a loser. Cartman tries to walk away but he does not get far before he begins defecating out part of the treasure. It is revealed to Cartman that the treasure is fake, used for photo opportunities and is worth "about $14," and Kyle chastises Cartman for making them pull him to safety. While Cartman continues to expel treasure, Al Gore exclaims his intention is to make a film starring himself in which he will try to save the world from something else. He then dons a superhero cape, yelling "Excelsior!" as he tries to fly away.
Cultural References
- The manbearpig bears a very strong resemblance to Katahdin, the bear-like mutant in John Frankenheimer's 1979 horror film Prophecy. Whether this was a conscious influence is unknown.
- While using illustrative drawings and slurring speech similar to characters in Napoleon Dynamite, Al Gore uses the word "cereal" (or "serial") in place of "serious" in the episode, saying "I'm cereal!" rather than "I'm serious!". This is in reference to his gaffe on The Oprah Winfrey Show when he was asked about his favorite cereal, and his answer was "Oprah." He apparently mistook the word "cereal" for "serial," as in a work published or produced in installments, as are novels, films, or television series; and decided to pander to Oprah and her television and studio audience.[1]
- The melody played when Al Gore for the first time shows the Manbearpig sketch is a part of Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No.9, "From the New World" (Adagio - Allegro molto). It is taken via the Heroes of Might and Magic video game series, from which Parker and Stone use the sound.
- After the boys are trapped, when you see the back of Al Gore's equipment, there is a sticker for the fictional Film Actors' Guild (or F.A.G.), in reference to Trey Parker and Matt Stone's Team America: World Police.
- Al Gore's abbreviation of ManBearPig, MBP, is an actual term used in the field of global warming research, used when describing the melting and recession of glaciers, Mass Balance Potential. [2]
Continuity
The "actual" ManBearPig appears in the Season 11 episode "Imaginationland Episode II'. In the episode, ManBearPig is portrayed as one of the many monsters from the dark realm of Imaginationland, and is much larger-looking, muscular and menacing than Al Gore's illustration. He was briefly seen with all the other evil characters during a discussion of who should become emperor once the evil imaginations have won. When the Project imagination doorway began working, Manbearpig came through the portal, killed nearly everyone and seriously injured Kyle. Al Gore then leaks security-camera footage of the attack, hoping to dispel charges of his own insanity, but public response to the video ultimately worsens the situation for those trapped in Imaginationland. An ironic twist to the ManBearPig coming to existence in this episode is the fact that Al Gore created him through his imagination. During ManBearPig's attack, fleeing characters argued over the creature's Man/Bear/Pig proportion, echoing the conversation between Cartman, Stan & Kyle in this episode.