"200" is the fifth episode of the fourteenth season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 200th overall episode of the series, hence the name. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 14, 2010. In the episode, Tom Cruise and all other celebrities who have been mocked by residents of South Park in the past plan to file a class action lawsuit against the town, but Cruise promises to end the lawsuit if the town can get the Islamic prophet Muhammad to meet him.
The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker. To celebrate their landmark episode, Parker and fellow series co-creator Matt Stone combined many of South Parks past storylines and controversies. The Muhammad subplot, similar to the one previously featured in the season 10 episode "Cartoon Wars", refers to Comedy Central's past refusal to allow images of Muhammad to be shown on the network in response to the riots and threats generated from controversial cartoons in 2005 and 2007 of Muhammad in European newspapers.
"200" includes many celebrities that have been mocked in previous episodes, including Cruise, Rob Reiner, Steven Spielberg, Kanye West, Paris Hilton, George Lucas, Mel Gibson and Barbra Streisand. An additional subplot includes Cartman learning he may not know the true identity of his father. The season 2 episode "Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut" claimed that Eric Cartman's mother Liane is a hermaphrodite and his father, but the events of "200" and the subsequent episode reveal that this is not the case.
Despite its controversial nature and eventual ban from the air, "200" received universal acclaim, and is considered by many fans to be one of the best episodes of the entire series. According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode was seen by 3.33 million viewers, making it the most watched cable television program of the night. Both "200" and the sequel episode "201" were nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 2010. Within a week of the episode's original broadcast date, the website for the radical Muslim organization Revolution Muslim posted an entry warning Parker and Stone that they risked being murdered for airing the episode, which several media outlets and observers interpreted as a threat. As a result, Comedy Central heavily censored portions of "201" by removing references to Muhammad and the episode's closing speech. The episode was rated TV-MA L in the United States.
Plot While on a school field trip to a candy factory, Butters Stotch notes that actor Tom Cruise is seemingly employed by the factory: as he is packaging fudge into delivery boxes. Stan Marsh, who previously compared Cruise negatively to Leonardo DiCaprio, Gene Hackman, and "that guy who played Napoleon Dynamite" during the episode "Trapped in the Closet", accidentally insults him again by calling him a "fudge packer", though Cruise refutes this, claiming to be fly fishing. Outraged by the offensive remarks from Stan and his classmates and Mr. Garrison, Cruise recruits 200 celebrities who have been ridiculed by the town of South Park to bring a class action lawsuit against the townsfolk.
Stan returns to the factory with his father Randy in an attempt to convince Cruise to drop the suit, though Randy inadvertently insults Cruise once more: pointing out that Cruise is wearing an employee uniform for "Frederick's Fudge and Candies" whilst literally packaging fudge into boxes. Cruise begrudgingly agrees to drop the lawsuit on one condition: he meets the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
Randy delivers the news at the town meeting, which causes an uproar among the residents because any depictions of Muhammad is forbidden, fearing that forcing any images of Muhammad to appear in public will enrage the Muslims and they will bomb the town.
Stan and his friend Kyle Broflovski visit the Super Best Friends, a squad of superhero-like religious figures (Jesus Christ, Gautama Buddha, Moses, Krishna, Laozi, Joseph Smith and "Seaman") of which Muhammad is a member, to request the Muslim prophet return with them to South Park. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Cruise and the other celebrities only want Muhammad for his "goo", believing it will make them immune to ridicule, as Rob Reiner has invented "The Rob Ryder Goo Transfer Machine" to syphon Muhammad's "goo" into the celebrities.
By this time, Eric Cartman arrives with "Mitch Conner", a face painted on his hand as one-half of a ventriloquist act who had successfully impersonated actress Jennifer Lopez in "Fat Butt and Pancake Head". Cartman returns with Conner (again, disguised as Jennifer Lopez), attempting to join the other celebrities' lawsuit. Cartman is angered to learn that the celebrities have no interest in receiving cash settlements from the town, though he is reassured when Conner explains that he intends to steal Muhammad's "goo" to sell on the black market for a significant profit.
Meanwhile, Kyle and Stan convince the Super Best Friends to let Muhammad come to town on the condition that he remains in the back of a U-Haul truck and is not seen. When the townspeople realize they must bring Muhammad to Cruise's limo, they claim to put him inside a bear mascot outfit (though it is later revealed that Santa Claus was concealed within the suit, a plan spearheaded by Mr Hankey). The town is about to give Muhammad to the celebrities when the exchange is interrupted by a car bomb planted by the ginger kids: a group of fair-skinned, red-haired children who are tired of being made fun of for their physical appearance. The gingers want Muhammad for themselves, hoping to use his goo for their own means. They threaten to blow up the town if Muhammad is not turned over to them. The people of South Park decide to turn Muhammad over to the gingers, fearing the violence that will befall their town if they do not.
The celebrities are angered by this change in plans but refuse to resort to violence that could ruin their careers. Instead, they decide to awaken the rebuilt Mecha-Streisand, a giant mechanical monster form of Barbra Streisand, who previously terrorized the town of South Park before being destroyed. The celebrities hope to use Mecha-Streisand to force South Park to accept their demands.
Meanwhile, due to the chain of events, Cartman decides Connor's scheme has become too complicated and tries to quit, but Connor convinces him to stay involved by revealing that the townspeople of South Park have lied to him about the identity of his father: although they previously claimed his hermaphroditic mother Liane was his father, Connor insists this is a lie. Cartman confronts his school teacher, Mr. Garrison, and Garrison's old hand puppet Mr. Hat, who admits to Cartman that there was indeed a cover-up. The gingers are given Muhammad, but demand he come out of his bear outfit. Mecha-Streisand roars threateningly, setting the stage for "201".
Production
Written and directed by series co-founder Trey Parker, "200" was rated TV-MA L in the United States. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 14, 2010. It was the 200th episode of the series. Parker and fellow co-creator Matt Stone conceive, write and produce most South Park episodes within a week of their broadcast date in order to maintain a sense of energy and timeliness. The idea for "200", however, was conceived before the fourteenth season began in March 2010, and before any of the season fourteen episodes that preceded it were conceived. While trying to decide how to celebrate the 200th episode, Parker and Stone started reviewing the plots and controversies of previous episodes, many of which had a common thread of mocking a particular celebrity. This led to the idea of the having all the celebrities band together in a class action lawsuit against the town. Parker said their reactions mirrored the real-life reactions some of the celebrities had to their portrayals, adding, "If they could join forces, they probably would".
Stone said in writing the episode, they were determined not to produce a clip show, but to merge all of the old ideas into a new, original script. The process proved challenging for the duo because it involved incorporating many ideas, subplots and characters into a single episode. Parker and Stone included a joke about this process at the start of the episode, when Cartman and Kyle are fighting with each other, and Stan accuses them of just "rehashing a bunch of old stuff". In honor of the 200th episode, the website SouthPark200.com was launched, offering a forum to fans to post their congratulations to South Park and view those posted by others. Various people have contributed to the site, including the creators of the animated series The Simpsons (who used the opportunity to revisit another previous South Park theme, the episode "Simpsons Already Did It", saying "We already [produced 200 episodes]. Twice". ), members of the rock band Rush and Denver Nuggets basketball player Chauncey Billups. The site also includes congratulations from All in the Family creator Norman Lear, who guest-starred in the 100th episode "I'm a Little Bit Country", and figure skater Brian Boitano, who was featured in the song "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" in the 1999 film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
Theme
Muhammad storyline
"200" features jokes and references to past South Park episodes, storylines, characters and controversies. The episode revolves heavily around efforts to bring Muhammad into public view. This is based on two past controversies in 2005 (Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy) and 2007 (Lars Vilks Muhammad drawings controversy), when European newspapers published cartoons of Muhammad, which was responded to with reactions of violent riots, global protests and death threats toward the artists. As a result of those incidents, many publications and television studios have refused to broadcast images of Muhammad whatsoever, which was the inspiration behind the Tom Cruise character's efforts in the episode to harvest Muhammad's apparent immunity to satire and ridicule. Parker and Stone addressed the Muhammad issue in their two-part tenth season episode "Cartoon Wars", during which they attempt to show an image of the prophet, only to reveal that Comedy Central has forbidden any such image from being broadcast on their network. However, Muhammad had already been featured on-screen in the fifth season episode "Super Best Friends", in which he is among a band of religious figures modeled after the superheroes in the Super Friends cartoons from the 1970s and 1980s. (The Super Best Friends are featured once again in "200".) The episode "Super Best Friends" aired in 2001, before the and Vilks controversies. Stan makes reference to that past use of Muhammad's image in "200" by saying of Muhammad, "I saw him once... a while ago..." This reference was purposely included to reflect the irony that an image that was previously not a problem had suddenly become an issue due to new circumstances. Stone said, "Something that was OK is now not OK, and that's just fucked up." The "Super Best Friends" episode continues to be run uncensored by Comedy Central in repeats, even though new images of Muhammad remained prohibited.