HumancentiPad
Encyclopedia
"HUMANCENTiPAD" is the first episode of the fifteenth season
of the American animated television series South Park
, and the 210th episode of the series overall. "HUMANCENTiPAD" originally aired in the United States on Comedy Central
and in Canada on The Comedy Network
on April 27, 2011, and Comedy Central UK on May 6, 2011. In the episode, Kyle is intimately involved in the development of a revolutionary new product that is about to be launched by Apple. Meanwhile, Cartman does not even have a regular iPad yet and blames his mother.
"HUMANCENTiPAD" was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker
, and was rated TV-MA L in the United States. The episode's title, and main plot, refers to the 2010 film The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
. This episode parodies reports about tracking software built into Apple's iPad
s and iPhone
s, and also the tediously long end-user license agreements.
The making of the episode was the subject of the TV special, Six Days to Air, which aired on Comedy Central on October 9, 2011.
s, but Cartman
does not, and he is challenged for pretending to have one. Kyle
is chased through the town and kidnapped by Apple employees, who claim their actions are legal under the newest version of the iTunes
terms and conditions, which Kyle, due to their length, agreed to without reading. He is thrown into a cell with a Japanese man and a Caucasian woman who also failed to read them. Meanwhile, Cartman embarrasses his mother, Liane, at Best Buy
, loudly accusing her of "fucking" him after she offers to buy him the cheaper "Toshiba
HandiBook" rather than the iPad. She refuses to buy him anything and takes him home.
At a gathering of Apple employees, Steve Jobs
unveils the new product for which Kyle and the other two were kidnapped: the HUMANCENTiPAD (based on The Human Centipede
), comprising the three kidnapped subjects on all fours and sewn together mouth to anus. The Japanese man is in front, with an iPhone attached to his forehead; Kyle is in the middle; and the woman is at the rear, with an iPad attached to her anus and powered by the trio's defecation. However, Jobs is disappointed when Kyle continues to sign agreements that are put in front of him without reading them first, and puts the "device" through tests in an attempt to make it read.
Back in South Park, Gerald goes with the boys to the Apple store to seek advice from "the Geniuses
" on how to save Kyle. After performing two rituals, a "quickening" in which they interface through their mouths using light beams and a "toran ra" ritual in which they poke floating colored bubbles, the Geniuses conclude that they can make Kyle's agreement void if Gerald, a PC
user, signs up with Apple and creates a family account. When Gerald consents to join Apple, the head Genius proclaims the Vulcan
phrase Kal-if-fee and an induction ceremony in tin foil
hats is held in a setting resembling the planet Vulcan in the Star Trek: The Original Series
episode "Amok Time".
Meanwhile, Cartman appears on Dr. Phil
to publicly accuse Liane of "fucking" him. The audience takes his side despite Liane's protests; as a consolation gift, Cartman is given the first ever HUMANCENTiPAD as Jobs unveils it to the public. Cartman is elated to have a device that not only supports web browsing and email, but allows him to have someone defecate into Kyle's mouth. Shortly afterwards, Gerald and the Apple employees arrive to tell Jobs that Kyle must be released, since his agreement to the iTunes terms and conditions is no longer valid. Jobs allows Kyle and the two others to be taken away to be separated, and Cartman, enraged at having his dream taken away so quickly, shouts at God
, angrily mocking him for "fucking" him. He is then struck by a bolt of lightning
. The episode ends with a shot of Cartman battered and bruised in a hospital bed, crying, while his mother flips through a book indifferently.
.
Reviewing the episode for EW
, Ken Tucker called the episode "scabrously funny" and summed up its message as "[k]nowledge really matters; many people are lazy and consequently become prey to exploitation." Ramsey Iser of IGN
rated the episode 7.5 out of 10. He said the episode was "a decent opening" for the season, but criticized it for overuse of Cartman's accusations against his mother, generic jokes about Apple's "Geniuses
", and "poop jokes ... [that] didn't do much for the story or the comedy."
South Park (season 15)
The fifteenth season of South Park, an American animated television series, began airing on April 27, 2011 and ended on November 16, 2011. In response to reactions to the mid-season finale episode "You're Getting Old", which seemed to insinuate that creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were wrapping...
of the American animated television series South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
, and the 210th episode of the series overall. "HUMANCENTiPAD" originally aired in the United States on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
and in Canada on The Comedy Network
The Comedy Network
The Comedy Network a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media specializing in comedy programming.The channel operates two time shifted feeds, East and West ....
on April 27, 2011, and Comedy Central UK on May 6, 2011. In the episode, Kyle is intimately involved in the development of a revolutionary new product that is about to be launched by Apple. Meanwhile, Cartman does not even have a regular iPad yet and blames his mother.
"HUMANCENTiPAD" was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker
Trey Parker
Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...
, and was rated TV-MA L in the United States. The episode's title, and main plot, refers to the 2010 film The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
The Human Centipede is a 2010 Dutch horror film written and directed by Tom Six. The film tells the story of a German doctor who kidnaps three tourists and joins them surgically, mouth to anus, forming a "human centipede". It stars Dieter Laser as the villain, Dr. Heiter, with Ashley C. Williams,...
. This episode parodies reports about tracking software built into Apple's iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
s and iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
s, and also the tediously long end-user license agreements.
The making of the episode was the subject of the TV special, Six Days to Air, which aired on Comedy Central on October 9, 2011.
Plot
Several children at South Park Elementary have iPadIPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
s, but Cartman
Eric Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman is a fictional character in the American animated television series South Park. One of four main characters, along with Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick, he is generally referred to within the series by his last name...
does not, and he is challenged for pretending to have one. Kyle
Kyle Broflovski
Kyle Broflovski is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by co-creator Matt Stone. Kyle is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
is chased through the town and kidnapped by Apple employees, who claim their actions are legal under the newest version of the iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
terms and conditions, which Kyle, due to their length, agreed to without reading. He is thrown into a cell with a Japanese man and a Caucasian woman who also failed to read them. Meanwhile, Cartman embarrasses his mother, Liane, at Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
, loudly accusing her of "fucking" him after she offers to buy him the cheaper "Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
HandiBook" rather than the iPad. She refuses to buy him anything and takes him home.
At a gathering of Apple employees, Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs was an American businessman and inventor widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution. He was co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc...
unveils the new product for which Kyle and the other two were kidnapped: the HUMANCENTiPAD (based on The Human Centipede
The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
The Human Centipede is a 2010 Dutch horror film written and directed by Tom Six. The film tells the story of a German doctor who kidnaps three tourists and joins them surgically, mouth to anus, forming a "human centipede". It stars Dieter Laser as the villain, Dr. Heiter, with Ashley C. Williams,...
), comprising the three kidnapped subjects on all fours and sewn together mouth to anus. The Japanese man is in front, with an iPhone attached to his forehead; Kyle is in the middle; and the woman is at the rear, with an iPad attached to her anus and powered by the trio's defecation. However, Jobs is disappointed when Kyle continues to sign agreements that are put in front of him without reading them first, and puts the "device" through tests in an attempt to make it read.
Back in South Park, Gerald goes with the boys to the Apple store to seek advice from "the Geniuses
Genius Bar
The Genius Bar is a tech support station located inside every Apple Retail Store, the purpose of which is to offer help and support for Apple products. Ron Johnson, the Senior Vice President for Retail, has often referred to the Genius Bar as the "heart and soul of our stores". Employees are...
" on how to save Kyle. After performing two rituals, a "quickening" in which they interface through their mouths using light beams and a "toran ra" ritual in which they poke floating colored bubbles, the Geniuses conclude that they can make Kyle's agreement void if Gerald, a PC
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
user, signs up with Apple and creates a family account. When Gerald consents to join Apple, the head Genius proclaims the Vulcan
Vulcan (Star Trek)
Vulcans, or sometimes Vulcanians, are an extraterrestrial humanoid species in the Star Trek universe who evolved on the planet Vulcan, and are noted for their attempt to live by reason and logic with no interference from emotion. They were the first extraterrestrial species in the Star Trek...
phrase Kal-if-fee and an induction ceremony in tin foil
Tin foil
Tin foil, also spelled tinfoil, is a thin foil made of tin. Actual tin foil was superseded by cheaper and more durable aluminium foil after World War II, and aluminium foil is sometimes confused with "tin foil" because of its similarity to the former material.-History:Foil made from a thin leaf of...
hats is held in a setting resembling the planet Vulcan in the Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
episode "Amok Time".
Meanwhile, Cartman appears on Dr. Phil
Dr. Phil (TV series)
Dr. Phil is a reality/talk television show hosted by Phil McGraw. After McGraw's success with his segments on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Phil debuted on September 16, 2002...
to publicly accuse Liane of "fucking" him. The audience takes his side despite Liane's protests; as a consolation gift, Cartman is given the first ever HUMANCENTiPAD as Jobs unveils it to the public. Cartman is elated to have a device that not only supports web browsing and email, but allows him to have someone defecate into Kyle's mouth. Shortly afterwards, Gerald and the Apple employees arrive to tell Jobs that Kyle must be released, since his agreement to the iTunes terms and conditions is no longer valid. Jobs allows Kyle and the two others to be taken away to be separated, and Cartman, enraged at having his dream taken away so quickly, shouts at God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
, angrily mocking him for "fucking" him. He is then struck by a bolt of lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
. The episode ends with a shot of Cartman battered and bruised in a hospital bed, crying, while his mother flips through a book indifferently.
Reception
In its original American broadcast on April 27, 2011, "HUMANCENTiPAD" was watched by 3.108 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media ResearchNielsen Media Research
Nielsen Media Research is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre films and newspapers...
.
Reviewing the episode for EW
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, Ken Tucker called the episode "scabrously funny" and summed up its message as "[k]nowledge really matters; many people are lazy and consequently become prey to exploitation." Ramsey Iser of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
rated the episode 7.5 out of 10. He said the episode was "a decent opening" for the season, but criticized it for overuse of Cartman's accusations against his mother, generic jokes about Apple's "Geniuses
Genius Bar
The Genius Bar is a tech support station located inside every Apple Retail Store, the purpose of which is to offer help and support for Apple products. Ron Johnson, the Senior Vice President for Retail, has often referred to the Genius Bar as the "heart and soul of our stores". Employees are...
", and "poop jokes ... [that] didn't do much for the story or the comedy."
External links
- "HUMANCENTiPAD" Episode guide at South Park Studios
- "HUMANCENTiPAD" Full episode at South Park Studios
- "HUMANCENTiPAD" Press Release