Pee (South Park)
Encyclopedia
"Pee" is the thirteenth season
finale of the American
animated television series
South Park
, and the 195th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on Comedy Central
in the United States on November 18, 2009. In the episode, the boys visit Pi Pi's Splashtown waterpark, where so many people urinate in the pools that the entire park becomes engulfed in tsunami
s of urine
.
The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker
, and was rated TV-MA L in the United States. "Pee" served as a parody of the disaster film
genre, particularly the film 2012
, which was released five days before "Pee" was broadcast. According to Nielsen ratings
, the finale episode was seen by 2.87 million households, making it the highest rated cable show of the night. The episode received generally mixed reviews.
, Stan
, Kyle
, Kenny
, Butters
and Jimmy arrive at Pi Pi's Splashtown waterpark. Cartman is distraught to discover that most of the park's attendants are people of different races, while Kyle is disgusted to learn so many people freely urinate in the pools. Based on his observance of more minorities at the park than white people
, Cartman calculates there will be no white people left by the year 2012, and interprets this as a sign that Mayan
s accurately predicted the world would end the same year
, and that the new world will be "made up of minorities". Annoyed by Cartman's racism, Kyle points out that since white people do not make up the majority of the park's attendance, then they are the new minority, but Cartman does not listen, ignorantly thinking that a minority is someone who is "black or brown", (possibly for thinking of "Minor" meaning inferior for this.) At the same time, a scientist tests the park's water and discovers it is 98 percent urine. He urges Pi Pi, the park's Venetian
owner, to immediately close and evacuate his park, claiming the high urine content will soon trigger a cataclysmic event. Pi Pi dismisses the warning, but the park is soon overcome by tsunami
s of urine and volcanic eruptions. Hundreds drown in the subsequent flood, including Kenny, but the other boys manage to survive.
The park is quarantined, and the scientist advises against a mission to rescue those trapped inside, fearing their exposure to "pee contamination" has turned them into dangerous, hate-filled mutants. To prove his theory, the scientist urinates onto a test monkey
, which clearly becomes annoyed and engraged. An antidote to this reaction is then tested on other monkeys, but proven unsuccessful when the monkeys still become angered when urinated on. Meanwhile, Cartman clings to debris to stay afloat, while the other boys have reached higher ground. Cartman is rescued by the occupants of an inflatable raft. Noticing he is the only white person in the raft, Cartman assumes he is the "last of his species", and that his envisioned 2012 scenario has occurred three years early. He imagines a world in which he must speak in minority slang, is paid lower wages, and eventually forced to live in a concentration camp.
The other boys find Pi Pi, who informs them the park can be drained of the inundation if someone can swim through the pee to reach an emergency release valve. Kyle reluctantly agrees to do the job as he said at the start of the episode that he could hold his breath for the longest, but is horrified to learn he must drink the urine in order to offset the fluid pressure he will encounter at the depths. Outside, an antidote that keeps the monkeys calm during yet another urination test is discovered: banana
s. Back inside the park, Kyle reluctantly drinks a jarful of urine in preparation for his plunge into the flood. Just after he finishes the jar, helicopters arrive as part of the rescue mission. Just as Kyle complains that eating a banana would be the only ordeal more disgusting than what he has just been through, he is ordered at gunpoint to consume the antidote.
thirteenth season
finale, was written and directed by series co-founder Trey Parker
, and was rated TV-MA L in the United States. It first aired on November 18, 2009 in the United States on Comedy Central
. The episode marked the third time during the thirteenth season that Kenny was killed, a running gag
throughout the series. He also died during the season premiere, "The Ring" and during "W.T.F.
" During one of the final scenes, an alien
holding a banana is visible among the crowd in the background. The alien was placed in the episode as part of a contest offered by the show's official website, in which viewers who could find and identify the alien in the episode could enter a contest, with the winner getting an animated version of himself or herself placed in the South Park opening credits.
The episode featured a musical number sung by Cartman called "(Too Many Minorities) Not My Water Park", in which he despairs over the number of black, Hispanic and Asian patrons at his waterpark. Among other topics, Cartman expresses anger about long lines full of minorities and park employees speaking Spanish rather than English. The day after "Pee" was originally broadcast, three different kinds of T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts based on the episode were made available on South Park Studios, the official website of South Park. One featured Butters standing next to a puddle of urine saying, "1 in 3 People Admit They Pee in Pools". The second included Cartman and his quote from the episode, "Your world is cold and void of any humanity". The third featured Stan, Cartman, Kyle and Kenny wearing bathing suits and standing in front of a Pi Pi's Splashtown logo.
genre, which has been parodied in previous South Park episodes, like "Pandemic
", the twelfth season
parody of the film Cloverfield
. "Pee" included a particularly large number of references to 2012
, a science fiction film about the end of the world as predicted by the Mayan calendar, which was released only days before "Pee" was originally broadcast. The episode parodies many common elements of such disaster films, including scientists struggling to figure out the source of the problem. The destruction of rides and park amenities by the tsunami of urine is a reference to the destruction of historical monuments in 2012, and other such disaster films by Roland Emmerich
, the director of 2012, Independence Day
and The Day After Tomorrow
. "Pee" also includes several references to the 2012 phenomenon
, the prediction that cataclysmic events will occur in the year 2012, which is said to be the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar
.
The scene in which Kyle is forced to drink three cups of urine in order to prevent his body from enduring the effects of fluid pressure before swimming down to drain it all out, is a parody of a scene in the 1989 film The Abyss
, where the protagonist consumes a liquid breathing apparatus before venturing into the ocean depths.
, making it the most watched cable show of the night. It beat the second highest-ranked cable show, Bravo's Top Chef
, by about 600,000 households. The episode received generally mixed reviews. If Magazine writer Carl Cortez, who was critical of the second half of season thirteen, said "Pee" ranked as one of the best episodes of the season, and said it included several "classic South Park moments". Cortez called it a "wonderfully twisted spoof" of disaster films and called the script "pretty biting stuff ... without being wholly offensive". Ramsey Isler of IGN
said the emergency staff subplot working on a cure was not "quite perfect parody". But he praised Kyle in the ending scene, as well as the way South Park found a new, literal twist on "toilet humor" by featuring rivers and tsunamis of pee. Sean O'Neal of The A.V. Club
said that the episode was overly offensive, rather than an ironic commentary on racism. Although O'Neal said previous South Park episodes like "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson
" were effective, "Pee" and its references to minority park attendees and the Italian waterpark owner "came off less like ironic racism and more as good, old-fashioned, butter-your-cornbread-with-it racism".
set and two-disc Blu-ray
set in the United States on March 16, 2010. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode, a collection of deleted scenes, and a special mini-feature Inside Xbox: A Behind-the-Scenes Tour of South Park Studios, which discussed the process behind animating the show Inside xBox.
South Park (season 13)
The 13th season of South Park, an American animated television comedy series, originally aired in the United States on Comedy Central between March 11 and November 18, 2009. The season was headed by the series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who served as executive producers along with Anne...
finale of the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
animated television series
Cartoon series
A cartoon series is a set of regularly presented animated television programs with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same characters and a basic theme...
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 195th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
in the United States on November 18, 2009. In the episode, the boys visit Pi Pi's Splashtown waterpark, where so many people urinate in the pools that the entire park becomes engulfed in tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
s of urine
Urine
Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
.
The episode 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. "Pee" served as a parody of the disaster film
Disaster film
A disaster film is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject...
genre, particularly the film 2012
2012 (film)
2012 is a 2009 American disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson. It was produced by Emmerich's production company, Centropolis Entertainment and was distributed by Columbia Pictures...
, which was released five days before "Pee" was broadcast. According to Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, the finale episode was seen by 2.87 million households, making it the highest rated cable show of the night. The episode received generally mixed reviews.
Plot
CartmanEric 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...
, Stan
Stan Marsh
Stanley Randall "Stan" Marsh is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Trey Parker. Stan is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
, 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...
, Kenny
Kenny McCormick
Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is one of the four central characters along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman. His oft-muffled and indiscernible speech—the result of his parka hood covering his...
, Butters
Butters Stotch
Leopold "Butters" Stotch is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by series co-creator Matt Stone and loosely based on co-producer Eric Stough. He is a fourth-grade student who commonly has extraordinary experiences not typical of conventional small-town...
and Jimmy arrive at Pi Pi's Splashtown waterpark. Cartman is distraught to discover that most of the park's attendants are people of different races, while Kyle is disgusted to learn so many people freely urinate in the pools. Based on his observance of more minorities at the park than white people
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
, Cartman calculates there will be no white people left by the year 2012, and interprets this as a sign that Mayan
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
s accurately predicted the world would end the same year
2012 phenomenon
The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on December 21, 2012. This date is regarded as the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar...
, and that the new world will be "made up of minorities". Annoyed by Cartman's racism, Kyle points out that since white people do not make up the majority of the park's attendance, then they are the new minority, but Cartman does not listen, ignorantly thinking that a minority is someone who is "black or brown", (possibly for thinking of "Minor" meaning inferior for this.) At the same time, a scientist tests the park's water and discovers it is 98 percent urine. He urges Pi Pi, the park's Venetian
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
owner, to immediately close and evacuate his park, claiming the high urine content will soon trigger a cataclysmic event. Pi Pi dismisses the warning, but the park is soon overcome by tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
s of urine and volcanic eruptions. Hundreds drown in the subsequent flood, including Kenny, but the other boys manage to survive.
The park is quarantined, and the scientist advises against a mission to rescue those trapped inside, fearing their exposure to "pee contamination" has turned them into dangerous, hate-filled mutants. To prove his theory, the scientist urinates onto a test monkey
Animal testing
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments. Worldwide it is estimated that the number of vertebrate animals—from zebrafish to non-human primates—ranges from the tens of millions to more than 100 million...
, which clearly becomes annoyed and engraged. An antidote to this reaction is then tested on other monkeys, but proven unsuccessful when the monkeys still become angered when urinated on. Meanwhile, Cartman clings to debris to stay afloat, while the other boys have reached higher ground. Cartman is rescued by the occupants of an inflatable raft. Noticing he is the only white person in the raft, Cartman assumes he is the "last of his species", and that his envisioned 2012 scenario has occurred three years early. He imagines a world in which he must speak in minority slang, is paid lower wages, and eventually forced to live in a concentration camp.
The other boys find Pi Pi, who informs them the park can be drained of the inundation if someone can swim through the pee to reach an emergency release valve. Kyle reluctantly agrees to do the job as he said at the start of the episode that he could hold his breath for the longest, but is horrified to learn he must drink the urine in order to offset the fluid pressure he will encounter at the depths. Outside, an antidote that keeps the monkeys calm during yet another urination test is discovered: banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
s. Back inside the park, Kyle reluctantly drinks a jarful of urine in preparation for his plunge into the flood. Just after he finishes the jar, helicopters arrive as part of the rescue mission. Just as Kyle complains that eating a banana would be the only ordeal more disgusting than what he has just been through, he is ordered at gunpoint to consume the antidote.
Production
"Pee", the South ParkSouth 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...
thirteenth season
South Park (season 13)
The 13th season of South Park, an American animated television comedy series, originally aired in the United States on Comedy Central between March 11 and November 18, 2009. The season was headed by the series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who served as executive producers along with Anne...
finale, was written and directed by series co-founder 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. It first aired on November 18, 2009 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....
. The episode marked the third time during the thirteenth season that Kenny was killed, a running gag
Running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
throughout the series. He also died during the season premiere, "The Ring" and during "W.T.F.
W.T.F.
"W.T.F." is the 10th episode of the 13th season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 191st overall episode of the series. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on October 21, 2009...
" During one of the final scenes, an alien
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
holding a banana is visible among the crowd in the background. The alien was placed in the episode as part of a contest offered by the show's official website, in which viewers who could find and identify the alien in the episode could enter a contest, with the winner getting an animated version of himself or herself placed in the South Park opening credits.
The episode featured a musical number sung by Cartman called "(Too Many Minorities) Not My Water Park", in which he despairs over the number of black, Hispanic and Asian patrons at his waterpark. Among other topics, Cartman expresses anger about long lines full of minorities and park employees speaking Spanish rather than English. The day after "Pee" was originally broadcast, three different kinds of T-shirts and hooded sweatshirts based on the episode were made available on South Park Studios, the official website of South Park. One featured Butters standing next to a puddle of urine saying, "1 in 3 People Admit They Pee in Pools". The second included Cartman and his quote from the episode, "Your world is cold and void of any humanity". The third featured Stan, Cartman, Kyle and Kenny wearing bathing suits and standing in front of a Pi Pi's Splashtown logo.
Cultural references
The episode is a parody on the disaster filmDisaster film
A disaster film is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject...
genre, which has been parodied in previous South Park episodes, like "Pandemic
Pandemic (South Park)
"Pandemic" is the tenth episode of the twelfth season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 177th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on October 22, 2008....
", the twelfth season
South Park (season 12)
Season twelve of South Park, an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, began airing on March 12, 2008. The twelfth season concluded after 14 episodes on November 19, 2008...
parody of the film Cloverfield
Cloverfield
Cloverfield is a 2008 American disaster-monster film directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J. J. Abrams and written by Drew Goddard.The film follows six young New Yorkers attending a going-away party on the night that a gigantic monster attacks the city...
. "Pee" included a particularly large number of references to 2012
2012 (film)
2012 is a 2009 American disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson. It was produced by Emmerich's production company, Centropolis Entertainment and was distributed by Columbia Pictures...
, a science fiction film about the end of the world as predicted by the Mayan calendar, which was released only days before "Pee" was originally broadcast. The episode parodies many common elements of such disaster films, including scientists struggling to figure out the source of the problem. The destruction of rides and park amenities by the tsunami of urine is a reference to the destruction of historical monuments in 2012, and other such disaster films by Roland Emmerich
Roland Emmerich
Roland Emmerich is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer.His films, most of which are Hollywood productions filmed in English, have grossed more than $3 billion worldwide, more than those of any other European director...
, the director of 2012, Independence Day
Independence Day (film)
Independence Day is a 1996 science fiction film about an alien invasion of Earth, focusing on a disparate group of individuals and families as they converge in the Nevada desert and, along with the rest of the human population, participate in a last-chance counterattack on July 4 – the same...
and The Day After Tomorrow
The Day After Tomorrow
The Day After Tomorrow is a 2004 American science-fiction disaster film that depicts the catastrophic effects of global warming in a series of extreme weather events that usher in global cooling which leads to a new ice age. The film did well at the box office, grossing $542,771,772 internationally...
. "Pee" also includes several references to the 2012 phenomenon
2012 phenomenon
The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on December 21, 2012. This date is regarded as the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar...
, the prediction that cataclysmic events will occur in the year 2012, which is said to be the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar
Mesoamerican Long Count calendar
The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar is a non-repeating, vigesimal and base-18 calendar used by several Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya. For this reason, it is sometimes known as the Maya Long Count calendar...
.
The scene in which Kyle is forced to drink three cups of urine in order to prevent his body from enduring the effects of fluid pressure before swimming down to drain it all out, is a parody of a scene in the 1989 film The Abyss
The Abyss
The Abyss is a 1989 science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron. It stars Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn. The original musical score was composed by Alan Silvestri...
, where the protagonist consumes a liquid breathing apparatus before venturing into the ocean depths.
Reception
In its original American broadcast on November 18, 2009, "Pee" was watched by 2.87 million overall households, according to the Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, making it the most watched cable show of the night. It beat the second highest-ranked cable show, Bravo's Top Chef
Top Chef
Top Chef is an American reality competition show that airs on the cable television network Bravo, in which chefs compete against each other in culinary challenges. They are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more contestants...
, by about 600,000 households. The episode received generally mixed reviews. If Magazine writer Carl Cortez, who was critical of the second half of season thirteen, said "Pee" ranked as one of the best episodes of the season, and said it included several "classic South Park moments". Cortez called it a "wonderfully twisted spoof" of disaster films and called the script "pretty biting stuff ... without being wholly offensive". Ramsey Isler 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...
said the emergency staff subplot working on a cure was not "quite perfect parody". But he praised Kyle in the ending scene, as well as the way South Park found a new, literal twist on "toilet humor" by featuring rivers and tsunamis of pee. Sean O'Neal of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
said that the episode was overly offensive, rather than an ironic commentary on racism. Although O'Neal said previous South Park episodes like "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson
With Apologies to Jesse Jackson
"With Apologies to Jesse Jackson" is the first episode of the American animated television series South Park, and the 153rd episode overall. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on March 7, 2007...
" were effective, "Pee" and its references to minority park attendees and the Italian waterpark owner "came off less like ironic racism and more as good, old-fashioned, butter-your-cornbread-with-it racism".
Home release
"Pee", along with the thirteen other episodes from South Parks thirteenth season, was released on a three-disc DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
set and two-disc Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
set in the United States on March 16, 2010. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode, a collection of deleted scenes, and a special mini-feature Inside Xbox: A Behind-the-Scenes Tour of South Park Studios, which discussed the process behind animating the show Inside xBox.