All greatness has to start somewhere. Peter Parker got bit by a radioactive spider, turning him into Spider-Man; Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered, creating Batman; and Iron Man rejected wanna-be sidekick Doreen Green, who eventually went on to become the most powerful- and feared- entity in the Marvel universe: Squirrel Girl. While those stories are interesting subjects, today we'll be talking about the origins of another powerful entity- South Park.
Many of you may know this series as "the show that taught children how to swear" or "the cartoon where the cute kids die violently". Today it's seen by millions of people worldwide, but ever wonder how it all got started? Well don't you worry because Ol' Uncle Mondo is here to help. Just don't tell your parents that you're hanging out with us.
Flashback to 1992! Bill Clinton had just won the presidential election, Boyz II Men were rocking the charts with "End of the Road" and people were lining up in droves to see blockbusters like"C.I.A. Codename: Alexa" starring box office king OJ Simpson. Truly, it was an legendary year.
During this time, Matt Stone and Trey Parker were taking a film class together at the University of Colorado. It was there that they created an animated short called "The Spirit of Christmas: Jesus vs Frosty". Using only construction paper, glue and an old-ass camera, they were able to make a four minute short about four kids building a snowman. Awww, now doesn't that sound perfect for the holiday season?
Keep in mind, this was the beginning of the "cartoons aren't just for kids" movement, so this was a really edgy thing at the time. You can clearly see South Park's origins in this short. Swearing kids, ass-kicking Jesus, and brutal child murder are all here. Even though the kid is clearly not the Kenny we know today, we see the first instance of the perennial "They killed Kenny!" bit.
Eventually a Fox Executive by the name of Brian Graden saw the Jesus VS Frosty short and decided that all the swearing and dead children would be the perfect thing to send to his family and friends for the holidays; presumably to burn some bridges. So in 1995 Graden paid Stone and Parker $2000 to make another short that he could give away as a video Christmas card. Much like the last time, this short contained 4 kids watching two holiday icons square off in fisticuffs. This time, it was Jesus vs Santa Claus. In this episode, the two December holiday legends get into an argument over the true meaning of Christmas is and naturally, they settle it the only way they know how; with sweet-ass. Ancient. Magic fireballs.
Graden sent the video out to eighty of his friends that December. It slowly gained popularity over the next few months due to the creation of of many bootleg copies, eventually finding it's way to a minor little thing known as the internet. From there, it turned into one of the first viral videos in history, teaching everyone an important lesson: that the internet can be used for things other than porn.
Soon, Stone and Parker were in talks with various companies to bring South Park to television. Fox didn't want to air it due to the raunchy nature of the show, and MTV was turned down in fear of turning South Park into a more kid friendly show. Eventually, South Park found its way to Comedy Central who picked up the show for a run of six episodes, with the first official episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", airing on August 13 1997.
The first episode was a hit, gaining over 980 000 viewers. Three months later, the ratings and viewership had tripled making it one Comedy Central's most successful shows. Today it's on its 16 season with over 230 hilarious episodes in the can. Its spawned video games, merchandise and the series has been referenced in various other cartoons such as Powerpuff Girls, The Simpsons, FLCL and even Arthur.
That about wraps things up for the first edition of Origin Stories! Would you guys like to see more of this? If so, what series do you want us to talk about next? Let us know in the comments below!
