South Park's MIRACLE Episode

[@astrowuff]

I worked for Blizzard back then, they kept it a secret in the company except for the few people that worked with South Park studios. But we got to see the episode in a theater before it aired that week as a surprise and we were all so thrilled. They used our QA servers to do their in game scenes.

[@DareToBeDeviant]

I missed the detail on that outsider on Alpha server who came out of nowhere and engaged combat. Who could that have been and how did they get in? Beta tester perhaps?

[@Collins-Elliott]

@@peyton8603 bro has had a YT account for 17 years now. - I doubt he would flex such a specific account from over a decade ago for likes- as if Blizzard hasn’t had hundreds of employees since then.

[@LightsJusticeZ]

It's unfortunate that none of the gameplay footage was recorded in HD or even widescreen at the time, but that was just the nature of media at the time.

[@alexz.8302]

​​​@@peyton8603Blizzard is not the CIA in terms of recruitment. Most game companies aren't. I have friends that worked for EA, Square Enix, and Sony. If you live in LA and are in the industry you're bound to work for one of those companies. Hell, my friend in Square wasn't even in the industry. She was an HR specialist before that.

[@captainjakemerica4579]

Wow and my senior prom dates sister works at Blizzard also

[@kingdomcomesuperman3669]

Always humbling to see a creator as skilled as Trey show some impostor syndrome for what would become such a beloved episode.

[@bobkerr2755]

Wait, he begged the network to not air the Warcraft episode but he was 100% on board with the Oprah episode?

[@TheDuckyDino]

@@bobkerr2755 He later agreed that that was a bad episode, but in the commentary for season 1 he brought up how most of the episodes him and Trey like aren’t liked by the fans (Like Terrance and Philip Not Without My Anus)

[@bobkerr2755]

@@TheDuckyDino I wonder what other popular episodes they hate? I can't imagine anyone hating the lord of the rings episode

[@TheDuckyDino]

@@bobkerr2755 Trey Pretty much hates most episode right before they release, he just hated Make Love Not Warcraft a little more than the rest.

[@manicpepsicola3431]

​@@bobkerr2755 he always does stuff like this though. He was insecure about warcraft because he was actually super invested but he didnt care about the oprah episode so he didnt care what people thought. If you listen to the commentary on the episodes you can tell he just cuts off caring about certain things at certsin times.

[@mesadrums375]

I always love the aspect of showing that even though Cartman sucks, he really is a great leader when the boys have a common goal.

[@weedshoes5089]

He’s a little Mussolini.

[@markkocsicska2590]

Cartman have always been a master planner and an excelent problem solver. He is really smart and knows how to get things done. The issue is that his motivations are usually twisted.

[@Adir-Yosef]

@@weedshoes5089 little Hitler, Mussolini was a complete failure. at least Mr. Nazi himself was partly successful in his actions.

[@vgmarkis]

Truly a classic. Still crazy to me how those guys got super depressed after making this episode only for it to go absurdly viral loool

[@TWHowl]

Anyone know where the audio of Trey talking about the episode comes from?

[@DrSpaceman42]

@@TWHowlpretty sure it’s the episode’s commentary track

[@LFanimes333]

Why did they get depressed?

[@AlexLaw-y9j]

I would have gotten depressed after it went viral. Like how the fuck are we ever going to top this?

[@zackthomas1031]

I love the small details too, like, when they're all playing in Cartman's basement, they all have lcd screens except Kenny's poor ass on his CRT monitor 😂

[@d.b.1176]

That old CRT is worth more than a LCD today 💰🤪

[@naturetime3823]

CRTs have better pixel accuracy and latency 😂

[@teacherfromthejungles6671]

a good CRT is better than any LCD

[@MOperator]

​@@teacherfromthejungles6671Sure

[@Infernoblade1010]

Few additional neat things for those who don't know: Make love, not warcraft is an in game achievement that was made because of this. The player killing everyone was modeled after a blizzard employee who's also the father of the streamer Thor of Pirate Software, who also worked for blizzard. The "Hello Kitty Island Adventure" Butters mentions was later made into an actual game. The list goes on and on lol

[@gracekim1998]

To add to that last point: it became real last year

[@Norrieification]

They put The Sword of 1000 Truths in the game as well in TBC.

[@JamesG1880]

That’s so cool they made an achievement for the episode name🤘🏼

[@naydiamoore3047]

P

[@rubymeaddle]

I am so mad HKIA is Apple Arcade exclusive

[@claymathewselevator8121]

How do you kill that who has no life is my friends favorite South Park quote

[@gamerbronickwolf]

I mean World of Warcraft is OK and all but it’s no hello Kitty Island adventure

[@bernardoheusi6146]

Or Roblox

[@Nittle69420]

​​@@bernardoheusi6146 roblox is just gambling for 7 year olds hello kitty island adventure is peak

[@bernardoheusi6146]

@@Nittle69420 Itis if you realize REAL adults play it and it always follow memes like ugandan Knuckles.

[@d.b.1176]

Ok Butters

[@gamerbronickwolf]

@@d.b.1176 oh hamburgers!

[@neilhannan7525]

Back when Blizzard was the cool respected company and it was a company made up of nerds and people who loved gaming truly times have changed 😢

[@troperhghar9898]

the merger with Activision really screwed Blizzard up

[@lhfirex]

While the games back then were fun, the lawsuits from a few years ago show that the people making them at this time were some of the monsters responsible for all the sexual harassment at Blizzard that persisted for years. Specifically a lot of the leaders at WOW.

[@gracekim1998]

Dang😅

[@TheRamenRider]

No it was always like this you just didn’t know about what was going on

[@AzerFraze]

Blizzard was already a vile studio back then, the world just wasn't aware of it

[@HadesWTF]

It also end with the perfect joke" "What do we do now?" "What do you mean? Now we can play the game."

[@DodgeThisBam]

It's one of my all time favorites! I even made a video homage to it after spending almost a month trying to do a stupid in game challenge and upon succeeded realizing what I had become!

[@Whiteythereaper]

Endgame play in any MMO in the last 20 years Edit: no joke I've played Elder Scrolls online on and off for 7 years and I'm only now hitting enough DPS to get into groups for Trial Dungeons, where you get the endgame meta armour sets that push you up to 100k DPS required for the Veteran difficulty versions. If you want to have any chance at getting the Emperor achievement in PVP, you have to have one of these sets.

[@gabagool_and_psychiatry4856]

that was me in GTA ONLINE. grinding money and rep to get better guns and better health to complete the missions and hiests as easy as possible.

[@member-berry-bonbons-8]

Definitely a contrast to how the "Black Friday" trilogy ended.

[@RJ_400]

“How do you kill someone with no life” the writing is so good😂

[@YolkiiGaming]

"WE CAN'T TRUST THE SWORD OF A THOUSAND TRUTHS TO A NOOB!" Something I still say all the time when I play games with my friends

[@JesusChristMarie]

Cartman: Mom, bafroom! Liane: What hon? Cartman: Bafroom! Liane: (Brings bedpan) Cartman: (Sharts) Liane: Oh my, what a big boy! Classic

[@fury_b0wzer]

“Carpal tunnel! Carpal tunnel! It’s bad!” “Quick we need Bengay!”

[@da1FranCh1zE]

You can’t go now your stacking sunder armor 😂

[@richied334]

"poop socking" was a thing back then. Apparently gamers didn't want to miss any action

[@caronstout354]

Cartman blowing diarrhea I in this episode has officially out-grossed Mr. Creosote as the most disgusting scene ever broadcast...

[@EpicToadRage]

I laughed so fucking hard at that scene! He just... SPRAYS SHIT EVERYWHERE! 🤣🤣🤣

[@JustBenUnofficial]

This was the episode that got me into South Park. I've seen every episode at least twice now, and I enjoyed a few of them more than this one, but this one will always hold a special place in my heart as my "gateway episode"

[@ImKeeby]

dude@ArianneKirylo

[@Kwauhn.]

@@ImKeeby It's a bot. Just report it.

[@Bobtastic22]

This episode got me into WOW lol I always watched south park but didnt have a computer to play pc games so I was the butters and had to get a computer and the game after i saw this episode or all my friends would kill me lol

[@TJJ117]

This was the first South Park episode I ever saw, or at least paid attention to. Definitely got me into it

[@Lanai50]

Let's not forget this is the episode where we find out that Butters doesnt play world of warcraft, he instead plays Hello Kitty Island Adventure ™️

[@jordanhanley7585]

which is now a real game lol

[@PFCHoppster]

I read that in Butters' voice, damn this was iconic

[@philtheprince1]

Early 2000s such a great time for digital media. Today Blizzard would have to ask Daddy Shareholders first if it's ok to collab with Southpark and they would've said no too risky.

[@ncrvako]

Well that time was fun.

[@Fancy_Lebowski]

I always think of Stan and Cartman whenever I've done an inordinate amount of grinding. "I can't believe it's all over. What do we do now?" "What do you mean? Now we can finally play the game"

[@MrMegaManFan]

RIP Jarod Nandin. 2021 took him from us but his WOW/South Park cosplay lives on as does the Sword of a Thousand Truths.

[@MistrBlistr]

Cartman spraying diarrhea into a bedpan was the funniest thing I had ever seen up to that point in my life and it’s still in my list of favorite SP moments.

[@hornymonk23]

It's burnt into my memory, from the moment he demands it "mom, bathroom!" to the end of the sequence with his mom diligently carrying the thing upstairs while covered in diarrea herself

[@caronstout354]

It out-grosses Mr. Creosote by a mile...

[@TechSquidTV]

As someone who didn't play WoW, I remember watching this episode in High School and FLOORED they pulled this off. We saw it kind of like machinima, which was popular at the time. We were blown away by the quality and realized they must have had more help to do some of the animations.

[@ImDemonAlchemist]

I mean, it was partially machinima.

[@MasterOfTheBrood]

Make Love Not Warcraft is actually one of; if not my favorite episode of South Park. it had pretty much everything you coulda asked for story wise. a relatable villain, a group of adventurer's who had to become the villain in order to be the heroes, and this was easily my favorite story involving Randy. him getting absorbed into WoW was both hilarious and cute since he only wanted to spend time with his son.

[@Joybuzzard]

The use of 'Live To Win' by Paul Stanley was an excellent choice for the montage scene.

[@johnxmanny]

Remember people: Don't use drugs‚ specifically league of legends‚ Dota and world of Warcraft

[@enriquevillalobos2084]

if youre on dota its already too late. the best course of action is a rehabilitation program and thorough therapy

[@ryukami404]

And don't forget the deadliest drug of them all, OSRS

[@notatallfunctional]

So many lives have been lost to Apex

[@PointB1ank]

As someone with 9400 hours in Dota, probably another 5k+ in WoW, and another 10-15k hours in OSRS. This hits hard. Did I mention I'm a giant loser?

[@Kibernizzle]

​@@notatallfunctionaloh sweet summer child...

[@blueberry5822]

I think something that helped with the in game footage is that the dialogue didn’t try to be like wow, its still core south park. Opening with Goldshire, but with carman saying I TOOK THE BIGGEST CRAP puts us firmly in SP territory but in a new world

[@CaptDeadpool32]

One thing I love about South park and this episode in particular is the clever word play. Like the line- how do you kill that who has no life? Fucking brilliant.

[@boop7725]

What's funny is this is one of the first South Park episodes I ever watched (and I was just a kid lol). I didn't even know what WoW was but I never felt lost because the episode did a good job of communicating what I needed to know to understand the game for the episode and the culture that sorrounded the game. Really loved the episode. And to this day, I have never played WoW or any similar MMORPG games, but it remains a favorite episode of mine. I think that speaks to how good this episode is.

[@Duskets]

Matt and Trey’s video game parodies always land because they always come from a place of understanding and work outwards. They’re in on the joke and are able to mock it from that perspective of an insider without dunking on people for cheap laughs. It’s a level of respect you don’t really see from showrunners unless they’re themselves a part of the fandom and I just think that’s really neat. It’s part of the reason why I love the PS4 / Xbox One framing device used for the Black Friday trilogy as well. Sure, it’s exaggerated and silly, but they were actually paying attention to people having these conversations about upcoming systems and having to pick a side among their friend group.

[@SinisterPixel]

Best part is it turns out that the OP player is someone who worked at Blizzard. It's loosely based on Joeyray Hall, who you may better know as PirateSoftware's (Thor's) dad

[@cameronadey7004]

not loosely based, his dad worked with the south park creators to put him in the episode

[@BlitzDemonGamer3032]

truly one of the Best South Park episodes ever made

[@bernardoheusi6146]

@@beaualoevv BS.

[@KRDiStort]

I remember I showed this episode to a friend of mine who was way into WoW at the time, and he spent pretty much the whole runtime complaining about everything they got wrong about the game. I didn't care what he said, though, the Sword of a Thousand Truths was awesome.

[@bnbnism]

They actually added the sword into the game hto

[@jackiedan2450]

I played WoW at the time this episode aired. It was such a big thing, the next day and for weeks after, hundreds of people were looking to buy "The Sword of a Thousand Truths", and confusing the hell out of the rest of the server. 😆

[@gj3717]

I remember when it aired. Barrens chat was just an unreadable spam of episode quotes like a thousand echos of each line and every line, and people spamming what gear each character was wearing.

[@bnbnism]

Yea and then it got added which was cool and as an achievement although how did the guy in the server kill people when they filmed the episode I thought u have to duel

[@Steggoleaf]

You know the Twitch Streamer Pirate Softwear ? Both him and his Dad worked for Blizzard for years. The guy at the desk who kills the other players is based off his Dad just Exaggerated but he did wear the Wrist Brace and had that Desk and lamp

[@TheAnonyomusGuy]

I was about to post this same thing

[@giantturd5157]

That's his apartment lol

[@mattstakeontheancients7594]

Me too had just watched one of his shorts right before this video.

[@jessepatterson8897]

And on top of it, Thor is awesome.

[@gatorhoy0420]

Never heard of either of these people

[@Guitarfailtastic2857]

"Clyde, hit him with your crossbow." "Do it now, Clyde." "...Clyde?" "Oh no we've lost Clyde!!"

[@joesmith6638]

great work ! Was expecting just a video essay on the episode plot but you covered all the background, production and response too.

[@imtoogoodatpvp1252]

Never get tired of this episode, so amazing, so nostalgic, makes me want to cry

[@Axecon1]

The Blizzard of today would have never allowed collaboration like this to happen. How times have changed!

[@avemex]

I remember when this episode aired, I was actively playing World of Warcraft, and everyone was talking about how great the episode was on chat.

[@khill64]

I love that you can see a drawing of Human CentiPad at 1:18 on the whiteboard

[@IncredibleMD]

"The worst Blizzard can say is 'no'." - The South Park Animation Staff, I guess.

[@GERMANAITOR]

I still quote, "What do we do now? What do you mean? Now we can play the game." whenever me and friends get super far into a game.

[@Deetle99]

reframing (re-editing) your videos to be audio only for background use is genius. not only to broaden reach but i appreciate it since as i've gotten busier i lean more towards audio-books and video-essays as directly watching videos or reading is exclusive to total relaxing time (even then, sometimes i feel too tired to use my eyes and just listen to video-essays anyway)

[@akiwithattops]

Great video! I’d love to see one on Scott Tenorman Must Die and Cartman’s character arc throughout the first 4 seasons of the show leading up to it.

[@Mattblaze1477]

Cartman taking a shit in the bucket while Liane holds it is one of the funniest scenes in the entire series. Just full on surreal hilarity.

[@TheRealBlackarrot]

Bathroom..BATHROOM!!

[@igordiniz2819]

Their use of "live to win" by Paul Stanley in the leveling up montage was perfect

[@Graphomite]

I think the sense of inadequacy is a relatable trait among sincere artists. The end product of something you put a ton of work into never feels as good as it should when held to the public eye, since the experience of creating it is always much greater than the end result.

[@matthewterlaga3022]

This episode is the first time I heard the song Live To Win, which I still love to this day

[@benchemikal]

Dude your theme song at the end is an absolute bop. Also great video as always

[@tykinnamon9831]

Okay... not saying you have to do it, but it would be AMAZING if you did a video on 200 & 201. Those 2 episodes are, without question, my favorite episodes of the entire series. And the impact those two episodes have had over South Park as a series is undeniable!

[@jescis]

9:44 スターウォーズ(Sta= Wars) shirt!! That's a cool shirt!! I have "Shadows Of The Empire"*(スター・ウォーズ帝国の影(ていこくのかげ)) for the Nintendo 64 and the 1988 Namco Famicom game… plus I was born a month and three days before the OG "Star Wars" was released in 1977!! 😮😮😮😮😅😅😅😅 I JUST realized that the game has a dot((てん)点/・) that separates Star and Wars, where his shirt doesn't 🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@playablecharacter3871]

It was so cool to imagine being one of the ingame actors, or a director trying to direct in a new world. Badass coverage of this moment in media history

[@BM1982.V2]

If the pip episode didn't ruin the south park legacy, then nothing else will ruin it...

[@Jack-sy8mr]

🎵LIVE TO WIN, TILL YOU DIE, TILL THE LIGHT DIES IN YOUR EYES!🎵

[@MeatMastrAnt]

So Iconic

[@jaghatarkebab2020]

I was baffled by the production quality shown for the "in-game" scenes back then. Hearing today that the Blizzard officially supported the making of the episodes makes so much sense.

[@adr0961]

I might just not be able to find it , but you should do a video about “Grounded Vindaloop” to summarize the continuitity of that episode!

[@WRDN_Ursine]

you're right Johnny... i should play retail again

[@tiablue9106]

I do rlly like when (much like in good times w/ weapons), south park eps treat the most low-stakes matters with the utmost seriousness. like, all they had to do was find some other game to play instead of all this lol but they very literally treat it like the world--of warcraft--population is on the line here. that's why the ending when they recall they did all this just so they could play the game uninterrupted and casually get back to it always cracks me up. also the epic battle music playing over the shots of the bloated boys just sitting at their computers barely moving edit: like this is also why I love the ziplining ep

[@speedyf40]

I remember a lot of my close friends got to work on this episode because I was a podcaster for WOW radio. It was a very cool time to be involved with the world Warcraft 😆

[@vetev]

The golden era of south park. And Blizzard too...

[@James_St._James]

I don't play World of Warcraft. I play Hello Kitty Island Adventure.

[@WHIKKEDDDD]

man can’t believe this episode came out in season 10, it’s so fantastic. great video man

[@bluetarantulaproductions6179]

I never got into WOW or Everquest ( I was more of a Starcraft and Diablo player back in the day), though my best friend's from high school were big fans of the WOW universe.

[@Vikn01]

Probably the first episode that comes to mind when asked "what's the best south park episode ever?". I was a WoW player in middle school and south park was my favorite show. Waiting the whole week to see the new south park episode and it opens with WoW was an unbelievable experience as a kid.

[@GloriousGandalf]

Hey Johnny! The bit about Randy's comedic scenes and dying in Stan's arms plays through twice. Didn't know if you knew that!

[@Johnny2Cellos]

I think you may have hit the back arrow or something because it doesn't when I play it back!

[@veghesther3204]

and ironically Hello Kitty Island Adventure the PC game Butters first played in this episode it actual became a REAL game released this YEAR in 2024.

[@monkebidness]

Nostalgia plays a big role in why I love this episode so much. It just makes me remember the days of classic WOW in a way nothing else does, not even Blizz’s release of classic.

[@darkmyro]

The sword they're after is actually a sword called "slayer of the lifeless" and it has the flavor text "fortold by salsman" ( there's a joke about salsman in accounting in the episode) though it wasn't added till the third expansion; the wrath of the lich king. I'm sure most gamers will know this, but for the few that don't it's a fun Easter egg.

[@Rameus]

The poop bucket scene is what made the episode.

[@bernardoheusi6146]

Nah it was one enjoyable scene after scene

[@sleazymeezy]

Mom! Bathroom!

[@PartnershipsForYou]

Oh that’s a big one sweetie.

[@DibbzTV]

My all time fav episode

[@infinitylantern2]

It is the episode I go to if I want to get fully absorbed. It's my favorite episode.

[@frewthelookingglass860]

This episode got me into Warcraft and I’ve been playing ever since

[@rogueprince1341]

Ive played WoW since vanilla and during the time this episode came out it was all over the in game chat. People would be LTB The Sword of a Hundred Truths repeatedly filling the chat with spam.

[@codytaylorh]

This has always been my favorite episode, so cool to see more in depth on it, thank you bro

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

LIVE TO WIN! One of my all time favorites!

[@eisenhorn5494]

Till you die!!!

[@connerparadis9941]

My favourite fact is that the wow guy is based off a KZbinrs dad who worked at blizzard but i cant remember his name

[@Ragelikesdubs]

Thor Aka piratesoftware

[@LucyLioness100]

This episode is so hilarious & really understood the oddness that was MMORPG was in that time. Even my dad played the game back then course he eventually stopped playing; think he just fell out of love with it 😅 there are such hilarious lines & the moment between Randy and Stan at the end is a hoot but also sweet

[@Sunnymon_11]

Fun Fact: If you look up the guy who was killing the boys in the episode on the official site, his name is Leroy Jenkins. LEEEERRRROOOOYYYYYYY JEEEENNNNNKINNNNNNSSSSS

[@No-Ink]

Cartman calling his mom for "bathroom" is one of if not the funniest bit in the episode. I laughed so hard and even harder when she said he was a big boy, just unfazed on what just happened and what got on her face. Pure comedy.

[@infertilepiggy5667]

I love that they used Thor's dad and his apartment as the evil nerd guy

[@FXREVERUNKNXWN]

i watched that episode as a child, i'm 21 now. and i think about that episode almost weekly

[@Grandmaster-Kush]

It's such a nostalgic episode to me it captured the soul of 2006

[@SonStu42]

I remember my best friend’s Dad telling all of the other dads to let us kids watch this episode because we were big nerds back then. We were 10 when this episode came out, and we all were hooked. Little did they know I was watching South Park with my dad and uncle since birth lol best show ever, and this episode changed everything and made accessible to my friends.

[@mulqueen2023]

Even though I have no WOW knowledge, I still respect the detail they took with using the actual in game models, music, spells, etc. I could tell it was almost all authentic. It made me wish they'd given the same or similar treatment to BG3. They made many references to it in the Panderverse, but used like no footage from it. Which was disappointing, I'd love to see the characters the boys would make.

[@jackbrassington3489]

This episode got me into live to win and now i play it every time when I’m working out

[@michaelkolman8313]

This is one of my top two episodes I think. This one and All About Mormons are the episodes that made me a fan

[@LazarusLong10]

Hows it possible knowing all this makes this episode even funnier than it already is??!

[@YCCCm7]

For my dad, this episode helped him keep watching the show for a while longer. It was a rejuvinating oasis in what he felt was a desert.

[@aszhara2900]

Fun fact: The guy sitting in the chair playing the character they are trying to kill was an actual person working at Blizzard, kinda famous too, forgot the name tho. He only found out after the fact and found it funny, they even partially adapted the room in his house.

[@GERMANAITOR]

This episode was so big that the Season 10 DVD set of South Park came with a free month of a World of Warcraft subscription! I specifically remember seeing it in Walmart.

[@leavemealone802]

Impostor syndrome is trully scary stuff. Trey begged for one of the best episodes of the series to never air. This is crazy to me

[@endanarchy]

Every time I hear a voice note of Trey,I keep thinking he's goofing around being Randy and keep saying "Can this guy stop messing around and be serious for one moment?'😂

[@NisuUuno]

Paul Stanleys - Live to win suits it perfectly

[@OfficialBurrow]

The episode itself was also super relatable, like the scene where they kill a bunch of boar just to level up. lol

[@Phuskooz]

“Let me taste your tears Scott!”

[@oscr5175]

Fun fact after the episode came out you could and can still get stans sword in game it is called "slayer of the lifeless"

[@jyanixbach1975]

I was in game when this dropped. The server went NUTS

[@biz0unc3]

I remember my guild stopping our AQ40 run just to watch it.

[@casgian3272]

This and the imaginationland episodes are by far my favorite

[@Troopertroll]

The episode is the reason why I started playing, even though my friends were playing for half a year and I repeatedly declined to join.

[@eman111555]

i feel like in today's world, some lawyers would have stopped this co-project

[@thesuperzfamilyvlog6607]

I'll always remember playing WoW and seeing, in the comments, other players shouting that the episode was on. So many players were watching the episode and they would return during the commercials. It was so good.