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

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@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!

[@claymathewselevator8121]

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

[@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

[@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-bonbons1124]

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😂

[@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?

[@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

[@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.

[@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! 🤣🤣🤣

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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...

[@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"

[@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...

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@khill64]

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

[@Axecon1]

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

[@joesmith6638]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@matthewterlaga3022]

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

[@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)

[@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.

[@igordiniz2819]

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

[@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

[@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!

[@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.

[@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!

[@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.

[@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 😆

[@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.

[@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!

[@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.

[@frewthelookingglass860]

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

[@WHIKKEDDDD]

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

[@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.

[@infinitylantern2]

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

[@TheRealBlackarrot]

Bathroom..BATHROOM!!

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

LIVE TO WIN! One of my all time favorites!

[@eisenhorn5494]

Till you die!!!

[@jackbrassington3489]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@Jack-sy8mr]

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

[@MeatMastrAnt]

So Iconic

[@eisenhorn5494]

This and good times with weapons

[@turtleanton6539]

Yes😊😊😊

[@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.

[@IncredibleMD]

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

[@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

[@FXREVERUNKNXWN]

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

[@RanterInShades]

This was the first episode of South Park I ever watched. A friend of mine had the episode on his Xbox and showed it to me and I remember being really impressed with the storytelling.

[@benchemikal]

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

[@WRDN_Ursine]

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

[@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

[@jescis0]

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 🤔🤔🤔🤔

[@borneoboi2109]

This episode reminds me of being a kid in 2006. I really appreciate how south park captures current events, makes watching old episodes hit hard

[@majamystic256]

this episode is how I heard about WoW for the first time but I don't I ever got around to playing WoW myself though, I was more into Runescape and Guild Wars 1 when I was younger

[@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.

[@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.

[@NisuUuno]

Paul Stanleys - Live to win suits it perfectly

[@biz0unc3]

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

[@LegenDerix3]

I cant tell how many times we watched this episode on Lanparties in WoW classic and TBC classic. I swear I have 70% of the dialogues in my head rn

[@michealmorris3766]

I enjoyed it so much that I watched it again right after. It also had me talking to my roommate about it, and he had actually played WoW previously. Shortly after that conversation, we both got copies of Wrath of the Lich King and played through Cataclysm. That game was a ton of fun! Thanks, Matt and Trey.

[@CyroFiend]

This was the first South Park episode I ever watched when I was like 7, I remember watching it on my dads Xbox because he has the DVDs a lot of the South Park seasons

[@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.

[@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.

[@keylessbaton4758]

My favourite South Park episode.

[@kylemartin2487]

Tremendous video. I wish it didn’t make me long for days gone by, though. Like, I miss the days when pop culture was more contained. It was genuinely easier to distinguish someone niche from someone contemporary getting famous or world renowned.

[@PhallicPhantom2]

Yeeeeees, Johnny is finally talking about my all-time favorite episode of South Park bar none, I can watch this 100 times in one sitting!!

[@Deoxy360]

This was the very first episode of South Park, I torrented back in the day. Because it was during the time I got into Warcraft and my friends told me to check it out.

[@dmac4278]

and one thing i don't know if anyone has mentioned or not but the fact that they were able to get Paul Stanley from KISS to do the montage song for that episode is so funny....

[@flysart]

This is THE most iconic episode for me personally! SO nostalgic! Comforting! I re-watch it periodically.

[@ChainsawNation]

I distinctly remember playing World of Warcraft when this came on TV - opening with WoW theme song was a truly surreal moment for me. I asked the group chat - anyone watching South Park right now?

[@dylansmith7370]

I’m also a huge Kiss fan, especially a Paul Stanley fan. And this episode with the song Live To Win, and finding out he was about to put out a solo album was a crucial part of 2007 for me

[@MiracleMoon124]

I don't think I've watched a single South Park episode more than this one, it's such a classic!

[@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.

[@rorybannon]

I legit rewatched this episode a couple nights ago. You can really tell Matt and Trey both played and liked WOW because of all the references.

[@Projectneo]

Great episode, I remember when it first aired, I told my raid group (I was one of the main tanks) I was going afk for 30 minutes to watch it, they thought I was lying... I was not.

[@JustAaron94]

This was the first south park episode I had ever seen, and to this day it's still my favorite by far

[@MangoMann072]

One of my favorites of all time

[@James_St._James]

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

[@PootisPenserPow]

The moment of Randy dying in Stan's arms is an echo of the Mograine story and of Saurfang

[@EdgedShadow]

This episode got me started on WoW... and I'm still playing it on one monitor while I watch this video on the other.

[@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.

[@Grandmaster-Kush]

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

[@acialist]

first episode I remember seeing of this show back when I was 8 years old; I think during a Thanksgiving at my great Aunt & Uncle's in which me and my family stayed in a house that said Aunt/Uncle had rented(?) for our stay (I guess it might've been like a B&B type thing) but yeah, I had my own room there with a TV that had lots of channels, and it happened to be on at the time (I was definitely not supposed to be watching South Park, but I was glued to the episode the whole time)

[@reanukeeves2k77]

This episode was my first exposure to MMOs as well, since I was too young prior to that. It seemed like such a cool and novel thing at the time