Four boys, Kyle (voice: Matt Stone), Stan (voice: Trey Parker), Cartman (voice: Trey Parker), and Kenny, are caroling and arguing, when Jesus shows up. He’s upset with Santa Claus taking the focus off of his birth. Jesus and Santa start fighting, destroying everything around them, so the boys call upon a really important person, skater Brian Bortono, to solve the problem. 5 min.
This is the first true South Park cartoon, and has something to offend almost everyone. It is also fall-to-the-floor funny. Clocking in at just over five minutes, it manages to get an amazing amount done in that time. There’s blasphemy, social satire, incessant swearing from the mouths of children, decapitation and several other forms of death (again, dealing with children), and a cynical tone.
The Spirit of Christmas is a remake of another film, also called The Spirit of Christmas, that filmmakers Trey Parker and Matt Stone had created three years earlier. They kept the best jokes from the first, but also made substantial changes, creating a much funnier work.
In 1995, The Spirit of Christmas probably deserved 4
s, but times have changed. Much of its effectiveness came from its ability to shock. In ’95, you were unlikely to find anything else quite like it (except its hard to find predecessor). But South Park’s own success as a series has made this material more acceptable, or at least more common.
The series has had multiple Christmas episodes including: Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo, Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!, Mr. Hankey’s Christmas Classics, A Very Crappy Christmas, and Woodland Critter Christmas.