"Pip" | |
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South Park episode | |
![]() Pip encountering an escaped convict. The episode, which is a retelling of the Dickens novel Great Expectations , has a unique look within the series. | |
Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 14 |
Directed by | Eric Stough |
Written by | Trey Parker |
Production code | 405 |
Original air date | November 29, 2000 |
Guest appearance | |
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"Pip" (also known as "Great Expectations") is the fourteenth episode in the fourth season of the American animated television series South Park . The sixtysecond episode of the series overall, it first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on November 29, 2000. Going by production order, it is the fifth episode of the fourth season instead of the fourteenth. The episode is a parody and comedic retelling of Charles Dickens's 1861 novel Great Expectations , and stars the South Park character Pip, who assumes the role of the protagonist of the novel, who is his eponym. "Pip" features no other regular characters from the show. The story is narrated in a live action parody of the anthology television series Masterpiece Theater , with the narrator played by Malcolm McDowell.
Pip as a character was established to originate from the Dickens novel early on in the series, and South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone had the idea of retelling Great Expectations with the character for a long time. "Pip" has a unique design and animation compared to other episodes. To achieve this look, many assets had to be built from scratch. This was a demanding task for the South Park studios at the time, and production of the episode was stretched out across several months. The concept of the episode changed significantly during this time; for example, the original plan was for the episode to be a musical.
Parker and Stone have said that "Pip" is one of the least popular episodes. [1] The episode was written by Parker and directed by animation director Eric Stough. Since its original airing, it has been re-run infrequently on Comedy Central.
The story is set in a 19th-century-like England, in a small town called Draftingshire-Upon-Topsmart. An orphaned Pip is on his way to visit his parents' grave. While there, an escaped convict appears and threatens Pip. Pip, out of the goodness of his heart, aids the convict by giving him food and cutting the convict's handcuffs. He then goes home, where his sister's husband Joe reads an advertisement about a Miss Havisham seeking a boy to play with her daughter. Pip goes and meets the daughter, Estella, who constantly insults him. Miss Havisham hires Pip and throughout their playtimes he eventually falls in love with Estella.
Pip fears Estella could never marry a commoner like him. However, an offer comes for Pip from an anonymous benefactor to move to London and learn how to become a gentleman. Pip assumes the benefactor is Miss Havisham and accepts. In London, Pip meets his roommate Mr. Pocket who tells the story of Miss Havisham: she got engaged but was left at the altar, causing her to stop all the clocks in the house and never leave the house again. Pip spends the rest of his time in London learning how to be a gentleman.
After his time in London, he shows up at Miss Havisham's house, where she tells Pip that he can find Estella at a party at the palace. At the ball, Pip and Estella dance, and talk about how Pip is now a fine young gentleman. Estella says that she has no heart, and cannot love. Just before Pip asks Estella to be his girlfriend, her boyfriend, a modernly American seventeen-year-old named Steve, enters the scene.
Pip, saddened, runs to tell Miss Havisham, only to find that she approves of Steve. Miss Havisham is glad that Estella has broken Pip's heart and she explains that she has Estella break men's hearts to use their tears to power her "Genesis Device". She desires youth and wants to use the device to switch bodies with Estella. She then uses robot monkeys to attack Pip. Pip escapes and falls unconscious, awakening back home with Joe and Pocket. The anonymous person who sent Pip to London is revealed to be the escaped convict Pip met at the beginning of the story. Because of Pip's kindness, the convict led a life of goodness and became a millionaire. Sending Pip to London was his way of repaying Pip for the good that Pip did for him. The four of them, Pip, Joe, Pocket, and the convict, decide to stop Miss Havisham.
The group returns to the mansion discovering a bunch of men and boys with broken hearts and Miss Havisham powering up her device. Despite difficulties, such as the convict getting killed by an acid-spewing Miss Havisham, Pip manages to convince Estella to leave the machine, destroying it and setting Miss Havisham on fire. Fleeing the burning mansion, Pip's group and the hostage males escape as Estella finally declares her love for Pip. Ending the story, the narrator states that the characters "all lived happily ever after, except for Pocket, who died of Hepatitis B."
Creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker had the idea to recreate Charles Dickens' Great Expectations in the style of South Park from the very beginning of the series. [2] The character of Pip has been a minor character on South Park from the show's onset, having appeared in the pilot episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe." Pip had a somewhat bigger role in the original, unaired version of the pilot, but most of his scenes have been cut from the reworked and shorter broadcast version. [3] [4] One of these cut scenes, a short sequence in the school cafeteria that introduces Pip, was reinserted into the show's fifth episode "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig." [5] (As the scene came from the pilot, it was created with traditional paper cutout stop motion animation.) [5] [6] In the scene, Stan asks Pip about his peculiar name, but Cartman interrupts Pip during his answer. Pip's reply – "my father's family name being Pirrip and my Christian name Phillip, my infant tongue--" [7] – is identical to the opening line of the novel Great Expectations, which is narrated by its protagonist, Pip. [8] [9]
Production for the episode started after the first run of the series's fourth season, which consisted of four episodes. At the beginning of the second run, of six episodes (which started broadcasting in June 2000), the episode was assigned a production code number of 405 (meaning the 5th episode of the 4th season), and it was planned to air in June or July that year. [10] However, given the complicated nature of the episode's look, where many elements had to be designed from scratch, the studio did not have enough time to finish the episode that summer, [11] and it was moved to the next batch of episodes. [12] As it was already in production before the run, "Pip" was a "banked" episode of South Park, one of the first in the series's history. [2] Whereas most episodes of South Park are created within a week, from scratch, the creators sometimes try to have one episode "in the bank" – meaning that they have "at least half-start[ed]" animating it. [2] [13] This way they can take off a few days during the two-month-long, demanding run, and then go back and finish work on the banked show. [2] After completing the previous episode, "Helen Keller! The Musical", which aired on November 22, 2000, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (November 23), the creators went to spend time with their families for the holiday, and then came back on Sunday, November 26, to finish "Pip". [2] The episode aired the next Wednesday, on November 29, 2000 on Comedy Central in the United States, as the 14th episode of the season, and the fourth episode of the winter run. Since its original airing, it has been re-run infrequently on Comedy Central. [14]
The episode, directed by South Park animation director Eric Stough, has a unique look compared to most other episodes of the series. The creators wanted a different design for Pip's England featured in the episode. [11] For example, the directions for the exterior scenes were to make them look like they were "right out of a Dickens novel." [15] To achieve the style, assets had to be built from scratch, including many new characters with "new mouths with rotted out teeth" that were used for most of them. [11] At the beginning of the episode, Pip is dressed in more ragged clothing than he usually wears in South Park. Later, when he becomes a gentleman in London, he is wearing his usual South Park attire, including his bow tie. [15] The character of Pocket is designed to look similar to the children in the 1974 Rankin/Bass animated Christmas television special 'Twas the Night Before Christmas . [15]
From its inception to its broadcast, there were many changes in how the episode is presented. Originally, "Pip" was going to be a musical episode, the first South Park musical since the 1999 movie South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut . [10] [16] [17] At one point, the plan was to have Pip tell his own story to the South Park Elementary class. An early storyboard scene shows "Pip walk[ing] up to the class holding a HUGE manuscript of paper. It could be a novel." [18] Beginning his story in the classroom, he starts by introducing the origins of his name, only to be interrupted by Cartman – much like the scene in "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig". [18] In the end, the finished episode did not include the boys or any other regular characters. As Stone and Parker explained, "bookend[ing] it with the kids or hav[ing] the kids listening to the story" would be too formulaic for their tastes, so they decided to make the episode without the South Park boys, precisely "[b]ecause it's a bad idea." [19] Having an episode's worth of story told in front of the class was later used in the eighth season episode "Woodland Critter Christmas," which has Cartman telling a Christmas themed story (in a plot twist). The ending of the story's narration in that episode resembles the ending in "Pip." In "Pip," the narrator ends the story with the line "And they all lived happily ever after, except for Pocket, who died of Hepatitis B." In "Woodland Critter Christmas," Cartman finishes the story by saying "And they all lived happily ever after. Except for Kyle, who died of AIDS two weeks later." Another idea was to have Chef narrate the episode, in the style of Masterpiece Theater . [12] [20] In the end, the creators decided to do the Masterpiece parody in live action, with the narrator played by Malcolm McDowell. [21] The reason behind the introduction was to make it clear to the viewers that it was going to be an "extremely different experience" from the other episodes, and that they are not going to see the regular characters of the show. [2] The creators said that they did this having learned the lesson from the second season episode "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus" – which also revolves entirely around two minor characters – about the necessity of making the audience aware that they are not to expect to see the regular characters any time during the episode. [2] Both McDowell and the two creators have spoken highly of each other. [2] [22] [23] [24] Parker and Stone said that shooting with McDowell was a positive experience, and that he told old stories about the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange – which McDowell starred in – and its director Stanley Kubrick. [2]
"Pip" features regular voice acting from Parker and Stone for most characters (with Stone as the voice of Pip), [25] as well as Eliza Schneider (credited both by her real name and her pseudonym "Blue Girl") providing the voice for Estella. Joe was voiced by South Park staff writer Kyle McCulloch, because, according to Stone, McCulloch "can do really good British voices, because he grew up in Canada watching a bunch of British TV." [2]
"Pip" serves as an explanation of the origins of its central character, as well as a retelling of the 1861 Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations . The episode is not a straight adaptation of the novel, but a comedic retelling thereof. As such, the episode's main aim is not to represent Great Expectations, but to use it for the purpose of comedy. [26] : 184 Some of Pip's speech, such as "breaky-wakey out of prison" and "that's a lot of money-woney" is a reference to Malcolm McDowell's character Alex's speech in the 1971 film A Clockwork Orange. Many of the central characters of the novel appear in the episode. These include Pip, as well as Joe (Pip's brother-in-law), Mrs Joe (Pip's sister), Miss Havisham, Estella Havisham, Herbert Pocket, and the escaped convict. For most of the episode, the plot stays relatively faithful to the novel's basic story. At one point however, the episode begins major digressions from the novel, mainly Miss Havisham's technology, such as her Genesis Device and robot monkeys. [26] : 186 The ending of the episode has been viewed as "a joke about contemporary Hollywood's inability to produce entertainment that does not depend on idiotic spectacle." [26] : 186
The way the story is presented – South Park Classics – is a parody of Masterpiece Theater (now continued as Masterpiece Classic), a long-running drama anthology television series airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States, best known for presenting adaptations of classic works of literature. [27] (Incidentally, Masterpiece Theater featured an adaptation of Great Expectations in 1999.) [9] Malcolm McDowell's portrayal of the narrator parodies Alistair Cooke, "a British person" himself, who was the host of Masterpiece Theater between 1971 and 1992. [23] [28] The setup has been viewed as "a joke about America's (or more specifically, the typical PBS viewer's) haughty search for cultural enrichment in the English classics", based on the context of "[t]he cultural authority of the British, so long courted by the American culture industries." [26] : 172
"Pip" is a relatively unpopular episode of the series. [1] According to creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, it is "probably one of the least popular episodes of South Park" they have ever produced, and "most people [...] pretty much hated it." In 2004, Stone said that he considers the episode "really cool" and "really good." [2] In a 2011 Entertainment Weekly feature, the two named what they consider the best 15 episodes of South Park, along with the 53 worst. "Pip" was number 49 on the "Worst" list (following the first 48 spots which collectively consisted of every episode from the first three seasons). Parker said that "Everyone, including us, hates 'Pip,'" and Stone said "I don't hate it. But it was like, 'Why did you guys do that?'" [1] The creators said that recreating Great Expectations in South Park style "seemed like a decent enough idea, except that [the novel] kinda sucks, especially its ending." They have concluded that while they sometimes want to do an episode that is different in style and presentation to the other episodes, it is necessary to have the story involve the regular characters, otherwise audiences will not like it. [2]
In his paper about the episode, Jeffrey Sconce wrote that the episode ultimately "proved a rather self-indulgent [...] effort," and that it had failed "in terms of viewer response and ratings." [26] : 184 In their review of the fourth season DVD, IGN called the episode "a serious fizzle," saying that the creators "don't always hit a home run." [29]
Great Expectations is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip. It is Dickens' second novel, after David Copperfield, to be fully narrated in the first person. The novel was first published as a serial in Dickens's weekly periodical All the Year Round, from 1 December 1860 to August 1861. In October 1861, Chapman and Hall published the novel in three volumes.
Miss Havisham is a character in the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations (1861). She is a wealthy spinster, once jilted at the altar, who insists on wearing her wedding dress for the rest of her life. She lives in a ruined mansion with her adopted daughter, Estella. Dickens describes her as looking like "the witch of the place". In the novel, she schemes to have the young orphan, Pip, fall in love with Estella, so that Estella can "break his heart."
Mr. Mackey Jr. is a fictional character in the adult animated television series South Park. He is voiced by series co-creator Trey Parker and debuted in the season one episode "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo". The guidance counselor at South Park Elementary is best known for saying "m'kay" at the end of most of his sentences.
Estella Havisham is a significant character in the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations.
"Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" is the series premiere of the American animated television series South Park. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on August 13, 1997. The episode introduces child protagonists Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Stanley "Stan" Marsh and Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick, who attempt to rescue Kyle's adopted brother Ike from being abducted by aliens.
"An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig" is the fifth episode of the first season of the American animated television series South Park. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on September 10, 1997. In the episode, the boys of South Park try to force Kyle's pet elephant to crossbreed with Cartman's pet pig for a class project on genetic engineering. Meanwhile, Stan tries to deal with his sister Shelley, who keeps beating him up.
"Damien" is the tenth episode of the first season of the American animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on February 4, 1998. In the episode, the boys' class is joined by a new student named Damien, who has been sent by his father Satan to find Jesus and arrange a boxing match between the two. The majority of South Park's residents bet on Satan to win the match due to his enormous size and muscular physique, but Satan ultimately throws the fight and reveals he bet on Jesus, thus winning everybody's money.
"Scott Tenorman Must Die" is the fourth episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 69th episode of the series overall. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on July 11, 2001. In the episode, 9th grader Scott Tenorman makes Cartman believe that buying pubic hair from him will make Cartman reach puberty. Realizing that he had been tricked, an angry Cartman plots revenge on Scott.
Great Expectations is a 1946 British drama film directed by David Lean, based on the 1861 novel by Charles Dickens and starring John Mills and Valerie Hobson. The supporting cast included Bernard Miles, Francis L. Sullivan, Anthony Wager, Jean Simmons, Finlay Currie, Martita Hunt and Alec Guinness.
Liane Marie Cartman is a fictional character in the adult animated television series South Park. She is the single mother of main character Eric, who raises him in the fictional town of South Park, Colorado. Liane is considered one of the more prominent parents of all the South Park parents, as she makes many appearances throughout the series.
"Cartoon Wars Part I" is the third episode in the tenth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 142nd episode of the series overall, it first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 5, 2006. It is the first part of a two-episode story-arc, which concludes with "Cartoon Wars Part II". In the episode, it is announced that a Family Guy episode will air with the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a character, leaving the whole of the United States fearing for their lives. Cartman apparently believes that the episode is offensive to Muslims and decides to go to Hollywood to try to get the episode pulled.
"Mystery of the Urinal Deuce" is the ninth episode in the tenth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 148th episode of the series overall, it first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on October 11, 2006. The episode focuses on the 9/11 conspiracy theories, and was written by series co-creator Trey Parker.
The first season of the animated television series South Park aired on Comedy Central from August 13, 1997 to February 25, 1998. The creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone wrote most of the season's episodes; Dan Sterling, Philip Stark and David Goodman were credited with writing five episodes. The narrative revolves around four children—Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick—and their unusual experiences in the titular mountain town.
The second season of South Park, an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, began airing on April 1, 1998. The second season concluded after 18 episodes on January 20, 1999; it remains the longest season of South Park to date. Almost all the episodes were directed by series co-creator Trey Parker, with the exception of two episodes directed by Eric Stough.
The third season of South Park, an American animated television comedy series, aired on Comedy Central from April 7, 1999 to January 12, 2000. The season was headed by series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who also served as executive producers along with Anne Garefino. The season continued to focus on the exploits of protagonists Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny in the fictional Colorado mountain town of South Park.
The fourth season of South Park, an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, began airing on April 5, 2000. The fourth season concluded after airing 17 episodes on December 20, 2000.
Great Expectations is a British-American television serial based on Charles Dickens' 1861 novel of the same title. The serial was first broadcast in the US in three parts on The Disney Channel in 1989, and in the UK in six parts on the ITV network in 1991.
Great Expectations is an upcoming period drama developed by Steven Knight. It is based on the novel of the same name by Charles Dickens. It will premiere on FX on Hulu on March 26, 2023.
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(help)My father's family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer or more explicit than Pip. So I called myself Pip, and came to be called Pip.
(Poor Pip. Recently, even the kids on Comedy Central's 'South Park' take pot shots at him. 'South Park's' Pip, a boy with a British accent, is continually hit and spit upon by the show's other first graders. After being teased about his name, he says, 'My father's name being Pirrip, and my Christian name Philip, my infant tongue could make of both ... ' But Cartman interrupts. 'We don't give a rat's ass! French people p--- us off!')
In the first musical since 'South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut', the show's creators present their rendition of the beloved classic novel, 'Great Expectations.'
South Park goes to London with Pip as he takes the class on a journey back to his roots. With a nod to Masterpiece Theater, Chef narrates South Park's very special rendition of Charles Dickens's Classic 'Great Expectations,' date TBD.
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(help)Parker and Stone are working on an upcoming musical episode based on Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, focusing on the British boy, Pip. 'Pip is huge in England, where they love it if you make fun of them,' Stone says.
This season [...] the gang will put on a singing and dancing version of 'Great Expectations.'
Chef narrates a tribute to 'Great Expectations' when the boys follow Pip on his trip back to London.
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has generic name (help))In an episode of 'South Park' last season, a live-action McDowell served as an Alistair Cooke-like narrator for an adaptation of 'Great Expectations,' introducing himself not by name but with, 'Good evening -- I'm an English person.'