Cartman Gets an Anal Probe

"**Cartman Gets an Anal Probe**"
"Cartman Gets an Anal Probe"
South Park episode
	Cartman flatulates fire as the anal probe emerges. The episode garnered some controversy for being "self-conscious and self-congratulatory in its vulgarity", with flatulence jokes like the one pictured here made examples.
Episode no.	Season 1; Episode 1
Directed by	Trey Parker
Written by	Trey Parker; Matt Stone
Featured music	"I Love to Singa"; by Norman Spencer
Production code	101
Original air date	August 13, 1997
Episode chronology
← Previous; —	Next →; "Volcano"
	South Park season 1
	List of episodes

"Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" is the series premiere of the American animated television series South Park. It originally 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.

Part of a reaction to the culture wars of the 1990s in the United States, South Park is deliberately offensive. Much of the show's humor, and of "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", arises from the juxtaposition of the seeming innocence of childhood and the violent, crude behavior exhibited by the main characters. At the time of the writing of the episode, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone did not yet have a series contract with Comedy Central. Short on money, they animated the episode using a paper-cutout stop-motion technique, similar to the short films that were the precursors to the series. "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" remains the only South Park episode animated largely without the use of computer technology.

Despite South Park eventually rising to immense popularity and acclaim, initial reviews of the pilot were generally negative; critics singled out the gratuitous obscenity of the show for particular scorn. Regarding the amount of obscenity in the episode, Parker later commented that they felt "pressure" to live up to the earlier shorts which first made the duo popular. Critics also compared South Park unfavorably with what they felt were more complex, nuanced animated shows, such as The Simpsons and Beavis and Butt-Head.

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^ Cite error: The named reference Far-out was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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