South Park season 1 episode 5 review

5. An Elephant Makes Love To A Pig

A science fair project results in many hilarious scenes of gene splicing in this, the fifth episode of South Park series one. When Mr Garrison pits Kyle and the gang against the school bullies, only one thing can happen: the bullies bet that they’ll be able to clone an entire human being before Kyle can splice the genes of his new pet elephant with those of Cartman’s pot-bellied pig.

The boys head up to the laboratory of the brilliantly bizarre Dr Mifesto. Clad in Hawaiian shirt, and with a miniature version of himself by his side, Mifesto easily becomes one of the funniest characters of the show so far, as he leads the boys around his lab, dictating to them about the wonders of modern science.

He’s managed to splice rabbits with fish (actually, just bunny ears tied onto fish with string) and a beard with a piece of chalk and some cheese (simply these three items lying side by side in a glass case). But Mifesto’s brilliance lies within his obsession of making every animal have four asses, and as such, proudly unveils to the boys his four-assed mongoose. The boys get freaked out, but before they flee in terror, Mifesto takes a sample of blood from Stan.

It turns out Mifesto is actually the father of one of the school bullies, and it’s with Stan’s blood that they plan to create their human clone. The clone is made, but suffers from a speech impediment, a giant head, and horribly disproportioned arms. Escaping from the lab, the clone goes on the rampage, smashing up the town and killing anyone in his path.

Meanwhile, Chef convinces the boys that the only way to make an elephant and a pig gene splice is not through science, but good old fashioned sex. And so they get the pig drunk, and sit back in awe (and disgust) as the two animals … well, you know.

Afterwards, Stan is reluctant to go home by himself, as it transpires his big sister, Shelly, has been beating him up for some time. However, all that looks set to change when the clone version of Stan shows up and … gets his arse kicked by Shelly anyway.

This is one of the best episodes so far, weaving together as it does multiple subplots and providing big laughs. Mifesto is a great creation, and this will always be the episode that introduced the hilarious nightmare that is Stan’s sister, Shelly.

The boys deliver their thought-provoking views on gene splicing, cloning, and interfering with Mother Nature, and the episode wraps up with the unveiling of a five-assed monkey!

Favourite bit has to be when the clone is born, and the Beavis And Butthead-style bullies mutter. “Hehe, we got a gay clone.”  

Read our review of episode 4 here.