South Park's Most Pause-Worthy Moments

From what started as a crude animated show with a talking poop, "South Park" has grown into a fully fledged entertainment behemoth. The franchise encompasses everything from video games and merchandise to the hugely popular television series. Despite all of its success and evolution over the years, the series has remained fairly consistent as a story about four young boys who find themselves caught up in increasingly bizarre and outlandish events.

Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone in the late 1990s, "South Park" has developed a reputation for its vulgar humor, controversial storylines, and dark themes. At the same time, it has also become a television show that isn't afraid of speaking out about events and showcasing things that might not otherwise be addressed on TV. All of that means that viewers often get to see some truly impressive and shocking moments that just beg to be paused so that you can take everything in.

Whether it's a horrifying scene that you can't take your eyes away from, a hidden joke in the background of the scene, or just an unexpected event you didn't expect to see, the pause button will certainly get plenty of use in these "South Park" moments.

Aliens have played a major role in "South Park" since the very beginning of the show. In fact, the first episode is titled "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" and shows the character being probed by aliens as well as Ike being abducted. This prompts the gang to try and stop the aliens and rescue Ike, with the visitors making a number of on-screen appearances. Yet, this isn't the only time that these pesky extraterrestrials can be seen — they have been hidden in more than 100 episodes of the show.

The sheer frequency of the alien Easter eggs prompted some fans to believe there is a visitor to be found in every single episode, although that theory has since been refuted by South Park Studios. That hasn't stopped people from trying to hunt down every single hidden reference to them though. These creatures can often be found lurking in the background of scenes or hiding in large crowds, although they also make appearances in posters and occasionally even in plain sight. Finding any of them is more than worthy of a quick pause as a way of congratulating yourself on a job well done.

The way that "South Park" is created, with episodes able to be written, animated, and voiced in a single week, means that they can stay more current than almost any other animated series. So when marijunua legalization and attempts to restrict fast food sales were making the news in Detroit, Parker and Stone created "Medicinal Fried Chicken" to highlight the absurdities of both issues.

There are two distinct stories that take place in the episode. Randy attempts to gain a medical referral so he can purchase marijuana by purposely giving himself testicular cancer so that his testicles grow to an enormous size. Meanwhile, Cartman sets up a black market to sell KFC to those who want their fix of fast food in a narrative that parodies "Scarface."

The two plots set up some quite brilliant moments, with Cartman playing the part of a mob boss to perfection and Randy just being his usual self. Standout parts include Randy jumping around on his grotesque testicles as a space hopper to get around the town, the character being unable to fit through the marijuana dispensary doors, and Cartman getting involved in a firefight with hitmen sent by Colonel Sanders.

With 24 seasons under its belt, "South Park" has become one of the longest-running and most successful animated series in the world. But when compared to "The Simpsons," it is clear that it still has some way to go to be crowned king — at least in terms of the sheer number of episodes. Technically a sequel to the episode "Professor Chaos," "The Simpsons Already Did It" satires the way that the other series has already done so many different storylines. Butters is simply unable to come up with any sort of original plan for world domination that hasn't previously been featured on "The Simpsons."

When every one of his schemes is revealed to be an homage to "The Simpsons," Butters snaps and begins to hallucinate, seeing every person in the town of South Park as if they were characters from "The Simpsons." This leads to some unique moments where the likes of Cartman, Kenny, Kyle, and Stan are colored yellow and have a friendlier and more rounded look than they usually do. Many fans will no doubt have gone back to see how the characters morphed and what "South Park" might have been like with a different style.

The fourth episode of Season 15, "T.M.I." opens with Cartman going on an angry rant after discovering that the school has posted the results of their recent annual physicals on a chart. The table is meant to show how much each of the male students has grown over the course of the last year in inches, but Cartman and the other boys believe it is actually publicizing the size of their privates.

Cartman organizes a second physical that he personally conducts, measuring the actual penis size of all of his classmates. When he finds himself bottom of the list once again, he overreacts and is sent to anger management classes. Along with Randy and other members of the class who suffer from anger issues, he begins a wave of protests around the country that is only stopped when the government revises the average penis size of the nation downwards to 1.5 inches to the satisfaction of all those involved.

Pausing on both lists is essential if you want to see all the information provided by the creators of the show. The chart contains the last names of all the male children, stating for the first time several of their surnames. This means that fans now know that Timmy's second name is Burch, for example.

Widely hailed as one of the best episodes of the entire series, "Scott Tenorman Must Die" sees Cartman take his penchant for excessive revenge and over-the-top schemes to extreme lengths. Part of the fifth season of "South Park," the episode follows Cartman as he brags about reaching puberty before his friends. What he's actually done is bought pubic hair from Scott Tenorman. When Stan, Kyle, and Kenny reveal that puberty involves growing your own pubic hair, Cartman is furious and demands his money back.

After Scott refuses to refund Cartman, he puts in place a masterful plan that is only fully revealed at the end of the episode. With multiple steps, the scheme involves Cartman revealing a fake plot to Stan and Kyle in the knowledge they will warn Scott, distracting them to allow him to put in place a far more wicked plan. At the final moment when Scott is eating what he believes is Chef's chili, Cartman reveals that he engineered for Scott's parents to be killed so he could grind them up into mince and feed them to his new enemy. The look of absolute horror on everyone's faces is something that can only be properly appreciated if you take the time to pause the action.

Before "South Park" released its latest set of movies centered on the COVID-19 pandemic and the Streaming Wars, it looked as if there might not be any more feature-length installments of the show. "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut" hit cineplexes in 1999 and it didn't seem like fans would get anything similar. The only time that the show got close was with the three-part story "Imaginationland."

These three episodes see the boys taken to the mysterious and wonderful world of Imaginationland, where all the creatures and beings made up by humans reside. In the show, this includes everything from cartoons to religious figures as well as evil characters who are trapped behind a barrier. However, Imaginationland is suddenly thrown into chaos when terrorists attack, killing many of the imaginary beings.

As one of the most epic episodes of "South Park" ever made, there is something in almost every scene to make you want to watch it twice. There's just so many crossovers and references to other properties, although highlights include the big battle sequences and the Council of Nine, which is made up of characters like Gandalf, Morpheus, Luke Skywalker, and Wonder Woman.