[4.9/10] “Starvin’ Marvin” is pretty rough. The mutant turkey attack plot is fairly meh. The gags are stock for the show, even in this early period. And there’s a touch of racism in the depiction of Ethiopia and Ethiopians, not to mention the needless fat-shaming of Sally Struthers for having the temerity to advocate for an end to hunger despite not being a size two.
And yet, if you squint at this one, you can see some positives. An easy one is that you can watch this episode and see the roots of Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s Book of Mormon musical and how it treats Western paternalism toward African nations.
Likewise, there’s some incisive commentary here, about the absurdity of cheap all-you-can eat buffets in a world where people starve, Americans who feel like they’ve done their part by donating five bucks a month in exchange for a sports watch, and the same sense of “job well done, everyone!” with poor families getting some token canned goods around the holidays each year. The perspective of South Park is far from perfect, especially in these earlier seasons. But there’s a keen recognition of how suffering is tolerated, at home and abroad, with minor gestures treated as enough to assuage our collective consciences.
There’s a few solid gags too. I got a kick out of Chef wondering what the hell Dr. Mephesto’s miniature clone is supposed to be, and a blue-and-white turkey giving his fine feathered friends the same Braveheart-inspired speech that Chef gives. But there’s a lot of repetitive bits here that don’t bring much in the way of humor.
Oddly enough, my sharpest memory of this episode may be the simple fact that the mutant turkeys would return in the South Park first person shooter game for the Nintendo 64, a game I got to rent as a kid for a birthday party. So hey, what a legacy they leave!
All-in-all, you can tell how Matt and Trey hadn't quite honed their voice or their style in this early outing, but there’s still some interesting precursors to ideas and settings they would explorer in greater detail and with greater skill in later projects.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2022-11-23T05:53:18Z
[4.9/10] “Starvin’ Marvin” is pretty rough. The mutant turkey attack plot is fairly meh. The gags are stock for the show, even in this early period. And there’s a touch of racism in the depiction of Ethiopia and Ethiopians, not to mention the needless fat-shaming of Sally Struthers for having the temerity to advocate for an end to hunger despite not being a size two.
And yet, if you squint at this one, you can see some positives. An easy one is that you can watch this episode and see the roots of Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s Book of Mormon musical and how it treats Western paternalism toward African nations.
Likewise, there’s some incisive commentary here, about the absurdity of cheap all-you-can eat buffets in a world where people starve, Americans who feel like they’ve done their part by donating five bucks a month in exchange for a sports watch, and the same sense of “job well done, everyone!” with poor families getting some token canned goods around the holidays each year. The perspective of South Park is far from perfect, especially in these earlier seasons. But there’s a keen recognition of how suffering is tolerated, at home and abroad, with minor gestures treated as enough to assuage our collective consciences.
There’s a few solid gags too. I got a kick out of Chef wondering what the hell Dr. Mephesto’s miniature clone is supposed to be, and a blue-and-white turkey giving his fine feathered friends the same Braveheart-inspired speech that Chef gives. But there’s a lot of repetitive bits here that don’t bring much in the way of humor.
Oddly enough, my sharpest memory of this episode may be the simple fact that the mutant turkeys would return in the South Park first person shooter game for the Nintendo 64, a game I got to rent as a kid for a birthday party. So hey, what a legacy they leave!
All-in-all, you can tell how Matt and Trey hadn't quite honed their voice or their style in this early outing, but there’s still some interesting precursors to ideas and settings they would explorer in greater detail and with greater skill in later projects.