Woodland Critter Christmas/Trivia

Production
According to this episode's mini-commentary, this episode was one of the most difficult to make. After making the feature film Team America and the 13 other episodes in South Park's 8th season in the same year (a year which Trey Parker and Matt Stone describe as "The Year from Hell"), Parker, Stone and the show's other writers were completely drained of ideas. The staff tried to come up with an idea, but nothing came up through Thursday and Friday which is considered a huge drawback with South Park's rushed production. On Saturday afternoon the staff decided to just do the idea of spoofing John Denver's Critter Christmas holiday special, which had been in gestation for some time. With some doubt, the show developed into an episode involving a rhyming narration and ending with it being a story by Cartman, the creators ended up quite satisfied with it.

The episode has special bumpers, announcing it to be "A Woodland Critter Christmas," with Squirrelly then saying in a cheerful voice, "Hail Satan!"

Trivia

 * The Woodland Critters reappear in "Imaginationland Episode II"
 * There are 12 woodland critters that appear in the episode, however only 11 are named during the narrator's introduction. They are Squirrely the squirrel, Rabbity the rabbit, Beavery the beaver, Beary the bear, Porcupiney the porcupine, Skunky the skunk, Foxy the fox, Deery the deer, Woodpeckery the woodpecker, Mousey the mouse, and Chickadee-y the chickadee. The raccoon (presumably named Racoony) is not mentioned.
 * This episode shows what Cartman really thinks of the others.
 * Kyle is shown to be evil and dies at the end; this shows that Cartman despises him and in his perfect world, Kyle is evil incarnate and deserves to suffer and die horribly.
 * Stan is basically the same as real life, implying that Cartman may have a fairly decent relationship with him.
 * The squirrel that is seen looks a bit like Suicidal Squirrel.

Cultural references

 * The character designs of the woodland critters is meant to spoof the overly cute look of animals from the stop motion Rankin/Bass holiday specials of the 1960s and 1970s.
 * When Cartman goes to continue reading his Christmas story, you can hear the sound of a book opening. The sound clip used is the same as that in both the Baldur's Gate, and the Elder Scrolls series.
 * Initially, the animals claim Porcupiny was a virgin when the Savior was conceived; later they claim Satan had sex with her to conceive the Antichrist. They also refer to the conception as "immaculate", confusing the Immaculate Conception of Mary with Jesus' Virgin Birth.
 * According to the South Park commentary with Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the blood orgy is a reference to the science fiction film Event Horizon.
 * In the blood orgy scene celebrating Porcupiny's pregnancy, the critters sacrifice Rabbitty. This is in reference to a rabbit test where after confirming a pregnancy, "the rabbit dies".
 * The scene where the mountain lion falls off the cliff resembles a similar scene in The Lion King.
 * When the animals use their Satanic powers, "Ave Satani" ("Hail Satan," the theme song to The Omen) plays in the background.
 * When Santa Claus draws a shotgun and begins firing on the critters, the music of "Adrenaline Horror" from the Half-Life soundtrack plays briefly. Alongside this, the shotgun Santa uses is the same one used in both Half-Life games.
 * When Stan is watching TV, The Jeffersons theme song is playing.

Goofs

 * Mousie and some other critters are seen going to the left and the right, but he, along with some other critters, is shown coming out or behind of the manger. However, since there was a scene transition, it is possible that during the transition they could've ran behind or sat behind the crib.

Continuity
As this episode is eventually revealed to be a story, this episode has an unusual place in South Park continuity — nothing in the story really happened, though the "Write Your Own Christmas Story Day" assignment actually occurred, with Cartman actually reading his story. This would later come up in episodes two and three of the "Imaginationland" story arc in season 11, in which the Woodland creatures appear as evil imaginary beings that exist in the magical realm of Imaginationland. The woodland critters quickly prove to be the most evil characters in Imaginationland, performing horrific acts on their enemies. Even the other evil characters (who include Freddy Krueger, Pinhead, the Headless Horseman, the Joker, Cthulhu, the Green Goblin and Khan Noonien Singh) are apprehensive of the critters' ways. Jason Voorhees even declares, "Man, I do not want to meet the kid who dreamt those things up", referring to Eric Cartman.

On the subject of continuity, the Woodland Critter Christmas episode contains a possible continuity error. The character of Rabbity Rabbit is sacrificed to Satan early in the episode. However, during the later scene in which the Antichrist has been born, Rabbity Rabbit appears in one shot. This could be chalked up to a mistake by the show's makers, or in the alternative could be intentional, if Cartman meant the critter to be undead or reincarnated.