Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!/Trivia

Trivia

 * The only members of the Cartman family who are not overweight are Liane Cartman and an unnamed girl with brown hair.
 * The Cartman family appears one more time in "Cartmanland" for his grandma's funeral.
 * Despite Mr. Hankey appearing in his movie in "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls" as a monkey, all merchandise plus events involving Mr. Hankey display as a piece of poo as he actually is.
 * This is the first Christmas special not to feature the real Mr. Hankey.
 * All of the third grade students, excluding Wendy and Pip, are re-used and appear as kids in the Nebraska mall, waiting to see Mr. Hankey.
 * A red haired Butters and a brown haired Kevin are shown at the mall scene.

Pop Culture References

 * The title "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!" (and when the characters shout it to Charles Manson later in the episode) is taken directly from a line of the A Charlie Brown Christmas special.
 * Charles Manson is commonly remembered as the most well known serial killer in American history, this not entirely accurate; Charles Manson never committed serial murders. However, he was found guilty of conspiracy to murder when he sent out members of his Manson Family commune to murder in late 1960's. He's been rotting in jail ever since.
 * Mrs. Cartman and Eric sing a variation of the song Over the River and Through the Woods substituting "river" with "meadow" and "grandfather" with "grandmother". The song originally was a poem written by Vanyel Willis-Parker in 1844.
 * When Charles Manson first appears in this episode he is depicted as having a Swastika engraved on his forehead. During his trail on July 24, 1970, Charles Manson carved the letter "X" on his forehead as a statement that he had "X'd myself from the world." Later sometime in the early 80's Manson had altered the X to look like a Swastika. It was first seen publicly during Manson's 1981 interview with Tom Snyder.
 * One of the first things that Manson says to the boys is "I can't wait to get out among the pigs". The use of the term "pigs" by Manson is part of the lexicon "religion" that Manson and his family believed in. Calling a coming apocalypse Helter Skelter, Manson believed that a race war between blacks and whites would erupt and he would be the messiah chosen to lead his faithful followers to safety until the wars conclusion so that they would return and rule over the survivors. Manson's philosophy came from his interpretation of the New Testament's Books of Revelations and the The Beatles White Album. He referred to the Pig's as "the establishment", the inspiration came from the Beatles song Pigges.
 * Manson and Uncle Henry sit down and begin to watch the 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life. The film starred James Stewart who plays the role of George Bailey a troubled man who is about ready to commit suicide when the intervention of his guardian angel shows all the lives he's helped and gives him new will to live by showing him a world which he wasn't born. In the South Park version of this film the George Bailey Character calls the film's antagonist Mr. Potter a "little bitch" who likes to "suck it". In the original film, an in a world without George Bailey, Potter would take over Bailey's home town and turn it into a crime ridden slum. Thanks to this vision, Bailey manages to foil Potter's plans for the town by turning its people against him.
 * The Cartman's are watching a football game featuring The Nabraska Cornhuskers they are a University football team native of University of Nebraska–Lincoln. They were first referred to as the "Cornhuskers" in 1893. They are playing against The Arkansas Razorbacks.
 * In the South Park version of "It's a Wonderful Life" one of the films playing at the movie house that George Bailey runs by is playing the 1939 film Gone With the Wind. However in the original film, the movie house is playing the films "The Bell's of Saint Mary's" and "Second Great Feature".
 * When Manson says to Kenny "Folks need to understand that I am terror! I am fear!" This is on par with most of his interviews on television wherein Mason rhymes off a series of things that he views himself as. He has never referred to himself as "terror" or "fear" however.
 * "The Grinchy Poo" Christmas special that is playing on TV is a parody of the 1966 animated Christmas special How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The scene that is played on television where the Grinchy Poo interacts with Cindy Lou Poo is a parody of the scene in the Grinch wherein the Grinch, dressed up as Santa Claus steals all the Christmas presents and decorations from the home of Wendy Lou Who. Confronted by Wendy Lou Who, the Grinch makes up a lie to convince her that he is just fixing their defective Christmas tree as opposed to out right stealing it. They also show a scene where the Grincy Poo is carving up a Roast Poo with the people of Pooville, which is a direct parody of the final scene of the Grinch where the Grinch has given into the spirit of Christmas and is having dinner with the people of Whoville.
 * The Terrence and Phillip Christmas special that they watch on TV features a scene where Terrence and Phillip are taking turns farting on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
 * Charles Manson has a heart-to-hear talk to Stan about family where he tells them that he had a "family" once and all they were was a bunch of "a gang of people I thought were my friends. Ah after we killed a bunch of people together, I realized that my real family was who took care of me, and who took the time to care about what I did." This is quite the interpretation of the events surrounding the Manson murders. Manson had a group of followers that were dubbed the "Manson Family" who he had authority over and ordered to go out and kill people. They ultimately ended up murdering actress Sharon Tate among other people in the Hollywood area during the late 60's. As for Manson's biological family his mother was Kathleen Maddox who was 16 when she gave birth to him, Manson's biological father was a man identified only as "Colonel Scott", and his step-father was a man named William Manson.
 * Manson's remorse for all the things he's done is contrary to real life. To date, Manson has never shown remorse for the crimes he had committed. In the book "Manson in His Own Words" by former Manson cellmate Nuel Emmons would also state Manson's lack of remorse.
 * One of the books that Charles Manson has written since his "reformation" is "Are you There God? It's Me Charlie." which is a parody of the Judy Bloom novel Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. The story of a young girls coming of age.
 * At the end of the episode, the boys and the Cartman family should "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!" and begin singing Hark! The Herald Angels Sing much like the end of A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Kenny's Death
Kenny is shot to death by the police, while trying to wave a white-flag, ironically in the hopes that the police would not kill them.

Hidden Visitor(s)
Charlie Manson's tattoo turns into a visitor's head during the car chase scene.