Mecha-Streisand/Trivia

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This page contains trivia for "Mecha-Streisand". Remember, trivia must be factual, provable, and it is always best to cite your source for not-so-obvious trivia. If you would like to dispute a trivia point, please discuss it in the talk page.

Trivia

• According to the DVD commentary, Matt and Trey have stated that previous celebrities mocked on the show were mostly picked at random, but with this episode it was a personal matter to show their dislike for Barbra Streisand. The main reason was that after Colorado passed Amendment 2, an amendment to the Colorado state constitution forbidding homosexuals from being recognized as a protected class, Streisand spoke out against the state and all its citizens, calling them a "bunch of hicks" and promising she would never visit Colorado again.
• At the beginning of the episode Mr. Garrison is holding a newspaper with Mr. Hankey on it.
• When Streisand's pink helicopter is landing, Cartman screams out in terror "Oh no! Aliens!" and immediately grips his own ass, clearly in reference to the series' pilot episode "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe".
• Barbra Streisand took the opportunity of her characterization in this episode to criticize the show, claiming it was bad for children for promoting cynicism. In a later episode, "Spookyfish", her image was again used, apparently in response. She was also used as a swearword in "South Park- Bigger, Longer and Uncut" and an insult in "Osama Bin Laden has Farty Pants", before reappearing as Mecha-Streisand in "200" and "201".
• The word "Roshambo" (Rochambeau) is another way of saying "rock, paper, scissors". However, Cartman's concept of Roshambo is for opponents to take turns kicking each other in the balls until one of them falls over.
• Barbra Streisand has a picture of Satan and herself in her torturing chamber.
• Barbra Streisand's short monologue is heavily accented and grammatically incorrect Japanese, roughly translatable as "Today, for me, it is a new beginning! From this day forward, my name is.... Mecha-Barbra-Streisanda!" Although the translation was grammatically correct, her voice actor read the lines out incorrectly.
• Guest star Robert Smith was given his lines out of context and told it would be funnier for him to just read them and did not discover the plot until it aired. All of his lines were recorded over the telephone.
• In the beginning of the episode, Cartman finds the golden triangle, and a male figure is drawn inside it when it's being held sharp end up. Few seconds later, Kyle is holding the triangle, and female is there instead if male's.
• Before they get to the studio there is a man that looks like Officer Barbrady.
• The news reporter mentions genetic mutant creatures, zombies, and Thanksgiving turkeys destroying the town.

Kenny's Death

During a battle between Mecha Streisand and Leonard Maltin, Kenny walks with Stan and Kyle to the school playground, starts up a game of tether ball (rather randomly, too), and is hanged to his death when the tether ball rope pins him to the pole as it wraps tightly around his neck. This is presumably because all the viewers expect Kenny to be killed in the crossfire, so this bizarre form of death is totally unexpected.

Celebrities in South Park

• Barbara Streisand: An American singer, songwriter and actress. She became a target for parody on South Park due to her speaking out against the show saying it was bad for children.
• Leonard Maltin is a famous movie critic and film historian.
• Sidney Poitier Bahamian American actor, director and presently the Bahamian diplomat to Japan. Poitier is best known for his role in the film version of In the Heat of the Night and its sequel They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!.
• Robert Smith is the lead singer of influential rock band The Cure.

References to Popular Culture

• This episode parodies many Japanese Kaiju films from Japan, embodying their fantasy aspects, human incorporation, especially that of children, and unique style. Kaiju translates into "strange beast", though Kaiju often refers to giant monsters. Aside from Mecha-Streisand, Mothra (Robert Smith), Gamera (Sidney Poitier), and Ultraman (Leonard Maltin) are parodied in this episode, which seems to primarily parody Godzilla VS Mechagodzilla (1974).
• Although its primary source material is based on Toho Kaiju films, this episode features Gamera (Sidney Poitier), a fire-breathing, jet-propelled turtle and star of its own series of movies that rival Godzilla's. The Shobijin, the small twin fairies that serve Mothra in the films, are seen as Sidney's personal guides. Mecha-Streisand looks and has a similar arsenal to Mechagodzilla.
• Mr. Garrison is reading a copy of the Rocky Mountain News a Denver based newspaper that ran from 1859-2009.
• When Cartman is digging at the archeological dig, he sings a song in the tune similar to many songs sung by enslaved African American's in the United States prior to the Emancipation Proclamation.
• The archeologist states that the portion of the Triangle of Zinthar that is found by Cartman has Anasazi writing on it. The Anasazi were the Ancient Pueblo Peoples. A small number of the Anasazi resided in what is now the state of Colorado.
• When interviewed by News 4, Cartman asserts that when he kicked Kyle he cried like Nancy Kerrigan. Nancy Kerrigan was an Olympic class figure skater. In 1994 she was attacked by a man hired by her rival Tonya Harding. During her televised practice performance on January 6, 1994 she was attacked and the cameras recording her in tears saying the word "why why why" over and over again.
• When Chef meets Leonard Maltin he says "Well I'll be a teenaged girl backstage at an Aerosmith concert!" Aerosmith is a rock 'n' roll band (1970-present) with many hit records and made the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Chefs comments are regarding the common stereotype that female fans who get backstage at a rock concert usually have sex with the musicians.
• Chef states that he hasn't seen Barbara Streisand since Yentl, which is a 1983 film starring Streisand about a Jewish woman who would dress up and pretend to be a man so that she could study Jewish Talmudic Law, which at the time was forbidden.
• The boys ask Barbara Streisand if she is as famous as former Denver Bronco's quarter back John Elway.
• Officer Barbrady tells Barbara Streisand that if she's not Fiona Apple he doesn't give a rats ass who she is. At the time this episode had aired, musician Fiona Apple recently released her first album Tidal.
• While Kyle and Cartman are arguing over who owns the triangle after Cartman breaks into Kyle's room, of all the gibberish Ike spouts he says "Cookie Monster", whom is an iconic character from the children television show Sesame Street.
• Leonard Maltin states that Barbara Streisand's "She was born in a small town, her mother was a jackal, and her father was an insurance salesman." This is a line directly out of the film The Omen.
• According to Leonard Maltin, Barbara Streisand was in the 1984 film My Fair Lady. As a movie buff he should know this is incorrect, considering the fact that Streisand was not in the film, it was Audrey Hepburn who was in the female lead.
• Maltin refers to Barbara Streisand as "Babs", which is her nickname.
• The boys joke how Barbara Streisand still wishes she was 45. When this episode originally aired, Streisand was 55.
• Sidney Portier has two small fairies that accompany him. This is a parody of the shobijin, or "small women" that accompany the kaiju Mothra, they first appeared in the 1961 Mothra film.
• Cartman asks Stan if his socks smell like the Botanical Gardens. This is likely reference to the Western Colorado Botanical Gardens located in Grant Junction Colorado.
• Mecha-Streisand is a parody of Mechagodzilla who first appeared in the film Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.
• The song "Bar-Buh-Rah" sang by the Asian news correspondent is a parody of the Gamera theme song.
• The mayor of South Park can't believe that she watched Barbara Streisand's HBO special. This is in reference to Barbara's 1994 HBO special "Barbara Streisand: The Concert" which originally aired on August 21, 1994.
• Leonard Maltin transforms into a giant form that is a parody of popular Japanese super-hero Ultraman.
• Sidney Portier also transforms into a giant creature, he is a parody of Gamera right down to the rocket powered turtle shell.
• Stan asks "My mom always said there were no monsters, but there are, aren't there, Chef?", which is a parody of a line recited by Newt (Carrie Henn) to Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in James Camron's 1986 film Aliens.
• Robert Smith transforms into a creature that is a parody of Mothra, and when he battles Barbara Streisand, the music in the background sounds similar to the melody to Lovesong from their 1989 album Disintegration.
• After Barbara Streisand is destroyed Kyle says Disintegration is the best Cure album ever.