Mecha-Streisand
"Mecha-Streisand" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the first season of the American animated television series South Park.
In the episode, Barbra Streisand obtains the Diamond of Pantheos from Stan, Cartman, Kyle and Kenny, and transforms into a giant mechanical dinosaur called Mecha-Streisand.
According to Nielsen ratings, "Mecha-Streisand" was watched by 5.4 million viewers, a record high viewership for a South Park episode at the time.
During a field trip to an archeological dig, Eric Cartman discovers a mysterious stone triangle, which he promptly throws away without interest.
As they search for Streisand, Maltin tells Chef she is seeking the boys' triangle to complete a powerful and ancient relic, the "Diamond of Pantheos", which will allow her to become an evil and dangerous creature capable of conquering the world.
Streisand uses the triangle to complete the diamond, transforming herself into a giant mechanical dinosaur version of herself, Mecha-Streisand, and begins to lay waste to South Park (and the Colorado National Guard that was sent in to fight her) with her new form.
The boys evade fiery debris from the fight, but Kenny is killed when he stops to play tetherball and gets strangled by the rope.
Actor Sidney Poitier arrives and turns into a giant fanged turtle to fight Mecha-Streisand, but he too is easily defeated.
During the ensuing battle, Smith-Moth manages to punch the Diamond of Pantheos away from Mecha-Streisand before flinging her into outer space, where she explodes and dies.
However, Kyle's little brother Ike finds the pieces of the diamond in the trash, resulting in the episode ending with the boys cowering in the presence of a new foe: Mecha-Ike.
Eric Stough, director of animation for the series, said "Mecha-Streisand" was slightly more challenging to animate than other first-season episodes due to the laser beam-type effects featured in the final monster fight, which were specifically designed to resemble a low-budget monster movie with poor graphics.
[4] The scenes with an instructional guide taking the kids on a fossil hunt were based on real-life arrowhead-digging excursions Parker and Stone went on in Red Rocks Park during their childhood in Colorado.
[3] The Diamond of Pantheos, on the other hand, closely resembles the pendant worn by a major character in the anime Galaxy Express 999.
As Smith walks into the sunset, a version of The Cure's "Let's Go to Bed" is played on the Japanese Lute (Biwa).
Many fans also did not like Kenny's tether ball accident death scene because it had nothing to do with the plot of the episode, which Parker and Stone said was supposed to be the joke.
[8] Parker and Stone created the second season episode "Spookyfish" in response, where they took a picture of Streisand's head, placed the image into all four corners of the screen and called it "Spooky vision".
[3] Regarding his appearance, Robert Smith had claimed that nothing in his career mattered as much to his younger nephews and nieces as the fact that he was featured on South Park.
During a duet with Neil Diamond, Mecha-Streisand lets out a green cloud from her groin that disgusts the people of South Park.
[citation needed] The Mecha-Streisand featured in "200" is designed with more sophisticated computer imagery than the original, as the animation quality of the series has improved over the years in general.
