Original air date: 4/12/2006
Cartman meets with the president of FOX to cancel Family Guy and discovers the secret behind its success. Meanwhile, the people of South Park bury their heads in sand pits to avoid watching the latest controversial episode of Family Guy.
"Cartoon Wars: Part 2" contains examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Despite all the potshots against Family Guy in the episode, Kyle and Stan finds the show funny and visibly smile at the jokes.
- Artistic License – Religion: Muslims consider Jesus Christ to be the second most important prophet after Muhammad, so the idea that militant fundamentalists would create a film depicting him, let alone mocking him, is far-fetched to say the least.
- Bait-and-Switch: The episode starts off by being "pre-empted" for a Terrance and Phillip special similar to the "Not Without My Anus" fakeout. It seems to stick... until we see a censored Muhammad on their special, at which point we see T&P complain to their executives about the censorship. He lets them know of a boy in Colorado attempting to stop a similar scene on one of their shows, and then the episode truly starts.
- Big "WHAT?!": Kyle's reaction to hearing Cartman's Evil Plan to get rid of Family Guy.Cartman: Now, if you'll excuse me, Kyle, I've got some idea balls to remove from a manatee tank. [Beat]Kyle: WHAT?!
- Blasphemous Boast: Cartman makes one after seemingly succeeding in his plan to get Family Guy taken off the air.Cartman: I did it. I AM GOD!
- Break Them by Talking: Apparently this was how Kyle got Bart Simpson to release him, since Kyle pointed out he was on the path to becoming no different from Cartman.Cartman: How the hell did you get out!?Kyle: That kid and I had a long talk! I told him he was on a slippery slope to becoming a monster like you!Cartman: Aw, Goddamnit, you gave him one of your gay little speeches, didn't you?!
- Censored for Comedy: The censor box over Muhammad is a meta joke on Trey and Matt's part.
- Cutaway Gag: When Cartman is introduced to the manatees, they are shown "writing" a cutaway joke about Peter winning a date in Mexico with Gary Coleman.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: The writers of Family Guy are manatees, who put balls with random words into a machine to make each joke in the show.
- Double Standard: Mercilessly parodied by the terrorist-produced retaliation, which shows cardboard cutouts of Tom Cruise, George Bush, various Americans and Jesus defecating all over one another and onto a US flag. This ending essentially asks viewers, "why is THAT okay to show, while an image of Muhammad, just standing there, looking normal, is not?"
- Groin Attack: Cartman does this to Kyle after they fight all the way to the studio.
- Irony: During a press conference where the news media ask why Bush hasn't just ordered the network to take down the Family Guy episode Bush tells them that the episode is protected under the first amendment right to free speech. Naturally, the media, who depend on the first amendment to even exist have never heard of the right to free speech and mock it.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Kyle is never informed of the context behind a tank of full of manatees being the Family Guy writers, making him incredibly confused every time they're brought up.
- Out-of-Character Moment: President Bush says at his press conference that the Family Guy writers are protected by "something called the First Amendment" which makes it sound like he's not familiar with it. A moment later, however, he is the one who explains that it protects free speech and seems shocked that the reporters don't know what it is.
- Poke the Poodle: The so-called "terrorist retaliation" from Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden after the Muhammad episode is shown is a crummy animation of various Americans and Jesus crapping on each other.
- Precision F-Strike: "Cowabunga, motherfucker!"
- Self-Deprecation: The guy who drops Kyle off in Hollywood, he knows that Family Guy is just joke after joke with no coherent plot, but he prefers that over shows that unsubtly bombard you with messages all the time.
- Stunned Silence: President Bush takes a moment to respond with a confused tone when a member of the news, who depend on the existence of free speech, asks what the first amendment is. Then stares at the assembled journalists in disbelief as they accuse him of making things up.
- Take That!:
- The Family Guy bashing continues from the previous episode. Throughout the two-parter, Family Guy is depicted as consisting of nothing but the Griffin family sitting around in their living room and setting up Cutaway Gags, and here in Part Two the famous "manatee gag" explanation is revealed.
- As mentioned above, the Double Standard of not being allowed to show a completely benign image of Muhammad while showing things just as sacrilegious, such as Jesus shitting on the American flag, are fine.
- Wimp Fight: Kyle and Cartman's slap fight while trying to reach the Fox president's office.
