page_title: Mecha-Streisand
section_title: Reception and release
hierarchical_section_title: Mecha-Streisand / Reception and release
caption_attribution_description: Promotional photo of Barbra Streisand
context_page_description: "Mecha-Streisand" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the first season of the American animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on February 18, 1998. 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. She is ultimately defeated by The Cure frontman Robert Smith, who himself transforms into a giant moth monster.
  The episode was written by series co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone along with writer Philip Stark, and was directed by Parker. "Mecha-Streisand" parodies numerous popular Kaiju films and features portrayals of actor Sidney Poitier and film critic Leonard Maltin.
  According to Nielsen ratings, "Mecha-Streisand" was seen by 5.4 million viewers, a record high viewership for a South Park episode at the time. Streisand herself was critical of the series and her role in "Mecha-Streisand", although Leonard Maltin was complimentary about his portrayal.
context_section_description: In its original American broadcast on February 18, 1998, "Mecha-Streisand" received a 6.9 Nielsen rating, translating to 5.4 million viewers in 3.2 million households. At the time, it was a record high viewership for a South Park episode, breaking the record that was set earlier that month by "Damien", and was ten times the average of Comedy Central's non-South Park programming.
  Parker and Stone were very happy with the episode, but received feedback from fans that it was one of the weaker episodes of the first season, and that the constant jokes about Barbra Streisand started to grow redundant. 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.
  
  Streisand herself took a negative view of her portrayal, stating in a Mirabella interview, 
  I wasn't even aware of this show until I read in Time magazine that they had used me in a very negative way. Let me say that I enjoy satire and parody and I loved the movie In & Out. It made me laugh. It wasn't mean-spirited. But I wonder if shows like South Park and Beavis and Butt-head don't add to the cynicism and negativity in our culture, especially in children. These youngsters are formulating their attitudes and maybe they come away feeling that any woman who dares to accomplish something is the incarnation of self-centeredness and greed. And that would be very unfortunate, especially for young girls.
   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".
  Leonard Maltin was complimentary about "Mecha-Streisand", and told Parker and Stone his children particularly enjoyed his portrayal in the episode. 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.
  "Mecha-Streisand" was released, along with 11 other episodes, in a three-disc DVD set in November 1998. It was included in the third volume, which also included the episodes "Starvin' Marvin", "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" and "Tom's Rhinoplasty". "Mecha-Streisand", along with the other twelve episodes from the first season, was also included in the DVD release "South Park: The Complete First Season", which was released on November 12, 2002. Parker and Stone recorded commentary tracks for each episode, but they were not included with the DVDs due to "standards" issues with some of the statements; Parker and Stone refused to allow the tracks to be edited and censored, so they were released in a CD separate from the DVDs. In 2008, Parker and Stone made "Mecha-Streisand" and all South Park episodes available to watch for free on the show's official website, "South Park Studios".
  The episode was revisited twelve years later in the show's 200th episode, along with many other past South Park storylines, featuring a redesigned Mecha-Streisand. During a duet with Neil Diamond, Mecha-Streisand lets out a green cloud from her groin that disgusts the people of South Park. The original Japanese theme song for the creature also plays in the episode. 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.
caption: Barbra Streisand was highly critical of South Park and her portrayal in "Mecha-Streisand"
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