Conception and objections raised before airing The plot for "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" originated from an idea by series co-creators
Trey Parker and
Matt Stone to have a boy try to convince his
gay dog not to be
homosexual. Michael Smith, a childhood friend of Parker and a basis for the Ned Gerblansky character, claimed that
Big Gay Al was based in part on a real-life resident of
Fairplay, Colorado. Smith, a minister at a Fairplay church, said of the resident, "We just call him Big Al, but he cross-dresses every year for Fairplay Day. He lives out of town, which is why Big Gay Al's cartoon pet sanctuary is set out in the hills". However, Stone said the name "Big Gay Al" and the idea of his "gay animal sanctuary" came from
Pam Brady, a producer and writer with the show. and they credit it with helping elevate the credibility and relevance of
South Park during the early days of the series. Although the first season of
South Park received a lot of criticism from commentators who felt the show was disgusting and offensive, Parker specifically defended the episodes "
Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" and "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride", which he felt included moral values and a "sweet side to it" among the
sophomoric humor. Stone also said those two episodes became the specific shows people would most talk about when they discussed
South Park.
Animation Actor
George Clooney provided the small role of the voice of Sparky, which is limited entirely to dog barks. Clooney was a vocal
South Park fan and was largely responsible for generating news about "
The Spirit of Christmas", a 1995 animated short film by Parker and Stone that served as a precursor to
South Park. Parker said they decided to cast a famous actor in the small role of Sparky because "we thought it was funny", and because they wanted to do something different from the animated series
The Simpsons, which is known for having prominent guest appearances on a regular basis. Parker added, "Since
South Park is sort of a show that rips on celebrity, we wanted to degrade them in other ways too. And we thought let's have celebrities on, but have them do really minor, unimportant things". Parker said he was particularly happy with the animation in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride", and said he believed the series was starting to settle into the defined look it has retained throughout the years. Parker said, "I think that this was where we finally felt like we got it right, we got the look of it right". However, the animation includes some perspective errors, particularly during the football scenes, where Chef stands about as wide as a 10-yard marking on the field. Parker said the animators worked for a long time on the snow in the outdoor scenes, but ultimately decided they did not like how it came out. The speech Big Gay Al gave while taking Stan on a boat ride through his animal sanctuary was based on actual speeches animation director Eric Stough made while working as a "jungle cruise director" at the
Walt Disney World Resort in
Orlando, Florida. The dirt smudges on the football players' helmets and uniforms were intentionally designed to look like smudges on construction paper. This was done to maintain the show's deliberately crude visual style they first created with construction paper in "The Spirit of Christmas" and the pilot episode, "
Cartman Gets an Anal Probe". The characters
Butters Stotch and
Clyde Donovan are featured during the football game, although neither had been identified by name yet in the series. During a football crowd scene, a white character can be seen that looks identical to
Tolkien Black, an African-American character introduced later in the series. The background character is wearing the same shirt Token wears, which Parker explained was the result of an animator placing a different head on the body in order to create a filler character for the crowd. The moment when Big Gay Al says, "My work here is done" and disappears into a suitcase is Stone's favorite part of the episode, even though he admitted, "It makes no sense". Parker said that the moment was written that way simply because the duo could not decide how to "get rid of" the character. Parker said, "We didn't want him around all the time, (so we asked) how do we not make him a character each week". ==Theme==