since the September 11 attacks. Parker and Stone worked quickly to come up with ideas and felt that they had the structure of the episode finished within 30 minutes. The episode is also partially based on the 1984 film The Last Starfighter. During the production of the episode, there was a "big debate" within the writing team about the ending. The debate was about whether or not to show the actual battle between Heaven and Hell. Eventually, the decision was made to go with the "joke version" consisting of the angel narrating the battle as opposed to a large scale scene because Parker and Stone wanted more emphasis on the Terri Schiavo story. The decision was also more beneficial to the show because it meant less animation had to be done. The episode was originally going to be a two-part story split between two episodes but after Terri Schiavo died, Parker and Stone felt that they could not and should not do a two-parter. Reception This episode won a 2005 Emmy Award in the category of "Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)". This is the first time the show has beaten other nominees, such as The Simpsons and other winners. It also became the fourth prime time animated cartoon, and the first cable TV series, to win the award, behind The Simpsons, King of the Hill and Futurama. "Best Friends Forever" received mostly positive reviews for its portrayal of the Terri Schiavo case. In her book The Deep End of South Park, Leslie Stratyner applauds the episode for its ability to "tackle such challenging issues as... right to die in 'Best Friends Forever'... its 'devil-may-care' attitude that has brought a fair amount of acclaim". On a different aspect of the controversy, Jonathan Gray commented that the "twist at the end with Kenny's final page of the will... illustrates just how crazy people become about everyday issues. The only thing Kenny didn't want came true as a result of those two sides". Writing for the Chicago Sun Times, Jeff Shannon described the episode thus: "Clearly aware that taking sides in the right-to-life debate would be a divisive, no-win strategy, Parker and Stone aimed their satirical arrows at the one aspect of the Schiavo case that's indisputably offensive: the horrendous media circus that turned a private matter into a shamefully public spectacle." Jeffrey Weinstock, in Taking South Park Seriously,