Team America: World Police is a 2004 adult puppet comedy film directed by Trey Parker from a screenplay co-written with Matt Stone and Pam Brady. Parker and Stone also star, alongside Kristen Miller, Masasa Moyo, Daran Norris, Phil Hendrie, Maurice LaMarche, Chelsea Marguerite, Jeremy Shada and Fred Tatasciore. The film satirizes action film archetypes, American militarism, and the global implications of the politics of the United States. It follows the titular paramilitary police force, who recruit a Broadway actor to assist in saving the world from Kim Jong-il and his conspiracy of Islamic terrorists and liberal Hollywood actors. Team America: World Police intertwines puppetry and miniature effects in a manner similar to Gerry Anderson's Supermarionation, known for its use in the TV series Thunderbirds, although Stone and Parker were not fans of that show. The duo worked on the script with former South Park writer Brady for nearly two years. The film had a troubled production, with assorted technical problems regarding the puppets and the scheduling extremes of finishing on time. The crew came into routine conflict with the Motion Picture Association of America, which returned the film multiple times with an NC-17 rating due to an explicit sex scene involving puppets. Team America: World Police premiered at the Denver Film Festival on October 14, 2004, and was released theatrically in the United States on the following date by Paramount Pictures. It has received mostly positive reviews and grossed over $51 million worldwide on a $32 million budget. Plot Team America, a paramilitary counterterrorist police force, eliminates a gang of terrorists in Paris, accidentally destroying the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and the Louvre in the process. The team includes Lisa, an idealistic psychologist; her love interest Carson; Sarah, a psychic; Joe, a jock who is in love with Sarah; and Chris, a martial arts expert who harbors a phobia towards actors. Carson proposes to Lisa, but a terrorist shoots him dead as he is doing it. Team America leader Spottswoode brings Broadway actor Gary Johnston to Team America's base in Mount Rushmore and asks him to use his acting skills to infiltrate a terrorist cell. Unbeknownst to the team, North Korean dictator and terrorist mastermind Kim Jong-il is supplying international terrorists with weapons of mass destruction. Gary infiltrates a terrorist group in Cairo. The team is discovered and a chase ensues, with the team killing the terrorists. However, the