South Park – The Complete Eighth Season
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: B-
It is funny how South Park stays topical,
over-the-top, popular, gross and still actually has ideas backing the show
up. The Complete Eighth Season offers
more classics, including the classic The
Passion Of The Jew, a lambasting of Mel Gibson’s hit religious film before
his recent drunken tirade gave more leverage to the show. The post 9/11 moratorium on Kenny stars to
really thaw here and these early 2004 shows are as strong as previous seasons
at their best, except that a few undermine the season as a whole in a slightly
pedestrian feel.
However, among the 14 shows, the other classic people are
still talking about even if the media is trying to ignore it is Something Wall Mart This Way Comes,
which spoofs the mega-retailer and any other store or place that becomes a big
craze where you spend your money without thinking. However, despite Family Guy still on the block, no one is doing what Trey Parker and
Matt Stone are doing with this show and it is a golden time of political satire
for them and the country. Again we omit
all the titles and explanation of each show as not to ruin them or be too
square. You do get your money’s worth
either way.
Once again, the 1.33 X 1 full frame image is not bad with decent color,
but while the limited animation looks good, it seems more overprocessed than
the earlier seasons. There are no
scratches, noise, or flaws in any of it.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 is available in the brief Stone/Parker
commentaries, Spanish Mono, French Stereo, and English Stereo with no
surrounds. The mini commentaries are the
only extras again and Paramount uses a folding DigiPak to store the three DVDs. This is a quality way of doing this without
taking up a ton of room, plus the artwork is again top notch with an amusing
cutout design. The Samurai satire is a
hoot.
- Nicholas Sheffo
