South Park had peaked with Season 3. The film was a huge hit and some of the best stuff came out that year. Season 4 would become a more up and down year. It’s obvious that the Stone and Parker team decided to push the envelope a bit further. This is also the year we got wheelchair bound Timmy. I liked Timmy at first, but he just gets old fast. One of the highlights of this season is the last episode. Another Mr. Hanky Christmas episode has the boys creating a special computer Christmas card called “The Spirit of Chr…stmas” this episode mirrors the actual start of Stone and Parker. I would have liked to have seen the entire original show at least as an extra here.
Audio
Don’t expect much more than a center speaker or occasional mains. Still what the heck do we need fancy surrounds for on South Park. As long as I can hear Cartman, life is good. I do wish that they would avoid the bleep noises on home releases. We’re fair warned about language, so what’s the point?
Video
Each South Park episode is presented in its original television full frame format. Season 4 was a bit of an improvement. The boys have finally tweaked the program that produces the show. The previous year’s feature film allowed them to use these improvements on the series. Colors are pretty bright or at least as bright as construction paper gets.
Special Features
Sadly all we get are about 3 minutes per episode of Stone and Parker in what they call “commentary minis”.
Final Thoughts
South Park was still South Park in Season 4. Love him or hate him, Timmy was the first serious addition to the cast since the beginning. Stone and Parker are still creative as hell even if they often try too hard to shock the audience. The trouble is if you are already a South Park fan, you get pretty immune to it after a while. Now I actually look for compelling stories. Wow! “This is pretty “Bleeped” up right here”.
Special Features List
- Mini-commentaries from creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone
