I must admit that season 5 of South Park was not one of my favorites. I didn’t mind the more permanent death of Kenny. OK, I did mind losing Kenny, but that wasn’t what really brought the series down. It appears that the crudeness found in season 5 has no other purpose than for shock value which in itself is lost on South Park fans. You just can’t shock us anymore.
An episode with a running counter for how often SHIT appears is a perfect indication of how run down things had gotten. Don’t get me wrong. The…e’s still some real funny… well… Shit in this season. Butters annoys me. I think he’s intended to, but he really annoys me. I think the only reason I laughed at all this season is because I can’t help laughing every time Cartman says or does anything. I think one of the reasons for South Park’s drop comes from the domination of Trey Parker.
This show has for its last few years lost much of the collaboration it once had. Matt Stone appears more seldom these days in the actual mechanics of creating South Park.
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. Expect pretty much the same as Season 4. There aren’t any blemishes or artifacts. This stuff is pretty much created in a digital environment and it shows. Colors are 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
The set is worth having if only because there’s Cartman. This is always been a show about pushing boundaries. In the past there was a great amount of social commentary not so subtly hidden in the crude jokes. I found less of that in season 5. Mostly I’m upset that “they killed Kenny…”
Special Features List
- Commentary by the creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone
