South Park is easily one of the funniest animated shows ever to air on basic cable. It’s witty. It’s satirical. It’s rude, crude, biased, mean and downright silly. Season 7 is no different.
South Park: Season Seven (2003)
Directors: Trey Parker and Matt Stone
Producers: Trey Parker and Matt Stone
Writers: Trey Parker and Matt Stone (creators)
Features: * Mini-Commentaries
Characters:
Trey Parker and Matt Stone...Various
Genre: Comedy
Review:
South Park is easily one of the funniest animated shows ever to air on basic cable. It’s witty. It’s satirical. It’s rude, crude, biased, mean and downright silly.
We’ve now reached the seventh season of this great show. Sadly, this season starts to show its legs, though it still remains funnier than most shows on TV. There are a few diamonds among the rough, but the majority of these episodes consist of puerile, wasteful humor, particularly the episode, ‘Fat Butt and Pancake Head’, which is one of my least favorite episodes. I’m not really sure why there was such a slump this season, but it’s evident in almost every episode, even the good ones.
Thankfully, the next few seasons reclaim some of the lost glory that’s been trailing away since the show’s fourth season.
Gems in this season include: ‘Cancelled’, one of the best episodes of the series, ‘South Park is Gay, which introduced to the mystical world of Crab People, ‘Christian Rock Hard’, a very funny Christian music spoof and ‘All About Mormons’, one of my top five favorite episodes, which mocks, quite profusely, the Mormon religion.
The seventh season consists of the following episodes: Cancelled, Krazy Kripple, Toilet Paper, I’m a Little Bit Country, Fat Butt and Pancake Head, Lil’ Crime Stopps, Red Man’s Greed, South Park is Gay, Christian Rock Hard, Grey Dawn, Casa Bonita, All About Mormons, Butt Out, Raisins and It’s Christmas in Canada.
*Show Scorecard*
As entertainment: * * * ½
As a show: * * *
Overall:
DVD REVIEW:
Video:
Presented in Full Frame, the show looks fine. It’s not the best presentation ever, but it’s comparable to the other seasons.
Audio:
Here, we are presented with a pretty substandard Dolby Stereo track. I’m not surprised, nor am I really all that disappointed.
Extras:
There are Mini-Commentaries available on all 15 episodes from the show’s creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. They usually run about 3-10 minutes. While they are very funny and somewhat informative, I can’t help but feel that full length commentaries would be much, much better. Stone and Parker claim they do these smaller commentaries because people don’t care to hear them talk through each episode, but I can’t help but think that they do it because they’re a little lazy. Oh well, the commentaries are fun regardless.
Final Thoughts:
If you’re a fan of the show, this is a must-have DVD set. Casual fans should defiantly rent or buy this one as well. The episodes are not perfect, but funny anyway. Bring on season eight!
*DVD Scorecard*
Video: 6
Audio: 5
Extras: 6.5
Overall: 6
Unrated, though censored.
* Running Time: 330 minutes
* List Price: $49.99
* Available on DVD March 21st 2006.
Email Me with Comments, Concerns, Questions and Complaints regarding this review, but please, be nice.
----R. L. Shaffer