The DVD Dissection: South Park - The Complete Eleventh Season

Posted by Chad Webb on 08.12.2008

A lice outbreak, a record sized crap, a land of imaginary characters, and scissoring. It’s all part of growing up in South Park!

Featuring the Voices of:
Trey Parker: Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman, and others
Matt Stone: Kyle Broflovski, Butters, and others
Directed By: Trey Parker
Written By: Trey Parker and Matt Stone
Episode Air Dates: March 7, 2007 – November 14, 2007
DVD Release Date: August 12, 2008
Running Time: 308 minutes







Not Rated

The Show

South Park began in 1992 when creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who were students from the University of Colorado, made a short-film entitled Jesus vs. Frosty. It would feature a group of boys who would go on to becme the shows four main characters. In 1995, Brian Graden, an executive from Fox, saw the film, and commissioned the duo to make another. This second one, Jesus vs. Santa would go on to talks of a series with Fox, then Comedy Central.

South Park follows the adventures of four grade-schoolers from South Park, Colorado. The town is small and quaint on the surface, but extremely messed up when explored. First is Eric Cartman, the overweight and brazen kid who gets more offensive with each passing second. Next is Kyle Broflovski, a normal boy that is very kind and likable. He is also Jewish, and Cartman reminds him of this every chance he gets. Stan Marsh is probably the leader of the foursome. He and Kyle are best friends, and they commonly try to make sense of the situations. Next is Kenny, the mumbling kid who is known mostly for the fact that he used to die in every episode. Kenny is present here, but lately he has been eclipsed by Butters since season six, the youthful easygoing kid with the innocent voice that is constantly taken advantage of.

The early episodes tended to be aimed for shock value more than anything else with an emphasis on slapstick humor. Eventually, the series would become known for its parody of pop-culture, satire of current events, and filthy style of comedy. On some random notes, the first few episodes were made using paper cut-outs, but since they have been constructed with CGI technology. The animation was inspired by Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The show’s theme song is performed by Primus. Controversy over South Park and the subjects it presents occur often because many feel the themes are taboo. The show has won two Emmy’s.

The Episodes

DISC 1

With Apologies to Jesse Jackson - Randy faces public ridicule when he uses the “N” word on Wheel of Fortune. At the same time, Stan attempts to understand how Token feels about it. And when Cartman can’t stop laughing at a midget, they engage in battle. This was pretty funny, and took advantage of the whole Michael Richards situation. This is South Park, but the message is effective nonetheless. The midget fight was terrific. 8.0/10.0

Cartman Sucks - Cartman has been busy taking compromising photos of Butters when he’s asleep. One such photo actually makes Eric look gay, when in fact he meant it to do that Butters. When he tries to make up for it, Butters’ father catches them, and sends his son to a camp where they “pray the gay away.” This was hilarious and classic Cartman hijincks. The show and tell ending was fantastic, and watching Butters at that camp as the kids shoot themselves is outstanding. 8.5/10.0

Lice Capades - A lice outbreak has struck South Park elementary and Ms. Garrison will not admit to who has it in class. Cartman sets out on a mission to find out who it is. Meanwhile, we zoom in on Clyde's head where the lice world is threatened with extinction. This is one of the best episodes of the season. Not only is it funny, but the animation is great, and the plot is intriguing. Did they actually compare lice on a head to saving our planet? Yes they did. 10.0/10.0

The Snuke - The school has a new Muslim student and he scares Eric into believing a terrorist attack is imminent. Meanwhile, the town is gearing up for the arrival of Hillary Clinton’s campaign rally. It turns out a terrorist situation is occurring and it involves Mrs. Clinton…literally. This took the 24 theme because Parker and Stone love the show. It made for an entertaining episode all around with hilarious lines from Cartman. The Hillary Clinton jokes were good, but the location of the nuke was kind of dumb. 8.0/10.0

Fantastic Easter Special - While decorating Easter eggs, Stan questions how that tradition originated and why he must do it. His Dad reacts harshly, so Stan and Kyle travel to the Vatican for some answers and discover an ancient secret. This was a spoof on The Da Vinci Code, which I loved, but Parker and Stone did not. Anyway, this was average. The way they compressed the plot of the film into an Easter storyline was ingenious, though it did not provide as many laughs. 7.5/10.0

DISC 2

D-Yikes - When Ms. Garrison gets dumped by another man; she unleashes her fury on her 4th grade class. She orders a homework assignment that must be quickly remedied. Ms. Garrison then learns that love without men has its trials and tribulations. I never cared for the Garrison focused episodes. I chuckled at the scissoring, but mainly out of disgust. This also utilizes many elements from 300, which the creators both hated with a passion. This was the worst on this set. 4.5/10.0

Night of the Living Homeless - The homeless population in South Park is increasing, but it grows at an alarming rate when Kyle hands out money. The boys parents are trapped by one mob, so the boys must then figure out a way to rid the town of its homeless problem. I guess we all know what film this is a salute to right? Well, actually, Parker and Stone loved the Dawn of the Dead remake, so that specifically is what they were aiming for. This episode was spectacular. The homeless feeding off change sequence is awesome and overall I couldn’t stop cracking up. 9.0/10.0

Le Petit Tourette - Cartman spots a kid with Tourette’s Syndrome and decides he must have this sickness so he can swear. He goes berserk with the amount of cruel comments and chooses to go on National television to top it all off. Now, I know a person with Tourette’s, and it is not funny, but thankfully this episode makes note of that. The Golden Ticket reaction from Cartman is priceless. This episode was ok, but not much else is happening besides that. 7.0/10.0

More Crap - Randy Marsh becomes a hero among men when he flaunts the size of his latest crap. He thinks he could be a contender for the world’s record holder, but it turns out another is #1. This person will not quit without a fight. This is a tricky episode to rate. If you are a casual viewer of this series, then you will no doubt hate this, but if you are a long time devotee, you understand how Parker and Stone’s humor can veer off in these tangents. I thought it was mildly amusing, but nothing more. It definitely uses The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters outline, which was neat, but this seems like the sort of topic that becomes gradually dumber the more you watch it. 7.0/10.0

DISC 3

Imaginationland I - III - I already reviewed the special DVD release for these episodes where it was connected into one film. You can read those thoughts by clicking here.

Guitar Queer-O - Stan and Kyle have bought a game system together and now they are obsessed with the game Guitar Hero. Together, they score record points and have an opportunity for a record deal. Stan is quickly persuaded to ditch Kyle for a better player. They then split ways and soon the pressure of stardom is too much for Stan. Now, this is a silly episode, but it so perfectly explains my feelings for the game. I do not like Guitar Hero. There I said it. I feel better. This episode is really funny, but not as good as I expected. 8.0/10.0

The List - The 4th grade girls have compiled a list of the best looking to ugliest boys in the class. Cartman unravels a plan to steal the list and when they do the results are shocking. It goes to some of the boys head and the girls turn out to be psychotic about lists. If the girls in my school ever had a list, I never knew about it and, chances are, I wasn’t on it as they probably didn’t know I existed. South Park does need to settle down with cute school storylines like this more often and the creators discuss that in the commentary. This was an excellent closer to the season. 8.5/10.0

The Video

On many commentaries and interviews with Parker and Stone, they never hesitate to say how bad their animation is compared to other shows. While it is true that this is not nearly as visually exquisite as Futurama, the animation is certainly unique and, in the case of Imaginationland, it is vibrant and the land itself is a feast for the eyes with the variety of colors. Other episodes like "Night of the Living Homeless" have a darker, yet appropriately shaded tone. This DVD looks great on my television. The transfer is clear and spotless with no visible grain, jumping, blurs, or color bleeding. This is presented in full screen with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

The Audio

The sound is solid and strong throughout the film. You will notice a few explosions and the terrorist attack itself is saturated with gun shots and all sorts of noisy violence which reverberates superbly from the speakers. All the characters were reliably understandable, lucid and clear. I heard no distortion and my volume knob rested at a comfortable level. This DVD contains a Dolby Digital 5.1 track in English and a mono track. Strangely enough no subtitles are given.

The Packaging

South Park – The Complete Eleventh Season is distributed in a foldout digipak cardboard style case. All of the seasons thus far have been released in the same type of packaging. It is sturdy, the discs rarely fall out and it looks nice. Occasionally the cardboard will bends and rip depending on how you treat it. Inside is a booklet filled with Comedy Central DVDs on sale. The menus are typical for South Park. A scene from an episode on that disc will open the menu. They are easy to navigate.

The Extras

Mini Commentaries - I am a huge fan of these commentaries. They are short, to the point, and always hilarious. I went over some highlights in the summaries of the episodes above, but here are some more. The Imaginationland commentaries are poor compared to the one on the disc, but that should be expected. I just enjoy hearing about the various films that inspired the story and how they would rate them. They go into detail on Michael Richards, the difficulties of the lice animation and all the ups and downs of the season. You might not agree with them all the time, but at least they are honest about their own material.

The Show: 9.0/10.0
The Episodes: 8.5/10.0
The Video: 8.0/10.0
The Audio: 8.0/10.0
The Packaging: 8.5/10.0
The Extras: 5.0/10.0

The 411: This season box set of South Park is very similar to the 10 previous that have been released. In terms of quality, this season was solid. A few episodes were less than stellar, but the majority were funny and a handful were brilliant, especially the Imaginationland trilogy. The technical specifications are about the same as usual and the extras are still the engrossing mini-commentaries. South Park is the best it has ever been. Granted, I wait for DVD and have not seen any of the season 12 episodes, but I love most of the messages, the satire and the parodies of films. With each subsequent season, it rises higher on my list of favorite shows. The price will be around $25 depending on where you buy. It is worth the money, but if you wait awhile, you can probably find it on sale cheaper than that. Overall, if you are a fan of the series, this is a definite recommendation.

Final Score:  8.0   [ Very Good ]