After 12 seasons, South Park is still wonderful.
Granted, it isn’t as strong as some of its earlier seasons, but as a whole the show continues to be witty, relevant and funny. The season opens with "Tonsil Trouble", an episode in which Kyle and Cartman both end up with AIDS. Through a series of adventures, the show's writers manage to make an interesting point about the waning influence of AIDS on society and how what was once a hugely visible part of life in America is now an unfortunate afterthought. Other highlights include “Britney’s New Look” as an aptly timed and slightly unsettling look at America’s obsession with paparazzi and celebrity. After Britney Spears blows off half her skull in an attempt to commit suicide, the paparazzi hound her, demanding to know why she looks so awful. “About Last Night” highlighted many of our worst nightmares—behind the scenes, our 2008 Presidential and VP nominees with their 2008 counter nominees were in cahoots with each other, ultimately mocking the American people for believing there might be a difference between the two. The season culminates with two strong mockeries of current pop culture phenomenon: the Twilight series and the High School Musical craze.
And how can I forget when those bastards made me relive the time my friend got raped in Peru by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. In Season 6's "Free Hat", Trey Parker and Matt Stone made their feelings very clear on the subject of Spielberg and Lucas' incessant poking at past films. When Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out, we all wondered if they'd address it in the upcoming season, and they did brilliantly. The season is not perfect, having a few episodes that are, ultimately, forgettable. Despite this, the season feels much stronger than others have been which is always refreshing coming from a show more than a decade old.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The episodes on the disc are presented in widescreen and not only are they crisp for your Blu-ray player but with a few extras as well. The Season 12 set includes the "6 Days of South Park" web video where several members of the South Park team went over the process they go through weekly to create a show. Rapidly sketching the outlines of the characters with limited timelines, the writers and artists of the South Park team create an entire episode for our favorite Colorado town in just 6 days. This is a particularly interesting special feature because it provides a glimpse into the evolution and dedication that goes into each episode of South Park.
Equally as interesting, though not as well executed, is a short piece regarding the making of “About last night”, an episode that had several elements contingent on the winner of the 2008 election and the particular speech they gave. Accommodating this, they created several different versions of characters and speeches to at least facilitate the process of creating a storyboard when the details began to emerge. Basically all of the speeches had already been written and then audio was recorded afterward. Unfortunately, while I personally found the content interesting, the presentation teetered on dull. It is worth mentioning that not all of the extra features are offered in hi-def.
South Park has at least once had a season that lulls, going nowhere and doing nothing. Season 12 managed to avoid that mediocrity. To sum it up, South Park: The Complete Twelfth Season is full of relevance with stunning picture quality and some interesting extra features. The handful of outrageously funny episodes makes the season an extremely strong one overall.
The new season begins 10 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11 on Comedy Central. Season 13 seems so far from where they started, but Season 12 guarantees that they still remember what made them so great to begin with.
"South Park: The Complete Twelfth Season " is on sale March 10, 2009 and is rated NR. Animation, Comedy, Television. Directed by Trey Parker. Written by Trey Parker & Matt Stone. Starring Matt Stone, Trey Parker.
