Creators:
Trey Parker
Matt Stone
Cast:
Trey Parker ………. Stan Marsh/Eric Cartman/Mr. Garrison
Matt Stone ………. Kyle Broflovski/Kenny McCormick/Butters
The Show:
I think by now, everybody knows that South Park is the brainchild of Matt Stone and Trey Parker and that it is an animated story of four children in South Park, Colorado.
Satirizing everything and everyone from Saddam Hussein to David Hasselhoff, South Park: The Hits Vol. 1 is a collection of ten episodes that the creators picked as their personal favorites over the years.
The episodes are clearly classics, and while Parker and Stone preface everything by saying that they much prefer their later writing to their earlier stuff, an interesting cavalcade of material is presented in this set.
The best way to judge the episodes, is not by comparing them to every episode of every season, but rather by their appeal to the casual South Park fan. Would they laugh at Paris Hilton selling her ‘Stupid Spoiled Whore’ video playset to elementary-aged girls? Enjoy a stoned towel being hailed as the savior of the free world? Laugh at Cartman leading a boy into thinking that a meteor has caused the end of the world, just so that he can take the boy’s place at a Mexican restaurant for Kyle’s birthday party?
The answer is yes.
Another way to adequately review this set, is by price point. It’s certainly cheaper than picking up all the seasons separately, and unless you are a hardcore fan, does the job of entertaining you on a rainy day. Obviously if these episodes are hand-picked by the creators, you know that there must be some semblance of humor behind the choices and they are all definitely worth a look.
The two disc DVD includes:
“Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset”
Paris Hilton visits South Park and shows up to promote the launch of her own store. She quickly becomes idolized by the prepubescent girls of the town, who all want to be the next ‘stupid spoiled whore.’ Eventually, Hilton is challenged by another character on the show who tries to enlighten her about the perils of her lifestyle.
“The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers”
Clearly one of Parker and Stone’s favorites, this episode details the obsession with the Lord of the Rings franchise and this is parodied with the boys being given the mission of delivering a Lord of the Rings videotape to Butters. It is soon discovered that the wrong tape was given to the boys, and they are actually delivering a porno to their innocent colleague.
“Best Friends Forever”
After Kenny buys a Sony PSP, Cartman will do anything to get his hands on it. When Kenny is hit by a car and is hooked up to a breathing-machine, Cartman convinces the town that he and Kenny were BFF’s (best friends forever) and that Kenny would want his plug pulled (ensuring PSP inheritance for the chubby anti-hero).
“Good Times With Weapons”
It’s bound to be a good episode when one animated format makes fun of another, and this time it is Parker and Stone taking aim at the anime obsession. The boys buy martial arts weapons at the town fair and pretend that they are ninja’s whenever they use them. This results in them transforming into life-sized martial artists, who just happen to take out Butters’ eye when Kenny fires one of his ninja stars on target. Similar to their work on Team America, nothing is safe here as stereotypical songs are the weapon that the creator-ninja’s choose to employ.
“Casa Bonita”
Kyle is allowed to choose three of his friends to help him celebrate his birthday at Casa Bonita, a popular Mexican restaurant. When he decides to take Butters, Cartman proves that he willing to do anything to take his place including convincing the naïve Butters that the world has been hit by a meteor and taken over by cannibals, so he must stay in a bomb shelter (just until Saturday, which is when the party is scheduled for). When the town organizes a search party, Cartman continues to scramble and is unwilling to give up the chance to go to the restaurant and the ending to this episode is a great payoff.
“AWESOM-O”
In another attempt to exploit Butters’ gullible nature, Cartman dresses up as a robot to play a joke on him. As usual, the tables are turned when he learns that Butters’ possesses a tape of him dressing up as Britney Spears that he will play for the entire town, the next time Cartman is mean to him and so the antagonist is forced to play AWESOM-O for a far longer period than he intended.
“Trapped in the Closet”
In an attempt to save money for a new bicycle, Stan is forced to find free entertainment around town and is converted to scientology. He is soon proclaimed to be the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard and thousands of scientologists soon descend upon the town, including the religion’s most famous sons, John Travolta and Tom Cruise. When Stan insults Cruse’s acting, Cruise goes into Stan’s closet and refuses to come out. This episode got a lot of reaction from Cruise and the actor even managed to get it banned in the United Kingdom.
“Towelie”
After Cartman finds some incriminating material on Stan’s mother, she is forced to buy the boys an expensive video game system in order to also purchase their silence. While playing, they meet a talking-towel that enjoys marijuana and learn that he is part of a complicated government plot. When the government officials learn that the boys have conversed with ‘Towelie,’ they steal the game system in order to receive co-operation from Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman.
“Red Hot Catholic Love”
Father Maxi says that a retreat is being planned and all the South Park boys are invited. The show involves parody about all the molestation charges that have recently plagued the Catholic Church.
“Scott Tenorman Must Die”
Arguably the episode that best defines the South Park franchise, “Scott Tenorman Must Die” involves Cartman’s thirst for vengeance after he is constantly bested by an older teenager in the neighborhood. The creators admit in the commentary that this episode had a lot to do with how they now write the series, since before this episode, they tried to employ a few storylines at once whereas in this case, they wanted to focus only on one idea. They say that while they knew Cartman was a bad kid, this was the episode that possibly turned him into the most evil child in the world.
The DVD:
Video:
The DVD is presented in a fullscreen anamorphic aspect ratio of 1.33:1. No complaints.
Audio:
Presented in Dolby Digitial 5.1 surround, it’s good”¦ but volume is sometimes an issue. This is not the fault of the DVD, as much as it is in the way the characters are voiced. Optional English subtitles are available.
Special Features:
About what you would expect from a hits collection. While there are commentaries available from Parker and Stone for every episode, these only last for about a minute per show, so if you are looking for great insight”¦ look elsewhere, actually, why are you looking for great insight from South Park anyway?
There are four ‘bonus’ episodes that are included (minus the commentary), and these include “Fatt Butt and Pancake Head,” “It Hits the Fan,” “Timmy 2000,” and “The Death Camp of Tolerance.” All worth a look.
There’s also the original animated feature that launched the entire show. Titled “The Spirit of Christmas,” this is the short that featured Jesus taking on Santa Clause, which was the beginning of the genius or insanity, although by even reading this, you are probably of the former school of thought.
