DVD Review: South Park - The Complete Sixth Season
Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny are back in South Park - The Complete Sixth Season with all new... uh... hold on a sec... where's Kenny? Has anybody seen Kenny? Ohhhh, that's right, he died last season. I mean, not like normal where he just reappears in the next episode. This time he had died for good, like permanently... well, permanently until season seven that is. So I guess now it's Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Butters... until Butters gets dropped from the gang to be replaced by the much more annoying Tweek... who thankfully doesn't last as the boys' fourth for all season, eventually being replaced by... uh... well, the ghost of Kenny... who possesses Cartman. All-in-all, I think killing Kenny off permanently for this season was a nice move as it allowed them to flesh out some of previously seen minor characters.
Originally aired in 2002, the season starts off with the episode titled "Jared has Aides", in which the famous Subway spokesman unknowingly inspires the boys to embark on their own get-rich quick scheme, where they convince Butters to fatten up so that they can then slim him down quickly and claim it was by eating only at the local City Wok restaurant. Meanwhile, a misunderstanding causes the entire town to start hating Jared, the Subway guy, which eventually threatens the boys' scheme.
In the next episode, the boys' and their families all head off to Aspen, Colorado for some fun on the slopes. Unfortunately, both the boys and their parents run into problems. While their parents are continually tricked into attending Time Share meetings, the boys are pulled into a parody of every single 80's skiing movie you've ever seen. Stan must win a race against the talented yet jerky skier in order to save the youth center, get the girl, and free some ancient spirits from the mountain.
Both episodes were quite funny. Three more episodes follow, "Freak Strike", "Fun with Veal", and "The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer". Funny, yes, but not my favorite episodes, especially "The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer" where much of the show is made up of the TV show "Russell Crowe: Fightin' 'Round the World". Luckily, we return to hilarity in the next episode which introduces one of my favorite characters, Professor Chaos! After the boys fire Butters as their forth friend, the rejection unleashes his not-so-dark side, creating the evil super-villain, Professor Chaos.
Eleven more episodes fill out the rest of the season, and all are funny enough to be worth watching, though as typical with a season of South Park, several stand out as being extremely funny. Some more of my favorites are "Red Hot Catholic Love", where the town turns Atheist and Cartman starts a trend of eating with your butt, "A Ladder to Heaven", where the boys try to build a ladder to heaven so that can get a winning ticket that Kenny had on him when he died, "The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers" where the boys attempt to return a porno tape to the video store, and "My Future Self N' Me" where parents try to trick their kids into staying off drugs by showing them what their future selves would look like.
My absolute favorite show of the set, however, is the final episode of the season, the Christmas episode titled "Red Sleigh Down" in which Eric Cartman, attempting to make up for a year's full of naughty behavior, attempts to bring Christmas to Iraq. Helped out by Mr. Hankey the Christmas poo, they convince Santa Clause to try, but when he does his sleigh is shot down and Santa is captured and tortured. Now, his only hope for rescue lies with none other than Jesus Christ. As Cartman says, "This is such a magical Christmas adventure, you guys."
South Park - The Complete Sixth Season is most definitely filled with laughs, and any fan of South Park will love it, though currently all the episodes are still airing as reruns on Comedy Central. What those don't have that the DVD set does is a commentary by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for each episode. While that may sound impressive, unfortunately, unlike the Simpsons' commentaries, these are only about five minutes long. They usually tend to mention where the idea for the episode came from, and maybe a few other bits of insight, but then they just end it and move on to the next episode. So while they are interesting to listen to, I can't really say that it makes for a compelling reason to actually by the set instead of just watching the episodes on television. You'll have to make up your own minds on that.
South Park - The Complete Sixth Season was released by Paramount Home Video on October 11, 2005. It was written and directed by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and features the voices of Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Mary Kay Bergman, Isaac Hayes, Eliza Schneider, Gracie Lazar, and Mona Marshall.