South Park: The Complete Seventh Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

South Park: The Complete Seventh Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Only South Park can blend a rerun, reality TV, a walking and talking taco, aliens, intergalactic chaos, and shades of The Matrix or Men in Black into 22 minutes. And that’s just the beginning of the season. Season seven is another wonderfully funny, pointed, vulgar, culturally aware, and classic collection of episodes that see the town targeted for termination twice and come to a boil once. The boys become mixed up with gangs and drug dealers, battle dangerous elderly drivers, take up smoking, and even make a shocking discovery about who’s really running Canada. It’s South Park through-and-through: crazy over-the-top and a whole lot of unpolitically correct fun.

• Cancelled: After realizing that they are living in a rerun of the series' inaugural episode, the boys are pulled into space in order to confront the media moguls who are threatening to cancel a popular interstellar reality show: Earth.
• Krazy Kripples: Jimmy and Timmy join forces but find themselves mixed up in a gang war and with Christopher Reeve.
• Toilet Paper: The boys toilet paper their art teacher's house in revenge for a trip to detention, but the incident leaves Kyle feeling guilty.
• I'm a Little Bit Country: The boys find themselves in the middle of a town split over the war in Iraq, one side protesting in favor, the other against. They reveal their ignorance of American history, and Cartman electrocutes himself back to the era of the Founding Fathers.
• Fat Butt and Pancake Head: "J-Lo" becomes a star, enraging J-Lo.
• Lil' Crime Stoppers: Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny are having fun impersonating the police, but their innocent antics land them in hot water when they are recruited to tackle a real, dangerous case.
• Red Man's Greed: Gerald blows everything the family owns while gambling at an Indian casino, and the casino bigwigs plan to plow over South Park to create a highway leading to their cash cow.
• South Park Is Gay!: The metrosexual revolution sweeps through South Park, and most of the townsfolk are all-in.

• Christian Rock Hard: Cartman wagers Kyle that he can make a platinum album before him by forming a Christian Rock band.
• Grey Dawn: South Park's elderly drivers have become a menace. The town takes their licenses away and the senior citizens revolt.
• Casa Bonita: Kyle disinvites Cartman to his party at Casa Bonita Mexican restaurant for his history of anti-Semitic comments, and he's forced to go above and beyond even his standards to make sure he gets to go.
• All About Mormons: Stan's relationship with a Mormon boy and his family puts a strain on his friendship with the others.
• Butt Out: The boys take up smoking after enduring an obnoxious anti-smoking presentation at school, and Rob Reiner gets involved in the prevention process.
• Raisins: Stan's heart breaks when Wendy breaks up with him. Meanwhile, Butters falls for a waitress.
• It's Christmas in Canada: The Broflovski family's Christmas plans are upended when Ike's real parents come to take him away. The boys travel to Canada to meet the prime minister in a The Wizard of Oz-inspired adventure.

South Park: The Complete Seventh Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Those who have been following the reviews of the first seasons of South Park on Blu-ray know that the show has occasionally struggled with jagged edges and aliasing problems. Season six saw a very nice reduction in the artifacts, but they're back in season seven. As with other seasons where the issues have been more prominent, rarely is any given shot destroyed, but the persistence and excess in some places is certainly a drag on an otherwise strong overall HD image. The issues are apparent right off the bat in episode one and carry on throughout, with some of the worst-offending moments coming in "Christian Rock Hard" where the CD cases shimmer at a sales booth, as does the entire stadium moments later during a concert. A school assembly in "Butt Out" is probably the single most egregious example in the season. Otherwise, the image excels. Colors are vibrant and pleasing, revealing all of the traditional South Park shades in all of their monochromatic but lively glory. Detailing is strong, with the Blu-ray getting down to the nitty-gritty of the core animation textures, while clarity impresses throughout.

South Park: The Complete Seventh Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

South Park: The Complete Seventh Season's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack presents with the same attention to detail as that found on previously released seasons. Music is lively and precise, with solid width and a potent low end support, whether considering the opening title music or any number of varied selections throughout the season, like a Pop song in "Butt Out," concert tunes in "Christian Rock Hard," and "J-Lo's" songs in "Fat Butt and Pancake Head." There are a few good examples of dialogue reverb throughout the season, offering positive side and back envelopment. A number of action effects -- the usual South Park antics -- play with seamless stage placement and solid element clarity. Dialogue is clear, well prioritized, and naturally positioned in the front-center for the season's duration.

South Park: The Complete Seventh Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

South Park: The Complete Seventh Season contains only the "mini commentaries" for each episode. Parker and Stone talk up the episodes in short-burst chunks.

South Park: The Complete Seventh Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Is it safe to say that season seven is "one of the funniest?" Because through twenty-one seasons, they've almost all been nearly equally as great. Season seven certainly has its share of great episodes and memorable moments, and it's, yet again, more than capable of bearing the torch as a quintessential stretch of Matt and Trey's classic brainchild. South Park: The Complete Seventh Season delivers largely good video and audio. Supplements are again limited to the enjoyably terse mini-commentary tracks. Highly recommended.