South Park: The Complete Third Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

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

South Park's third season offers a collective improvement over the decent, but hardly classic, second season. While this season's last few episodes fail to live up to the humorous excellence of the first dozen-plus, the sum total is quite good. The season begins with a classic South Park episode with "Rainforest Shmainforest" which allows Cartman to shine in all his self-centered, hate-everyone-else, and make fun of people way of life. And the season ends with the world collectively pooping its pants. Yup, it's South Park. In between is, mostly, a laugh riot of unforgettable hilarity that makes a mockery of everything from Pokémon to Star Wars. The season thrives on randomness -- including a midseason trilogy centered around a meteor shower watching party -- but hits its high point in the ever-relevant episode "Sexual Harassment Panda" that Trey Parker and Matt Stone could transplant into the upcoming 22nd season and it would be as fresh and relevant as it ever was because, obviously, not much has changed in that department over the course of two decades.

Calling all elites...

• Rainforest Shmainforest: "Getting Gay With Kids" is a rainforest preservation choral activist group that is recruiting in Mr. Garrison's class. The boys misbehave, and their punishment is forced participation and a trip to Costa Rica. Cartman has more than a few things to say about the country, Kenny falls in love with another member of the tour group, and serious trouble finds the gaggle of do-gooders.
• Spontaneous Combustion: While the boys are out looking to buy an erection for Kyle's father, Kenny spontaneously combusts into a pile of ash. The town panics, the mayor assembles a crack scientist team of one, and as more people combust, Mr. Marsh finds himself in more than one stinky, er, sticky situation.
• The Succubus: Chef is no longer working at the school, and he's been replaced by Mr. Derp. The boys learn Chef quit because he's met a new woman with whom he is head-over-heals infatuated. She's changed his view on women, but it's soon reveled that there's more to her than a sweet façade.
• Jakovasaurs: On a camping trip, the boys discover a strange creature who proves to be super obnoxious. Only Cartman finds the creature charming. The episode is a direct knock on Jar-Jar Binks from The Phantom Menace.
• Tweek vs. Craig: Bored in shop clsss, the core four boys decide to set up a fight between the hyperactive Tweek and the middle finger-waving Craig. But the two boys don't particularly want to fight, and Cartman et. al. must manipulate the battle they want to see. Meanwhile, the boys' shop teacher struggles to cope with personal loss.
• Sexual Harassment Panda: The boys learn about sexual harassment from a man in a panda suit. Cartman decides to take the lesson to heart and sue Stan for sexual harassment.
• Cat Orgy: Cartman's mom is off to a meteor shower viewing party, leaving him home with babysitter Shelly who isn't afraid to knock him around. Meanwhile, Cartman's cat finds herself in serious heat.
• Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub: The Marsh family attends a meteor shower viewing party at Mr. Mackey's house. Stan isn't thrilled when he discovers he's going to have to hang out in the basement with a few geeks. Upstairs, Randy and Gerald bond in a hot tub.
• Jewbilee: With the Broflovskis headed to the meteor shower party, Kyle and Ike are headed to Jew Scouts. Kyle brings Kenny along, too, who must pass himself off as Jewish to get in. But things don't run smoothly for any involved.

• Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery: In a parody of Scooby Doo, the band Korn arrives in town after being run off the road by pirate ghosts. The boys plan an elaborate prank to scare some older kids. Their paths cross and they find themselves working together to solve a Halloween mystery.
• Chinpokomon: Cartman sees a commercial advertising Chinpokomon dolls and just has to have them all. So does every other kid in town. Little do the boys know that the toys and games are Japanese propaganda meant to brainwash children into aiding the downfall of the United States, beginning with a new attack on Pearl Harbor.
• Hooked on Monkey Fonics: Cartman's mom wants him to win the spelling bee this year, and she buys him the "Hooked on Monkey Fonics" set. It does him no good, though, because the monkey refuses to participate in the bee, and probably wouldn't have mattered, anyway, because the super-smart homeschoolers win the competition. Suddenly, Cartman has an epiphany: he'd love to be homeschooled. Meanwhile, one of the homeschoolers convinces his parents to allow him to attend public school.
• Starvin' Marvin in Space: The season one character returns in a space ship in an effort to escape overbearing missionaries. In space, the ship is swallowed into a vortex that takes them to an alien world that may be a suitable home for Marvin's people.
• The Red Badge of Gayness: The boys are reenacting the Civil War, but Cartman takes it upon himself to play Robert E. Lee. He bets a month of slavery with Stan and Kyle that the South will, this time, win the battle. And the army marches on...
• Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics: A South Park and Christmas-themed variety episode hosted by Mr. Hankey.
• Are You There God? It's Me, Jesus: Cartman reaches adulthood because he's gotten his first period, and the other boys scramble to try and get theirs. Meanwhile, the town prepares for Y2K and turns to Jesus for guidance into the new millennia.
• World Wide Recorder Concert: The boys are headed to Arkansas to participate in a massive recorder concert, but Cartman is more interested in finding the "brown noise." Mr. Garrison must face his personal demons while in The Natural State.

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

South Park: The Complete Third Season's 1080p presentation is much more stable than that of season two. Jaggies and other maladies are kept to a bare minimum, creeping up in various scenes throughout the season -- notably in the season's fifth episode and in parts of "Chinpokomon" which is probably the worst offender -- but hardly as severe the eyesores of before. One can see some serious shimmering on Chef's necktie in episode three, but otherwise the transfer looks great. Colors are rich and well saturated, not very nuanced of course but popping with all sorts of colors on the boys' signature clothes and even some greenery here and there. The image is crisp and pleasing, well defined and capturing the construction paper texture with ease. The new HD image is very pleasing and is hopefully more representative of what to expect from seasons four through eleven as opposed to season two, which was much the same in terms of detail and color but with much more pronounced flaws.

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

South Park: The Complete Third Season features a wonderful Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack, probably the most complete and active of the first three seasons. The opening title song presents with satisfying clarity, wide and enveloping space, and a quality low end pronouncement. Sharp guitar riffs in "Chinpokomon" and a variety of other high quality distinct musical elements offer a nice sonic variety and good example of the track's robustness and clarity throughout. The most sonically intense episode is "Starvin' Marvin in Space," and the "Red Badge of Gayness" delivers a seriously good rumble as the Confederate "soldiers" march on Topeka. Dialogue is clear and firm with some good examples of reverberation throughout, including Kenny's funeral in "Spontaneous Combustion," radio booth echoing in "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery," and during the camp get-together in "Chinpokomon."

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

South Park: The Complete Third Season contains only the "mini commentaries" for each episode. Parker and Stone talk up the episodes in about 5-minute chunks.

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

South Park's third season stands as one of the better of the now 21-season show. It features some classic episodes and moments and while its final few aren't as strong as most everything before it, the sum total is a laugh riot that comes close to embodying everything South Park is about. Paramount's Blu-ray release of season three offers strong video and audio -- the best yet between the first three seasons -- and Parker and Stone mini commentaries. Highly recommended.