I'll never forget the first time I saw "The Spirit of Christmas". I must have wasted the entire day showing everyone in the office this crudely animated Christmas video I had found on the 'net. When I heard that this special was being turned into a TV show, I knew I wanted to see it. Of course, living in Canada we don't get Comedy Central and I had to ask a friend to tape it for me. One day a tape arrived in the mail with the first 7 episodes. I was heading to a party that night so I brought the tape with me; It was a hit. No one there had even heard of the show, and everyone's jaws dropped to the ground as Cartman farted a giant satellite dish out his butt. I'll never forget that first episode.
After having the first season released on individual discs from Rhino, and countless DVDs with random episodes, we're treated to the first season done right...well, at least in a season set. It wouldn't be South Park without a little controversy though. At the last minute the commentary tracks were removed because Warner Bros wanted to edit them, and Matt and Trey (the creators of the show) wouldn't allow them to.
Video
Well, this is less than I was hoping for. I've never seen the first discs that were released, but I understand these are recycled transfers. It's a shame, because the show should look a lot nicer. I found that many of the episodes suffered from shimmering and jagged edges around the characters and there was also an odd crosshatching pattern that would be left when a character had high motion. The pattern would appear where the character was in the previous frame. I've never seen that before, but it was only present in the first 6 or 7 episodes. The show could have used a new transfer for the season set, but I guess Warner Bros didn't want to spend any more money than they had to.
Audio
Pop, pop, pop...it sounded like popcorn popping in the first 6 episodes. I've heard the rare audio pop on a DVD release, but I counted over 80 audio pops in the first 6 episodes. I couldn't believe it! The release contains a Dolby Surround track, but it's nothing to write home about. Most of the audio is center speaker, with some use of the left and right for panning effects. There are English, French and Spanish subtitles for the show.
Promos (6:53)
There are Character intros and promos for "Daily Show", "Man Show" and "Insomniac" (which has a DVD coming out in Feb from Comedy Central).
Jay Leno's Appearance on South Park (2:54)
A short clip of Leno visiting South Park.
Music Video: Cartman "O Holy Night" (2:04)
I loved this video. Poor Cartman.
Music Video: Ned "O Little Town of Bethlehem" (1:00)
Not as funny as "O Holy Night", but nice to see on here.
Cable ACE Awards (1:39)
The kids at the awards show.
Summary
While not the release it could have been, I'm happy that Warner Bros has finally released South Park in a season set. I was one of the people that had planned on buying the individual volumes, but didn't when I found out that they were releasing discs that contained random episodes instead of continuing the series in order. I hope we never see another random episode disc for the series. For those of you frustrated with the commentary tracks being left off, you can get them on CD from Comedy Central. Just head over to the Comedy Central Website and you can read all about it. It's free, you just have to pay for shipping and handling.
