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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
South Park-Volume 12 (2000)

South Park-Volume 12 (2000)

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Released 21-May-2001

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy None
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2000
Running Time 109:59
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Trey Parker
Eric Stough
Studio
Distributor

Warner Vision
Starring Trey Parker
Matt Stone
Isaac Hayes
Dee Dee Green
Blue Girl
Jennifer Howell
Mona Marshall
Adrien Beard
Richard Belzer
Kyle McCullough
Eliza Schneider
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $39.95 Music Adam Berry
Bruce Howell
Trey Parker


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles Dutch Smoking Yes, Kurt Loder in
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes, In titles 1, 2 & 4 on this DVD

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Firstly, let me state up front that I have never been a great fan of South Park. I can watch the show (and do enjoy it on occasion), but unlike some people I do not go out of my way to (a) watch it whenever it is on, or (b) record it when I can't be there to watch it. For South Park fans, there are some creative episodes on this DVD, although without a great personal knowledge of the series I cannot give an opinion as to whether they are better or worse than the rest.

    This DVD contains the first five Episodes of Series 4; which are (amazingly) Episodes 1 to 5.

    Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000 (Episode 401, 22:00). As a result of an argument over Cartman's rear end, Cartman is tried and sentenced under the new Hate Crimes Legislation, and sent to Juvenile Hall (after a very funny car chase scene). Here he is faced with coming to grips with life on the inside. The rest of the boys are left with a dilemma as they need Cartman's extra weight to win a sled race against the girls, so they try and get Cartman released. The sled race is run, Cartman makes a new friend and in the end we are all left with an interesting vision of Disneyland.

    The Tooth Fairy's Tats 2000 (Episode 402, 22:01). Cartman wakes up the morning after losing a baby tooth and finds 2 dollars under his pillow. He then hatches a scheme to get as much money out of the tooth fairy as possible so the group can get a Sega Dreamcast. After their discovery that the Tooth Fairy is not real, they move into new territory to earn the money and end up facing off against stiff competition. 

    Quintuplets 2000 (Episode 403, 22:00). After going to a performance of Cirque de Cheville, the boys end up helping the Romanian Quintuplets hide from the United States and Romanian Governments. As things start to heat up, Kenny goes to Romania to further his singing career, and we are faced with a stand-off between the two governments to get their citizens back.

    Timmy! 2000 (Episode 404, 22:00). Timmy is diagnosed with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and excused from doing any school work. The group work out that this is the best way to get out of school work and pretty soon the entire school is diagnosed with ADD and supplied medication. As the whole town starts to take the medication and become zombies, Timmy joins a heavy metal band as their lead singer and shoots to fame and fortune. Chef works out what is happening and goes on a crusade to save the town before everyone becomes Phil Collins fans.

    Pip (Episode 405, 21:58). We are graced with the presence of Malcolm McDowell as "The British Person", who is our narrator of this South Park Classic telling of the story "Great Expectations". We see Pip as the main character in this story, supposedly giving us a view of his past as he falls in love with Estelle, becomes a gentleman, and helps to save the world from the wicked old woman who has tainted his love's spirit. Keep an eye out for the robotic monkeys.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

    The picture quality is sufficient for this type of content.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 which seems to be how South Park was made. There is no 16x9 enhancement.

    The sharpness of the transfer is quite good, although with fast movement there seems to be some loss of quality.

    The entire colour range was shown well, with no observable bleeding .

    I did not notice any MPEG artefacts, however there was a lot of dot crawl artefact present throughout every episode, with the worst examples being during the opening theme song. Interlacing was observable during the rolling credits of Pip, however I did not notice this during the actual presentation.

Audio

    I was quite impressed with this soundtrack seeing as it is flagged as non-surround encoded, when it most definitely has surround information..

    There is only an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack on this DVD, which is what I listened to.

    As this is South Park, the voice acting is often a challenge to understand at first, however the soundtrack dialogue is clear and does not add to this challenge at all.

    The music presented in these episodes varies in quality, with the opening theme song in collapsed low-fidelity 2 channel stereo, with all other music making great use of the surround channels.

    There is quite a bit of information coming from the surrounds, especially with the music but also with ambient noise present such as cheering crowds in Quintuplets 2000 at the Cirque de Cheville, and birds tweeting & wind blowing in most outdoor scenes.

Extras

    If you can count cover shots of other South Park DVDs as extras then it has extras. If you are like me and can't then this DVD has none.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    This DVD does not seem to be available yet in Region 1.

Summary

    South Park is not going to be everyone's "cup of tea", however there are some very amusing moments to be found amongst these episodes. If you are not already a collector of the South Park series on DVD, or not a fan already I can't say this will definitely make you one, but I believe this DVD is as good a quality presentation of this series as any that have come before it.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Shane Lord (read my bio)
Friday, July 06, 2001
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-535, using Component output
DisplayLoewe Xelos 5381ZW. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationSony STR DE-835
SpeakersEnergy eXL-16 left/right front speakers; Bose Video Monitor Centre speaker; Wharfedale SW-12 Subwoofer; Wharfedale Modus 2 left/right rear speakers

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