South Park

Volume 6

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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Theatrical Trailer(s)	None
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1998	Commentary Tracks	None
Running Time	87:25 minutes	Other Extras	None
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Selection then Menu	Cast & Crew
Region	2,3,4,5,6	Director	Matt Stone Trey Parker
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Cartman Kyle Stan Kenny Chef Mr Garrison & Mr Twig et al
Case	Super Jewel	Starring	Cartman Kyle Stan Kenny Chef Mr Garrison & Mr Twig et al
RRP	$39.95	Music	Adam Berry

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.33:1	Dolby Digital	2.0
16x9 Enhancement	No	Soundtrack Languages	English (Dolby Digital 2.0, 192Kb/s) French (Dolby Digital 2.0, 192Kb/s)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	1.33:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	Yes
Subtitles	French Dutch	Annoying Product Placement	No
Subtitles	French Dutch	Action In or After Credits	No

Plot Synopsis

I'd say that most anyone who is reading this review doesn't need an introduction to what South Park is all about. However, for those of you that really don't know, South Park follows the lives of the inhabitants of South Park, and more specifically of four of its foul-mouthed third-grade citizens; Cartman ("I'm not fat, I'm big-boned"), Kyle, Stan and Kenny ("mpff hmff"). The comedy is crude, the animation is crude, the stories are foul, but it sure is funny. The last volume of South Park that I reviewed was Volume 5, which I thought was a tad weak, but the comedy is back in full force with this particular compilation of episodes.

The episodes contained on this compilation DVD are;

Chickenpox (Episode 210)
Roger Ebert Should Lay Off The Fatty Foods (Episode 211)
Clubhouses (Episode 212)
Cow Days (Episode 213)

It is worth pointing out that each episode except for the last one abruptly ends after the Executive Producer credit. The last episode continues on and displays the Braniff Airlines and the Comedy Central logos.

Transfer Quality

Video

The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. It is not 16x9 enhanced.

The quality of the transfer is reasonable given the source material. The image is acceptably sharp and clear without being remarkably so. Shadow detail is as the animators intended it to be. There was no low level noise.

The colours were well presented throughout, with just the slightest hint of chroma noise at times. There was no colour bleeding.

No MPEG artefacts were seen. There were no specific video artefacts seen.

Audio

There are two audio tracks on this DVD; an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, and a French Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. I listened to the default English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Dialogue was a little difficult to make out at times, but this was more a fault of the diction of the characters rather than any fault of the mix.

There were no audio sync problems with this disc.

The music was all in stereo, excepting for the title song which was in mono, and was quite unremarkable

The surround channel was not used, though the first episode of this compilation, Chickenpox, seemed to have some subtle echo in the read surround channel when I engaged Prologic mode on my surround sound processor.

The .1 channel was not used.

Extras

There are no extras on this disc.

R4 vs R1

The Region 1 version of this disc has the Chef's Salty Chocolate Balls episode on it instead of the Cow Days episode. On our versions of these DVDs, the Chef's Salty Chocolate Balls episode can be found on Volume 5 of the series.

The Region 4 version of this DVD misses out on;

Episode Introductions by Trey Parker and Matt Stone

I'll declare this particular comparison equal, though it is disappointing that we miss out on the Episode Introductions.

Summary

South Park is crude but it is very very funny.

The video quality is acceptable.

The audio quality is acceptable.

There are no extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment

DVD	Loewe Xemix 5006DD, using S-Video output
Display	Loewe Art-95 95cm direct view CRT in 4:3 mode, via the S-Video input. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder	Denon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital AddOn Decoder, used as a standalone processor. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Amplification	2 x EA Playmaster 100W per channel stereo amplifiers for Left, Right, Left Rear and Right Rear; Philips 360 50W per channel stereo amplifier for Centre and Subwoofer
Speakers	Philips S2000 speakers for Left, Right; Polk Audio CS-100 Centre Speaker; Apex AS-123 speakers for Left Rear and Right Rear; Hsu Research TN-1220HO Subwoofer