South Park

Volume 9

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Details At A Glance

General
Extras
Category Comedy None
Rating
Year Released 1999
Running Time 87:56 minutes
RSDL/Flipper No/No
Cast & Crew
Start Up Language Selection then Menu
Region 2,3,4,5,6 Director Eric Stough
Trey Parker
Studio
Distributor

Warner Vision
Starring Trey Parker
Matt Stone
Mary Kay Bergman
Jennifer Howell
Isaac Hayes
Pam Brady
Nico Agnone
Clare McShane
Case Transparent Amaray
RPI $39.95 Music Adam Berry
Trey Parker
Bruce Howell
Matt Stone

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

Plot Synopsis

    This is a slightly unusual compilation of South Park episodes in that the last 3 episodes are actually different viewpoints of the same events on a particular night in South Park. Consequently, only the first, unrelated, episode, sees all four of our loveable, foul-mouthed South Park third graders together. Personally, I found the comedy a little weaker than on previous compilation DVDs, but there is no doubt that South Park completists will want to add this DVD to their collection.

    The episodes contained on South Park-Volume 9 are Episodes 6 to 9 of Series 3;

    Sexual Harassment Panda (Episode 306, 21:59). The South Park third graders are visited by Sexual Harassment Panda who explains the concept of sexual harassment to the kids. Consequently, an escalating series of lawsuits between the children and the school sees the school become very poor and Kyle's father (a lawyer) become very rich.

    Cat Orgy (Episode 307, 21:59). Cartman's mother goes to a Meteor Shower Party and Stan's nasty sister Shelley baby-sits. Cartman is in for a miserable night, but Kitty is on heat and is looking for a good time, however and wherever she can get it.

    Two Guys Naked In A Hot Tub (Episode 308, 21:59). Mr Mackey is host for the Meteor Shower Party introduced in the previous episode, but in an obvious parody of the Waco fiasco, the ATF have got word that the party is actually a mass suicide cult and plan to raid the party. Kyle is banished to the basement of this party with three very boring third-graders. Finding some women's clothes, they make the most of a bad situation. Meanwhile, Kyle and Stan's fathers feel somewhat experimental...

    Jewbilee (Episode 309, 21:59). Again set on the same night as the previous two episodes, Stan and Ike are sent to Jewbilee camp. Kenny, having nowhere else to go, is convinced to accompany Stan so long as he pretends to be Jewish, but he is soon found out. A marauding bear causes problems for the junior scouts - the Squirts.

Transfer Quality

Video

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

    The quality of the transfer is actually quite good, with no major problems. The image is sharp and clear at all times. Shadow detail is as good as it is going to be considering that this is animation. Low level noise is not present.

    The colours were strongly and clearly rendered. In particular, there was no evidence of colour bleed, with all colours stopping exactly where they were meant to stop. There was also no evidence of chroma noise.

    I noted no MPEG artefacts whatsoever on this DVD, but I did notice an odd "dot crawl" type artefact. Since it only affected a specific image (the yellow edges of Cartman's hat), I will put this down as an artefact of the NTSC to PAL conversion process that these transfers have presumably undergone. It was certainly not a bothersome artefact, and was really only discernible on close inspection.

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, although the French soundtrack does make for amusing listening.

    Dialogue was always clear and easy to understand, within the limitations of the characters' voices. Cartman's dialogue is hard to understand at times because of his voicing, and the less we say about Kenny's dialogue the better!

    There were no audio sync problems with this disc.

    The music is credited to various sources, with Adam Berry having the primary credit. The music is generally limited in fidelity and stereo imaging other than the odd fragment which sounded reasonably good.

    The surround channel was not used, although the voice of Moses in Jewbilee did have quite a striking and unexpected stereo imagery about it, as did the background sound of crickets at one point in Cat Orgy.

    The .1 channel was essentially not used, only adding the occasional parp to the music.

Extras

    There are no extras on this disc.

Menu

R4 vs R1

    These episodes are not yet available in Region 1.

Summary

    South Park is crude but it is very very funny. This compilation of Episodes from Series 3 is reasonably funny, albeit a tad weaker than previous episodes. Fans of South Park need not hesitate in adding this DVD to their collections. Non-fans may be better advised to start with the funnier Volume 8. Technically, I had no significant complaints about this DVD.
 
 

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras  
Plot
Overall

© Michael Demtschyna (read my bio)
19th February 2001

Review Equipment
DVD Denon DVD-3300/Loewe Xemix 5006DD, using RGB output
Display Loewe Art-95 95cm direct view CRT in 4:3 mode, via the RGB input. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder Denon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital AddOn Decoder, used as a standalone processor. Denon AVD-1000 DTS AddOn Decoder, used as a standalone processor. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials and the NTSC DVD version of The Ultimate DVD Demo Disc.
Amplification EA Playmaster 100W per channel stereo amplifier for Left & Right Front; Marantz MA6100 125W per channel monoblock amplifiers for Left & 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