Saturday, April 11, 2009

A Bit of Season Five (Episodes 5-7)

Episode 5: Terrance & Phillip: Behind the Blow
I've never been a big fan of Terrance & Phillip episodes, but this is still fair episode. After all it has Stan and co. in it so it's not all Terrance & Phillip again. Besides the "Behing the Blow" -thing is kind of interesting. I find it much better than the Earth day -subplot which feels kinda lame. At least the Shakespeare -scene is ridiculous. Nothing too memorable going on but still a decent episode. I rate this episode too 3/10.

Episode 6: Cartmanland
I didn't even remember how great episode this was. I mean I remembered obviously what happens, but not how well it's made. Cartman's nature is portrayed once again well in this episode. Although it's a bit disorienting that he loses it all in the end, but I guess there had to be a way to get everything back to normal, so whatever. Kyle's battle with his faith is just great stuff. And Cartman's reaction when he hears that he has inherited the million dollars.. Classic. It's one of the better episodes, I'll rate it 7/10.

Episode 7: Proper Condom Use
This episode is just nasty. First of all kids beating off dogs, Cartman's condom that's full of pee, everything related to Mr. Mackey and Ms. Choksondik. That's disgusting. But it's still overall a great episode. What makes this episode for me is the final warning from Butters ripped straight off of Mad Max 2. Fuckin' hilarious. But I'm not going to talk about it more, that's pretty much it for this episode. I'll rate it 6/10.

A bit lame reviews this time. Let's see if I make better ones in the future posts, that's it for now.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Season Five Kickstart! (Episodes 1-4)

Fifth season ready to be reviewed next in this minireview style.

Episode 1: Scott Tenorman Must Die
Well, this is very defining episode for Cartman. I'm in a loss of words. Originally I didn't like it since it just goes so far on the ending. Storyline is ok and the episode is fair, but the ending is really what makes all the difference. Not necessarily good difference, but it's just so disturbing that Cartman is such an evil genious that.. fuck. The whole situation in the ending is absurd, but you don't feel like laughing since you're so shocked. There's really more to this episode than the ending, but it's just so fucked up that it's pretty much the only thing you'll remember or think about. Really hard episode to rate, since it's so prominent and memorable episode, but really not that good. I'll rate it 4/10.

Revision: I don't know really. This is just so classic episode and it takes multiple reviews surprisingly well, in fact it seems to get better. Besides, I think there are worse episodes in the 5/10 rating, so I might as well notch it up to it too.


Episode 2: It Hits the Fan
This is one of those episodes that I don't remember what's it about when I see the title. There's good reason for that too, because it is rather forgettable episode overall. Of course they say shit 162 and all that and the Geldon's voice is ridiculous, but that's about it. It's not the worst episode, but rather uninteresting, so let's go on. I rate this 2/10.

Episode 3: Cripple Fight!
The fifth season goes on a bit slowly. This is at least fairly memorable episode, if nothing else. The title pretty much says what's this episode is all about, even though there's the background of gay rights in the episode. But yeah the fight.. It's nothing special, entertaining the watch, but you're not looking for that kind of stuff in South Park. There are some fine jokes, like Cartman going around announcing about cripple fight and Timmy's nice photoshop to get rid of Jimmy. I'll rate this 3/10.

Episode 4: The Super Best Friends
What about this.. Well at least it sprouted some controversy when the episode aired like so many of South Park episodes, since it shows not only Jesus, but Muhammad, Joseph Smith, Krishna, Lao Tzu, Buddha and Moses. There's many flat out weird things in this episode, like Blaine's talking style and the end fight. I mean what the fuck, giant stone Abraham Lincoln vs. giant stone John Wilkes Booth? It's again little too absurd for me. But it's not that bad episode really although there's some wtf factor in it. I'll rate this 3/10 too.

I think that's plenty for today.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Season Four - Vengeange (Episodes 13-17)

It's been a while since last post. I got a bit depressed due to 13th season starting before I got these even halfway, so I forgot about it altogether. Besides I have had bit busy schedule recently. I actually don't have time now either, but I don't feel like doing anything useful, so I try to get this show going on again.

Oh, one thing. About the 13th season. Haven't watched a single episode yet. For some reason Scandinavians can't watch the online from southparkstudios.com, so I'm fucked. Gotta wait for torrents, probably gonna download them all at once and review in the same style in distant future.

Let's go then.

Episode 13: Trapper Keeper
So this is the classic Terminator-spoof. It also has a host of references to other science fiction films also, like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Aliens. It is very memorable episode, I'm not sure how many times I've seen it, but I remembered it quite well so it was out of it's best kick. Cartman is in the spotlight once again being the kid whose trapper keeper practically destroys the world. It's again traditional Cartman vs. Kyle -setup as Cartman has the better Trapper Keeper. The way he boasts about once again creates most of the episode's humor. The Rosie O'Donnell-joke is so bad it's good. The subplot with Kindergarten voting is otherwise kinda boring, but it's not downright bad, though. I'm going to rate this 5/10.

Episode 14: Helen Keller - The Musical
I've seen this episode on some listing as one of the worst episodes there has been, and to be honest it isn't that good. But not that bad either, it has some things going well for it. Like the scene where we get a peek inside Cartman's mind - that's pretty fucked up stuff. There's also the "emotional" scene where Timmy must drive Gobbles away. Also the Butters running -scene is funny, it's from movie "The Right Stuff" (haven't seen it). Most of the stuff in this episode is annoying though. Musical scenes are just dumb and make you cringe. Also the subplot with the other turkey is boring. But at least the ending is satistfactory. I'll rate this episode 3/10.

Episode 15: Fat Camp
This is a good episode, definitely best from what I've reviewed so far in this session. Cartman going to a fat camp is obvious setup for an episode. But he's not getting thinner, hell no. The other fat people are amusing. Cartman profits of course from the fat camp by smuggling in some candy and selling it to other kids. The scene where Cartman is comforting the crying kid with candy is just classic Cartman-stuff. Also there's the Kenny doing anything -subplot, which is approriate and works quite well. Especially since Chef gets to sing about prostitutes! Great stuff. The ending is pretty grotesque, though. Rating is kind of tough.. I'll lean towards 7/10.

Let's do one more. Shit, let's do two more, no point leaving just one episode of the season unreviewed.

Episode 16: Wacky Molestation Adventure
This is a fascinating and enthralling episode. I didn't know the other references, but the Mad Max -stuff is there to see and you really easily see that other stuff is also referencing to something. Now I have read those other references, but I'm not going over them here, there's shitload of them. But yeah it's a great episode. Kyle bringing democracy to Cuba and all that stuff is a great prologue to it and when the town is finally empty of the adults, the episode really gets started. The atmosphere is just amazing. It's mysterious and a bit horrorful too and those references keep you entertained all the time. You get so drawn into the situation that you completely forget about the parents, until there's the bit shown of them from the prison. Finally you get smacked on the face by the fact that it's only ten days since parents were taken away. It ends obviously with all the parents thinking that they really molested their children. Rating is a tough job once again. The threshold of giving a 9/10 is getting bigger and bigger, since giving a nine to any episode would make it the best episode so far. I can't really say that this is the best episode so far, although it's close. So let's go again for the 8/10.

Revision: Just too much, 7/10 is more approriate. Still think it's a great episode.

Episode 17: A Very Crappy Christmas
A good christmas special. It starts kind of slow, but since it has some really good shit it's acceptable. I mean shit, because this episode is full of it. Obviously it's Mr. Hankey again being in the spotlight. His family is nice addition to the series. Some nice scenes also between then, especially "The Circle of Poo" or whatever, I just can't help but to smile during it. There's some other good stuff in this episode too. There's the thing about making the cartoon which is a pain in the ass, obviosly parodizing Matt & Trey's first cartoon "Jesus vs. Santa" from which we're also shown part in this episode. A solid ending to the season, I'll rate it 5/10.

That's the conclusion of Season Four. It averaged rating of 4,47 and beats Season Three. It just keeps getting better. I just hope the next season does the same.

Current standings:
Season Four 4,47
Season Three 4,12
Season One 3,92
Season Two 3,33