Season One Finisher (Episodes 10-13)

Episode 10: Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo
I'm not that big of a Mr. Hankey fan or South Park christmas episode fan. Not all of the Christmas-episode are that bad but still overall I'd rather watch other episodes. But let's get to this episode. Mr. Garrison's and Kyle's mom's discussion lays foundation to the rest of the episode and Kyle is deserted because he is a jew. Then we hear "sad" song about being jew in Christmas and all you're thinking during the song is "c'mon, get on with the episode already". Kyle also tells about Mr. Hankey, but nobody else believes in Mr. Hankey and Kyle is ridiculed. Everybody else sees Mr. Hankey as just ordinary piece of shit so when Kyle brings him to school, more trouble arises for him. These kinds of things always frustrate me; You know that character is telling the truth but nobody believes him. Kyle ends up in a mental institution. "Kyle's Mom Is A Bitch in D Minor" is of course hilarious song and it along with Chef's song is on the positives of this episode. Then there's of course the comical Mr. Hankey commercial. Kenny survives the whole episode for the first time although there is many moments during the episode where you anticipate Kenny dying. I rate this episode 2/10.

Revision: While I still agree most of the points of the episode, I still think I gotta give it much more credit. I mean, it's Mr. Hankey's debut, Kyle's Mom Is a Bitch is a great song and the Chef's song alone merit 4/10.

Episode 11: Tom's Rhinoplasty
This episode gets on with Wendy talking to Stan about some ridiculous imaginary cruises and this makes Cartman laugh uncontrollably. It's ridiculous alright, but it's the Cartman's laughter that makes it really funny. Mr. Garrison gets a rhinoplasty so they get a substitute teacher, Ms. Ellen (voiced by Natasha Henstridge, "the chick from Species"). All the boys fall in love with her and we see again the classic smile, which we have first seen in first episode by Stan, this time by all the boys, except Kenny, though we don't know what happens under his hood. Later on the episode Chef tells the boys that Ms. Ellen is lesbian, but doesn't tell the boys what lesbian exactly is. The boys figure that they must become lesbians themselves to get Ms. Ellen and it's followed by scene where Cartman tells that his mother told him that to become a lesbian, he has to lick carpet.. What? So anyway, Mr. Garrison turns out looking like David Hasselhoff and starts "hanging out and screwing hot chicks", leaving his job as a teacher. Ms. Ellen gets a permanent position as a teacher much to Wendy's dismay. The end is surprising, Mr. Garrison gets assaulted by bunch of women and he goes to get the rhinoplasty reversed and Ms. Ellen is arrested by bunch of Iraqi men. I'm not all okay with that ending, but whatever. Despite the ending, I'll give this episode a rating of 3/10.

Episode 12: Mecha-Streisand
This is just a ridiculous episode, and I mean in a good way. It makes fun of Godzilla-movies (and other movies of the genre) and is spot on. I mean that you could see as funny shit as this in a real Godzilla-movie. I don't care to talk about the first half of the episode, since it is after Barbara Streisand turns tu Mecha-Streisand where this episode starts to kick ass. The ludicrous singing sounds just like it would be from Godzilla-movie. Mecha-Streisand lays waste of South Park and she's tried to stop by Leonard Maltin as a giant robot (looking like Jet Jaguar, though Jet Jaguar is much more scary) and then by Sidney Poitier looking like Gamera. Along with them there's of course the army like in million Godzilla-flicks. All of them fail and finally Robert Smith of The Cure comes to beat Mecha-Streisand by transforming into Mothra-like monster. Even Jesus then celebrates Robert Smith as a "Saviour". If you aren't familiar with Godzilla-movies, you'll of course lose some of this episodes magic, but you should definitely educate yourself. Quickest route is via Cinemassacre's Godzillathon. It's a real crash course through Godzilla-movies. As for this episode, I rate it 6/10.

Added later: Now I know that not everybody like this episode. I guess you really miss the point if you're not familiar with Godzilla and other giant monster movies, like I stated in the review.

Episode 13: Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut
Another timeless classic. Cartman's tea party scene is one of the best South Park scenes ever. I mean, honestly, it still makes me smile although I've seen the scene many times. The flashback scenes from The Drunken Bar Dance are just there to state the obvious, that Cartman's mom is a slut. There's a running gag of music playing over and over again when Liane Cartman sees another guy/guys she's interested. It hasn't taken the multiple viewings as well as Cartman's tea party, but I can't blame the episode for the fact that I'm watching this shit all too much. Another classic moment is when Mr. Garrison shouts out that Who hasn't had sex with Mrs. Cartman and many townsfolk cast guilty glances on each other, especially seeing Jesus there made me laugh. Episode ends with cliffhanger and we would know who is Cartman's dad in season 2. It's great episode, I'll give it 8/10.

First season conlusion
So now I have watched the first season once again and rated every episode. First season averaged a rating of 3,92. It's a fair season with couple of real classic episodes, but some low points also. It's not the best season on whole, but there's worse too.

Season One Coming Closer to Closing (Episodes 7-9)

Season one goes on..

Episode 7: Pinkeye
First Halloween-episode. Start seems pretty random; Mir drops on Kenny and he dies. At the morque he gets filled with Worchestershire Sauce and turns into a zombie. Well, why not? So yeah, it's pretty random plot but it's South Park, what can I expect? There's much of the usual stuff, boys talking at the bus stop, Stan insulting the Mrs. Crabtree and then covering it with some other phrase. There's a costume competition in school and Stan gets fucked up and dressed like Raggety Andy, while almost everybody else is dressed like Chewbacca. Cartman is dressed up like Hitler and his costume is just awesome. He ends up dressing like Ku Klux Klan member after principal Victoria tries to make him a ghost costume. It all ends with boys slicing bunch of zombies to pieces with chainsaws. At the end there's classic scene where boys are at the Kenny's grave. Cartman's mourning in that scene always cracks me up. This is a fair start to the Halloween episodes and I rate it 4/10.

Episode 8: Damien
I thought this episode would come much later, but seems my memory fucked me up. It surely is memorable episode since, after all, it's the ultimate matchup between good and evil. But I don't think it's that funny of an episode. There's lots of decent jokes but nothing that memorable, but I'll give it 3/10 anyway.

Episode 9: Starvin' Marvin
Now were starting to move towards more premium episodes. First funny thing that really strikes is the fatness of Sally Struthers in the middle of the all starving ethiopians. It's a bit too underlined joke maybe, but still works. Then when Cartman is taken to Africa and Marvin taking his place and acting just like Cartman, that's another great moment in this episode. When Chef starts to speak to get everyone get a weapon, he all the sudden moves attention to Kevin, Dr. Mephisto's companion. That is also one part that stood out for me. I guess it's not that funny after all, but it's catched me off guard and you gotta admit that you'll be wondering too "what the fuck is that thing?" Then finally there's the Braveheart spoof at the end, and why not, Chef's of scottish descent after all. All in all, very memorable episode and I give it 6/10.

Revision: ...But I still overrated it, only a bit though. 5/10.

More of Season One (Episodes 3-6)

Let's go on with it.

Episode 4: Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride
This was the first episode to be nominated for Emmy award and it seems as if there's more substance in this episode than in first three. Then there's George Clooney as a quest.. voice-acting a dog. When it comes to being funny, this episode is not up there with the best, but it's funny enough to keep you entertained while delivering the message, "being gay is okay". As a concept, the gay dog is of course amusing. It's a fair episode and I give it 3/10

Episode 5: An Elephant Makes love to a Pig
This episode has many classic moments. Right in the beginning Stan is seen with a black eye and it's revealed that his sister Shelley beats him up all the time. Cartman then comments how he would never get beat up by a girl - and we all know what happened with Wendy in "Breast Cancer Show Ever". It's comical though even without knowing what happens in future episodes, since Cartman just shuts up when Mrs. Crabtree shouts at him to sit down and when Shelley asks "who said that?". Remembering how anti-evolution Mr. Garrison was in "Go God Go", I gotta wonder why he so eagerly teaches about genetic engineering anyway. The whole elephant making love to a pig situation is absurd. The thing what I like most in these early episodes is that there's so much of Chef. Then there's the part where Shelley kicks Stan's ass. Stan gets pretty fucked up. Then there's another appearance of the bullies, Bill and Fosse, along with Terrance. They're just ridicilous characters rambling about everything "being gay". It's a good episode, I'll give it 5/10.

Episode 6: Death
This episode is filled wih toilet humor. In the background there is also of pondering about right to die and some parental advice too. It's not that funny episode, but the fact that it's self-aware makes it all better. I think Kenny's take on parents when Death tries to enter Stan's room is spot on. Nothing else to stay I'd think. Rating 2/10.

Revision: Well, it's close, but I'll promote it up to 3/10. It's all toilet humor, but there's the fact that back then show was blamed from too much of a toilet humor and this might as well be a counter to that.

I'm not too happy with these reviews either, but maybe one can't write all that much from 20 minutes of cartoon where there isn't nothing too complex going on. But I'll aim to make more extensive reviews in the future. That's all for now.

Well, Here Goes.. Season One (Episodes 1-3)

Alright, time to start watching all the 12 seasons of South Park. We're obviously starting from the very beginning, season one. There's no hurry since the 13th season will not be premiering until march, but I'm just so bad South Park Junkie that I'm probably take an overdose right from the beginning. I'll be giving each episode a review and then rating on scale 1-10. 1 being "Well, it's South Park so it can't be that bad" and 10.. well, *insert insanely positive adjective here*. I'll be giving most episodes probably low rating, but it doesn't mean that the episodes were that bad, I'll just be using this kind of shit scale. I aim that 5 would be average, but well see where it is when this is over.

Season One

Episode 1: Cartman Gets an Anal Probe
Well, there it is. It's crude and simple-looking, well it is nowadays too, but still it's tecnically so bad that I dare to say that South Park has come a long way since this episode - but there is all the basics. Things that are repeated through the series. Kyle and Cartman getting on each other, Kenny dying, Stan puking on Wendy etc. It has really gotten old after already watching the whole series once, but I'll not be too harsh on it, since after all this is the first episode and all these jokes were new when it first aired. There's really not too much to say. Plot involves Kyle's little brother Ike's abduction by aliens, whom had put an anal probe in the Cartman. It could just have been anything. It's pretty hollow setting, but it's still fair episode I'd say. Maybe the best bits were Mrs. Crabtree's shouting (I mean, she looks hysterical) and Stan expression when he sees Wendy. And speaking of expressions, Cartman's scared face when Chef talks about aliens are another thing worthy of mentioning. And oh yeah, the "I Love to Singa" -part is so random that it's good stuff also - haven't seen it too much in newer episodes. But anyway, that's pretty much all I have to say about first episode. As for rating, I'll give it.. 3/10

Episode 2: Weight Gain 4000
Well, now we're getting on with this. Firstly, Chef is just awesome in this episode. Cartman also gets the show really going in this episode. He wins some essay competition and starts to form rivalry with Wendy, a rivalry which we'll see few more times in different forms in future episodes. Cartman has obviously cheated and in the end Wendy proves that only to see that nobody give's a shit. Cartman's classic "Mooom" line is heard for the first time. Cartman is the main catalyst for jokes in this episode, especially when he's making remarks about dolphins and ripping on Wendy on being jealous. Cartman's ass also grows to epic proportions with Weight Gain 4000 while he "gets on shape". The ending line closes a pretty good episode of South Park fittingly; "Follow your dreams. You can reach your goals, I'm living proof... beefcake, BEEFCAKE!". After all that praising, you'd think that rating would be good, but I'll give it a 4/10, just to give some perspective of the scale. It's better than the first one, but there's definitely many more memorable episodes.

Revision: Well, this is the second review, so I obviously had no idea, where the ratings would fall overall. In comparison to other episodes, this episode definitely deserves 5/10.

Episode 3: Volcano
Well, I guess I'm not feeling all that creative tonight, since this episode sparked little thought in me. Jokes are not that effective and the plot is pretty boring. But of course there's some positives always. Chef gets to sing at the end (Chef singing is always positive) and Kenny killing animals and drinking gas is quite amusing. Cartman saying that he has flashbacks from 'Nam was also good one. But yeah not the most thought-provoking episode, although I guess there's supposed to be something about killing animals in the backround. Indeed Ned says that he doesn't ever want to touch a gun again near the end (and accidentally kills Kenny). I rate this episode 2/10, since there are worse episodes out there yet to come.

That's it for tonight, as you can see I wasn't all that productive tonight. But I have to say that there is really not much to say in these early episodes. Let's see if I can write something more meaningful tomorrow.