South Park: The Complete Second Season

There was still a huge buzz surrounding Matt Stone and Trey Parker's fouled-mouth third graders as the series headed into its sophomore season. Some wondered how much life the series had left in it, since nothing seemed to shock its audience anymore, and this was the season where South Park was starting to show signs of a more mature style of comedy while still keeping the filth level set on extreme. Season two promised to conclude the first season cliff-hanger as to who Eric Cartman's biological father was, but instead we were given "Not Without My Anus" as the year's premiere, starring Canadian superstars Terrance and Phillip battling Saddam Hussein. Such curveballs set the tone for this crop of episodes, as South Park leaned towards the more bizarre side to catch its audience's attention — a formula that began to pay off in the last handful of episodes. Near the end of the collection we find obscure chapters about Charlie Manson attending Christmas dinners and gnomes stealing underpants. This was South Park still in its developing stages, but definitely showing strong signs of rapid improvement in its creativity and direction towards more intelligent scripts. Like the previous season on DVD, this package is sadly lacking in commentary from Parker and Stone, and overall the extra goodies are bare bones. The saving grace is the addition of the "Goin' Down to South Park" documentary. Clocking in at almost an hour, this featurette is informative and features thorough research into the world of the animators, writers, voice actors (including Isaac Hayes) and, of course, Stone and Parker giving their side of the story from their hot tub while sipping glasses of champagne. Extras: documentary and Chef's "Chocolate Salty Balls" music video. (Warner Brothers)