Matt Parker, Trey Stone

By the tenth season, you can pretty much position yourself in one of two categories when it comes to the cult classic "South Park":

Love or Hate.

There is no in between.

"The Simpsons" had just about peaked by the time Season 10 reared it's ugly head, and despite the general consensus that it's still one of the best comedy shows on TV, the white elephant in the room is that the show has been steadily declining in quality.

In the case of "South Park," the cut-out paper creation of Trey Parker & Matt Stone, it seems that Season Ten is something of a revival - with no sign of slowing down (or losing any of it's wit, bite or bark).

From the get go of this superb, and highly controversial series, Parker & Stone are at the top of their game. The opening episode addresses the shock real life resignation of Isaac Hayes (the baratoned voice of Chef) who quit the show citing the show clashed with his Scientology beliefs. In a perfect example of South Park's amazing ability to turn around an episode in under a week (the public scandal only came out a week and a half before the Series 10 premiere - prompting a new episode being made to address the situation) the opening episode see's Chef returning to South Park... only this time spouting phrases like:

"Suck on my balls...Children" and "I'm gonna make love... to your asshole..Kyle".

In one of the cleverest moves I've ever seen, the creators glue together audio and phrases from previous episodes, making reference to the fact that the "Fruity little club" Chef has joined (The Super Adventure Club - which supports men to travel the world to have sex with children from around the world) is to blame for Chef's abnormal behaviour.

The opening episode really sets the tone for this tenth series. Unlike previous series, in which jokes episodes were less themed and more joke based, Series 10 sees Trey & Matt at their satirical best - with each episode attacking some major issues in a completely unsubtle ways. There's just so much material on offer, with topics ranging from the smug owners of hybrid cars, Family Guy (an episode which finally hit the nail on the head as to why the show is so low-brow), depictions of animations of Mohammad, The Dog Whisperer, World of Warcraft (a superb ep which was made in conjunction with the WoW designers), 9/11 conspiracies (easily the cleverest of the entire season), religious wars to name but a few.

There is hardly a weak point here, bar perhaps the final episode which simply parodies 'Underdog Sports Movies' (which, when compared to everything that had come prior during the year, seems too easy an option). Some may find that the show does begin to get to 'preachy' for it's own good (something which the creators acknowledge during the commentaries - suggesting that Season 11 was going to be much less self aware) with the episodes in danger of being to topical for their own good. You get the feeling that unless you are well versed on each issue (which will be irrelevant in a few years time) the majority of the episode seems utterly pointless.

None the less - this is one of the rare situations where satire is actually humerous. And for those in the know, this is comedy at it's best.

Sadly, not much on here besides the commentaries on each ep by Parker and Stone (which themselves are quite half arsed - with the guys only doing commentary for 5 minutes on each episode).

When the first few series were released on VHS, there were original intros filmed by Parker & Stone - and I was really hoping that they would also be included here - but that doesn't seem to be the case.

None the less, a great box set which will be a welcome edition to any "South Park" fans collection.

Rating :
Reviewer : Sean Lynch