About a decade ago, I walked into the Circuit City in Boulder, Colorado to buy my very first DVD, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. Yesterday felt like a déjà vu as I went to Best Buy in Denver to buy my first ever Blu-ray, which just so happened to be the exact same movie.
Sure, no one’s been holding their breath to see South Park’s construction paper animation in glorious high definition and it’s doubtful that anyone needs 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound to fully enjoy “Uncle Fucker”, but the disc contains one thing that’s sure to make fans of Trey Parker and Matt Stone rejoice: a brand new commentary track.
Anyone who’s familiar with Parker and Stone’s work knows that they’re not exactly fans of director’s commentary tracks. The South Park series DVDs contain what the duo has dubbed “commentary minis”, meaning only about four or five minutes of commentary per show. Usually, these tracks begin with Parker and Stone talking about how much they hate recording commentary.
Still, they are responsible for the single greatest track of all time, the inebriated commentary on the DVD for Parker’s first film, Cannibal: The Musical. Does the commentary track on the new Bigger, Longer and Uncut Blu-ray rival the drunken hilarity of the Cannibal commentary? No, but it features guest appearances from members of the crew that will surely keep hardcore fans interested.
Hearing Parker and Stone discuss their Oscar® nomination, and subsequent drag appearance at the ceremony, is definitely interesting and they provide funny stories about fighting with Paramount and trying to combat the stupidity of the MPAA. Soon their longtime friend and producer Eric Stough (AKA Butters) comes in to help the guys when they simply can’t think of anything else to say about a project they worked on ten years ago. In addition to Stough, Adrien Beard, a producer and storyboard artist who voices Token on the show, also talks about the evolution of South Park’s animation. Executive producer Anne Garefino provides funny stories and info, and later the voice of Towelie, Vernon Chatman, and SNL’s Bill Hader join Parker and Stone on the track.
Unfortunately, the commentary track is the only real special feature on the disc. The only other item of note is a music video for the song “What Would Brian Boitano Do?” which Parker talks about in the commentary track. While it may not live up to the Cannibal commentary—and let’s face it, what could live up to that?—the track alone will make the Blu-ray worth the price for hardcore fans of Parker and Stone, though South Park lightweights would probably do better to check it out on Netflix.
I agree there is no out doing the drunken commentary on Cannibal the Musical. I also agree that to spend the money on the Blue-ray, you would need to be a die hard fan…and we know you are!
For the record…South Park is always funny and Family Guy blows!