I know which
DVD I'll be buying today, as well as what I'll be spending some time doing over the Labor Day Weekend.
This may be my favorite season (
Season 8, 1997) of
South Park, ever. Here are the episodes (summaries and links via
South Park Studios):
"Good Times With Weapons"South Park takes on the look of Japanese Anime. The boys are transformed into Japanese Warriors after they buy martial arts weapons at a local flea market. Their sworn enemy, Professor Chaos, confronts them and a highly stylized battle ensues.
"AWESOM-O"Cartman dresses up like a robot, calls himself AWESOM-O, and moves in with Butters. His plan is to learn all of Butter's innermost secrets and then use them against him. While Butters is thrilled to have found a new best friend, the Army believes AWESOM-O is some new secret weapon, and Hollywood is after the phony robot to develop their next big blockbuster.
"Up the Down Steroid"Jimmy is in training for an upcoming sporting event and he's determined to win at any cost. Cartman feels he can easily take first place against Jimmy. He just has to convince the qualifying committee he's handicapped.
"The Passion of the Jew"Kyle finally sees "The Passion" and is forced to admit Cartman has been right all along. Meanwhile many of the film's hardcore fans band together under Cartman's leadership to carry out it's message.
"You Got F*d in the A"It's up to Stan to put a team of South Park's best dancers together to compete against a rival troupe from Orange County. While Butters has won awards for his dancing, he refuses to help Stan out, as he hasn't been able to dance since the tragic death of eight audience members at his last competition.
"Goobacks"Humans from the year 4035 are arriving in droves in South Park! Everything gets a little too crowded when people from the future arrive through a recently discovered time portal. When the boys try to earn some extra money, the time immigrants, who are willing to do the same work for next to nothing, take their jobs.
"The Jeffersons"All the children of South Park are attracted to “Mr. Jefferson”, his son and their home filled with games, toys and animals. Cartman goes out of his way to get “Mr. Jefferson” to love him while the local police force resent him for being black and wealthy and decide bring him down.
"Douche and Turd"When PETA demonstrates against the use of a cow as South Park Elementary’s mascot, the student body is forced to choose a new one. As the election approaches, Kyle tries to convince everyone that his candidate, a giant douche, is better than Cartman’s nominee, a turd sandwich.
"Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes"The streets of South Park are like a ghost-town when a giant Wall-Mart lures all the townspeople to the new store with its incredible bargains. Cartman becomes a boy possessed by the power of Wall-Mart and its low, low prices. In order to save their town, Stan and Kyle have to find a way to destroy the ever-expanding superstore while keeping Cartman from stabbing them in the back.
"Pre-School"For five long years, Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Cartman and Butters have kept a secret about an illegal incident that happened back in pre-school. Now, the kid who took the fall for the group, Trent Boyett, is getting out of “juvie” and his first order of business is revenge.
"Quest for Ratings"The boys of South Park produce their own morning news show on the school’s closed-circuit television station and are immediately caught up in the intense competition for ratings.
"Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset"All the fourth grade girls idolize a rich, famous and spoiled socialite. They even have her brand new toy set that comes complete with video camera, night vision filter, play money and losable cell phone. In an effort to impress their idol, the girls pursue the boys to make their own videos.
"Cartman's Incredible Gift"After sustaining a severe head injury, Cartman appears to have the power to see into the future. South Park detectives are quick to enlist his help in cracking unsolved murder cases and Cartman is more than willing to help, for a price. In the meantime, a group of “licensed” psychics cry foul when Cartman refuses to join their ranks.
"Woodland Critter Christmas"Stan is approached by the forest critters and asked to help them build a manger in anticipation of the birth of their Lord and Savior. Stan complies, only to find out that they serve a... very different Lord.
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It's Fingerbang Friday!
The most recent episode of South Park has a subplot involving the return of the SuperBestFriends, which included a parody of the opening sequence to the Saturday morning cartoon the SuperFriends. 
This was probably the best (most exciting!) part of the cartoon, which I never failed to watch on Saturday mornings for a couple of years as a wee lad:
The South Park parody/homage:
I'm now fairly certain of which South Park character I am most like. I've had my suspicions for some time now. And for better or worse, that character is Butters. I find myself whimsically, sympathetically saying "Poor Butters" out loud at least once an episode, and he, just as I did, actually sort of liked Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But he is alone in his opinion in this season's premiere episode, "The China Probrem" (yes, I know it's spelled incollectry). Some are wondering if perhaps the creators of South Park have "gone too far" this time by depicting George Lucas and Steven Spielberg literally raping Indiana Jones (much as Lucas has done with the beloved Star Wars of my 1970s childhood). I don't share that opinion.
I'm coming to this a little bit late, not catching the "Major Boobage" episode of South Park during the past season. But I'd still like to thank the show's creators for educating me as to the untapped potential of my two male cats (bastards!):
The music in the YouTube clip above was Don Felder of the Eagle's "Heavy Metal (Takin' a Ride)," really the theme of the movie. And other than Blue Öyster Cult's "Veteran of the Psychic Wars," it's the best tune on the soundtrack, in my humble opinion. I hadn't heard it in a while, so it sort of gave me goosebumps to hear it in "Major Boobage." This is a section of the scene from Heavy Metal in which the song was used:
I've said it before, but I believe Matt Stone and Trey Parker from South Park are the closest thing to a social satirist such as Jonathan Swift we have today. Many people are unable to see past the vulgarity and crudeness of some of the humor, but the biting, dead-accurate social critique is always there. A great example from the past season is in the episode titled "Guitar Queer-o," wherein they point out an intrinsic problem with the super popular (understandably so) Guitar Hero video game series. The problem is that all of the time and effort put into mastering the game could be time and effort invested in actually learning to play a real guitar, or any instrument, for that matter. Particularly in the case of teens and pre-teens, it's such a shame, and quite frankly, a waste.
I feel so fortunate to have grown up in the 80s when there wasn't really such a thing (and if there had been, my parents would not have spoiled me by buying it anyway; I wasn't even allowed TV in my room). Had there been, I might not have learned to play guitar - a skill I still enjoy, some twenty-five years later. How many kids playing Guitar Hero today will be able to say that about their Guitar Hero "skills" twenty-five years from now? How about zero? 
There are three more episodes of South Park left to go this season, and the next one is the final episode of a three-parter. Last Wednesday's episode, "Imaginationland Episode II," involved (among other things) a group of Middle Eastern terrorists breaking down the wall separating the worlds of good and evil in Imaginationland, with predictably disastrous results (for the good).
In the days before Dancing with the Stars or VH1 programming, has-been celebrities would be put out to pasture on The Love Boat (1977-1986). And celebrities who didn't make the Love Boat cut would find solace on the show immediately following The Love Boat every Saturday night, Fantasy Island. But that's another story, for another post...
The theme would be used for comedic purposes (how else could it be used?) in Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), with Jack Jones making a cameo appearance. More recently, it was parodied in the South Park episode "Red Hot Catholic Love." Via the South Park site, here is a little bit of their version.
South Park has won a Peabody Award, which honors “distinguished achievement and meritorious service by radio and television networks, stations, producing organizations, cable television organizations and individuals.”
