The 13th season of South Park starts tomorrow, but my mind is still full of vivid, hysterical, and yes often frightening images of season 12. Britney’s New Look was one of the most disturbing episodes of South Park to date, save perhaps Mr. Garrison’s Fancy New Vagina from season 9. I still stand by my “top 3″ Season 12 episodes from my post last November – Major Boobage, Over Logging and Breast Cancer Show Ever. If you haven’t chosen your top 3, maybe you should watch them all another 50 times. That’s how I did it. Lucky you – South Park: The Complete Twelfth Season is available today at any store that hasn’t yet gone bankrupt. Here’s a teaser:

Next Tuesday, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment will release the Pinocchio 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition DVD. The 88-minute film was the second feature-length film from Walt Disney’s, and it has been digitally restored. This 3-minute BBC spotlight video includes an interview with Dick Jones, the voice of Pinocchio.

DID YOU KNOW: Mel Blanc (the voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pigg, Sylvester, Barney Rubble, etc) voiced Gideon the Cat in Pinocchio.

Tuesday saw the release of Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder, a new DVD from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. It’s the foruth of four direct-to-DVD feature-length Futurama projects, all of which have been promoted at ilovebender.com. The 88-minute film was directed by Peter Avanzino, who has also directed on Drawn Together and The Ren & Stimpy Show. Here’s a deleted scene. I love “the notorious B-I-itch.”

Futurama still plays on Comedy Central, by the way.

Afro Samurai: Resurrection, a feature-length, animated episode of the manga story, premiered on Spike TV this past Sunday night. But lucky us – the feature, which was directed by Fuminori Kizaki, is now available in its entirety online at Spike.com. The animation is handled by Gonzo in Japan. Below is a trailer, and for gamers, check out today’s release of the Afro Samurai video game.

You can also pre-order the Afro Samurai: Resurrection – Director’s Cut DVD, which drops on February 3rd.

The UK’s 2008 TV Christmas schedule included the much heralded new film with Wallace and Gromit A Matter of Loaf and Death, but also sneaking in under the radar was a 3D film from the consistently magical Studio AKA. The film was Lost and Found, a beautifully bittersweet tale adapted from a picture book by the Northern Ireland artist Oliver Jeffers.

I first came across Oliver Jeffers when my brother bought his first book How to Catch a Star for his son. I remember thinking then that this was a picture book which made me ‘feel’ something – a kind of happiness and sadness combined – a kind of yearning. And the follow up Lost and Found was even more affecting. I was very excited to see that an animation had been made, and it didn’t disappoint.

I am, as a Brother McLeod, a lover of 2D and would have loved to have seen the original illustration style come to life. However, Studio AKA are so good at 3D that the film was beautifully realised while still being faithful to the original design.

The story is non-dialogue although there was a narration from Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge! etc.) which was well delivered. I felt that the story would have worked just as well without the narration, even though Mr. Broadbent has a lovely soft voice.

The other highlight for me was the music by Max Richter (Waltz with Bashir) which engendered the same feelings that the books do.

The DVD of the film is released in the UK on March 23, 2009.

It was hard for anything but the US presidential election to get noticed on November 4th, so we’ll do our best to fill you in. Futurama: Bender’s Game, the latest direct-to-DVD movie from Matt Groening’s canceled Fox TV series was released this past Tuesday. Fans have elected to support the animated property through this hiatus, and this marks the third all-new material DVD release since the final new episode aired. Dwayne Carey-Hill directed this latest installment, while David X. Cohen wrote. To promote the project, Bender has been delegated to warn us about the evils of piracy.