|
|
The Movie:
As "The Simpsons" pushed into its second season, the show improved considerably in terms of the animation style and really started to take chances and push the writing forward. The result, looking back, is one of the more consistently funny seasons in the show's history. I've gotten a little tired of some of the episodes, but only because I've ended up seeing most of them probably over 20 times by this point.
There are only three or four episodes within the 22 included here that I still don't care much for: "The Way We Are", a flashback episode that remained a little too sappy and not very funny; "Lisa's Substitute", which was not very involving; "Principal Charming", which focused on a romance between Principal Skinner and Marge's sister Patty and "Old Money", which fell into slightly sad territory. "Dead Putting Society", a mini-golf competition between Bart and one of the Flanders' kids, remains an okay epsiode. All of the other episodes still hold up wonderfully, including such classics as "Bart The Daredevil," "Three Men and a Comic Book," "Dancin' Homer," "Treehouse of Horror," "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?," and "The War of the Simpsons".
"Bart Gets an F," "Three Men and a Comic Book," "Simpson and Delilah," "Two cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish," "Bart Vs. Thanksgiving," "Dancin' Homer," "Dead Putting Society," "Bart the Daredevil," "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge," "Bart Gets Hit by a Car," "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish," "The Way We Are," "Lisa's Substitute," "Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment," "Principal Charming," "Treehouse of Horror," "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?", "Bart's Dog Gets an F," "Old Money," "Brush with Greatness," "The War of the Simpsons," and "Blood Feud."
The DVD
VIDEO: All episodes are presented in 1.33:1 full-frame, as they were originally broadcast. As the commentaries are all-too-happy to point out, the animation occasionally still has a few kinks in the second season. However, the presentations are a little smoother and noticably more detailed for this second round. There are still some problems: I noticed a little bit of dirt and some little spots of pixelation, but nothing too distracting. Colors remained bright and lively throughout, with no smearing or other faults.
SOUND: As with the first season, all of the episodes have been remixed into Dolby Digital 5.1 by Fox. Again, the Dolby Digital 5.1 presentations seemed to improve clarity of dialogue and subtle details. Surrounds, aside from the music, really don't get much use. All that really matters here is that the audio tracks do provide a fairly noticable improvement and are more pleasing to listen to than the 2.0 audio.
MENUS: I think Homer must have thought these menus up. The user is presented first with a circle and four characters, who all have the wrong head on the wrong body. Clicking the enter button will spin the bodies around, but they're still on the wrong head. Finally, on the third time, the correct figures are matched with the correct heads and the show listings come up. This takes way too long and has to be done each-and-every time.
EXTRAS:
Commentaries: Each of the show has a commentary track that features a handful of participants from this group: creator Matt Groening, producer James L. Brooks, director David Silverman, director Rich Moore, director Mike Reiss, director David Issacs, writer Wallace Wolodarsky (who was responsible for the film "Sorority Boys", which came out earlier this year), writer Al Jean, writer Jon Vitti and more. All of these tracks are a little hit-and-miss; some provide more material for the participants to discuss, while others are filled up a little more by the animators chuckling at the jokes they probably haven't seen for a while. All of the commentaries are worth listening to though, because while they all have a couple of slow moments, all also have a big laugh or tidbit or two.
American Music Awards Clip: One of the funnier pieces (although in this case, unintentionally so) of material on the disc, this has "Simpsons" voice actor Nancy Cartwright suited up in a live-action Bart suit and appearing to present an award on the show. The other artist - I have no clue who she is - looks as if she can't escape the stage fast enough. One of the participants in the optional commentary describes it best: "pretty grim."
Music Videos: "Deep Deep Trouble" and "Do The Bartman", with optional commentary on each.
Featurettes: "Creation of an Episode" and "Interview with Matt Groening and James L. Brooks".
Also: A few "Butterfinger" TV ads; large image gallery; Emmy Awards presentation (which isn't as much of a disaster as the Music Awards clip) and foreign language clips. Creator Matt Groening provides an introductory note on the inner cover, as he did with the first season set.
Final Thoughts: The success of shows like "The X-Files", "Friends" and "the Simpsons" on DVD really has opened up the gates for many more television programs to hit the format and I think that's wonderful. "Simpsons" really hit a lot of high notes in the second season and fans will likely be thrilled to be able to watch these shows with the very enjoyable audio/video quality offered here, as well as with the addition of commentary on every episode. Very highly recommended.
|