Image courtesy Amazon.com
Created by:
Matt Groening
Principal Cast:
Dan Castellaneta …. Homer Simpson
Julie Kavner …. Marge Simpson
Nancy Cartwright …. Bart Simpson
Yeardley Smith …. Lisa Simpson
Harry Shearer …. Montgomery Burns/Waylon Smithers/Ned Flanders/Rev. Lovejoy/Others
Hank Azaria …. Moe Szyslak/Chief Wiggum/Apu/Comic Book Guy/Cletus//Others
The Show
Every truly great show on television has one season that stands out amongst the others. Even shows that are across-the-board critically lauded like “The Sopranos”, or have a fervent fan base like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” have seasons that are more recognized than others (seasons 1 and 2, respectively, in case you were wondering). So it is with “The Simpsons” in Season 8.
The bottom range of a TV season has to be measured by the worst episodes. And going by that criteria, season 8 is practically flawless. Which are you going to pick as the “worst” of the season? “The Homer They Fall”, with the Don King look-a-like? “Burns, Baby Burns” with Rodney Dangerfield? “The Twisted World of Marge Simpson”, with Jack Lemmon and an episode-ending mob war between the Mafia and the Yakuza? Even the episodes that didn’t absolutely “nail it” still had something to draw you in.
Plus, you get:
“Treehouse of Horror VII” – featuring Kane and Kodos taking over the forms of Clinton and Dole in the Presidential Election of ’96.
“Bart After Dark” – the burlesque episode, with the Emmy-award winning song “The Spring in Springfield”.
“Hurricane Neddy” – Ned Flanders checks himself into the looney bin.
“El Viaje Misterioso De Neustro Jomer” – Homer eats a radioactive chili pepper and has a hallucination led by a coyote with the voice of Johnny Cash.
“The Springfield Files” – with Mulder and Scully.
“Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala-(ANNOYED GRUNT)cious” – the musical parody of Mary Poppins, with more music that should have won an Emmy.
“Homer’s Phobia”, staring John Waters as “John”, the gay owner of a pawn shop specializing in “camp items”.
“The Brother From Another Series”, your Sideshow Bob episode, featuring Bob’s brother Cecil (played by David Hyde Pierce, who was playing the brother of Kelsey Grammer’s character on “Frasier” at the time).
“Homer vs. The Eighteenth Amendment”, in which the town of Springfield reinstates Prohibition, leading Homer to open a distillery in his basement, eventually becoming known as “The Beer Baron”.
“Grade School Confidential”, which saw the launch of the Principal Skinner/Mrs. Krabappel romance.
“The Old Man and Lisa”, where Mr. Burns loses his entire fortune and opens a recycling plant thanks to the influence of Lisa Simpson.
Plus, we get the meta-trilogy that, in my opinion, defined the series for years and years to come:
“You Only Move Twice” – Homer gets hired away from the nuclear plant and moves to Cypress Creek, where he now works for Hank Scorpio, your prototypical late-90’s touchy-feely boss, who also happens to be the latest Bond villain.
“The Itchy and Scratchy and Poochie Show” – the creators of “Itchy and Scratchy” decide that the show needs to be freshened up, so they add a new character: an “in-your-face” dog named Poochie, voice by Homer. This episode allowed the writers to make a multitude of statements about their own show, including the concept of adding new characters, addressing their most geeky/annoying fans (at an autograph signing where one fan delivers the immortal line: “I really hope somebody got fired over that”), and letting Lisa address the idea of delivering quality shows over “so many years”. (Little did they know at the time how much longer the show would be on the air…)
“Homer’s Enemy” – the introduction, and final episode, of Frank Grimes. Frank is the only character who actually reacts to the idea of a functional idiot (Homer) being in charge of safety inspection at the nuclear plant, along with all of Homer’s various adventures of the year – meeting various Presidents, touring with Lollapalooza, going into space, etc.
The DVD:
The Video:
The video is presented in 4:3 ratio (in fact, Matt Groening has a bit of a rant in one of the commentary yelling at people watching this in widescreen, since that’s not how it was “meant to be seen”). The colors are all crisp and clear, as one would expect from animation less than 10 years old.
The Audio:
The audio is available in English, Spanish and French Dolby Digital 5.1, along with the commentaries in Dolby Digital 2.0.
Special Features:
Every single episode has a commentary track, including some special treats: Yeardley Smith (voice of Lisa) on several tracks, John Waters on “Homer’s Phobia”, and Kelsey Grammer on “The Brother from Another Series”. And the participants go out of their way to make sure the commentary can be enjoyed no matter when it is listened to. For example, on “You Only Move Twice”, they do a full explanation of the character of James Bond (in case this is listened to well after the Bond movies have ended); as well as explaining the fact that the school has a website (http://www.asdf.edu) was a joke at the time, because in 1996 the idea of an elementary school doing that was ludicrous.
Most of the episodes also include Deleted Scenes, which are marked by a small pair of yellow scissors appearing in the bottom right corner of the screen. This is somewhat disorienting at first, but is actually very convenient, since you are always seeing the scenes in the context of the episode.
There is also an introduction from Matt Groening, as well as several “Animation Showcases”, which walk you through the early animation tracks of the episodes, along with commentary.
