The SmarK DVD Rant for The Simpsons: Season Eleven

Columns, Reviews

The SmarK DVD Rant for The Simpsons – Season Eleven

You know the deal by now I’m sure, even if I’ve never posted pictures of my giant collection of Simpsons-themed crap that adorns my office, but I’m a lifelong fan of the show and one of those longtime fans who actually started watching on the Tracy Ullman Show back when they were two-minute interstitials and has seen every episode multiple times.

I was actually looking forward to this season because these episodes are not often played in syndication, and even if the show was proceeding towards the shark jump, at least I haven’t seen them 100 times like the early and later episodes.

Disc One

– “Beyond Blunderdome”. Test-driving an electric car somehow leads to Our Favorite Family attending a test screening of the new Mel Gibson movie, which is much too talky for Homer, so Mel brings him to Hollywood to help re-edit it. One of my favourite bits has Homer suggesting the dog with the shifty eyes as the villain, because then everyone will suspect him. Homer’s new version of Mr. Smith Goes To Washington is a tad too violent for the studio execs, but I’d go see it! Lots of great Hollywood jabs in here, and it’s a solid opener for the season. And everybody loves prequels!

– “Brother’s Little Helper”. This one actually does air a lot in syndication. A demonstration from the fire department (“Stop drop and roll, Neddie” “It just makes the flames spread!”) sees Bart acting up even worse than usual. The solution: ADD medication. Soon he’s reading “The 7 Habits of Effective Pre-Teens” and speaking in empty platitudes. “Chicken Soup For the Loser” is just an awesome joke. The drugs substitute paranoia for destructive behaviour, which gives us a great run with Bart on a rampage in a tank (“This looks like a job for Green Lantern, Thundra, or possibly Ghost Rider.”) but apparently Major League Baseball really is spying on the world. Who knew? A lot funnier than I remembered it, actually.

– “Guess Who’s Coming To Criticize Dinner?” First new job for Captain Wacky this season, as a tour of the newspaper leads to him becoming the new food critic, back when they still cared enough about continuity to explain his absences from the power plant. With Lisa’s help he becomes a groin-grabbingly good reviewer, but as usual he runs afoul of a secret cadre of his peers and learns that being a reviewer means being a jerk. It’s a tough job thinking up snobbish put-downs on a regular basis! Homer promises no comeuppance, but restauranteurs of the town plot to kill him with the ECLAIRE OF DEATH. As Marge notes, only Homer could take a job as a food critic for a small town newspaper and end up the target of international assassins. Seven thumbs up!

– “Treehouse of Horror X”. First up, “I Know What You Diddley-Iddley-Did”, as Marge runs Ned Flanders over, but you can’t kill a werewolf. “Eyes bigger than your stomach, eh wolfie?” is frequently quoted by me. “Desperately Xeeking Xena” introduces the crimefighting duo of Stretch Dude and Clobber Girl. Even better, Lucy Lawless gives us the definitive nerd putdown, as she tells obsessive fans that when they notice continuity errors, it was a wizard who did it. Comic Book Guy as the Collector gives us some amazingly funny lines (“Or of course, Big Papa Smurf”). And “Life’s a Glitch, Then You Marry One” sees the Simpsons tackling the Y2K problem, as everything with a computer chip in it goes crazy on New Year’s Eve, destroying the world. Luckily, all the top minds of the world are put on a spaceship to start over on a new world. And Bart and Homer get stuck on the OTHER ship. First one kind of sucked, but the other two are classic Treehouse.

– “E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)”. TOMACCO! A trip to see “The Poke of Zorro” (it’s like a history lesson come to life!) sends Homer into a montage of glove-slapping until he actually has to duel with a southern gentleman. I hate it when that happens. The wacky twist in Act 2 takes the family to the farm where Homer grew up, where the miracle of plutonium and mixed seeds gives us TOMACCO. More shots at the innocent victims who run Big Tobacco, and as usual only Homer could screw up a $150 million offer. Seen this one a lot, still love it. The commentary reveals that tomacco really was cultivated, although not as hilariously as Homer did it.

Disc Two

– “Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder”. Homer achieves one of his many life’s dreams when he bowls a perfect game, and he becomes kind of a jerk about it, but discovers that you can only milk one accomplishment for so long until you just become Ron Howard. Marge and the kids’ love of Lenny beyond all reason is a great bit. And then the story takes a typical turn into left field as Homer tries to regain his self-esteem by bonding with a reluctant Maggie. I think that this is the first “Yoink”, as introduced by Ron Howard, but I could be wrong.

– “Eight Misbehavin'” Not a huge fan of this one but maybe it’s because it’s been beaten to death in syndication. Apu and Manjula decide to get pregnant thanks to some screenwriting magic from Homer, but the wonder of octuplets wears off a lot faster than you’d think. Luckily zookeeper Larry Kidkill is there to bail them out, and if you can’t trust a guy named Kidkill, who can you trust? Homer mistaking colorforms for chloroform is a great old style joke, the rest is not my favourite. But then I’m not a big fan of Apu episodes anyway, outside of “I can’t believe you don’t shut up”.

– “Take My Wife, Sleaze”. Finally, SWARTZWELDER returns. I’m gonna turn into the commentary guys and plug his newest book, too: Dead Men Scare Me Stupid. His first four are so funny that I nearly had an aneurism from laughing so hard, and I’m sure his new one is just as freakin’ hilarious. Plot you say? Homer and Marge win a dance contest at a 50s diner and Homer is suddenly a bike fanatic. Unfortunately, the name “Hell’s Satans” is already taken by a rival motorcycle gang, who take over the house and then kidnap Marge so as to take advantage of her domestic talents. And in true Swartzwelder fashion, she domesticates them too much (“You BROKE your pencil.” “Oh…I BROKE him.”) Homer in a motorcycle duel to the death is crazy and hilarious. Sadly this is one of the last Swartzwelder episodes.

– “Grift Of The Magi”. This is not the grifting episode, oddly enough, but rather the Funzo episode, for those like me who get confused by these mid-series episodes. A tragic cross-dressing accident leaves Bart in a wheelchair. And thanks to Fat Tony, when people ask if the school is compliant with the Disabilities Act of 1975, we can say we’re closer than ever before! Sadly, this leaves the school broke and closed, giving us a great play for Mr. Burns’ benefit (“I never liked that Dr. Stupid.”) until Kid First Industries steps in to save the school just in time for Christmas. This gives us Funzo, the super-cool toy that seems adorable until it starts to destroy all the other toys. This one kind of falls apart once it turns into Homer’s wacky plan to save Christmas by stealing everyone’s presents, but the first two acts are pretty damn funny.

– “Little Big Mom”. A ski trip gives us some classic groin pain for Homer (Stupid sexy Flanders!) and an all-too-brief scene with Disco Stu hitting on Marge. The actual plot sees Marge breaking her leg and Lisa taking over the house, which gives us lots of quality Bart and Homer squalor. I didn’t even know you could buy Maple Soda, actually. Lisa tries a wacky scheme to trick them into thinking they have leprosy, which gives us gags that are about as funny as leprosy gets. Which is, you know, not very.

– “Faith Off”. This is a sequel to “Homer Goes To College”, of sorts, as Homer returns to college and gets a bucket stuck on his head, which somehow brings us to a faith revival. So our wacky plot sees Bart becoming a faith healer. The B-story with Homer making a float contains my all-time favourite Flanders moment, as Home steals flowers from Ned’s garden and then salts the earth afterwards. Fat Tony’s cameo with the laser-sighted icepick is also a winner, and really who cares about the story otherwise when you’ve got two moments made of win?

Disc Three

– “The Mansion Family”. More Swartzwelder! You know it because there’s Stock Market Crash of 1929 in Black & White humor. Burns wins an award for being Springfield’s Oldest Man, which makes him realize that he’s not a young man any longer. So he’s off to get a check-up at the Mayo Clinic, leaving Our Favorite Family housesitting Stately Burns Manor. Burns filling out an insurance form provides great lines from throwaway jokes (“Cause of parents’ death? Got in my way…”). The main plot sees Homer stealing the yacht and throwing a box social in international waters, where you can do anything. This gives us all kinds of wacky illegal activities, as people on land will never know the simple joys of a monkey knife fight. Of course, it turns out that taunting the Coast Guard makes for an awkward conversation when you’re attacked by Chinese pirates. Homer’s rant against rich people over the closing credits is also great. Wacky, wacky, funny stuff from my man Swartzwelder.

– “Saddlesore Galactica”. Oh god, this one. Another visit to a state fair for Lisa’s band brings us the return of Comptroller Atkins. The main plot, such as it is, sees the family adopting a diving horse. This plot development actually brings out Comic Book Guy to remind them that they already had a horse. Homer decides to race his new horse, which gives us the one funny line in the show, in the form of his horse whispering: “When the race starts, run really fast”. There you go, I just saved you 22 minutes of your life. See, the story for the first two acts isn’t the worst they’ve ever done (although moments like Moe’s heart beating like a Tex Avery cartoon are pretty stupid), but once the horse turns into a winner the episode becomes a loser. You see, it turns out that jockeys are actually singing elves who live in underground tunnels and try to blackmail Homer into throwing the big race. Lots of callbacks like Marge’s gambling addiction, Homer’s Tom Landry hat and of course Comptroller Atkins, but the evil jockey conspiracy just kills this one dead and the out-of-character moments bugged the hell out of me. Sadly, this wasn’t even the worst episode of the season. The commentary is basically a 22 minute apology for this one.

– “Alone Again, Natura-Diddly”. And this is it, the turning point for the series. Pretty much everything is now classified as being either before Maude’s death or after it. The family ends up at a NASCAR race in the forest and discover that the Flanderseseses are also racing fans. And thanks to a t-shirt gun gone horribly wrong, Maude Flanders is killed off and it’s not a dream sequence or imaginary story. So with that out of he way, the actual plot with Homer trying to set Ned up on dates (STAR WIPE~!) begins. Ned has a bit of a crisis of faith but meeting future recurring character Rachel Jordan brightens his life again. And there’s not much in the way of laughs, but it’s a very nice slice of Ned’s life.

– “Missionary: Impossible”. Homer learns both the joy (baudy British sitcoms) and the agony (pledge drives) of PBS, as Betty White has an awesome cameo (“Sorry, but those damn thieves just make me so mad!”) and Homer pledges $10,000 to get them to shut up. Of course, the only rational way out is to fly to South America as a missionary, which gives us the introduction of JEBUS! Homer discovers that the lessons taught by the Flintstones don’t work in the real world, but building casinos are far more effective than silly chapels or immunization centers. The B-story, which really could have been expanded into a full episode, sees Bart taking over as the man of the house and learning how crappy work really is. Big broadside at Family Guy from the writers ends this one, but they apologize on the commentary for it. Funny stuff, one of the strongest of the season.

– “Pygmoelian”. A trip to the Duff Festival lowers Moe’s self-esteem even further and he decides to get plastic surgery. He’s been called ugly, fugly, pug ugly, but never ugly ugly. His plans for revenge against a soap opera get reversed, however, when he wins the role of Dr. Tad Winslow thanks to his newly beautiful face and apparently matching posture. And as usual getting Homer involved proves to be his downfall. Enjoyable but not hilarious or anything.

– “Bart To The Future”. Entertainment Weekly called this one the worst episode in the history of the show and it’s hard to argue too much with that viewpoint. Bart has a vision quest at an Indian casino, where we see him in the future as a 40 year old loser living with Ralph Wiggum, while Lisa is the President. And oddly enough, there’s a B-story in Bart’s vision, as Homer is searching for Lincoln’s gold. Wasn’t that the plot of National Treasure 2? A grand total of one laugh, as Bart questions having a secondary plot and the Indian notes that the spirit thought the main story was a little thin. Brutally unfunny from start to finish.

Disc Four

– “Days of Wine and D’ohses”. An opening with Homer and Bart digging through peoples’ garbage is apropos of nothing, and we move into the main story, as another character undergoes a major life change. In this case, Barney sees himself going from “Professor Barney” to “Drunk Barney” and that’s finally enough to go clean and sober. The B-story sees Bart and Lisa trying to win a photo contest, which gives us a closet full of callbacks to old episodes (see how many you can catch!). And for once the stories converge, and there’s no return to the status quo at the end…at least not for a few seasons. I barely remember this one.

– “Kill The Alligator and Run”. I’m dismayed to hear that this one is written by Swartzwelder, because this not a favourite of mine, to say the least. Homer takes a self test that seems to doom him, and it makes him a tad crazy, so the Simpsons are going to Florida! Even the commentary admits that the episode goes off the rails at this point, as Homer has a weird bit of business at a Kid Rock concert and then the family accidentally kills a beloved state alligator. And then they’re on the run, and then they’re working in a diner while on the run, and even the commentary admits they had no idea where the show was going. Homer getting whipped is always funny (“No listening…you hear me?”) but not much else is here, as the story is just all over the place and is probably the worst for Swartzwelder.

– “Last Tap Dance in Springfield.” Tappa tappa tappa! Homer going for laser eye surgery produces one of the grossest jokes in the show’s history. This leads to Lisa discovering her love of dancing through a clichéd movie that seems fresh and new to an 8 year old. Her dance teacher, Miss Vicki, is instantly memorable, with her “tappa” and “ever so…” catchphrases. Vicki’s awful teaching methods (“That’s a smile, not an upside-down frown!”) are very relatable for anyone who’s had a teacher incapable of grasping the “teaching” portion of the job. The B-story sees Bart and Milhouse camping out in the mall, leading the crack police team to conclude that poked (and repoked) cheese can only mean giant rats. Remember kids, what does giving everyone an equal part when they’re clearly not equal lead to? Communism! And also, people go to children’s dance recitals expecting a certain level of professionalism. Holy crap, this one is actually pretty awesome. I love it when an episode I was sick of comes around again and surprises me like that.

– “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge”. Now here’s one they NEVER play in syndication for whatever reason. Otto reminisces about Woodstock ’99 (one of the first instances of the show’s backstory moving closer to the present) and we meet his new fiancée, Becky, through CC Deville’s “kick-ass” solo on “Every Rose Has It’s Thorn”. Wedded bliss proves fleeting, as Becky moves in with Our Favorite Family due to a fight over Cyanide (a loving tribute to Poison) playing the wedding. And soon enough Marge is getting paranoid over Becky usurping her position with delicious rosemary gravy and a series of wacky misunderstandings (not unlike American Beauty according to the commentary). Marge gets declared insane thanks to a series of callbacks (“And this god person, is he in this room?”) and the writers admit on the commentary that farce is surprisingly difficult to write. Not hilarious, but stronger than most this season.

– “Behind the Laughter”. Now this is one of my all-time faves, exactly the type of “breaking the fourth wall” episode that works spectacularly well when it’s successful. The basic gag is that it’s a “Behind the Music” type overblown documentary about the life of the “real” Simpsons and their rise and fall in the entertainment industry. Just a perfect take on VH1 with a million different things like “ready to sting bees” or “Encyclopedia Self-Destructica”. Was the dream really over? Yes it was. Or was it? Just endless one-off hilarity, like the lawyers at Thanksgiving dinner and Marge’s diaphragms. Sadly, Willie Nelson wasn’t able to patch things up between Van Halen and Sammy Hagar like he was with The Simpsons. An absolute home run to end the season, and sadly they wouldn’t hit this level again.

This was a major turning point for the show and for many people the “jump the shark” season (with Maude’s death), as most discussions of the show divide it into the “classic era” (pre-11) and the “modern era” (post-11). And the season itself has mood swings worse than Homer, as the shows that work are classics, but the shows that miss are some of the worst in the run of the series. And it’s telling that they never used to have that disparity before, as everything was pretty even when the writing was stronger and the episodes were less “over-produced” by the parade of people who overthink things now. But while not my favourite season, there’s enough great stuff here to make it look like the golden age compared to where it would land in the 14-17th seasons. (Rating: ****)

Audio & Video

Hey, it looks good for a cartoon from 1999, that’s for sure. The yellows are bright yellow and there’s only a few problems with general muck on the prints, but this was before the show went digital anyway, so suffice it to say it looks 500 times better than the washed-out colors you’re getting in syndication and leave it at that. (Rating: ****)

Season three was the first one to feature the shows in Dolby Surround, but it’s still basically a glorified stereo mix, even in 5.1 as it is here. It’s a friggin’ sitcom, you don’t need the surrounds anyway. The musical numbers sound really nice, though. (Rating: ***1/2)

Bonus Features

A word about the packaging.

Really, the people at Fox should know very well by now (especially after the fiasco with the Homer Head box in season 6) that Simpsons fans are the most obsessive, change-fearing wackos that the internet ever produced, so why the bloody hell do they INSIST on changing the packaging 11 seasons into the DVD releases? Instead of the standard (and wonderfully effective) DVD boxes we’ve been getting for 10 seasons now, we now get a bizarre gatefold packaging where the discs are wedged into slots so tightly that you need a pair of pliers to get them out. Great, it’s environmentally friendly, congrats to Rupert for saving a tree, but I’d rather have all the damn boxes on my shelf looking the same, thank you very much. And never mind that the reduction in plastic is immediately negated by an ugly PLASTIC Krusty face attached to the front of the box for no reason. If a few trees have to die to give me a good looking DVD shelf, then so be it. I can live with a few baby seals getting clubbed to death as well if it helps to get the boxes back to their norm again.

Anyway, as for the bonus features, you should know the drill by now.

– Audio commentaries on EVERY episode! Most feature tons of people and sound like they’re actually having fun instead of reading off a cue card with a gun to their head, like some other commentaries. Matt Groening is sadly absent on most of this (and still no Swartzwelder, although after 8 years of waiting it would probably just be setting up for disappointment anyway) and it’s really weird to hear pretty much everyone introduced as a producer, co-producer, executive producer or co-executive producer.

– 20 minutes of deleted scenes, with commentary. They can either be viewed as a standalone feature or re-edited into the shows as you watch.

– Assorted foreign language features on selected episodes.

– Assorted multi-angle features on selected episodes, showing you the differences from animatic to storyboard to finished episode.

– And on the fourth disc, a quick featurette about The Simpsons getting a star on the Walk of Fame, running 2:00. (Rating: *****)

The Pulse:

A pretty easy recommendation for fans, who buy all these anyway, and it’s an interesting turning point in the run of the series, as it starts to become what newer fans know it as today, with enough classic episodes and rarer ones to satisfy both camps.