Review of Simpsons, The: Season Two

Introduction

By the time the second season aired, Matt Groening had a phenomenon on his hands. Picking up where the first season left off, this boxset contains 22 episodes, 9 more than the first season.

For people living in a hole for the last 12 years, The Simpsons is a story of your typical dysfunctional American, post-war family. There`s Homer, the head of the family, who works at the nuclear power plant and puts his stomach before anything (or anyone else). Then there`s Marge, Homer`s wife, who is a sensible, creature of habit, who enjoys family life to the full. Then there`s Bart, the trouble-maker of the family. Then there`s Lisa, the most intelligent and philosophical member of the family. Finally, we have the baby Maggie, who never actually does much.

Below I have picked one episode from each disc that I think is the best not only because it has the most humour, but because it is the best example of how an animated show can be funny, witty, and on the ball:

Disc 1 - Dead Putting Society
This is one of the first episodes to depict the neighbourly feud between the Simpsons and the Flanders, and it depicts it well. Bart and Todd do battle to win a mini golf competition, and $50 worth of prize money. One of the best bits of the episode is to see the conflicting teachings of Homer and Lisa!

Disc 2 - Bart Gets Hit By A Car
This disc is the weakest disc in the second season, but this episode is still enjoyable. After Mr Burns hits Bart with his car, a legal battle (and some classic moments) ensues.

Disc 3 - Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?
This is one of the finest episodes, not only in the second season, but throughout the early years of The Simpsons. When Homer finds he has a half-brother, he goes to Detroit in search of him. He finds that his half-brother is a millionaire, and then he asks Homer to design a car for `the average Joe` (big mistake!). This episode has just the right balance of laughs and sharp scripting to make this a great way to spend 23-minutes.

Disc 4 - The War of The Simpsons
After Homer and Marge have their first party since their wedding, Homer gets absoloutely p***ed and stares at Maude`s breasts. So, Marge hoiks him off for a weekend with the Reverend and his wife to try and save their marriage. They stay at a cabin by Catfish Lake, so Homer is desperate to sneak off and go fishing. Meanwhile, Grampa is supervising Bart, Lisa and Maggie and he hatches a plan to make them clean the house...Overall, this is another classic episode with some of the best one-liners in the series.

Video

It is presented in 4:3 Fullscreen unfortunately. This may be typical of a TV-DVD transfer, but an anamorphic widescreen transfer would have been so much better. As it is, there are a few compression signs, but overall it`s an accomplished print.

The best improvement over this and the first season is the quality of animation and the voices. Whereas in the first season they were just experimenting, in this season you can already see a difference in the drawing and the voices. Homer is nearly spot-on, and most of the ensemble cast are near perfection.

As with most episodes of The Simpsons, it contains a lot of visual humour, which adds to the enjoyment factor.

Audio

A DD 5.1 track is on offer, although the surrounds aren`t used as much as they could be. The main audio stream is crisp and clear, and the ambience level is just right. As mentioned before, the voices are now much better, so you feel that the audio is all the better for it.

The scripts in The Simpsons are sharp, and the 23-minute runtime is just the right length.

Features

There is quite a good selection:

First up, we have a commentary on each of the 22 episodes by Matt Groening, and on certain episodes James L. Brooks lends his vocal contribution to the proceedings. The commentaries are packed full of anecdotes, and are worth listening to.

Then, there is a 10 minute interview with Matt Groening and James L. Brooks, which is good, if a little brief. There is also a 6 minute featurette on they create an episode, with one of the directors. It is interesting to watch, but again, it is brief.

There are 3 music videos, all with commentaries which are good to listen to, as they offer a good insight into the production.

Then we have an Emmy Award presentation clip, and 3 TV spots promoting `Butterfingers`. There are also two storyboards for the episodes, "Bart Gets An F" and "Bart vs. Thanksgiving".

Finally, we have 40 early drawings (interesting to look at) and 18 magazine covers showing just how popular The Simpsons are.

Overall, they are sparse, but you can see that some effort has gone into their making.

Conclusion

The Simpsons is one of those classic TV shows: it never grows old. And of course, DVD is the perfect format to watch it on. As for the disc, it is good, presented in deluxe packaging with an episode guide, so you really do get the feeling that this truly is a Collector`s Edition.

This comes highly recommended.