THE COMPLETE SEASON 4 DVD SET REVIEWED http://www.snpp.com/news.html#dvd4review
By Wesley Mead ([email]) - July 2, 2004
"The Complete Fourth Season" DVD set, featuring all 22 episodes from
the series' fourth season (1992-1993), was released in the USA and Canada on
June 15th and it will hit the stores worldwide by the end of summer.
The fourth season of the show that has truly defined an era, is
arguably the best season to be released thus far. For many fans, this is the
point where the show reached a peak it would never reach again; and merely
reading the episode list will make many a heart feel warm. Episodes known
and loved by every self-proclaimed Simpsons fan and nerd in existance, such
as " Homer The Heretic" and "Last Exit To Springfield", are complimented
wonderfully by hilarious, satire-filled episodes such as "Marge Vs The
Monorail", "Mr Plow" and "Whacking Day". In fact, many will tell you there
isn't a dud in the season, and I wholeheartedly agree. Even the show's first
attempt at a clip-show, a typically lacklustre event during other shows
history, has an entertaining story and many jokes of its own.
This season also brought along the third annual Treehouse Of Horror, by
this point in the show's career an event every fan would look forward to;
"Krusty Gets Kancelled", an attempt at utilizing several A-list guest stars
in a single episode (at which it succeeds without exception); "A Streetcar
Named Marge", a musical of epic proportions, which is great entertainment
for everyone (except maybe residents of New Orleans) and "Lisa The Beauty
Queen", in which we get a second in- depth look at Lisa's emotion and morals
(the first being season one's Moaning Lisa). By this season, the special
guests were coming thick and fast - Elizabeth Taylor, voicing Maggie's first
word in the ironically-titled " Lisa's First Word"; Adam West as himself in
"Mr Plow", Barry White in "Whacking Day"; and an array of stars including
celebrities as diverse as Johnny Carson, Bette Midler, Hugh Hefner and the
Red Hot Chili Peppers in the aforementioned "Krusty Gets Kancelled".
The packaging for this set is certainly the most detailed, bold, bright
and beautiful yet. The front cover, a very nice metallic shade of bright
blue, displays a shot of the family (plus Ralph and Barney) on the couch,
similar to previous seasons. Remove the disc case from the outer box, and
you are left with another interesting letter from Matt Groening himself, and
detailed disc and box art featuring tens of characters from around
Springfield (interestingly, some of which didn't appear at all in season
four!) The discs are held well, and as we are accustomed to by now, a nice
booklet detailing all 22 episodes is enclosed; this time with an extras key,
letting you instantly know what bonuses your favourite episode includes.
So, after drooling over the boxart and avidly reading the booklet (for
several seconds at least!), I inserted the first disc. I was greeted with a
menu listing all the episodes, "Extras" by the side of each episode, a play
all option, "A Word From Matt Groening" and a "More Extras" menu. I decided
to watch MG's intro first, and whilst moderately interesting, it was mostly
just a recap of his letter on the packaging read over clips from the season.
Nevertheless, a good idea, well implemented.
After that I clicked an episode to watch, and was pleased that the
episode instantly played (well, almost instantly... more on that later). I
was of course very pleased - and later realised that the "Extras" listed by
each episode contained the various language/subtitle options and scene
selections; saving time if you just want to watch the episode, without
losing some basic features. A "Play All" option is included; as are chapter
stops after each episode's opening.
The staple extras of the sets so far, as collectors will know, are the
commentaries, and fans will be glad to know this set continues this
excellent tradition. Each and every one of the 22 episodes includes a
complete full-length commentary, featuring Matt Groening, Al Jean, and
various other cast and crew members such as Mike Reiss, David Silverman, Jim
Reardon, Mark Kirkland, Jon Lovitz and Conan O'Brien (woo-hoo!) amongst
others. Unfortunately, the cast members are nowhere near as present this
time round, with the only regular ever featured being Hank Azaria, on a mere
one episode.
The commentaries are filled with snippets of information that even the
most knowledgable fan may not know, including information on backstage
events, and guest stars' popularity amongst the crew. Jon Lovitz and Conan
O'Brien are perhaps the funniest commentators - unfortunately, they only
appear on a couple of episodes each - and literally bring everyone in the
room to tears of laughter. Jon Lovitz in particular makes a few jokes about
Al and Mike being in a relationship together, and how Matt Groening thought
the Critic was great (for those not in the know, Matt had his name withdrawn
from a Season 6 episode starring Jon Lovitz due to him thinking the episode
was "just one long commercial for The Critic"). Conan jokes often about how
he invented the Simpsons and Groening stole his idea; whereas showrunners
such as Mike Reiss and Al Jean more often infirm and educate the viewer,
with how the ideas for episodes came about, and tell us about
behind-the-scenes "gossip". (For instance, did you know Mike Reiss wanted
"Kamp Krusty" to become the first full-length Simpsons movie, despite the
fact they could barely fill up their 23-minute allocated space with the
script, or that they often use guest stars' lines twice to save bringing
them back into the studio a second time?). The commentaries are some of the
best I've heard - they combine interesting information with hilariously
funny dialogues; something I've only ever seen here and on Futurama sets.
Hopefully these commentaries on every episode will continue for every
season; it really does give the set a lot of added value.
Most DVD producers (and indeed, collectors) would think 22 commentaries
was enough - many sets don't even get a single commentary. However, as
usual, Fox go one step further to please the fans. The two "bonus" bonus
features that will be of most interest to the show's fanbase are two rather
short, but informative, documentaries; discussing two interesting
controversies that were sustained during season 4.
"Bush Vs Simpson" gives us a close look at George Bush, Sr, and his
wife, Barbara, and their dislike of the show. It discusses Barbara's mention
of how she found the show ridiculous, though she "supposed it was clean".
Apparently, the show's creators penned her a letter from Marge, to which she
promptly replied, and all was forgotten... that is, until George Bush, Sr.'s
later comments on how "American families should be more like the Waltons and
less like The Simpsons!" The featurette, running at a mere 5 minutes, was
originally planned for S3, but later dumped, so this is a pleasing addition.
"The Cajun Controversy" runs even shorter, at just over 2 minutes, and
discusses New Orleans' disgust at the lyrics to one of the songs during the
musical extravaganza in "A Streetcar Named Marge".
As well as this, there are deleted scenes for two episodes ("Homer's
Triple Bypass" and "The Front"); several commercials featuring the show's
characters from 1992-1993; and a 15-minute behind-the scenes promotional
featurette, which despite worth watching, won't provide any avid viewer with
new information. Also packed on to the set is an "Animation Showcase" for
one episode on each disc; comprising animatics, storyboards and an
interesting idea called "illustrated commentary" - sections of the animatic
with commentary, with notes and useful images popping up on screen at
various points. A great idea - although personally I would have preferred
another "Pop-Up Simpsons" like "Colonel Homer" on the season three set. The
deleted scenes are in general very short; but do add some extra laughs to
the episode, and it's quite often confusing as to why the scenes were cut.
For the true home theater connoisseur, however, the audio and video
quality is just as important as every other aspect of the set. Thankfully,
Fox does the show justice, but like previous sets, all is not perfect. Audio
is presented in a respectable Dolby Digital 5.1, but some would argue the
show does not warrant such strong sound. This is perhaps true - rear
speakers are rarely used - but it does add to the effect of the show as a
whole, and directional effects, while few, are present and correct. Spanish
and French stereo tracks are also included, as are subtitles for the hearing
impaired on all three languages (main feature only tough, folks - nothing
for the commentaries or extras).
Video quality is gradually improving over the seasons, but
unfortunately is still not perfect. The episodes look better than they ever
did on television, but unfortunately for those with extra-large televisions,
some minor problems are evident - distortion of colour is ocassionally a
problem, and some thinner lines do "disappear" (but bear in mind that this
is likely a source problem, and not a problem with the DVD transfer). These
quibbles don't distract from the viewing enjoyment however, and if you
expect realistic quality (ie, for animation produced in 1992 and 1993), you
won't be disappointed. It's still improved on the past three sets, at least
Overall, this set is truly a credit to Fox, Matt Groening and the
show's cast and crew, and the DVD producers. Perhaps the greatest season of
the greatest show of all-time, on a DVD boxset packed to the brim. You'd be
hard-pushed to complain.EPISODES: A+ - Can't fault them. PRESENTATION: B+ - Great audio, fair video, excellent menus. EXTRAS: A+ - A wide array, and finally some deleted scenes, too. OVERALL: A