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DVDs Kiss and Tell: The Story Of Their Love
This is far from my favorite of these compilation discs. If there was going to be one that was based around Homer and Marge's relationship, it should have included all of the flashback episodes documenting how they met, got married, and had kids (it only includes one). That would have made much more sense than this uneven disc of decent to mediocre episodes, which includes "Natural Born Kissers," "Large Marge," "Three Gays of the Condo," and "The Way We Weren't." On the plus side, the extras here are better than they usually are on these discs, including an animatic and a multi-angle animation showcase. Plus at the time of this writing, all but one of these episodes is unavailable on DVD. If you're a big fan of any of these, I suppose this is worth the money. Bart Wars
Let me first just clarify, no this is not a "Star Wars" related DVD release, it's simply called "Bart Wars" because many of the episodes have a lot to do with Bart. Just had to say that to clear up any confusion. Okay then, anyway, this is a pretty good collection of episodes featuring "Dog Of Death", "Marge Be Not Proud", "The Secret War Of Lisa Simpson" and "Mayored To The Mob". Unfortunately there are no special features, although the ones featured on these 4-5 episode DVDs they usually aren't that great anyway. Good episodes, but this has become a pretty irrelevant release since by now they're all available on the full season sets anyway. Treehouse Of Horror
This is probably one of better DVD releases other than the full seasons out there. It's got four Treehouse Of Horror episodes (V, VI, VII, XII) and a short Kang and Kodos special feature, which, although it is no more than a collection of random clips, is still pretty entertaining. The episodes themselves are gold, the first three being absolute classics, and the last one still being pretty good. So overall, definitely worth the money, although a complete box set featuring all the Treehouse Of Horror episodes would've been much more satisfying. The Simpsons Christmas
This is one of the first of the 4-5 episode DVD releases, and one of the better ones as well. It features four episodes including "Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire", "Mr. Plow", "Miracle On Evergreen Terrace", "Grift Of The Magi" and "She Of Little Faith". There's one true classic in here and one slightly below average episode, but it's a decent selection. The special feature with a montage of Mr. Burns greatest moments is also very funny. This set is probably worth the the money slightly more than some of the others, considering the fact that it contains five episodes instead of just four. For $8 or $10 it's not a bad thing to pick up around the holidays. The Simpsons Gone Wild
Probably the worst of these themed compilation discs. The problem is that the theme represents the main problems with some of the later seasons of the show: pointless, wild, ridiculous episodes that aren't particularly funny. The episodes here include "Homer's Night Out", "The Mansion Family", "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday" and "Homer The Moe". They aren't a total waste, but overall they are pretty below average. Not to mention there are no special features at all. So unless you're a huge fan of a few of these episodes, just pass this one up. The Simpsons Christmas 2
Basically, this is a rip-off of "Simpsons Christmas 1" with much less relevant episodes. Not to say they're bad, they just don't have much to do with Christmas. The episodes are "Homer Vs. Dignity", "Dude, Where's My Ranch?", "Skinner's Sense Of Snow" and "Tis The Fifteenth Season". Like I mentioned above, two of these episodes ("Dude, Where's My Ranch?" and "Homer Vs. Dignity") have barely anything to do with Christmas. I'm talking like 2-3 minute segments here. Generally, the episodes are good, with the exception of the mediocre "Homer Vs. Dignity". Overall, this is a worthwhile purchase if you like to collect these compilation sets, but don't be expecting a set of all Christmas themed episodes. The Simpsons: The Complete First Season
This first season DVD set is a disc less than all the other seasons thanks to the greatly reduced number of episodes: thirteen here versus between twenty two and twenty five in any other given season. Still, all the usual special features are still included on this set. The packaging is a nice silver color, and features white outlines of various characters all around the box. The menus aren't the best design, but they're still functional. Season 1 is clearly when the show was in it's very early stages. The animation is rough, the voice acting doesn't sound quite right, and the episodes tend to be pretty lacking in humor in a lot of cases. Despite all this, these episodes are where The Simpsons began, and they're a must have for any die hard fan. The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season
The colors chosen for this set are great. The light green is really nice looking. The images are nice too, using a creative concept with four characters heads on each disk, and the bodies of the characters on the case itself. This allows you to move the disk and switch the characters heads and bodies, which is good for a few minutes of amusement. Unfortunately whoever was in charge of this DVD set decided to take that concept a little too far, creating an irritating set of animations you have to sit through every time you put the disc in. It's a very annoying feature. The menu designs aren't fantastic either. Commentaries on each episode and the other usual features are all included in the four disc package. Season 2 is a step up from season 1 in terms of voice acting and animation quality. The humor is also a little more developed this season. Still, it isn't quite classic era material. Decent set, but not a necessary purchase for someone who's only a casual fan. The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season
I've never been a huge fan of the the largely pink box art for season three. Far from my favorite color. Still, this is a pretty worthy set overall. The inside of the packaging and the disc art, despite the color scheme, don't look bad. The menus are mostly based around different couch gags, which is a nice touch. There's nothing much different about the extras on this set than on all the other sets. Commentaries on every episode, deleted scenes, animation showcases and the like are all included. Season 3 is basically the segueway between the good but not fantastic early seasons and the true classic era. It's the first season where the show became truly consistently funny, and there's a definitely a visible change in the style. There are a lot of good episodes here, and very few that don't meet the classic standard. Not the most beautiful packaging, but a fairly nice set nonetheless. The Simpsons: The Complete Fourth Season
Season 4 is possibly my favorite Simpsons DVD set in terms of packaging. The dark blue box is great looking, and the inside features a huge group of practically every secondary character on the show. The extras on this set contain mostly the same kinds of things you'll find on every other set. Commentaries for every episode contain more bits of amusing information about the prodcution of an episode, among other things, there are plenty of deleted scenes, and various other things like animation showcases and Matt Groening's usual introduction are included as well. As far as early classi era seasons go, season 4 is the best of the best. It features many fan favorite episodes that no collection is complete without. This is a set worth every penny. The Simpsons: The Complete Fifth Season
Much of the visual style for this set is based on the memorable couch gag in which the family dances in a sort of extravagant show with elephants, pyrotechnics and a chorus line. The box and disc art is all very nice looking. As I say in every single one of these reviews, the special features are always a great addition to these sets. Plenty of interesting things to keep any fan occupied for hours at a time. Season 5 is one of the zanier classic seasons, but there are still a lot of great episodes. It's a different style of humor for sure, but it's still a great set of hilarious episodes for the most part. Another great set. The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season
This latest set brought about a major change in the box art. Rather than the old style simple boxes, each season (6-10) will be contained inside of a different character's head. Season 6 starts off with Homer. Most people hated the new box, but personally I think it looks quite nice. The only slightly annoying feature is the two cardboard pieces inside the head that continually fall out of place. The plastic is a bit flimsy, but it could be a lot worse. The theme of the set is based on the final episode of the season: the cliffhanger event "Who Shot Mr. Burns: Part 1." The disc art features different characters being interrogated, although technically that doesn't happen until next season's conclusion episode. Nonetheless, the disc art looks nice, and so does everything else. Special features aren't anything you haven't seen before, but that's not a bad thing. Audio commentaries on every episode with producers, writers, and voice actors, deleted scenes, and all kinds of other stuff. Season 6 is my favorite season, so that should give you some insight to the quality of the episodes on this set. Lots of really great stuff. Very nice set overall. The Simpsons: The Complete Seventh Season
After the outrage over the head box for season 6, season 7 offered both a normal box and a special edition character head version. Personally, I like the head version better. The normal box is okay, but the Marge head is a lot more eye catching. A lot of people seem to really dislike the design for some reason, but I think it's actually pretty nice. The only real problem is the fact that box is way too thick. The movie star theme is pretty decent, and the episode guide booklet is a nice design. The special features are up to the usual standards, with commentaries, deleted scenes, and various other goodies. Season 7 is pure classic season all the way, so you've got nothing to worry about in terms of episode quality. Plenty of awesome ones in there. Short review I know, but there isn't a whole lot to say about this set. It's a great package and I definitely recommend it. The Simpsons: The Complete Eighth Season
Season 8 is, without doubt, the best set released so far. Everything has been fine tuned for this release of the final truly classic season. Again, both a head version and a standard version box were released for this set, I'll be reviewing the head version. Maggie is definitely the best head so far. Not only is the Maggie design on the front very nice, but the box itself is much higher quality than the previous two. For one thing, it's much less bulky. This set is about as thin as the standard box, and the inside is a lot more compact. Things seem to stay together a lot better than in the other two heads. The episode guide booklet is nicely designed as a family photo album. And the two styles of disc art (one with numbers, one with the characters holding up fingers to show the disc number) both look great with the camera lens design. There are a lot of very nicely done special features on this set. As usual, there are commentaries for every single episode along with nearly a half hour's worth of deleted scenes. This release also sees the introduction of a new feature where different staff members and animators do short commentaries on the animation in a few scenes. The menus are similar to seasons 6 and 7, so they look excellent. Season 8 has quickly risen to my second favorite season in terms of episodes upon a total re-watch. There are a ton of classics in here that make this set worth buying even if it didn't have all the other great stuff I mentioned. I hope the season 9 release keeps up this quality. The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season
In terms of the DVD set itself, season 9 is very much in the vein of its predecessor. The packaging is, again, nicely done. Lisa's face looks a little bit off, but it's not obvious enough to really detract from the visual appeal. The music theme of the set is executed nicely, especially with the very cool disc art featuring different fictional music labels. The special features are also fairly similar to season 8 and all the seasons before that. They're all great and add a lot to the package. The slight decline in episode quality is the only issue with this release. Season 8 is the final season where the large majority of the episodes are of classic era quality. While season 9 is not devoid of its own classics, this is the year where things start to go down hill, particularly with dud episodes like "Bart Carny". But don't let these few off episodes prevent you from buying this otherwise fantastic set. Season 9 is far from the worst Scully produced during his time executive producing the show, and combined with the great packaging and special features, this set is still well worth your money. The Simpsons: The Complete Tenth Season
Season ten is, unfortunately, when the decline in episode quality becomes painfully obvious. Episodes like "Homer Simpson In: Kidney Trouble" are probably going to be a pretty big deterrent for a lot of people. I can't necessarily blame them. Thankfully, this is another nicely put together DVD set, and it makes strong effort to make up for the lack of truly great episodes. I picked up the Bart head version, and I'd have to say it's probably my favorite out of the five heads. Bart's face looks great on the cover, which I thought was a bit of an issue on the season 9 set. The theme revolves mostly around a studio back-lot tour, which I think is a bit of an odd choice. Still, it isn't necessarily a bad choice. The fake ads placed in the guide book are amusing, and there are some nice touches throughout the set, like the Star Wars homage on the back and the script page inside the head. The security camera images on the discs don't seem to fit very well with the rest of the set though would've liked to see something different there. As usual, the special features on this set are fantastic. There was some confusion a few months ago about whether each episode was going to include a commentary, but all that was cleared up before the set was released. The audio commentaries provide plenty of interesting insight into your favorite (and not so favorite) episodes, despite how irritating Mike Scully's voice may be. All the other standard features are included as well, plus a sneak peak at the deleted scenes on the upcoming movie DVD. Episode quality obviously takes a pretty big dip this season, but with the occasional good episode, the fantastic picture quality, and the special features, this still warrants a purchase from any semi-dedicated fan. |
- Editorials: 18
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