I’ve been watching some of the Simpsons DVDs from Netflix. One thing I’ve enjoyed is the commentary, especially on episodes that I’ve seen a million times in repeats and syndication.
What do you think are the best seasons in DVD release? I’m looking at the combination of the quality of episodes, the DVD commentary, and the extras.
I love the DVDs - I only have season 1-9, which is probably where I lose interest, but they’re all quite good. I don’t think the extras are particularly mind blowing, but the commentaries are great - I usually go through the whole series with the commentary on the first time I watch them (having seen all the episodes multiple times in syndication).
My favourite series are #4, and #8, which although it isn’t as consistent, has some of the show’s finest moments.
The general consensus is that the only really good Simpsons seasons are 1-9. There were enough episodes I liked in season 10 to get that one as well, but that’s where I will stop. I’d say get 2-9 for sure, 1 if you’re a completest or a big Simpsons fan (or both.) The commentaries are nice, the deleted scenes okay. You have to be a fan of animation itself to like some of the other extras like episode animatics.
Personally, I’ve enjoyed them all, but the very early years (seasons 1, 2, 3) less so than those from a bit further on (5, 6, 7)—both in terms of the episodes themselves, and the way the DVDs are put together. In my humble opinion, which not everyone would agree with, the show really hit its stride in around season 4 or so.
The commentaries are pretty consistently well worth listening to, if you like that sort of thing; I’d rate them among the most entertaining commentaries of any TV-show DVDs I’ve encountered.
For episode quality, seasons 2-5 is the best. Season 1 is kinda patchy since they hadn’t nailed down the animation style yet. S6&7 are okay, many good episodes but a few stinkers. S8 onward is where the decline started, there are some classic episodes (“You Only Move Twice”, “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson”) but the sucky episodes start to outnumber the good ones.
Extras are best on the first three box sets. S3 has some easter eggs incl. audio outtakes. The commentaries don’t start getting good until S3 – I love how cynical & self-effacing they all are. They also talk about random stuff like dating services, flying into Burbank Airport, and the Northridge earthquake.
The navigation menus for S1-4 are clumsy & annoying (S3 in particular looks like somebody missed a deadline!) but by S5 they came up with a good template and stuck with it.
I think seasons 4 through 8 are the best. I enjoy most of the commentaries, but the funniest have to be the ones with Conan O’Brien, which are during seasons 4 and 5. He wrote some excellent episodes, but his presence also just cracks the others up.
Do the plan on releasing an All-Halloween set? That’s about the only Simpsons dvd I’d buy, since the reruns are ubiquitous on broadcast tv.
You do know, don’t you, that those reruns are trimmed for syndication? If you care about seeing the original, full-length episodes, you need the DVDs.
Doh! Should’ve if I’d thought about it. But I’m not a Simpsons purist, unlike Futurama, for which I do have the complete series on dvd.
I did not care for The Simpsons on DVD. The series simply does not age well.