DVD: The Simpsons Season 4 Reviewed

I originally wrote this for http://www.snpp.com/news.html (it's now in the archives), but I thought I'd post it here too.

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"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 2004.
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.

The Simpsons - The Complete Fourth Season

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