DVD: The Simpsons Season 7 Reviewed

I originally wrote this for http://www.snpp.com/news.html, but once again, I thought I'd post it here too, as with the S4, 5 and 6 ones. Enjoy :)

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"The Complete Seventh Season" DVD set, featuring all 25 episodes from the series' seventh season (1995-1996), was released in the USA and Canada on December 13, 2005. It will be released in other countries around the globe throughout the early months of 2006.
After the shortest wait between season sets yet – just four months – Fox brings us the complete season seven of The Simpsons, another season adored by fans that maintained the consistent runs of gags season 6 had brought us while also bringing emotional storylines and important characterisation into the mix. The twenty-five episodes are spread out in the ration of 6:6:7:5, alongside a veritable plethora of the bonus features we Simpsonites have become accustomed to.
First though, the most important part of any season set: the episodes. This season brought us the eagerly awaited conclusion to "Who Shot Mr. Burns?"; Lisa's decision to go vegetarian; Homer in 3-D in the "Homer3" segment of "Treehouse of Horror VI"; Bart selling his soul to Milhouse; the Flanders family taking in the Simpson kids by order of the Child Protective Services; George Bush (Sr.) moving in opposite the Simpsons; Apu facing deportation; Homer taking over from Smithers as Burns' lackey; Homer's bowling team, the Pin Pals; Selma's short-lived marriage to Troy McClure; Krusty's tax troubles; Marge's attempt at social climbing through Chanel suits and country clubs; Homer's visit from his law-evading mother; and Troy McClure's tribute to the show's first 138 shows.
Alongside all this, a multitude of guest stars feature, including among others Paul and Linda McCartney, Phil Hartman, Paul Anka, Glenn Close, Bob Newhart, Donald Sutherland, Kirk Douglas, Jeff Goldblum, Cypress Hill, Peter Frampton, The Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Christina Ricci and Kelsey Grammer, returning as Sideshow Bob.
Following the controversy about season 6's Homer head-design box and the mail-in offer allowing fans to recieve a box more similar in style to season 1-5's, this time Fox have made it easier by allowing us to choose either the Marge head or the standard box right off the bat by issuing both in stores and online. The downside is that there's no way to get both without buying two copies of the set, but to most fans this won't matter too much. I recieved the head box; included in the package are the four discs in a separate disc trays that can be opened like a book design (known as a digibook), thankfully entirely removable from the Marge head for easier and quicker access, as well as an excellent booklet that parodies an issue of "Variety" (right down to the picture captions and advertisements at the end); entitled "Vanity" it details all of the episodes and extra features included.
As with season 6, there are no changes to the menu system this season; things remain the same as they have done since season 5 – a good thing, as the menus are excellently designed and easily navigable. The top half of the screen contains a screen featuring a variety of Simpson characters relevant to the episodes on that particular disc dressed elegantly, posing for photographs on a red carpet, implying they are going to an awards ceremony; the bottom half of the screen lists the episodes along with the lovely Play All option, and an "Extras" button in the shape of a movie ticket.
Each episode has two small buttons next to it: choosing the first, featuring a triangle similar to a Play button, will play the episode; the other, with a "+" mark, will open a sub-menu, also themed, of which there can be several in a row, featuring scene, language, subtitle, commentary and deleted scenes options. There is a chapter stop after the opening of the show for quick skipping. All of the menus are animated to some extent, and many feature audio – it's frequently worth playing through the menu a couple of times to check what's going to happen!
As usual, the principal extra is the commentary on every one of the 25 episodes in the set, featuring a vast array of contributors. Matt Groening, creator of the show himself, is present on two-thirds of them; other regulars throughout the set include David Mirkin, Bill Oakley, Josh Weinstein, Wes Archer, David Silverman, Susie Dietter, Jon Vitti, Greg Daniels, David S. Cohen, Mark Kirkland and Bob Anderson. Unfortunately, the only cast member around this time is Yeardley Smith. Each commentary track has anything from two to ten participants. The commentary tracks are, once again, simultaneously hilarious and informative, and often feature interesting behind-the-scenes anecdotes and stories that we would otherwise never know – or care to find out! – and they often go in-depth on the philosophical, mathematical or scientific side of the show, such as the equations featured in the "Homer3" segment, and the emotional side of "Home Sweet Home-Diddly-Dum-Doodily". They even make reference to "the nerds on the Internet" when commenting on episodes particularly loved or unloved by web-wizrd fans. As ever, throughout the full-length commentaries there is barely a dull moment with every episode featuring multiple contributors, and any fan of the show will regale in the trivial tidbits being passed on.
As ever, though, Fox have been much more generous than merely including commentary on every episode – no, there are many more interesting bonuses to check out. Kicking off the additional bonus features is the "Introduction From Matt Groening" on disc 1, a short two-minute reel of quick season seven clips over which Matt discusses the DVD in the same vein as the similar featurettes on seasons 4, 5 and 6.
Once again, deleted scenes are supplied in great numbers. 29 episodes feature deleted scenes, once again totalling around 20 minutes. All are entertaining, and are in the later stages of production – the only thing really missing is some voice cleanup and sound effects. You can view them inserted into their respective episodes, or as a 20-minute reel (in which the scenes are preceded by 10 seconds or so of contextual animation actually used in the episode) with optional commentary on the final disc.
Additionally, there is are three in-depth "Animation Showcases" for the episodes "Home Sweet Home Diddly-Dum-Doodily", "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson" and "Summer of 4 ft 2" featuring multi-angle animation comparisons from different stages of the animation and original sketches, as well as several other animation-related bonuses such as the brilliant "A Bit From The Animators" (similar to illustarted commentaries on previous sets) on "The Day The Violence Died" and "Summer of 4 ft 2"; and a sketch gallery on disc 4.
Finally, we have a recipe for Paul and Linda McCartney's Lentil Soup, read aloud by Paul McCartney himself; a very interesting 6-minute featurette on the 3D animation used in "Treehouse of Horror VI"; and a Special Language Feature enabling us to view "22 Short Films About Springfield" in German, Italian, Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese.
The audio-video quality on this set is once again excellent – it's continuing to improve with each successive season, and whilst we're still not quite up to the impressive digital quality we'll be expecting with the later seasons, we're getting a lot closer. The full-frame presentation is bright, sharp and fully detailed; it's only marred by the limitation of the source material. There is minimal grain and shimmering, and colours are vivid. The DD5.1 remaster is again excellent, and whilst largely front-focused, directional effects sometimes do make their way to the back, and the overall clarity makes for an improved listening experience, though the dialogue is sometimes rather quiet. French and Spanish DD2.0 soundtracks are also included, as are Spanish and English SDH subtitles. I extensively tested the English subtitles, which appeared accurate and true to the spoken word. Unfortunately, the commentaries and extras are still not subtitled, a let-down for fans with hearing impairments; note that the UK R2 release does feature subtitles on the bonus features. Other reviews on the Internet have claimed subtitles on the episodes are not present; they are, they just have to be accessed by choosing a language on the "Language Selection" menu before accessing a further sub-menu offering subtitle options.
Another brilliant package from Fox; the choice of box covers this time around will keep the majority of fans happy, and there's no arguing with the fact that this collection of episodes and bonuses is nothing short of outstanding. Another boxset that I highly recommend to even the most casual fan.

The Simpsons - The Complete Seventh Season

EPISODES: A+ - Still in the "Classic Era"; still consistently excellent.
PRESENTATION: A - Great menus and AV - and there's now a choice of box
EXTRAS: A+ - Extensive and entertaining.
OVERALL: A+ - An outstanding package for an outstanding season.