Simpsons Season 4 DVD Speculation thread

[Reply #120 on:]

True...

[Reply #121 on:]

I'll be picking it up first thing tomorrow, definitely. Has anyone had an advance listen to any of the commentaries? Curious as to how Conan & Lovitz came off... 

[Reply #122 on:]

Only report I saw at NHC (before it shut down for today) was that the "Homer the Heretic" commentary was suprisingly dry, if still entertaining.  No word on O'Brien or Lovitz outside of some of the reviews.

Anyways, yeah, picking this up tomorrow morning for sure.  Can't wait even just to see most of these episodes uncut finally.

[Reply #123 on:]

Why have Apu's children on the season four set? He didn't have them til wayyyyyy later in the series. It's the equivlent to having Harold Zoid on the Futurama season one dvd cover.

[Reply #124 on:]

yeah, there's gonna be alot of "new to me" footage, since all the episodes I taped from that season were from syndication...I'm PUMPED.   


edit to say I was unaware of the post that followed DotheBartman's, in case my post appeared like I responding to no one in particular...

[Reply #125 on:]

They did that with Futurama too Binder.  I recall Roberto being on one of the season 1 DVDs.  Also I don't remember if Krabapple and Skinner were romantically entangled in season 4, not as much at least as later on, but it looked expressed on one of those pictures earlier.....

[Reply #126 on:]

I got mine in the mail today (both this and Futurama S3 a day early... I like amazon.ca), and so far I'm liking it.  I've only seen these episodes in syndicated versions, so there is a lot of new footage for me.  I can't say anything on the commentaries or anything else, as I am watching through the episodes once normally first. Matt Groening's little 2 minute intro thing is kind of disappointing, as it's mainly him repeating his little intro on the case, set to clips of the episodes as he is talking about them.   Oh, well.

[Reply #127 on:]

Putting Apu's children there does seem like an odd choice, but its hardly a big deal.  They obviously just chose to not have the art be too specific to the season.  Really the only thing that bugs me about it is that it's a modern (and specifically from season eleven) reference in this case.  I'd prefer they stick to the classics in the packaging.

But either way it looks really good.  And the point is the discs (and the content in them) anyway.

EDIT: I don't think its been mentioned, but there's another reference on the package that's technically from later on, Skinner and Krabapple looking lovingly at each other.  Plus Sideshow Bob wasn't in season four at all, but he's awesome so who cares.

[Reply #128 on:]

Well, Sideshow Bob was technically in season 4, seeing as how "Cape Feare" was a hold-over.

Anyway, I ordered mine off of Amazon a week ago, and I'll have it either tomorrow or Wednesday (I hope it's the first one, but I'm sure it's the latter). I know that I could have just got it at Target, Best Buy, etc. tomorrow, but the quality of stuff from Best Buy is usually a bit sub-par (usually regarding the packaging: a few "cosmetic" flaws). Anyway, it's not that long a wait (yeah, right).

Anyway, here are my ratings for the season 4 episodes:

Kamp Krusty:A
A Streetcar Named Marge:A+
Homer the Heretic:A+(fourth favorite of all time)
Lisa the Beauty Queen:A
Treehouse of Horror III:A
Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie:A
Marge Gets a Job:A
New Kid on the Block:A
Mr. Plow:A+(on my top 25/50 somewhere)
Lisa's First Word:A+(top 25/50)
Homer's Triple Bypass:A+(top 50/75)
Marge Vs. The Monorail:A+(top 25/50)
Selma's Choice:A
Brother From the Same Planet:A
I Love Lisa:A
Duffless:A+(top 25/50)
Last Exit to Springfield:A+(top 25/50)
So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show:A-(easily the best clip show)
The Front:A
Whacking Day:A
Marge In Chains:A
Krusty Gets Kancelled:B+/A-

No wonder it's my favorite season...

[Reply #129 on:]

Guess I'll rate 'em all too.  Nothing better to do.

Kamp Krusty: B+
Streetcar Named Marge: A+
Homer the Heretic: A+
Lisa the Beauty Queen: A
Treehouse of Horror III: A
Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie: A
Marge Gets a Job: B+
New Kid on the Block: B/B+
Mr. Plow: A
Lisa's First Word: A+
Homer's Triple Bypass: A/A+
Marge vs. the Monorail: A-
Selma's Choice: B+
Brother from the Same Planet: B+
I Love Lisa: A+
Duffless: A
Last Exit to Springfield: A+
So its Come to this: A Simpsons Clip Show: B+
The Front: B
Whacking Day: B/B+
Marge in Chains: B
Krusty Gets Cancelled: B

I generally consider this season to be my favorite as well, even if it seems to get slightly weaker toward the end.

[Reply #130 on:]

 

Originally posted by DotheBartman:I generally consider this season to be my favorite as well, even if it seems to get slightly weaker toward the end.

The thing that makes this my favorite season is that there was a steady flow of A+ episodes (at least for me). As you can tell from my list, in the middle of the season there were four weeks in row that had A+'s. There were 8 A+ eps overall, a feat that was probably only accomplished again in season 8 (although there were more clunkers in that season than there were in season 4). And, as you can tell, all episodes were in the A- to A+ range, except for "Krusty Gets Kancelled", which is sort of on the cusp. The cause for all the relatively high grades is the fact that this season had a mix of very jokey episodes ("Whacking Day" ), more emotional ones (no specific episode, but alot of them had their moments), and many with a great mix of both emotion and humor (for example, the "romance" in "Marge Gets A Job" with Mr. Burns and Marge was great, and the episode was also full of laughs).

To sum it up in one word: Brilliant.

[Reply #131 on:]

Thanks for the pics, Gorky.   

Yeah, that's the best one so far. Definitely. I love the electric blue and I'll be picking up my set tomorrow.

Edit: Oh, and my rankings...

Kamp Krusty: A+
Streetcar Named Marge: A+
Homer the Heretic: A+
Lisa the Beauty Queen: A
Treehouse of Horror III: A
Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie: A
Marge Gets a Job: B+
New Kid on the Block: B+
Mr. Plow: A+
Lisa's First Word: A+
Homer's Triple Bypass: A
Marge vs. the Monorail: A
Selma's Choice: A-
Brother from the Same Planet: B+
I Love Lisa: A+
Duffless: A
Last Exit to Springfield: A+
So its Come to this: A Simpsons Clip Show: B+
The Front: A-
Whacking Day: A-
Marge in Chains: B+
Krusty Gets Cancelled: B

[Reply #132 on:]

I just finished the first disk (save one commentary) and just want to say: (Spoilered in case anyone doesn't want to be spoiled on special features... or because I like using spoiler tags.)

On Azaria and Lovitz:

Show spoiler

It's really a pity that Lovitz and Azaria are only on one episode commentary, they were truely hilarious. One minor complaint is that Lovitz, while hilarious, kept interrupting the other commentators a little too often, making the episode seem in places to be the Jon Lovitz Thinks Mike and Al are Gay Show! I haven't yet come across a Conan commentary.

On Bush V. Simpson and New Orleans:

Show spoiler

I (and my whole family, surprisingly) got a kick out of the Bush Vs. Simpson featurette. It had the letter from "Marge", the Bush response, the Waltons line from the prez, and the animated come-back. Pretty much everything I was hoping for.  The other featurette (New Orleans controversy) didn't really have anything that isn't either in the commentary or already known, but it is nice to see it in one package. 

On the menus and everything else:

Show spoiler

Everything else on the first disk seems to be standard promotional stuff (the animated commentary is pretty interesting. Think Roswell's animation commentary, but set to the animatic, and with the commentators able to draw on the screen, sports commentator style.  It is a bit dry, but I'm sure for someone who had an interest in traditional animation it would be quite interesting. The menus are easy to navigate, but slightly annoying. They have a bit of animation every time you select something, which IS skippable, but isn't really worth the time it takes, on my DVD player, anyhow. The animation is usually mildly funny... until about the third time. The s3 couch gags had the same problem. 

Ahhh... now you all know something that you would have known in less than 24 hours anyway... my job here is done. Back to the DVDs!

[Reply #133 on:]

 

Originally posted by DotheBartman:
EDIT: I don't think its been mentioned, but there's another reference on the package that's technically from later on, Skinner and Krabapple looking lovingly at each other.  Plus Sideshow Bob wasn't in season four at all, but he's awesome so who cares.

It was mentioned... by me... two posts up   

Thanks for the confirmation anyways...   

[Reply #134 on:]

Heh, well, you're welcome. 

Thanks for the update, Ranadok.  Some great news there.

[Reply #135 on:]

Hm. Yes, I quite agree. Sounds interesting.

[Reply #136 on:]

Hmm will this be my first Simpsons set to buy? I dunno I might only buy seasons 5-9. the rest I either hate or have seen too many times.

[Reply #137 on:]

I'm in two minds about buying them, too, seeing as Channel Ten has repeated all the old ones (bar season 1) ad infintium...
For someone who's seen seasons 2-9 a lot, could any of you in good conscience recommend the sets to me?

[Reply #138 on:]

Slack channel 10 is probably the main reason I havent bought any of them yet, and I hear the commentaries arent up to futurama standards and they tell the same 3 stories over and over because they dont remember much because it was so long ago

[Reply #139 on:]

I have to wait another two weeks for a restock!
*Boo-hoo*

[Reply #140 on:]

bit crap for england. not out untill august

[Reply #141 on:]

Now that the DVD is officially released, I'll forget the spoiler tags and pose my info as more of a question. Did anyone else find the commentary for New Kid on the Block kind of annoying? It was the first one with Conan, and it seemed like they spend the whole time either talking to Conan or about Conan. I think they only mentioned the show they were watching twice in the first half, and that was to mention what Conan did on it. Surprisingly, Mr. O'Brien himself seemed the most on-topic, in regards to the episode. It was a bit disappointing, as I would rather hear about the show than about one guy who I'm not exactly a big fan of.  Oh, well. Hopefully there will be a better go for Marge Vs. The Monorail.

edit: another interesting thing from the commentaries that I just remembered: Matt Groening wants to do a "Simp-tasia" episode,  a Fantasia-style Simpsons episode. How cool would that be? (I think it was actually talked about on NHC during the strike discussion)

[Reply #142 on:]

 

Originally posted by Ranadok:
Now that the DVD is officially released, I'll forget the spoiler tags and pose my info as more of a question. Did anyone else find the commentary for New Kid on the Block kind of annoying? It was the first one with Conan, and it seemed like they spend the whole time either talking to Conan or about Conan. I think they only mentioned the show they were watching twice in the first half, and that was to mention what Conan did on it. Surprisingly, Mr. O'Brien himself seemed the most on-topic, in regards to the episode. It was a bit disappointing, as I would rather hear about the show than about one guy who I'm not exactly a big fan of.  Oh, well. Hopefully there will be a better go for Marge Vs. The Monorail.

edit: another interesting thing from the commentaries that I just remembered: Matt Groening wants to do a "Simp-tasia" episode,  a Fantasia-style Simpsons episode. How cool would that be? (I think it was actually talked about on NHC during the strike discussion)

The off-topic discussion on the Futurama DVDs is always annoying to me (because basically every commentary is like that), but strangely enough, if the Simpsons commentators get off-topic, it isn't as big a deal to me. I think that that probably has to do with the fact that not every line in the Simpsons commentaries needs to be shtick, and they actually occasionally do talk about the show. Regardless of that, I hope that the commentary for "New Kid on the Block" isn't as bad as you make it out to be. I'm not the biggest fan of Conan either, but I think that it would be interesting to see what he has to say about his episodes.

Regarding "Simp-tasia", I believe that they had talked about it for a while in the strike thread at the NHC, like you said. I think that most everyone over there would like to see it, because it could actually have some potential. I don't know why, but an episode like that sounds like a sure-fire classic to me. Hope to see something like it soon. 

[Reply #143 on:]

Hm. "Simp-tasia" sounds a bit hit-or-miss. It could very well be bad or good. I'd assume good, though.   

Back ontopic, I got my copy of season four this morning at 8:00 am and have been watching it since. So much fun content! Best Simpsons DVD yet.   

[Reply #144 on:]

I suppose it could be, but an episode almost entirely based on animation and music could surely be pulled off. If the writers did a great job plot-wise, then I'm sure that it would at least be acceptable.

[Reply #145 on:]

KenKeelerKenKeelerKenKeelerKe nKeelerKenKeelerKenKeelerKenK eelerKenKeelerKenKeeler

What? Sorry, reading that last few posts, that was all I could think about. 

[Reply #146 on:]

You stretched the page, dammit! 

If they do make "Simp-tasia", it should be directed by Lauren MacMullan, because she's the only one of them that could animate such a thing.

That would be so cool. 

[Reply #147 on:]

I could just imagine Bart wearing the Mickey Mouse wizard hat.....

[Reply #148 on:]

 

Originally posted by Gorky:
  The off-topic discussion on the Futurama DVDs is always annoying to me (because basically every commentary is like that), but strangely enough, if the Simpsons commentators get off-topic, it isn't as big a deal to me. I think that that probably has to do with the fact that not every line in the Simpsons commentaries needs to be shtick, and they actually occasionally do talk about the show. Regardless of that, I hope that the commentary for "New Kid on the Block" isn't as bad as you make it out to be. I'm not the biggest fan of Conan either, but I think that it would be interesting to see what he has to say about his episodes.

Well, I expect more crazy antics from Futurama commentaries than I do from The Simpsons. Even with the voice actors in s3, they tended to be fairly on topic.  Normally I don't mind as much when they go off-topic, as it is normally for good reason (or at least entertaining), but with the Conan thing, it seemed almost like hero-worship (though it real really more of the reminiscing type... I'm just complaining though). It wasn't TOO bad, I would have just liked more focus on the episode. 


 

Regarding "Simp-tasia", I believe that they had talked about it for a while in the strike thread at the NHC, like you said. I think that most everyone over there would like to see it, because it could actually have some potential. I don't know why, but an episode like that sounds like a sure-fire classic to me. Hope to see something like it soon. 

I have the feeling that if it was made, it would be the episode with the most polarized views among fans in quite some time, perhaps ever. A real "Love it or hate it" kind of deal.  I would likely love it, even if it somehow ended up weak, just for originality.  Hopefully, next time they plan on doing a trilogy ep (as seems to almost be the norm these past few years), they put in something REALLY original, and do Simp-tasia.


edit: fixed the quote tags... I just got back from programming class, so I was still in java mode...

[Reply #149 on:]

Simp-tasia would be sure fire classic material for me.  I'd absolutely love it if they did that, and was pleasantly suprised when I heard Groening wants them to do it.

As for Conan commentary, I've only listened to the first one but I was actually pleasantly suprised with it.  I kind of anticipated it being nothing more then O'Brien doing funny voices and so forth, but he and the rest all actually had a lot to say both about his work on the show in general and on that episode.  It did focus on just him a little much I guess, but I didn't mind it too much since the stories were genuinely interesting, and given what he ended up doing afterwards it makes sense that they focused on him a little.

As for the quality of the Simpsons commentaries vs. the Futurama ones, while I love the Futurama commentaries I'd have to say I really far prefer the Simpsons ones.  That might partially be bias I guess, but still.  As much as I love listening to the West and DiMaggio fun hour, it honestly got a little grating with every commentary being that with not a whole lot of actual discussion of the episodes going on.  The Simpsons ones are a little calmer so there's more room for actual information and stories.  And there's still enough craziness (for season four, check out the "Streetcar..." commentary with Jon Lovitz as an example) to satisfy that need as well.

[Reply #150 on:]

So on the Bush controversy feature do we get to hear Jim brook's letter as Marge .

[Reply #151 on:]

Yep, (read by Julie Kavner), as well as the response (read by Marcia Wallace for some reason).

[Reply #152 on:]

 

Originally posted by DotheBartman:
And there's still enough craziness (for season four, check out the "Streetcar..." commentary with Jon Lovitz as an example) to satisfy that need as well.

I had to stop the DVD because I was laughing so hard: on Lovitz's and Azaria's pimping of their recent projects to their "fist-fight" later in the episode...if only Lovitz was in more commentaries.

Oh, and I managed to get my copy for only $29.99, because the girl behind the counter at Best Buy screwed up. Woo-hoo for me!

[Reply #153 on:]

The deleted scenes are great. Especially for "Homer's Triple Bypass" 

[Reply #154 on:]

Hmm... maybe I'll pick these up just to see all the scenes that were cut so that Channel 10 could stick it on at 6pm...

and deleted scenes? Pieces of classic episodes I haven't seen?!?

Waaaaaaaaaaheeeeeeeey!

[Reply #155 on:]

 

Originally posted by evan:
  Oh, and I managed to get my copy for only $29.99, because the girl behind the counter at Best Buy screwed up. Woo-hoo for me!

Well that's actually the opening price right now at Best Buy (I got it for the same price), probably for the first week or so.  They put 40 dollar stickers on them anyway, but officially the price right now is 30.

SlackJawed, it should be noted that the deleted scenes are short....really short.  None more then a few seconds I think.  They are amusing, and each episode that has them (which is unfortunately only two, not counting extra bits that can be found in the animatics on the set) has a fair amount of them.  But they are short.  Homer's Triple Bypass and The Front are the ones that have them, btw (Streetcar Named Marge, Homer's Triple Bypass, and So its Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show all have animatics and presumably all have deleted/changed footage; I've only watched Streetcar and part of Triple Bypass so far).

[Reply #156 on:]

Just bought Season Four! Lotsa great new stuff, like animatics and cut scenes!

[Reply #157 on:]

I'm not too bothered by the lack of deleted scenes, having the syndication cuts intact is more than enough for me (So many great moments that I never knew existed...).  Still, it would be nice for future sets to include even more.

[Reply #158 on:]

By the way, go to TVShowsonDVD.com and read the review of Season 4 to find out why the DVDs are taking so long.

Why no Castellanetta, Kavner, Cartwright, or Smith on these DVDs????

And Rich Moore MUST Direct Simp-Tasia.

[Reply #159 on:]

No Dan? Hell, even Futurama got Dan...