the simpsons - season 4 dvd

[Marty McFly]

so, it came out in the USA a couple of weeks ago. my copy from dvdsoon.com (£17 inc free postage) came today, and i've been watching it.

this is where it starts to get really, really great. the bizarre, subtle humour is here, and the characters have finally settled into their personality.

great extras on the DVDs, too.

this DVD set is well worth picking up. discussion? comments? on this, or 'why the simpsons was funny', please.

[Consignia]

I was planning on picking up the season 3, but for some reason, it doesn't interest me, and I don't care for season 1 or 2. This season however, definitly contains some of my all time favourite Simpsons, so I reckon I'll get it. I don't know if I'll import or buy local, though.

[DJ One Record]

I'll buy it. Apparently they've also made a bit of an effort with the DVD menus this time as opposed to the overly simplistic black backgrounds of the Season 3 DVD so I thoroughly look forward to that. Oh, and the episodes aren't bad either.

[The Region Legion]

I had bought seasons 1 & 2 when they came out, but stopped when 3 came out on the grounds that by the time they get all of them out, DVD will be a dead format and I'll have to buy them all over again.

Watched an episode from Season 2 a few days ago... then watched a whole disc worth of episodes.. and then just kept watching. Season 2 is surprisingly brilliant, and Season 1 has a few good episodes.

Another thing that stops me going after these more recent sets is that I've seen every episode on them multiple times after having Sky One for the past 10 years. They barely play anything from Season 1 or 2 these days, but Season 3, 4 and onwards still get regular showings.

Ah well.. maybe if I can find them cheap second-hand.

This post contributed nothing. Sorry about that.

[DJ One Record]

But would you want to buy every single season? I can't see myself buying any boxsets after Season 8, for obvious reasons.

[The Region Legion]

But would you want to buy every single season? I can't see myself buying any boxsets after Season 8, for obvious reasons.

Well, true, but then I'm an anal collector and I know that once I've got 8 DVD box sets, I'll want to complete the collection. Plus, there are some excellent episodes in amongst the shite in the later seasons.

And It didn't stop being good after Season 8. It's more around Season 12 where it became shoddy.

[Pinball]

But would you want to buy every single season? I can't see myself buying any boxsets after Season 8, for obvious reasons.

Well, true, but then I'm an anal collector and I know that once I've got 8 DVD box sets, I'll want to complete the collection. Plus, there are some excellent episodes in amongst the shite in the later seasons.

And It didn't stop being good after Season 8. It's more around Season 12 where it became shoddy.

I know what you mean - I've got series 1-4, and collecting them becomes a bit... habit-forming.

I've resisted the urge to buy ST:NG boxsets as there's just so damned many of them, but it's hard, isn't it? ;-)

[DJ One Record]

I disagree. I think that Mike Scully's reign of terror started to kick in in Season 9 and then proceeded to take effect over the following three seasons of his tenure. From Season 13 onwards, Al Jean took over and has been trying to bring the show back round to what made it likeable in the first place, although, from what I've seen, with mixed success.

[Doctor Stamen]

Excellent, just ordered it - and cheers for the link to that site, i'd never seen it before.

It's a shame they can't churn these out a bit quicker than one a year, but I suppose it takes a lot of effort to put them together.

[SimonJT]

Season 9 was great, though, I reckon, one of my favourite of all the seasons - some hilarious episodes in there. 10 started in a similar vein, but went shit about halfway through, and it stayed like that through pretty much all of 11 and 12, which were awful. Thankfully it picked up again for Season 13.

[DJ One Record]

It's a shame they can't churn these out a bit quicker than one a year, but I suppose it takes a lot of effort to put them together.

I think it's more to do with Fox preferring to make money out of syndication of the older episodes than cutting into that by releasing them all on DVD at once.

[Marty McFly]

Excellent, just ordered it - and cheers for the link to that site, i'd never seen it before.

no problem. remember that postage is free, and the prices are in canadian dollars. it's a very good site for region 1 stuff.

[The Region Legion]

I've resisted the urge to buy ST:NG boxsets as there's just so damned many of them, but it's hard, isn't it? ;-)

I bought all of those as they came out, Star Trek: The Next Generation was worth it.

They shoot themselves in the foot putting them so high though, because had DS9 been about £30/40 a season, I'd probably be snapping them up. As it is, I'll end up buying them on eBay for about £15/25 a set sometime.

The same with the X-Files, although I notice at CD-wow.com they have all the X-Files box sets at £28.99 from the 28th of July.. perhaps they've finally realised they can't charge that much for them anymore and they're getting repriced. I notice that they're all now available at HMV for £60 instead of the ridiculous £99.99 price tag they used to have.

[Bernard]

I had bought seasons 1 & 2 when they came out, but stopped when 3 came out on the grounds that by the time they get all of them out, DVD will be a dead format and I'll have to buy them all over again.

I don't understand. Who are these people that will make you buy them again, and how do they manage this? Mind drugs?

[imitationleather]

You and your friend haven't managed to work that out yet?

And they say two heads are better than one...

[Bernard]

Well she's sort of an imaginary friend.

And when I say imaginary I mean blow up. Doll.

[Rev]

Season 9 was great, though, I reckon, one of my favourite of all the seasons - some hilarious episodes in there.

You're bang on here, miladdo.  9 is a fantastic 'season'.  We've never really seen a proper series of the Simpsons over here, have we?  I've just had a look at the episode list over on SNPP, and I swear that some of those episodes were in earlier or later series.  They weren't, of course, but we're used to seeing a stream of repeats with the odd new episode dropped in now and then.  Maybe Channel 4 will show the thing properly.

Ech.

[The Region Legion]

I had bought seasons 1 & 2 when they came out, but stopped when 3 came out on the grounds that by the time they get all of them out, DVD will be a dead format and I'll have to buy them all over again.

I don't understand. Who are these people that will make you buy them again, and how do they manage this? Mind drugs?

OK, I admit I won't HAVE to buy them all over again, but as they do with this kind of thing, they'll make it so each disc contains 8/12 episodes instead of the 4 or 5 each you have on DVD, which means the collection will take up much less space on the new format, and they'll probably throw in new extras because there sure as hell isn't as much as there could have been even on the Season 1 & 2 sets.

And also, buying on a new format as soon as possible to its release is best from a reselling point of view too - you wait too long after the start of a new technology and suddenly the technology it replaced is worthless - I have hundreds of VHS tapes that I can't get rid of because I waited so long that DVD is now the standard and VHS is dead. Same will happen when HD-DVD or Blu-Ray comes out (possibly).

[kidsick5000]

I guess we just have to expect every Season DVD review to say "This season is where it started to get really good."

[Jemble Fred]

I guess we just have to expect every Season DVD review to say "This season is where it started to get really good."

The one I'm writing for my mag certainly does! But I was disappointed to be so familiar with every episode. I want to know which season contains episodes I haven't yet seen! There have to be some...

[DuncanC]

And also, buying on a new format as soon as possible to its release is best from a reselling point of view too - you wait too long after the start of a new technology and suddenly the technology it replaced is worthless - I have hundreds of VHS tapes that I can't get rid of because I waited so long that DVD is now the standard and VHS is dead. Same will happen when HD-DVD or Blu-Ray comes out (possibly).

It's rather a different situation, though, since whatever next-gen tech we have next will definitely be back-compatible with current DVDs, and the quality of the video won't be increased noticeably (for normal people). They'll probably contnue to use current DVDs for anything that they don't need more than one disc for (like most films) for quite a while.

[The Region Legion]

They'll probably contnue to use current DVDs for anything that they don't need more than one disc for (like most films) for quite a while.

However, current DVD films pause for a second or 3 halfway through - expect the loss of that to be a big selling point companies will be making.

[TotalNightmare]

I do think the DVDs of the Simpsons are taking the piss somewhat...

I remember a few years ago, they were going to release all of the series of The Simpsons in VHS boxsets.
Each boxset had three videos containing half the series and the other boxset had the other half of the series.

I bought the first four boxsets that made up all of series ONE and TWO and then... nothing. They just stopped. They didn't release any more of the series (actually, they may have released series THREE, but i had long since lost interest).

So i bought these boxsets for nothing. I can see Jemnble's frustration. I have seen the episodes of the Simpsons from the first 5 series SO MANY MANY MANY MANY time and i don't fancy forking out the money to buy these AGAIN.

I would rather not have ANY extras if it meant just getting more DVD boxsets out of the later series of the show.

Fox sees Simpsons, naturally, as a cash cow for milking and as a result, i can understand the frustrations of these DVDs dribbling out one a year... by that logic it will be another 12 years before we see a DVD of the series NOW showing on SKY...

by then, it is perfectly understandable that there could be a new entertainment format that they will want to release these series on.... AGAIN!

I don't want to buy these early series AGAIN if only to get to series 7 and all of a sudden they start again and have to fork out... it happened to me with the VHS tapes... its conceivable that it could happen again.

The makers of the series say they take their time on the DVDs as they want to concentrate on making a good telly series (which is debatable as, no matter how much i love The Simpsons - warts and all, i do think the enegy they are 'conserving' for the recent shows is wasted).

So i can't be arsed.

I have ALL the Futurama, ALL Family Guy and thats more than enought ot keep me satisfied.
I understand that The Simpsons have been on A LOT longer than other animated series and, as a result, has a lot of catching up on... but this SLOW process of churning out these DVDs is yet another souring experience for The Simpsons fanbase...

Le sigh!

[DuncanC]

They'll probably contnue to use current DVDs for anything that they don't need more than one disc for (like most films) for quite a while.

However, current DVD films pause for a second or 3 halfway through - expect the loss of that to be a big selling point companies will be making.

I've honestly never, ever noticed layer transition on my own drive or player. I assumed it was just something older and/or cheaper ones did, and the newer ones have some cache-ing or something that eliminates it (and mine aren't THAT new).

[Pinball]

I remember buying the R1 boxsets of MPFC as they came out - each had 2 DVDs containing half the series. Finally I completed the collection, then a complete boxset of all the series came out... at half the price!

Then there's the Star Trek movies - collected 'em all, then they produced special "Director's Cut" versions, and I only bought the first three of those.

This has always happened - milk the consumers. Back in laserdisc days, I bought the Star Wars Trilogy, then the digitally remastered-with-a-few-extra-scenes version came out - so I bought the same films again.

But the worst of the worst has got to be.... <drum roll> the Python movies! How many versions of Brian and Grail have been produced (R1 & R2)? Incredible. And they know that many people buy US as well as UK DVDs, timing the releases accordingly. They are good, though :-)

[Darrell]

I want to know which season contains episodes I haven't yet seen! There have to be some...

Try the seventh season - there are a few there that have become slightly obscure here, due to it being where a lot of people stopped bothering with the haphazard BBC2 run and also due to lots of people joining the Sky premieres at season eight.

I've been watching plenty of recent ones from the Al Jean era thanks to a friend with a mountain of DVDRs, and I have to say that most of it is pretty bloody good. I take back the generalisations about 'recent Simpsons' that I've made in the past...

As for moaning about the DVD sets and what you assume their motivations are - get a fucking grip. You're lucky you're getting them at all. You get fully remastered, remixed versions of all the episodes uncut, a commentary on every pissing one (including bonus commentaries) by a good selection of people, any deleted scenes that have survived the mass cull, any oddities pulled from TV archives etc. All in lovely packaging for very reasonable prices. Why complain?! When do British series get DVD budgets as big as that and everybody involved contributing with so much attention?

Oh, I forgot, you all want everything NOW and 'FOR FREE BECAUSE THEY'RE ONLY TRYING TO RIP US OFF PROBABLY AND THEN THESE ONES ARE RUBBISH ANYWAY'. "Impatient" and "ungrateful" are appropriate words.

[Darrell]

Addendum: I know I'm often very heated about DVDs not being very good, but these are great releases, and the complaints directed against them are unfathomable and unreasonable. As for them being one a year - the people involved spend most of the year making actual Simpsons episodes, and have only limited time in which to contribute. Also - the budgets are so high that even Fox Video can only afford to do them annually. As for deleted scenes, nearly all of these have been destroyed (rushes/early edits for US shows tend to get destroyed very shortly after the programmes are finished), and it's only the very recent seasons where stuff has been slapped with preservation orders with DVD in mind.

Besides, the unreleased episodes get repeated ad nauseum so they're hardly rarities anyway.

Right, are we all back on planet Earth now then?

(Just to deflect any "hypocrite!" posts, there.)

[Bilko]

Had a look around in HMV yesterday and noticed on the Front of the Series 4 box set there was a sticker on it noting a free limited disc comes with the box set.  Does anyone know what's on it?

[SimonJT]

I think that may be the free "Screenextra" DVD that HMV give away with most things. It's got trailers, promos, that sort of thing.

[Bilko]

I think that may be the free "Screenextra" DVD that HMV give away with most things. It's got trailers, promos, that sort of thing.

Yeah your right, that's what it was called, I thought it might be specific to the Simpsons.

Thanks