230 replies to this topic

[Erica Alexis]

I figured there needed to be a DVDs thread, since I couldn't really find anywhere else that would be appropriate to post about them.

As Cleopatra noted in the quotes thread, the artwork for the season 8 DVD set is out. I like it and am incredibly excited that there is finally a release date, which is August 15th.

Sorry for the lack of a witty title, but I'm not witty.

[McKay]

I see they're no longer continuing with the plastic head boxes. Was I the only one who liked those?

[InvaderNorbert]

No, I like them too. And yes, they're still doing both versions of boxes, even though I'll be getting the Maggie head one. It's just full of...heady goodness.

[McKay]

I'll definitely be getting the rest of the head boxes, then, if they continue with those. A little annoying to open and close, but...they amuse me so much.

[Junkyard Dog]

According to tvshowsondvd.com, there are going to be some interesting folk sitting in on the S8 commentaries: Alex Rocco is contributing to several, John Waters is doing one for his guest spot that year, and Kelsey Grammer is part of the group commenting on Brother From Another Series. Most bizarre of all, SCTV actor Dave Thomas is supposedly playing a "contest winner" who's part of the crowd commenting on Mountains of Madness, an episode he had nothing to do with.

[InvaderNorbert]

Most bizarre of all, SCTV actor Dave Thomas is supposedly playing a "contest winner" who's part of the crowd commenting on Mountains of Madness, an episode he had nothing to do with.

He's also commentating on the episode he guest-starred on, the Beer Baron episode.

[Eegah]

Does it bug anyone else to an insane degree when the commentators get things wrong? Particularly aggravating was in Treehouse of Horror III, when Al Jean notes that the "women and seamen don't mix" joke was referenced in 28 Days Later. Except he called it 28 Days, and said it was about vampires. How little attention was he paying to the damn thing?

[finkles2000]

I thought this was interesting:
I was looking at a list of Simpsons episodes on Wikipedia, and found this. It states that Season 8 will come out in August (like we already knew) but it also states that Season 9 will come out in December. Personally, I think that's a little speculative, but we can dream, can't we?

edited b/c I got the numbers mixed up and pasted the wrong website

Edited by finkles2000, Jun 2, 2006 @ 5:14 PM.

[JyDanzig]

What I love about that link is how the pic of the season 6 DVD set uses the image of the mail-in replacement box, rather than Homer's head. Even Wikipedia is against the head boxes!

[scout75]

Does it bug anyone else to an insane degree when the commentators get things wrong?

They also tell the same goddamn stories over and over, congratulate themselves hardily and keep asking if that's the first appearance of certain supporting characters or running gags over and over again. You'd think they could research their own show's history a little bit better.

[chunkylover53]

I quit listening to the commentaries. There's just too damned many people doing them. There's like, seven people all yammering away all at once.

[valny]

Target has S1 - S6 on sale this week. I thought I'd pick one up an early Xmas present for my brother. He already has S6 so from S1 - 5, which one is the best to get or the funniest? I know everyone has their faves but I'll take any feedback. Thanks.

[Cheynem]

The commentaries are interesting, and I actually enjoy how wrong they can be at times; it shows that they're just people. My favorite is when Jon Lovitz remarks how animation always costs the same and is quietly corrected by Al Jean that no, complex scenes cost more money.

Does anyone listen to the Spanish (or French, I guess) language versions of the episodes? I assume they're the Latin America dub--the voice choices are interesting. The guy playing Homer creates his own spin on the character, one of the few dub actors to truly form an unique persona. Most of the voices sound pretty nondescript, although there are a few interesting ones: Moe (a different sort of scratchy), Herb Powell (about as far as one can get from Danny DeVito's voice), and Ned (a very deep voice, but one that really gets Ned's persona down). Also, as one may expect, a lot of jokes are changed for translation purposes (especially puns).

[Snark]

Does anyone listen to the Spanish (or French, I guess) language versions of the episodes? I assume they're the Latin America dub--the voice choices are interesting. The guy playing Homer creates his own spin on the character, one of the few dub actors to truly form an unique personal

I've noticed that too, it's so weird when it's an episode you've seen a hundred time and you hear this Spanish Homer, COMIC GOLD

[SideShow Steve]

Target has S1 - S6 on sale this week. I thought I'd pick one up an early Xmas present for my brother. He already has S6 so from S1 - 5, which one is the best to get or the funniest? I know everyone has their faves but I'll take any feedback. Thanks.

I saw Target's ad as well,$19.99 for the DVD box sets is a great deal.
I would recommend Season 4. It's considered the best season ever,
with such classics as:

Marge vs. the Monorail
Last Exit to Springfield ( Chock full of quotes and jokes)
I Love Lisa
Kamp Krusty
A Streetcar Named Marge
Brother from the Same Planet
Mr.Plow

S4 is my favorite season, with Season 8 ( Yea, Tuesday's the day!) a close second.

[InvaderNorbert]

Alert: Season 8 comes out tomorrow! And as with the last 2, I'll be getting the Maggie Head box.

And not only that, Seasons 2-5 will now be automatically reduced to $39.99, not to mention all the sales going on.

Edited by InvaderNorbert, Aug 14, 2006 @ 11:06 PM.

[box lobster]

I'm getting my set in a few hours! I am so excited. For some reason Season 8 has been playing out of syndication in my area for a LONG time. It's literally been years since I've seen Homer's Phobia. I actually forgot like half the episode - something that I never ever thought would happen with a Simpsons episode. But more than the fantastic episodes the season holds, I'm excited for the audio commentaries. I am an audio commentary addict, and The Simpsons commentaries are ones that I've listened to multiple times. Don't be surprised if I listen to them all in one day, as I did with Season 7. I know, I'm sick.

I do think this will be the last DVD set I buy. The others I'll just rent for the commentaries. Season 8 was when the show started getting inconsistent for me. While later seasons contain some very good episodes, they also contain some very bad episodes. Obviously each season is going to have episodes that are stronger than others. But I feel like from Season 4 to 7 there were no episodes I would grade lower than a B+. Season 8 to the current season started really shooting up and down in terms of quality.

Edited by box lobster, Aug 15, 2006 @ 11:19 AM.

[SideShow Steve]

I do think this will be the last DVD set I buy.

Me too! I own S4,S5,S6,S7, and today S8,but although I think season 8 is a GREAT season, the seasons after 8 really drop off in quality.
I too will just rent the later sets. Now I just need to take advantage
of the sales and pick up 1,2,and 3.

Edited by SideShow Steve, Aug 15, 2006 @ 12:23 PM.

[BeatrixKiddoe]

I'm planning on picking up my S8 set tomorrow, but I just wanted to ask about the packaging. How are the head boxes? I love the look of them but I've heard that the plastic is kind of cheap. Would anyone here recommend them over the regular box?

[McKay]

They're not very well-made, but I have to say, the cuteness factor alone makes me love them enough to be glad that I bought them. They won't stand up evenly on a shelf, though (mine are sandwiched in so tightly they can't fall over.)

[BeatrixKiddoe]

Thanks, I'm sure I'll be in Futureshop tomorrow, take one look at the cute Maggie head and be totally sold on it. One more thing, and I'm not quite sure how to phrase this but, how are the DVDs arranged inside? Is there a box within the head?

[InvaderNorbert]

I got the DVD today, and I'm loving it! Of course, I got the Maggie Head Box, and the box is actually completely shaped like her head instead of cutting off at the nose like the past 2 boxes. Because of work, I'm currently watching the forst episode: Treehouse of Horror VII, and it's truly hilarious as hell.

Julie K used to grate me in the commentaries but now I think its kinda cute the way she acts like she's never seen the ep before.

There's also the reocurring topic that most of the commentators hadn't seen a particular episode in years, and watched the episode the night before, or they probably rarely watch the finished product on TV because the crew & the actors have been through every step of the process. But count me in as someone who loves the Commentaries, they make or break a set for me.

[arc]

There's also the reocurring topic that most of the commentators hadn't seen a particular episode in years, and watched the episode the night before

It could be worse. Other old shows that get recent releases on DVD have commenters who don't even do a rewatch, so their time in the audio booth is their rewatch and they're completely disoriented, don't remember what the story was, don't remember the jokes; I'm really glad the Simpsons commenters (usually) rewatch an episode once before doing their commentaries to get up to speed.

[Jeebus Shuttlesworth]

Are they offering both the head box and the regular box? I swore that I wouldn't be one of those people who "feared change", but the head box sucks. The plastic is cheap and flimsy, it won't stand up on a shelf, and when you open it, all the stuff comes pouring out haphazardly. I bought the regular box for Season 7, and I'll do so for Season 8.

However, I'm glad they offer a choice of regular and heady goodness. It's like "Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others!"

I think the commentaries on the Simpsons DVDs are well above some other shows/movies. What other show does commentaries on EVERY episode? They fully acknowledge that the fans are more knowledgable about the trivia and details than the writers. At first, I found it weird that they seemed so unfamiliar with classic episodes, but then I put myself in their shoes, and I realized that I wouldn't want to watch and listen to myself or my old work over and over again.

[box lobster]

One thing I like about the commentaries is how the style of them change from season to season. The first two seasons, for instance, have a fairly laid back quality to them with the writers just sitting around laughing and talking less about the process. As the seasons improve in their quality, the commentaries do as well. It seems whoever is the showrunner for the season becomes the narrator for the commentary, with everyone else taking a backseat. Al Jean and Mike Reiss are the most laid back. David Mirkin can really go on and on tangentially on some topics but he has a great enthusiasm for the show and is incredibly complimentary toward his colleagues. Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein are probably the most enthusiastic, sometimes to an annoying degree, often talking over each other. They really get into the process of making the show and are incredibly aware of the criticism of episodes from the fans. They have a connection with the fanbase that the other writers don't seem to have, so they're really quick to address criticism of their episodes. Sometimes they justify why they believe the criticism is wrong, and sometimes they agree with the criticism and offer suggestions of changes they could've made.

I think the commentaries can come off as really self-congratulatory, but I think it's more the commenters complimenting the gigantic machine that is The Simpsons and the amount of people it takes to make an episode.

Edited by box lobster, Aug 16, 2006 @ 11:18 AM.

[SideShow Steve]

The head boxes are terrible! I only have the Homer head because it was the only one on sale at the time and I never got around to ordering the replacement box.When buying Season 8 yesterday,I went to 2 stores to avoid buying the Maggie head and still get the sale price.The best DVD box set packaging, in my opinion,is the "Firefly" DVD set.It is a 4 disc set with each disc in it's own individual hard plastic slimline disc case. Each case has it's own front graphics and on the back of the case an episode list with original airdate (if it had one) and episode decsription for the episodes on that disc. Each disc is packaged so it could be sold stand alone, if that were allowed.It's great to be able to grab the disc you need without finding a CD case to put it in. I wish all DVD sets had such high quality packaging.

Edited by SideShow Steve, Aug 16, 2006 @ 12:35 PM.

[Eegah]

Battlestar Galactica also uses that method.

Season 8's going to be the last buy for me as well. It just seems to be where it all started going downhill.