The Simpsons: The Twelfth Season DVD Review

Posted by Randy Harrison on 09.02.2009

The Simpsons are prepared to break more television records with their upcoming twenty-first season on Fox, but 411's Randy Harrison is set to take a step back in time to look at the DVD release for the show's twelfth season. Will he be Hungry, Hungry, Homer for more or will this set represent a Trilogy of Error that will leave fans sour? Click on in for an in-depth look at the four-disc set.

The Simpsons will soon embark on their record-setting twenty-first season, with records seemingly tumbling every time a new episode hits the airwaves. The show is the longest running primetime animated series, unseating The Flintstones back in 1997, and is also the longest running live-action or animated sitcom, passing The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in 2004. The Simpsons series also passed Ozzie and Harriet again in 2009, when they ran their 436th episode, one more than the popular sitcom series of the 50's and 60's ran. Also of note is that with its past season, the series is now tied with Gunsmoke for the longest running American primetime, scripted television series, a record that will fall at the end of the upcoming season (though it's worth noting that the series would have to run for eight or nine more years to top Gunsmoke's record of total episodes at 635).

Amidst all of the records and before most of them were ultimately set, The Simpsons' twelfth season saw some turmoil as long-time fans began to revolt as they felt that the show had left some of its based in realism roots behind for more slapstick and zany, unbelievable storylines. Many others thought that some of the heart was gone from the series and that while episodes were still funny, some of the emotion behind the characters was lacking or completely gone altogether. With the twelfth season being the latest up for DVD release, let's take a look at whether the critics were right when they took the show to task during the original airings or whether the passage of time has given a new lease on life to these classic episodes.



Buy The Simpsons: The Twelfth Season DVD Set here.

The Season:

This season is actually one of my favorites because some of my favorite episodes from the series are on here including A Tale of Two Springfields (the town is separated by two area codes and Homer decides to secede and create New Springfield), Insane Clown Poppy (Krusty finds out he has a daughter) and two episodes near the end of the season that told stories in a different way, Trilogy of Error and Simpsons Tall Tales.

Trilogy of Error shows a day in the life of the Simpson Family from three different perspectives, showing how their stories intertwine and branch off. It almost feels like a Tarantino movie rather than a Simpsons episode, but that's a compliment in this case. Simpsons Tall Tales looks at legends and stories like Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer and Paul Bunyan as told by a singing (non-stabbing) hobo, but with an eccentric Simpsons twist. This one is a really interesting tweak on the series for me as I really enjoy their episodes that feature something other than the normal Simpson stories as they feel like a nice break from the same old routine.

It's also interesting to see those types of episodes because they have a different writer for each portion of the show. That makes it fun for the viewer as you get to see how each writer tackles their portion of the show, allowing you to see each writer's style and how they construct their stories. That makes it easier to see which portions of the show are written by which writer in other epsiodes as you begin to see each writer's way of telling the Simpsons' wild stories and each writer's preferred style of jokes.

Other episodes that are particular favorites of mine include the Hungry, Hungry Homer episode with Homer staging a hunger strike when he finds out the Springfield Isotopes baseball team is planning a move to Albequerque, and New Kids on the Blecch where Bart becomes part of a Springfield-based boy band with ulterior patriotic motives. There are a few misses here though including Lisa The Tree Hugger, which just doesn't do it for me, as well as the Bye Bye Nerdie episode which falls flat and ends up feeling fairly uninspired. For those of you ready to take me to task on choosing two episodes which center on Lisa, don't be mistaken. I'm a big Lisa fan, those are just two of the episodes that stood out as lackluster during the season.

The packaging has been a hot topic amongst collectors of the seasons as the way that the DVDs were held was changed for the eleventh season set, drawing the ire of many fans who claimed that the new accordion-style folder was too hard on the discs and led to unnecessary scratches. Well, those concerns will begin anew as the same packaging was used for this twelfth season, though I have to say that the comic book theme and the lush animation in the booklet and on the accordion almost makes up for the somewhat clumsy execution. I have yet to have any problems with scratches as of yet, but I can definitely see how something like that would happen.

Overall, I'd have to say that I was pleased with this season and that while the critics and some hardcore fans of the show may have not been as impressed when these shows first aired, there are some quality episodes and solid writing in this season that may have been overlooked in a case of mob mentality. Sure it's not as groundbreaking as the show was in earlier seasons, but it's still pretty darn good and it's one of the better seasons out of that block from the late 90's and early 2000's and certainly not one of the worst,(Season Ten, I'm looking in your direction).


Presentation:

The Simpsons twelfth season is presented in 1.33:1 Fullscreen ratio and is available in 5.1 Dolby surround in English and stereo in both French and Japanese, with full subtitles in English and Spanish available as well. The commentary tracks are well-done on the discs, though my one personal quibble is that they completely drown out the original audio from the episodes, sometimes depriving you from hearing whatever joke that is made while the commentary track is talking about it. The menus for each disc are set up in such a way as to make it easier for people to get to where they're going with arrows and plus signs helping you to navigate. While the system does work better once you get the hang of it, for people who have never seen it before it may seem a little messier than just a straight written menu next to each episode.


Extras:

This set is chock full of extras as there are audio commentaries from key players on every episode and certain episodes feature animator commentaries with the animators using telestrators to point out fun background tidbits and information. All of the commentaries are helpfully categorized and organized in the accompanying booklet, making it a one-stop shop for helping you find everything on the four-disc set. As for the actual extras, here's the rundown of what's included with season twelve.

A Comic Moment With Matt Groening: Groening welcomes us to the Simpsons DVD set and walks through what we'll be seeing in the season set including a roll call of guest stars that will be involved in the season. He also talks about all of the extras that are on the set including animated commentaries and full audio commentaries on all episodes

Deleted Scenes: Extras that didn't make the show for one reason or another. Some decent stuff here, but most of them are just extended sequences or things that really don't add much of anything to the episodes. Decent, but there's nothing terribly funny here.

Audio Commentaries: These are pretty standard stuff on most season set releases now and this one doesn't disappont with lots of thoughts from directors, creators, animators and writers. For people who like to know where some of the ideas and stories come from, as well as what some of the people involved in the show think of the particular episodes, this is gold. They're not commentaries that involve a ton of crazy stories or a lot of inside jokes, but they're solid commentary tracks and they're on all twenty-one episodes of the season.

Picture-In-Picture Storyboards and Animatics: These are actually pretty cool as we see scenes from the show in picture-in-picture form with both picture storyboards and animatic storyboards, showing the evolution from idea to storyboard to finished episode. Neat feature for geeks like me that love shows like How It's Made.

Comic Book Guy's Best. Moments. Ever.: This is basically a montage of Comic Book Guy's best scenes from various seasons, playing into the comic theme of the season set as well as the fact that Comic Book Guy graces the cover of the set. Much like you'd expect, the scenes are full of the sarcasm and snark that we've all come to know and love from CBG.

A Bit From The Animators: This features people involved in the season adding doodles and fun commentaries to selected episodes with audio and the use of a telestrator. This is a neat addition to the set and they actually do some cool things including pointing out things that are in the background of episodes by circling them before they talk about them. They give some insight into the process of animating and directing the show, which again is a cool touch for people who love behind the scenes goodies like this.

The Global Fan Fest: This feature shows highlights from the Simpsons Fan Fest that was held in October of 2000 at the 20th Century Fox Studio Lot. We see clips of the show minus music and then clips with a full live orchestra as they accenutate just how important the musical background is to the show. That leads into some Simpsons trivia from the creators and writers of the show. They take questions from the fans and end up stumped more often than they get them correct. We get a snip from an animator roundtable as well as a look at the process of creating an episode from beginning to end and then there's a Q & A session with the voice actors. There's a bit of an in-joke in there as someone asks about a Simpsons Movie with the cast joking that it's coming out "next Friday", which actually ended up being six years later. This was kind of cool and fits into the timeframe of when the season originally aired, but it seemed to be a poor fit for the set and there was nothing terribly insightful going on here.

Commercials: Some of the various commercials from around the world featuring The Simpsons. These are pretty inoffensive and the international commercials are actually kind of fun to see in a bit of a nostalgic kind of way. Nothing earth-shattering, but a fun addition to the set.

The 411: While some may point to this as the beginning of the end for quality Simpsons seasons, I beg to differ as there are multiple episodes here that stand up well even today and only a couple of clunkers throughout the four discs. The packaging is suspect, but again that can be offset by how impressive the art is for the entire set. When you add in the plethora of extras with commentaries galore, this set is definitely a must-own for all Simpsons fans and one that won't leave you disappointed.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]