Simpsons, The - Complete Season 4  (1992)

Rating: NR

Distributor: Fox Home Entertainment

Release Date: June 15, 2004
Review posted: June 17, 2004

Reviewed by Dennis Landmann

SYNOPSIS

The Simpsons offers satiric adventures of a working class family in the misfit city of Springfield. You know the rest.

CRITIQUE

For many fans, The Simpsons' fourth season marks the highlight of the show's 15-season run (the new season starts October 31, 2004). This is supported by many excellent episodes and sophisticated storylines involving mainly Homer, Marge, Bart and Lisa. They all share greatness together, such as in Homer's Triple Bypass and Marge vs. The Monorail, but there are also individual-themed episodes that make one family member the leading star, like Lisa's turn as beauty pageant in Lisa the Beauty Queen, Bart's infatuation with an older girl in New Kid on the Block, Marge's foray into theater in A Streetcar Named Desire, and Homer's determination to be the best he can be in Mr. Plow.

It's no secret, folks, The Simpsons is a cartoon classic. It's always funny, knows satire, features loveable characters all around, appeals to all age groups (I would think), looks great in terms of animation, and sounds funny in terms of voice work by an excellent cast. The fourth season includes many great episodes to be discovered again, and to my surprise there were some I've never seen before.

Disc 1: Kamp Krusty; A Streetcar Named Marge; Homer the Heretic; Lisa the Beauty Queen

Disc 2: Treehouse of Horror III; Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie; Marge Gets a Job; New Kid on the Block; Mr. Plow; Lisa's First Word

Disc 3: Homer's Triple Bypass; Marge vs. the Monorail; Selma's Choice; Brother from the Same Planet; I Love Lisa; Duffless

Disc 4: Last Exit to Springfield; So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show; The Front; Whacking Day; Marge in Chains; Krusty Gets Kancelled

THE VIDEO

Fox presents The Simpsons in standard 1.33:1 fullscreen format. Shimmering appears in more than a handful of images and around the edges in basically every episode or two, but the colors look sharp and solid. There are no compression artifacts or interlacing errors. Lines are generally smooth and image quality looks good, but not a consistent basis. Sharpness and detail are not that great, yet the presentation of the fourth season episodes shows general improvement over the quality from the previous set. Overall, this show looks very nice and Fox’s presentation is fitting to the material. Optional subtitles include English and Spanish.

THE AUDIO

Fox presents The Simpsons in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. This presentation doesn't quite use all of the discrete channels. In fact, the two front channels seem to be the only ones working. Rear speakers don’t sound off much at all, even during some of the musical numbers. I guess there's some evidence of the surrounds making a peep or two from episode to episode. Dialog is very clear and easy to understand, coming from the front speakers at all times. The sound effects don’t add a lot of depth to the presentation as these are also emitted from the front. However, the show sounds very nice and loud, with a bit of dynamic range present. Despite an overall front-heavy presentation for each episode, the audio is in very nice shape and perfectly well-suited for this type of show. You can also choose to view each episode in Spanish and French Dolby Surround.

THE EXTRAS

Much like the previous season sets, The Simpsons - The Complete Fourth Season features audio commentary on all 22 episodes by the crew (producers, writers, directors), including creator Mat Groening, Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Jon Vitti, Jeff Martin, Josh Weinstein, Bill Oakley, David M. Stern, Jim Reardon, David Silverman, Jeff Lynch, and Rich Moore, among others.

Select cast members, including Jon Lovitz and Hank Azaria, appear on the track for A Streetcar Named Marge, and "popular Late Night host" Conan O'Brien comments on the two episodes that he wrote, New Kid on the Block and Marge vs. the Monorail. Lovitz and Azaria add some good things to their track, while O'Brien is entertaining and offers some good info. I would guess there aren't more cast commentaries for this release because of the "misfortune" with the voice actors that happened a few months ago; they asked for a bigger paycheck.

The video-based extras are spread over the four discs. Disc One starts off with A Word from Matt Groening (1:55), an introduction to the fourth season by the creator where he offers his thoughts on favorite episodes, moments, etc.

The Cajun Controversy (2:13) is a bit on the infamous song from A Streetcar Named Desire with comments from writer Jeff Martin, and Bush Vs. Simpson (5:00) is a piece narrated by exec producer James Brooks on the exchange of words between Barbara Bush and Marge Simpson.

Promotional Stuff (13:54) is from 1993 and offers some thoughts on the show with many clips and some behind-the-scenes footage of the voice cast. This is exactly what you would expect from a promotional featurette, but it's just fine.

Rounding out the extras on the first disc is a special language feature on Kamp Krusty that allows you to watch the entire episode in four different languages.

Disc Two offers four commercials, including one for Butterfinger and one for KFC. The third and fourth discs feature deleted scenes for episodes Homer's Triple Bypass and The Front, respectively.

The other extras are animation showcase, which gives you the option of viewing various stages of an episode's completion by using the "angle" button, for the episodes A Streetcar Named Marge, Homer's Triple Bypass, So It's Come To This: A Simpson's Clip Show, and Itchy and Scratchy: The Movie. Animatics are available for the first three episodes as well as illustrated commentary by Rich Moore and David Silverman on the first two.

A very nice improvement from the last set are the menus, which are now animated. Various characters do silly things. However, menu transitions take a few seconds. The problem is that over time it gets a tiny bit annoying having to wait.

The inside flap of the packaging includes a nice written introduction by Matt Groening. An informative booklet lists special features and episode synopsis, chapters, airdates, etc. Each episode runs approximately 22-and-a-half minutes and is organized into six chapters.

FINAL THOUGHTS

At the rate Fox is putting these season sets out, we'll most likely have to wait one full year for the fifth season. D'oh! In any case, for now fans can enjoy the coolness, hilarity, and nostalgia of the fourth season. The four-disc set is well-priced and available for about $30 if you look closely. The extras are pretty good, but not exactly overwhelming. The Simpsons comes very highly recommended, and I would almost give it a Collector Series recommendation.

VERDICT: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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