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By PAUL BRENNER
A scrumptious four-disc set by
Twentieth Century Fox Home Video: All 22 episodes from the 1990-91 season are presented uncut and the transfer is
eye-popping, the episodes probably looking better now than they ever did during their television debuts. Where in the
first abbreviated season of The Simpsons, as a separate entity from The Tracey Ullman Show, The Simpsons stumbled about
for a clean animation style and less edgy and more digestible characterizations, Season Two finds The Simpsons trotting
into full animated stride as directors David Silverman, Rich Moore, and Wes Archer nail down the look of the show.
Writers John Swartzwelder, Jay Kogen, Wallace Wolodarsky, Jeff Martin and John Vitti retain creator Matt Groening's
samurai sword sharp satire as Sun God James L. Brooks expands the characterizations so that a line like "Dad, why is the
world such a cesspool of corruption" rings as a world weary slice-of-life aside.
It is hard to think of any other prime time show in the Bush Sr. era of 1991 that was unafraid of taking on such issues
as censorship, nuclear pollution, insurance fraud, venality, religion, aging and death, let alone a cartoon show. But
with such high mark Second Season episodes as Bart Gets an F, Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish,
Dancin' Homer, Bart the Daredevil, Itchy and Scratchy and Marge, Bart Gets Hit By a Car, the Way We Was, Lisa and the
8th Commandment, and Three Men and a Comic Book, The Simpsons covered social concerns that would make even Phil Donahue
blanch. The film parodies of Welles, Huston, Hitchcock, DeMille and Gone With the Wind intensify, along with the early
1990s frenzy of Bartmania. The superstar status of Bart is documented in the collection by several candy commercials,
two music videos from a Simpsons album, and a jaw dropping clip from the 1991 American Music Awards with the visibly
pregnant Voice of Bart, Nancy Cartwright, stomping around a stage in a frightening Bart Simpson costume, looking like it
was purloined from a family ice spectacular.
The Special features also include promotional 1990-91 season interviews with Matt Groening, David Silverman, and James
L. Brooks. Storyboards, sketches, drawings, magazine covers and foreign language clips in French, German, Hungarian,
Portuguese, and Spanish are also offered. But the best of thee extras is the audio commentary that accompanies all 22
episodes. Groening is present for all the episodes and is joined on various episodes by Brooks and a gaggle of writers,
producers, and directors from the series.
By the time the climax of the fourth disc is reached, The Simpsons become more than a television show, it becomes a way
of life. At least to the point when Marge can state, "This family has had its differences and we've squabbled, but we've
never had knife fights before" and she sounds like the voice of rationality.
The collection is in English Dolby 5.1, English Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround, and with English and Spanish
subtitles. |
