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DVD The Simpsons - The Complete Fifth Season
Sixteen seasons (and counting) of pop culture-rocking brilliance, the first four of which have already been gloriously archived on DVD. But in the words of Krusty the Clown: What has The Simpsons done for me lately? Well, how about all 22 episodes of season 5, each accompanied by commentary, deleted scenes, and other encyclopedic extras that hopelessly devoted Simpsons fans crave, no, demand? Season 5 is perhaps not as classics-packed as the third and fourth seasons, but no self-respecting Simpsons fan should be without the episodes "Homer's Barbershop Quartet," featuring George Harrison, "Cape Feare," one of Sideshow Bob's (and guest voice Kelsey Grammer's) finest half-hours, "Rosebud," "Springfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)," and "Bart Gets Famous," with the Springfield-sweeping catchphrase "I didn't do it." Plus, the star power this season is impressive: Michelle Pfeiffer as Homer's comely, donut-loving co-worker in "The Last Temptation of Homer," Albert Brooks as a self-help guru who unleashes "Bart's Inner Child," Kathleen Turner as the creator of Malibu Stacy in "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy," and, as themselves, the Ramones ("Rosebud"), James Woods ("Homer and Apu"), Buzz Aldrin ("Deep Space Homer"), and even Robert Goulet ("Springfield").
But it is the writers and the core ensemble cast who exhibit, to quote "Deep Space Homer," "the right... What's that stuff?" Series milestones include the first appearance of yokel Cletus in "Bart Gets an Elephant," and Maggie's infant nemesis, The Baby with One Eyebrow in "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Badasssss Song," which also happens to be The Simpsons' 100th episode. Add in a very good "Treehouse of Horror" episode, (which outs Ned Flanders as the Devil and Marge as the head vampire), and one Emmy-nominated musical extravaganza ("Who Needs the Quick-E-Mart" from "Homer and Apu"), and you have a Simpsons season that's not just great, it's DVD-box-set great. --Donald Liebenson
Review(s): DVD The Simpsons - The Complete Fifth Season
Doh?
I'm a die-hard Simpsons fan. I mean, loyal. As in, will protest any argument in the world which might shun the show, or even reasonably argue that there are shows that stand above it. Mind you, when I say "The Simpsons", I mean the show that ended nearly a decade ago. To me, "The Simpsons" lasted about nine or so phenomenal years, and then slowly plunged into an entity of shameful mediocrity. I mean, frankly, it's not really that upsetting; despite the fact that the show's "reputation" has been tarnished entirely (in an opinion like mine -- which I know many agree with), one thing evades any overall judgement on its decision to blindly continue (to this day) into the relatively wretched state it's currently in, and has been for far too long now. Without really getting into the vehement criticisms, however, I'm going to (appropriately) move on to the product in question -- the DVD for Season 5.
Season 5, for me, is a definite contender for the strongest within the series, and its seemingly endless existence. It is surrounded naturally by seasons 4, 6, and 7, and in my opinion these are the three other trophy competitors. Here's why:
The writing here is little else than stunning. Literally. When you watch most shows nowadays -- such as the huge phenomenon "Family Guy" -- it becomes apparent that there is absolutely no comparison to the glory days of "The Simpsons". Where even the best of shows might have, oh, 60% of the jokes that work (and that's being generous), "The Simpsons" at this point in time was always near 80%. You don't have a half-baked group of guys throwing out impulsive ideas at 2am coming down from a good high. You have a dedicated, talented crew passionate about their production and the result is magnificent. Far as I know, the writer writes the show, then comes the storyboard, then the animation which is finalized in Japan (or China??). In one of the commentaries somewhere (on this disc or another), a producer mentions that literally hundreds of jokes come to fruition and they work their way down to however many are needed for the episode. Naturally, you get twenty minutes of uproarious material that almost never dips to a merely satisfactory condition. Next, you've got the crew behind the animation. The directors here are 'so' unbelievably talented. Like the season before it, you get a great gist of the individual personalities and expressions of the crew. Mark Kirkland's episodes are more kooky; Jim Reardon's cynical and angry (my personal favorite); Wes Archer's craziness, etc. And along these lines, you get entirely different episodes entirely; the Homer, Lisa, etc on Reardon's are entirely different than the Homer and Lisa, etc of Kirkland's. And yet, it's ultimately still the same show, and I think it's this wonderous fact that makes it so diverse and compelling; it's not one mood but several, coming from the handful of different writers, directors, and the voice acting. On to that, it's as good as it's ever been. Not to dismiss the many others, but what needs to be stated is Dan Castellaneta's performance as Homer. At this point it's absolutely PRISTINE. I hold this guy in such awe. If you're into details, just watch the "Homer Goes to College" episode and you'll see what I mean. I can't explain it, truly, but what he can do with one line is genius beyond genius, and any description of such a finely crafted art is futile. Without doubt, at least for me, his voice acting is the pinnicle in the art and has not been superceeded by any other in the history of television. In the far later, unimpressive seasons, it would change for the worse, but here it's just perfect in every -- single -- way. Oh, and one last thing, resorting to the animation -- it's splendid. These are huge universes, not pale or rushed. There is a reason the show costs some million dollars to produce each episode; there are numerous people working on it -- incredibly talented, costly people -- and it shows. Furthermore when one gets to the comedic aspect of the animation -- which is EVERY bit as important as any other element -- the nuances are hysterical and unmatched. Oh yes! One thing that I firmly believe in, depressingly, is that in this season the show is hand-drawn, opposed to digitally rendered, which would ultimately takeover a few years later, due to ease of use and such. Call me crazy, but the rawness and subtleties of the non-computerized, visual complexion of the show is now sorely missed.
OK, I'm done. No thought out concluding paragraph, for I'm devoid of energy now. I can't state enough how much I admire "The Simpsons" at this stage, despite my attempts. When I think of Heaven, I hope it's as satisfying as the most intimate moments of laughter I've been blessed with from this show. If there's a God, he may have all the love and forgiveness as the benign religions say, but he also has a wickedly bizzare sense of humor, and that is displayed in this unmatched DVD.
Brilliant...Simply Brilliant...
Season five of "The Simpsons," in my humble opinion, is the true starting point for newcomers to the show; in season five, the show really got all of its elements together, and it became, simply, a "classic." While the prior two seasons established the show as a witty, cynical social commentary, season five really knocked that description out of the park. Most of the episodes in this set are top 30-40 episode candidates, and my all-time favorite episode is here too (the Homer-goes-into-space episode). Sheer brilliance! Own it now!
Great season, bad packaging or something....
Bought The Simpsons Season 5 to complete my entire collection available at this time. (1-7 currently) It was a great deal, $20 only when I recieved it the disks were moving all over the place, the reason, the plastic disk holder things had broken, all most all of them too. I ended up just putting the disks that don't stay in their holders in some paper disk protector type things. Its a shame too all of my other purchases from Amazon were great... I'm not returning it though because I don't want to deal with the hassle...
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