One of the strongest seasons of the show (The Simpsons - The Complete Season 7 (DVD))

Member Name: Wezzo

Product:	The Simpsons - The Complete Season 7 (DVD)
Date:	24/04/08 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superb episodes, great extras

Disadvantages: None

If there's anyone left in the Western world who hasn't seen The Simpsons, they must've been living in a cave for twenty years. Quick refresher: there's a Bush in the White House, Madonna's still popular, and the best show on TV is a cartoon.

The definitive animated family, our four-fingered yellow friends have seen us through nineteen seasons - and counting - totalling more than 400 episodes of America's finest comedy export. Delivering biting wit, sharp satire, zany slapstick and deft characterisation in equal measure, the show is nothing less than a cultural phenomenon. Throughout this review, basic knowledge of the show is assumed - if you aren't yet familiar with Homer and co, season-set DVDs are not really the place to start, perhaps checking out a repeat of the show on Channel 4 or Sky One would be beneficial. (There are some useful reviews on Dooyoo about "The Simpsons in general", as well.) But just in case you've forgotten, the show portrays the eventful day-to-day lives of the Simpson family - obese nuclear power-plant worker Homer, ever-harried housewife Marge, rebellious 10-year-old Bart, intellectual 8-year-old Lisa and ever-pacifier-sucking Maggie - and the multitude of fellow residents in their hometown of Springfield.

The Complete Seventh Season DVD set, reviewed here, features all 25 episodes from the series' seventh season (1995-1996). The twenty-five episodes are spread out in the ratio 6:6:7:5, alongside a veritable plethora of the bonus features we Simpsonites have become accustomed to.

Firstly, though, the most important part of any season set: the episodes. This season brought us a higher-than-average mixture of memorable moments: the eagerly awaited conclusion to "Who Shot Mr. Burns?"; Lisa's decision to go vegetarian; Homer in 3-D in the "Homer Cubed" segment of "Treehouse of Horror VI"; Bart selling his soul to Milhouse; the Flanders family taking in the Simpson kids by order of the Child Protective Services; George Bush (Sr.) moving in opposite the Simpsons; Apu facing deportation; Homer taking over from Smithers as Burns' lackey; Homer's bowling team, the Pin Pals; Selma's short-lived marriage to Troy McClure; Krusty's tax troubles; Marge's attempt at social climbing through Chanel suits and country clubs; Homer's visit from his law-evading mother; and Troy McClure's tribute to the show's first 138 shows. Alongside all this, a multitude of guest stars feature, including among others Paul and Linda McCartney, Phil Hartman, Paul Anka, Glenn Close, Bob Newhart, Donald Sutherland, Kirk Douglas, Jeff Goldblum, Cypress Hill, Peter Frampton, The Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Christian Ricci and Kelsey Grammar, returning as Sideshow Bob.

As with season 6, for which you could choose either a collectible "Homer head" package or a more standard cardboard digibook package, you can choose to purchase either a Marge head or a standard box. There's no way to get both without buying two copies of the set, but to most fans this won't matter too much. I recieved the head box; included in the package are the four discs in a separate disc trays that can be opened like a book design (known as a digibook), thankfully entirely removable from the Marge head for easier and quicker access, as well as an excellent booklet that parodies an issue of "Variety" (right down to the picture captions and advertisements at the end); entitled "Vanity" it details all of the episodes and extra features included.

The DVD menus remain the same as they have done since season 5 - a good thing, as the menus are excellently designed and easily navigable. The top half of the screen contains a screen featuring a variety of Simpson characters revelant to the episodes on that particular disc dressed elegantly, posing for photographs on a red carpet, implying they are going to an awards ceremony; the bottom half of the screen lists the episodes along with the lovely Play All option, and an "Extras" button in the shape of a movie ticket. Each episode has two small buttons next to it: choosing the first, featuring a triangle similar to a Play button, will play the episode; the other, with a "+" mark, will open a sub-menu, also themed, of which there can be several in a row, featuring scene, language, subtitle, commentary and deleted scenes options. There is a chapter stop after the opening of the show for quick skipping. ALl of the menus are animated to some extent, and many feature audio - it's frequently worth playing through the menu a couple of times to check what's going to happen!

As usual, the principal extra is the commentary on every one of the 25 episodes in the set, featuring a vast array of contributors. Matt Groening, creator of the show himself, is present on two-thirds of them; other regulars throughout the set include David Mirkin, Bill Oakley, Josh Weinstein, Wes Archer, David Silverman, Susie Dietter, Jon Vitti, Greg Daniels, David S. Cohen, Mark Kirkland and Bob Anderson. Unfortunately, the only cast member around this time is Yeardley Smith. Each commentary track has anything from two to ten participants. The commentary tracks are, once again, simultaneously hilarious and informative, and often feature interesting behind-the-scenes anecdotes and stories that we would otherwise never know - or care to find out! - and they often go in-depth on the philosophical, mathematical or scientific side of the show, such as the equations featured in the "Homer Cubed" segment, and the emotional side of "Home Sweet Home-Diddly-Dum-Doodily". They even make reference to "the nerds on the Internet" when commenting on episodes particularly loved or unloved by web-wise fans. As ever, throughout the full-length commentaries there is barely a dull moment with every episode featuring multiple contributors, and any fan of the show will regale in the trivial tidbits being passed on.

As ever, though, Fox have been much more generous than merely including commentary on every episode - no, there are many more interesting bonuses to check out. Kicking off the additional bonus features is the "Introduction From Matt Groening" on disc 1, a short two-minute reel of quick season seven clips over which Matt discusses the DVD in the same vein as the similar featurettes on seasons 4, 5 and 6.

Once again, deleted scenes are supplied in great numbers. 29 episodes feature deleted scenes, once again totalling around 20 minutes. All are entertaining, and are in the later stages of production - the only thing really missing is some voice cleanup and sound effects. You can view them inserted into their respective episodes, or as a 20-minute reel (in which the scenes are preceded by 10 seconds or so of contextual animation actually used in the episode) with optional commentary on the final disc.

Additionally, there is are three in-depth "Animation Showcases" for the episodes "Home Sweet Home Diddly-Dum-Doodily", "Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson" and "Summer of 4 ft 2" featuring multi-angle animation comparisons from different stages of the animation and original sketches, as well as several other animation-related bonuses such as the brilliant "A Bit From The Animators" (similar to illustarted commentaries on previous sets) on "The Day The Violence Died" and "Summer of 4 ft 2"; and a sketch gallery on disc 4.

Finally, we have a recipe for Paul and Linda McCartney's Lentil Soup, read aloud by Paul McCartney himself; a very interesting 6-minute featurette on the 3D animation used in "Treehouse of Horror VI"; and a Special Language Feature enabling us to view "22 Short Films About Springfield" in German, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian and Portuguese.

The audio-video quality on this set is once again excellent - it's continuing to improve with each successive season, and whilst we're still not quite up to the impressive digital quality we'll be expecting with the later seasons, we're getting a lot closer. The full-frame presentation is bright, sharp and fully detailed; it's only marred by the limitation of the source material. There is minimal grain and shimmering, and colours are vivid. The DD5.1 remaster is again excellent, and whilst largely front-focused, directional effects sometimes do make their way to the back, and the overall clarity makes for an improved listening experience, though the dialogue is sometimes rather quiet. English SDH subtitles are present on both episodes and bonus features - including commentaries, a useful touch.

Another brilliant package from Fox; there's no arguing with the fact that this collection of episodes and bonuses is nothing short of outstanding. A boxset that I highly recommend to even the most casual fan.

Rated 12 by the BBFC for moderate sex references, mild language, mild comic violence

Full episode list:

Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)
Radioactive Man
Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily
Bart Sells His Soul
Lisa the Vegetarian
Treehouse of Horror VI
King-Size Homer
Mother Simpson
Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming
The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular
Marge Be Not Proud
Team Homer
Two Bad Neighbors
Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield
Bart the Fink
Lisa the Iconoclast
Homer the Smithers
The Day the Violence Died
A Fish Called Selma
Bart on the Road
22 Short Films About Springfield
Raging Abe Simpson and his Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish"
Much Apu About Nothing
Homerpalooza

--This review was also posted at The Simpsons Archive (www.snpp.com)

Summary: Highly recommended for casual fans and aficionados alike