The Simpsons: Season 4

If you're a true Simpsons fan, I think you'll agree with me in saying that this was one of the Finest seasons in the show's ongoing history. And Hey, its only taken 4 years for it to grace the DVD format...about time! But enough procrastinating, here are the goods, 22 episodes in all with a truckload of extras (like all Simpsons Boxsets) So here are the episodes and what happens in them if you need a little reminder. Enjoy!Kamp Krusty - After making a deal with Homer to get good grades in school, Bart and Lisa go away to Kamp Krusty, "The Krustiest Place on Earth!" While they're initially excited about their summer, they soon learn that Kamp Krusty is a run-down prison run by the tyrannical Mr. Black and his C.I.T. henchmen, Dolph, Kearney and Jimbo Jones.A Streetcar Named Marge - Marge is cast in the role of Blanche DuBois in Oh! Streetcar, the musical version of A Streetcar Named Desire directed by the flamboyant Llewellyn Sinclair at the Springfield Community Center.Homer the Heretic - One Sunday morning, Homer decides that he'd rather sleep late than go to church. Marge is disappointed, but doesn't argue with him. While home alone, Homer dances in his underwear, drinks waffle batter and loafs around watching TV.Lisa the Beauty Queen - To help Lisa get over her insecurities about her looks, Homer enters her into the Little Miss Springfield Pageant.Treehouse of Horror III - In this year's scarifying special, the Simpsons gather for a Halloween party and exchange ghost stories.Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie - Every kid in the world waits with bated breath for the Itchy & Scratchy movie, but Bart is the only one who's not allowed to see it.Marge Gets A Job - When the Simpsons' house begins sliding off its foundation, Marge is forced to get a job to help make ends meet. Where else can she turn other than The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant?!The New Kid on the Block - Evergreen Terrace welcomes two new neighbors, Ruth Powers and her lovely teenage daughter, Laura. Bart falls hard for Laura, but she thinks of him as just a little friend.Mr. Plow - At the auto show, Homer impulsively buys a snow plow and starts a business as Mr. Plow. An incredibly snowy winter sets the business rolling, making Homer a success and earning him the key to the city from Mayor Quimby.Lisa's First Word - While trying to get Maggie to say her first words, Marge tells Bart and Lisa about what they were like as babies.Homer's Triple Bypass - In a series of terrifying X-ray shots of Homer's chest, we see that his heart is dangerously clogged with plaque and doughnut residue and that he is in need of a triple bypass operation.Marge Vs. The Monorail - Mr. Burns is forced to pay a $3 million fine for illegally dumping toxic waste under trees in the park. At a town meeting where Springfield's citizens discuss how to best use the new fund. All agree on a Monorail.Selma's Choice - Aunt Selma realizes that she might wind up dying all alone and thinks that having a baby can relieve her loneliness. She takes Bart and Lisa to Duff Gardens to test if she can handle Parenthood.Brother from the Same Planet - When Homer leaves Bart waiting in the pouring rain after soccer practice, he must earn back his son's love. Bart expresses his anger by going to a Big Brother program and claiming to be an abandoned child so he can get a new "father".I Love Lisa - Trying to be nice to Ralph Wiggum, Lisa gives him a Valentine's Day card. Ralph misinterprets the gesture and thinks that Lisa is in love with him.Duffless - Lisa conducts a secret experiment for the Springfield Elementary School science fair to see who's smarter, Bart or a hamster. Meanwhile, Homer is forced to swear off beer after being arrested on a D.U.I.Last Exit to Springfield - Homer finds himself filling in for the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's union leader when it comes time to negotiate their new contract with Mr. Burns.So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show - Bart's April Fools' prank backfires and lands Homer in the hospital in a coma. At Homer's bedside, The Simpson family reminisces about all of the good times they've had over the years.The Front - Convinced they can write better Itchy & Scratchy scripts than the writers who currently work on the cartoon, Bart and Lisa set out to write their own shows.Whacking Day - Everyone in Springfield is excited for Whacking Day, but as the holiday approaches, Lisa condemns it as violent.Marge in Chains - Marge gets busted for shoplifting at the Kwik-E-Mart and is sentenced to thirty days in prison.Krusty Gets Kancelled - After the most successful advertising campaign Springfield has ever seen, The Krusty the Clown show gets bumped in the ratings by Arthur Crandall, a droll ventriloquist, and Gabbo, his excitable dummy. Krusty puts together a huge TV Special to rival Gabbo after word his show would be cancelled.EXTRAS - We can be guaranteed the Commentaries on each episode, Featurettes, Early Drawings, Animatics, TV Specials and so forth. Forget about the Extras though, that's just the glazing on the Donut so to speak. What you want this set for is the......EPISODES. This is a definite MUST HAVE. Some of the greatest episodes ever created are in this box set. Do what Homer would do and act on impulse by pre ordering this baby ASAP. You will not regret it!Mmm, DVD!

What a DVD. Season 4 is easily the best of the bunch thus far, and if you are at all a Simpsons fan, you MUST purchase it! It perfectly reflects why I hold 'The Simpsons' as my favorite TV show of all time.There are so many great episodes here, it's unbelievable. You've got three of 'The Simpsons' great directors working on this one: Rich Moore, Mark Kirkland, Jim Reardon, as well as other greats Carlos Baeza, Wes Archer, David Silverman, Jeff Lynch. I mention the three in a different category only because their episodes in particular ooze dripping quality through every animated cell, but truly, the others listed are nearly just as good. Then, of course there is the fantastic writing, courtesy of a handful of brilliant comedic minds.My personal favorite episodes -- and it's really so difficult, there are so many -- are probably those directed by the three directors listed above. It's quite interesting too, as most of the directors had been with the show from the first and second seasons, so you can really get a glimpse of them really finding their niche. The dry-wit and cynicism is ever-growing, and the jokes really do come at you at breakneck speed. The animation, which HAS to be credited for the show's uproarious laugh count, has really become sublime. And I don't just mean camera angles and backgrounds, but even more so character expressions and movement, which add infinite substance to the already great writing and voice acting. It all gels together so beautifully by this point, it's a sight to behold.The commentaries, while not "that" interesting, are fun to listen to, and I've been through them all about twice. I just like hearing the guys (primarily Groening, Jean, and Reiss) talk about a great show whilst watching it. It's a very enjoyable experience. Interesting commentaries worth noting are the two in which Conan O'Brien appears; it's quite obvious the rest of the crew hold the man in sort sort of awe, as they laugh (appropriately) at his every word. The same could be said for Jon Lovitz, who is hysterical always, and the one audio track he has ("A Streetcar Named Marge") is appalingly funny, enough for me to go out and get the "Critic" DVD simply to hear him talk spontaneously (and make homosexual remarks to Jean and Reiss).All in all, this is just a great step up from the seasons before it. By this point, the show had lost most of its emotional value, but its the comedic strength that made this show what it was, not the more sentimental aspects (though those are always intact and certainly shouldn't be dismissed). It's also probably the most endearing show I've ever seen, and even though it's the biting, jaded cynisicm that I come back for, the show ultimately holds a dear place in my scathed heart.