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The Simpsons - The Complete Second Season

The Simpsons - The Complete Second Season

List Price: $49.98
Your Price: $37.49
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best...show...ever!
Review: Although the first season of "The Simpsons" was funny (although not so much now as when I was in the fifth grade), it was, in my humble opinion, the second season that set the show firmly on its path to greatness. The dazzlingly intelligent writing that became its trademark was not as sharp as in subsequent seasons, but in season two it was obviously coming into the picture. It was here that the show's sociopolitical comedy and heavy use of irony started gaining prominence. It took aim at politics in "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish," at TV and censorship in "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge," and at litigiousness in "Bart Gets Hit by a Car."

While "The Simpsons" in season two became more Homer-centric after its initial focus on Bart, it's also worth noting that the second season saw the show starting to introduce and flesh out some supporting characters. We got to see more of the Simpsons' bible-thumping neighbors, the Flandereseses; Homer's malevolent employer Mister Burns; Homer's aging father; and the hilariously inept and crooked Springfield cops. In the second season, it was becoming obvious that "The Simpsons" was not just about one family but about a whole town, and indeed about society in general.

If I had to pick a favorite episode from this season, it would definitely be "Bart Gets Hit by a Car." More than most other early episodes, this one captured the show in all its sordid glory with a hilarious take on America's litigious society. With all the lies being thrown around by the various characters, "Bart Gets Hit by a Car" captures humanity at its most, well, human. And as a bonus, it introduces two of the show's most hilarious characters, the shyster lawyer Lionel Hutz and the quack "doctor" Nick Riviera.

The brilliance of "The Simpsons" is sort of taken for granted now, but it's nice to be able to see where it all started. I don't think this is the best season; that honor would probably go to season four. But there are more than enough laughs to make season two worth dropping forty bucks, especially if you haven't seen the episodes in a while.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Falls short of classic
Review: OK, I wanna start out by saying I love The Simpsons. Unfortunately, though many would disagree, I prefer the sarcastic, insulting Simpsons of today.

It's not that there's nothing wrong with the early Simpsons. As many would say, Season 2 is where The Simpsons start to decide and figure out their own comedic way. And although it's that these are truly great episodes, they are, after a while, a little less than well, funny. At many times, this season includes alot of humor that isn't inappropriate, but just confusing to the kids. I think of Bart and Lisa's "Shaft" song in the episode where Homer eats poisonous fish, or when the man called Larry King, who hosts his own adult talkshow, reads the Bible on tape to Homer in the same episode, how we don't get it because it's adult comedy. And sometimes, this takes a while for kids to wait until the next part.

Also, there's alot of sad bits that may make kids afraid of what's going to happen. "Is Bart going to pass fourth grade after he studies?", "Is Homer going to die now that he's eaten bad fish?" and others come to mind as some questions that episodes use even though you know what will happen. All this brings down a half a star. But other than the parts where we get just a little confused, it's good stuff.

I don't know about you, but I love DVD extras, and you probably do too. After reading a big list of all the special features, and even taking out stuff like scene selection and good sound which don't really matter to kids or some adults, it seemed like there were alot. But after going through the menus, I was again dissapointed because there wasn't really alot. I'd have to say the music videos are the best thing, because drawings and storyboards bore us kids, the American Music Awards thing is even stupid to us, and the other stuff you see once and then you're bored. This brings it down another half a star to 4 stars.

Now, as you may have guest, I'm an older kid, soon to be writing on the adult comments, but I'm also looking at this from a kid's point of view. I have a little brother who agrees with me on most of these things, but doesn't like the audio commentary. This is where a bunch of guys who worked on the thing talk about what you're watching while you're watching it, and make jokes and stuff and tell you things about the episodes, like things you didn't know and why they picked a name and other things.
This doesn't become funny until you're 11 or 12, as some things are more complicated than the episode parts I talked about. But I like them, and I recommend them to anyone who asks a question about an episode or just likes to hear interesting info on stuff without it being too boring.

So, overall, on the Simpsons scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the lowest, 10 being the highest and 5 being average, I give this season, an 8. Or since it's being out of five, a 4. And I just wanna say, that I sincerely hope that they have better special features to go with the great episodes of season 3.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Better than season one
Review: "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is no doubt a gut-busting episode with lots of laughs along with "Itchy & Scratchy Vs. Marge". Actually, it's all very hysterical.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: super cool
Review: being a huge simpsons fan i may be a bit biased but this is the best dvd collection ever!!! ( except for season one and the comning seasons 3-13)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A definite improvement from the first season release
Review: Everyone knows how the program improved from the first season to the second, so I will spare you the episode reviews that are so ubiquitous on this page. What is important, however, is that the presentation of these great episodes has gotten better.

In terms of sound and picture quality, there is no question that these are great (as were the first season DVDs). The packaging is nearly the same, and it certainly looks handsome to have the two as-of-yet-released seasons sitting near each other on my shelf.

As for improvements: The bonus features on this set are, on the whole, better than the first installment of this series. Especially good were the short films originally distributed as FOX promotional material: interviews with James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, and footage describing the creating of an episode were definite assets. More foreign language clips were included, which is also a big plus.

A few things are a bit annoying about these discs. For one: in order to get to the main menu, you have to wait a considerable amount of time. Of course, I understand and accept the necessity to have a warning from the FBI and Interpol or whatever, but the animation game that requires you to press enter in order to put the characters' heads on their corresponding bodies is irksome--especially since you have to do it three times. It's cute, but a bit overdone. Also (and this is a very slight complaint), when I'm looking for a particular episode, I don't like having to refer to the included booklet (or having to pick a disc at random). Perhaps the main menu on Disc 1 could include a list of all episodes and, when chosen, they could direct the viewer to insert the appropriate disc. Or, if it wouldn't be too unattractive (or not keeping with the already-released installments), it would be nice to have episode titles written on the discs themselves, or at least in a promiment place on the interior packaging.

All in all, this DVD set is a must have for all Simpsons fans. I just hope the sets continue to improve with each installment--Lord knows Fox is taking enough time between release dates. They might as well make them good.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The shows are great
Review: I'm hooked on the Simpsons and think the DVD series is a great idea. After buying the first series, I was disappointed though in the packaging of the shows. Some, but not much has improved in these regards in the 2nd series, but the shows are still fantastic.

Regarding the packaging, both the first and second sets come with a flimsy piece of paper containing the show list (though not detailed disc by disc) glued in only one spot to the back of the package. Additionally, the DVD's themselves in both sets do not have the show list printed on the DVD themselves. So, if you want to find a particular show, you have to go to the inserted booklet to find out which disc it is on for the 2nd series. This though is a step up from the first series which didn't even provide that. The inserted booklet does provide a little blurp on each show in regards to special guest voices on each program, and characters which were introduced on that particular show. This was a nice touch and it'd be good to see it expanded in future sets. Also, the special features now are consolidated onto the last DVD instead of being spread across all of 'em in the first set, though there is nothing in the packaging that will tell you this.

All in all though, you buy the DVD's for the shows, and the shows are spectacular. I can't wait for more in the series, I only hope they improve the packaging from an after thought to something that is well thought out.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very good, not great
Review: I am enjoying this DVD quite a bit. The only disappointment for me is the audio commentary. I was expecting a bit more insight about each episode. Instead, there is a lot of chuckling from Matt Groening and company and many inside jokes. However, all of this is overruled by having 22 episodes of one of my favorite television shows all in one tidy little package! Can't wait for season # 3!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An extraordinary DVD treasure!
Review: This set has got to be one of the crown jewels of any serious DVD collector's library. The Simpsons is a GREAT program, and this set does nothing to diminish the accomplishments of one of TVs greatest creative teams. The extras are fun, interesting and virtually endless. Order it TODAY!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brilliant TV gets the treatment it deserves!
Review: This is a subjective opinion, I realize, but I'm not alone in stating it: "The Simpsons" is the best television show of all time. Consistently witty, innovatively animated (just watch Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network and marvel at all the imitators of the animation style), and subversively satirical, the show would already be a top contender without the genuine emotional core the show provides. That, and it's one of the only shows I can count on to be laugh-out-loud funny (in many cases, side-splittingly funny) on a regular basis. If there's anything better than this, I can't imagine what it is.

Thankfully, FOX gave us the DVD collection such a brilliant show deserves. Just as the second season was a huge leap above the first, so is this new DVD even better than "The Complete First Season." There's audio commentary with Matt Groening on every episode, and it seems even funnier than the first ones. It's outstanding.

Frankly, if you don't own this by now, you need to. This is fantastic - I can't imagine being even a casual "Simpsons" fan and not buying this.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: D'oh! Season Two really hits the mark!
Review: A bit back I saw the DVD for the first season. I was not impressed. The really only thing about the first season was the audio commentarys. The video was horrible and so was the audio. Then comes the second season. Impressed by so much, I bought it instantly. It is so much better than the first season! Audio commentarys are back, but, they have COOL features like the UNCUT music videos for "Deep, Deep Trouble" and the fondly remembered "Do the Bartman". Plus, this is when the show got good, Homer's voice was not bizzare and they went out of doing lame Bart stories! All 22 episodes are there, for example, "Bart Gets an F" (the one that started all the school-banning t-shirts), "Three Men and a Comic Book" (a funny one), "Bart the Daredevil" (c'mon, the one with Homer falling off a cliff twice!) and "Treehouse of Horror" (The trilogy episode that started it all: The Simpsons Halloween Episodes). The only thing that decreased this to four stars is a really annyoing thing: When you put one of the discs on, it takes forever to get to the actual DVD. THEN, you have to press "Enter" (or the "X" button on PS2s) three times to get the characters bodies right! It is truely idiotic. Anyways, if the second season was this good, the third season should be a gem...


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