Just Because I Don't Care Doesn't Mean I Don't Understand

As soon as the The Simpsons-The Complete First Season was released on DVD, the floodgates were opened. Surely, all of the other seasons would be released as well. Sure enough, The Simpsons-The Complete Second Season followed. Of course, it wasn’t released as quickly as most fans would have liked. The producers made us a wait almost a year to add the next season to our collection.

At this point, The Simpsons was still trying to find itself. The humor was still a little uneven and the animation and voices varied at times. Still, the episodes were funny and surprisingly touching. There aren’t many episodes that fans might call classics. However, most of them are quite entertaining and many characters are first introduced to the fans of the show. All of the episodes from season two are included on the DVD and they are (with very brief descriptions):

Bart Gets An F: Bart asks Martin to help him study so he doesn’t have to repeat the fourth grade.

Simpson And Delilah: Homer charges his hair growing formula to his company’s health insurance plan.

Treehouse Of Horror: Three short stories with a Halloween theme: Bad Dream House, Hungry Are The Damned, and the Edgar Allen Poe classic, The Raven.

Two Cars In Every Garage, Three Eyes On Every Fish: Mr. Burns runs for governor to prevent his nuclear power plant from being shut down.

Dancin’ Homer: After too many beers at the ball game, Homer inadvertently becomes the team’s mascot.

Dead Putting Society: Bart and Todd compete in a putt-putt contest while their fathers make a bet on the outcome.

Bart Vs. Thanksgiving: Bart runs away from home after destroying Lisa’s Thanksgiving Day centerpiece.

Bart The Daredevil: After going to a monster truck rally, Bart embarks on a series of death defying stunts.

Itchy & Scratchy & Marge: Marge vows to eliminate violence in cartoons after witnessing Maggie hit Homer on the head after watching an Itchy & Scratchy cartoon.

Bart Gets Hit By A Car: Mr. Burns accidentally hits Bart with his car and won’t pay as much as Homer would like.

One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish: Homer believes he has only 24 hours to live after eating an exotic blowfish.

The Way We Was: When the television breaks, Homer and Marge discuss their initial meeting.

Homer Vs. Lisa And The 8th Commandment: Homer gets an illegal cable hookup and Lisa protests because of the 8th Commandment-Thou Shalt Not Steal.

Principal Charming: Homer sets up Principal Skinner with Selma only to have him fall in love with Patty.

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? : While Grandpa Simpson is on his deathbed, he tells Homer that he has a half brother that is a carmaker in Detroit.

Bart’s Dog Gets An F: After destroying Homer’s new sneakers, Santa’s Little Helper is forced to attend obedience school.

Old Money: When Grampa’s wealthy girlfriend dies, he distributes the inheritance to those who need it most.

Brush With Greatness: While Homer tries to lose weight, Marge recaptures her dream of painting.

Lisa’s Substitute: When Lisa’s teacher becomes sick, she’s inspired by her substitute.

The War Of The Simpsons: The Simpsons visit Reverend Lovejoy’s marriage retreat after Homer embarrasses Marge at a party.

Three Men And A Comic Book: Bart, Milhouse and Martin pool their money together to purchase the very first Radioactive Man comic book.

Blood Feud: Mr. Burns desperately needs a blood donation that Bart is able to supply. Of course, Homer wants some monetary gratitude for Bart’s donation.

At this point of the series, The Simpsons was still focused squarely on Bart. During the next two seasons, the evolution to a “Homer based” series was complete (say that in your best Darth Vader voice). While I am happy that transition occurred, there are still several episodes during this second season that are excellent. While there are no true classic episodes, there are still plenty of ones that tickle your funny bone as well as touch your heart. However, there are still some episodes that are slightly uneven when it comes to the animation, the voices or the stories.

There are a few episodes that offer some of the best laughs of the season. Homer Vs. Lisa And The 8th Commandment offers some of the best moments of the season. Homer chooses to steal cable and Lisa protests adamantly throughout the entire episode. Whenever Homer is challenged, he always refers to the brochure that he was given by the installation man, “So, You’ve Decided To Steal Cable.” This episode is the perfect balance of humor (Lisa, is your father stealing bread? He might be, I can’t watch him every second) and sweetness when the entire family boycotts the heavyweight title fight. Perhaps the most touching episode of the entire run of the series occurred during the second season. Lisa’s Substitute features the uncredited performance of Dustin Hoffman, aka Sam Ettic as Lisa’s substitute teacher, Mr. Bergstrom. He inspires Lisa like nobody has before. She completely respects him as a teacher and develops quite a crush on him. Sadly, as is the life of a substitute, he must move on. He leaves her with a final note, “You Are Lisa Simpson.” This episode is just wonderful. There is enough humor, especially from the subplot of Bart’s run for class president, as well as some touching moments between Lisa and Mr. Bergstrom and Lisa and Homer to make this episode one of the best ever.

The Halloween episode (Treehouse Of Horror) makes it first appearance in the series during the second season. There are three stories that all have a Halloween theme. While the three tales are not some of the best of the Treehouse Of Horror episodes, they serve as a great starting point. “Hungry Are The Damned” offers some laugh out loud moments and while “The Raven” is well known, the animators put a unique and entertaining spin on the poem. There are some great small scenes also throughout the season. Blinky, the three eyed fish, makes his debut in Two Cars In Every Garage, Three Eyes On Every Fish and teenage stories of Marge and Homer are first discussed in The Way We Was. As always, there are a few episodes that you’ll want to stay away from. Go ahead and skip Principal Charming and Old Money, you won’t miss anything.

Guest stars really start to make an impact during the second season. Harvey Fierstein guest stars as Homer’s male secretary in the delightfully funny, Simpson And Delilah. Danny Devito is introduced as Homer’s half brother, Herb, in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? The episode is great and Devito adds plenty in his role. Larry King and James Earl Jones also make entertaining appearances. While I mentioned it previously, Dustin Hoffman’s role is one of the best in the history of the show and the episode is not to be missed. The first Beatle also makes his appearance during this season as Ringo Starr shows up as Marge’s favorite Beatle in Brush With Greatness.

Of course, with the release of The Simpsons-The Complete Second Season on DVD, the quality of the film is dramatically improved. I have all of these episodes on VCR tape from my own taping and I own several of the various boxed and collector’s sets that have been released. Obviously, it puts my tapes to shame and greatly improves the official tape releases. The sound quality is also improved, but it’s not quite as crucial as the improved picture.

One of the main reasons to purchase DVDs are for the extras. Like the previous Simpsons release, this collection is full of visual treats. Obviously, the commentaries are the crown jewel of extras. Each episode has its own commentary with Matt Groening, as well as other producers, directions and writers. Legendary producer, James L. Brooks also appears on a few episodes. The commentaries are extremely entertaining for the die-hard fan. Casual fans may find the tidbits of information a bit tedious, but for those who enjoy the oddball piece of information you’ll be highly entertained.

Along with the commentaries, there are several other treats in the collection. There is a very early interview with James L. Brooks and Matt Groening. It’s interesting if you would like to see where the idea of the television show came from and how it finally made it to the small screen. There are also two videos with some optional commentary. You can watch “Do The Bartman” and “Deep, Deep Trouble.” Neither one is particularly entertaining, but it’s neat to watch part of the “Simpsons phenomena” that took place in the early to mid nineties. Irony is one of the things that The Simpsons does best and watching the Simpsons presenting at the Emmy Awards is a special treat after the many years of the show being ignored in the “Best Comedy” category because it’s an animated show. You’ll also be able to watch Bart on the American Music Awards and various Butterfinger commercials. None of these extras offer any special, but there are important to the history of the television show and are fun for the pure point of nostalgia.

Overall, I would highly recommend purchasing The Simpsons-The Complete Second Season if you are a big fan of the television show. While the price tag of $35 may be a bit steep, it’s worth every cent. For the casual fan, it’s also a solid purchase. The show is starting to find its footing at this stage and most of the episodes are real winners. The picture quality is a big improvement and the extras are a plus. This season would fit nicely into anyone’s collection.