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ARTICLE
DVD Review: The Simpsons - The Complete Tenth Season
by Raul Burriel Published: August 13, 2007
Rating: Country: USA Release Date: August 7, 2007 Distributor: 20th Century Fox Cast: · Dan Castellaneta · Julie Kavner · Nancy Cartwright · Yeardley Smith · Harry Shearer · Hank Azaria Related Sites: ·IMDb: The Simpsons
Grade: A
We all know the drill. It's been done nine times before, and it will go on until every single season of The Simpsons is released on DVD. This is the tenth season of the series, and in style, it resembles every collection that has come before it. And, in this case, that is an excellent thing.
By the tenth season, The Simpsons has long ago left behind its glory days. It's not the funniest season of the series by far, and the comedy has been taken from its earlier seasons for a couple of years now (those who have seen "The Simpsons Movie" will be very familiar with how the show writers now liberally "borrow" jokes from earlier seasons.) But even faltering as it does, the tenth season of The Simpsons still outshines most comedy on television. And the tenth season does offer a few highlights. Stunt casting is now in full gear, but it stumbles as often as it works. Ron Howard shines as a shallow caricature of himself in "When You Dish Upon a Star" but Fred Willard is wasted as a travel agent in "Sunday, Cruddy Sunday". In a bittersweet moment, "Bart the Mother" gives us the last appearance of Phil Hartman's Troy McClure.
Where this collection shines brightest - as these collections of The Simpsons always do - is with the additional features. Sure, you get deleted scenes, animatics, storyboards, easter eggs, etc. Even the menus offer new - and lengthy - animation that's worth watching and re-watching.
But the chief reason to put in this collection the instant you get home and not stop watching until you pass out is the commentary. To put it bluntly: the commentaries on The Simpsons DVDs is the high water mark for all DVD commentaries. Let's face it, if you own a TV, you've probably seen almost every episode of The Simpsons. They're played in constant rotation throughout the day. You don't need to see these episodes again (except for many those few extra seconds that syndicators cut out so that they can squeeze in more commercials.) The reason to own and watch this collection is for the commentaries. And, by the tenth season, the commentaries are clearly the funniest thing on the discs.
While there are still plenty of chuckle moments in each episode, and a few laugh-out-loud moments, the only guarantee of pure hilarity you'll get is by listening to producers, directors, writers, actors and creators comment on the episode at hand, and often about other things as well. A good number of the people you'll hear on the commentaries have long ago moved on from The Simpsons (working now on shows like Family Guy, Futurama, and King of the Hill) but they come back for this (presumably for the free food.) There's plenty of praise going around (especially for writer and story editor John Swartzwelder), and lots of good natured ribbing. It's also important to note - as we're told during one of the commentaries - that this is the collection assembled during the production of "The Simpsons Movie". While you'll get little here from the creators about the movie, it's still a historic moment in time for fans of The Simpsons.
The highlight among the commentaries must surely come early on when Mark Hamill joins the group to comment on "Mayored to the Mob", an episode where Hamill not only played a shallow, sell-out version of himself, but also a bodyguard school drill instructor. There certainly is some awe from the geeks in the room that they're sharing time with Hamill, but it's clear that Hamill, too, is in awe of the show's writers and creators. You get the impression that if they'll allowed it, Hamill would have stuck around for all the commentaries.
The Complete Tenth Season of The Simpsons on DVD offers countless hours of laughs. It's not only for die-hard fans of The Simpsons, but for anyone wanting to hear funny anecdotes (even if a few of the anecdotes get repeated a couple of times.)
