Year: 2009
Running Time: 482 Minutes
Rated: Not Rated
SRP: $ 59.99
Studio(s): 20th Century Fox
Release Date: January 12, 2010

Film/Feature: C+

The first 12 seasons of the Simpsons crawled out on DVD with phenomenal extras and are great archive editions of probably the best years of the show, but they’ve always been behind in getting them out as compared to what the current season is on television. For the 20th season, Fox oddly rushed out this set on DVD and for the first time, blu-ray bypassing those in between. The episodes are as follows.

Disc 1
Sex, Pies and Idiot Scraps
Lost Verizon
Double, Double, Boy in Trouble
Treehouse of Horror XIX
Dangerous Curves
Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words
Mypods and Boomsticks
The Burns and the Bees
Lisa the Drama Queen

Disc 2
Take My Life, Please
How the Test Was Won
No Loan Again, Naturally
Gone Maggie Gone
In the Name of the Grandfather
Wedding for Disaster
Eeny Teeny Mata, Moe
The Good, the Sad and the Drugly
Father Knows Worst
Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D’oh
Four Great Women and a Manicure
Coming to Homerica

After twenty years, I have to admit that the well hasn’t run dry, but the water doesn’t taste as fresh as it used to be. There are some episodes where I found myself going an entire segment without laughing or even forcing a laugh out because I still enjoy this world. I’ve always attributed the golden years of the Simpsons as seasons 4-10, and the quality slowly grades down from there. It’s the episodes with a strong central focus that’s carried throughout the entire show that leaves the best impression. But after that golden era of the Simpsons, the show seemed to take on a formula of putting the three most unrelated stories and find a way to string them together, oh and let’s see just how dumb Homer can be, what cause will Lisa take on or what threat does Marge and Homer have in their marriage. It’s gotten to the point where the only must-see show is the annual Treehouse of Horror episode.

Every now and then they do hit a nerve or two that are timely like taking on all of the DaVinci Code-like puzzle films in “Gone Maggie Gone,” satirizing Apple nation “Mypods and Boomsticks,” and taking the kids out of Springfield elementary and placing them in “Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D’oh.” “How the Test Was Won” is another stand out episode that reminds longtime viewers that this show can still put it all together. For a show where the characters never age, never develop or barely remember what happened to them prior, The Simpsons require no cliff notes and after 20 seasons, that’s a good thing; but like a long running game show, you still find ways to enjoy it despite a change in host, some modification of the games and change of the set, and most times forget it’s still on.

I agree, Bart, but this blu-ray set could use some more work.

Video: C+
For the first time, the Simpsons television series was put on blu-ray and I figured that it would be a something to make note of, but I didn’t expect this at all. The episodes are split into two discs featuring a 1080p AVC-encoded transfer. The first disc shows the episodes in 1.33:1, while the second disc of episodes are in 1.78:1 widescreen. The split signifies the change in broadcast when the original broadcast went high definition in the middle of the season. The result is two entirely different viewing experiences. The full frame episodes have noticeable banding and aliasing, wonky contrast, and lacks the crispness seen with other cel-animated features on blu-ray. The episodes in widescreen appear to be closer to what you’d expect when you watch the Simpsons on HD TV when it airs on Fox. Colors stand out more and the subtle changes in tints of color for shading is more prevalent. I have no idea why this season was put together the way it was, but it comes off as lazy in my opinion. I’d expect something like this on the first season, but the 20th?

Audio: B
The Simpsons have always been designed as a standard television show in stereo 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio track. There is rarely a peep that will come out of your surround channels as almost everything comes from your center and front channels. There’s nothing really to complain about, but those are the facts. The dialogue comes in clear and that’s the biggest hurdle for this show. The rear activity, and sound movement is so unspectacular, keeping it at a 2.0 Stereo mix would have been better. Maybe then there would be more room for some extras (see below). Other audio selections include: French, Spanish, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital tracks and subtitles are available in English SDH and Spanish.

Extras: D-
Audio Commentary by _____ Wait, what? No audio commentaries? You can’t put audio commentaries on every season box set, rush this one out on blu-ray and DVD, skip over eight other seasons and give a poor effort on the extras department. Seriously, this a bad move that I don’t think will make any Simpsons diehard thrilled.

The one lone (snicker) extra is a Teaser for Morgan Spurlock 20th Anniversary Simpsons Documentary Special HD (4:00) which aired prior to the release of this box set. The teaser is great, it’s wonderful, it makes you want to see this special, which Spurlock looks to be an intense fan, but I’ll be reserved to hunt for this online. Would it have burdened Fox to put the darn special on this box set? There’s not much else to take its space.

If there’s one thing you can expect out of a Simpsons box set, it’s the extras, and this has all the signs of rushing out a product, (especially with the inconsistent aspect ratios) and not making it as good as it can possibly be before sending it out.

Overall Shock Value: C
I never thought I’d ever give a Simpsons season set such a low grade but as much of a fan as I was of the first 15 years of the show, my interest has waned, and if I catch episodes at their original air date, it’s by pure luck. It doesn’t nearly have the magic and fun it once had, but it’s still better than 75% of what’s on television. I was curious to see if the format change to blu-ray would make any difference but unlike Family Guy’s Something Something Something Dark Side, the Simpsons looked quite ordinary on high definition. Add the lazy effort on the extras and you have a Rental at best.