Introduction

Ah, “The Simpsons”. Unless you’ve been making yourself at home in a cave for the past eighteen years, you’ll have probably become quite familiar with the yellow-skinned, four-fingered family of five. With their newfound iconic status, it’s easy to forget the TV show that kicked everything off, debuting in 1989 and going on to dominate the airwaves during the nineties.

Discussing “The Simpsons” from a retroactive standpoint is always difficult, mainly because people’s feelings about it are usually vastly disconnected from the show in its present state. For me, it has been little more than a lame cash cow for the past nine years, having sacrificed its dignity, intelligence and wit long ago in order to keep the money rolling in.

However, before an endless barrage of fart jokes and the ‘hilarity’ of people getting their limbs torn off, “The Simpsons” was actually an incredibly warm and down-to-earth comedy. The bulk of the first four seasons were written with the goal of being realistic and human, and the 13 episodes contained within this Season One DVD box set are a charming reminder of where it all began.

Episode List
(Highlights in bold, lowlights in italics)

1) Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire; 2) Bart The Genius; 3) Homer’s Odyssey; 4) There’s No Disgrace Like Home; 5) Bart The General; 6) Moaning Lisa; 7) Call Of The Simpsons; 8) The Telltale Head; 9) Life On The Fast Lane; 10) Homer’s Night Out; 11) The Crepes of Wrath; 12) Krusty Gets Busted; 13) Some Enchanted Evening

Discussion

Firstly, a warning should be in order. If your concept of “The Simpsons” is more on the ‘wacky adventure’ or ‘every line a gag’ style, chances are that these episodes will bore you to tears. Every single one is rooted firmly within the domestic, looking at the life of each family member, with lots of time devoted to fleshing out the characters and letting the audience get to know them. The season has a totally episodic structure, with events in one edition rarely affecting the next, although some of the character changes evidenced during the course of the year do go on to influence the show’s later seasons. Of course, the jokes are still there, it’s just that the humour is more about constant smiling than occasional laughing out loud.

Meet The Family

Homer (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is the dim but well-meaning patriarch of the Simpson clan, who alternates his time between the family home, his job as safety inspector at the nuclear power plant, and local bar Moe’s. The bane of his existence is Bart (voiced by Nancy Cartwright), his ten-year-old tearaway son who is the central figure in a lot of the episodes here. Despite being defiant of authority and quite the troublemaker, Bart’s heart is in the right place, and in all honesty his antics (occasional graffiti, permanent underachievement in school) are a big nothing compared to what you can hear about kids doing nowadays.

If Bart is closer to his father in personality than he’d like to admit, the female Simpsons follow a similar pattern. Marge (Julie Kavner) is a stay at home Mom and devotes all of her time to her family – especially baby Maggie – even when they don’t seem to appreciate her, while eight-year-old Lisa (Yeardley Smith) is conscientious and incredibly intelligent, yet suffers from a notable amount of isolation due to her less-gifted peers. The Simpson women tend to act as the glue that holds the family together, and form the emotional core offsetting the crazier antics of the males. Importantly, every character is likeable, meaning that you can usually root for them no matter what mistakes they make. For anyone sick of modern episodes’ obnoxious jerk Homer or shrill, whiny Lisa, the characterisations here will be a soothing balm.

Sounds and Visuals

Going into Season One, you have to remember that it debuted in 1989. After years of having witnessed the spectacular CGI animation of so many films, the artwork here is crude, to put it bluntly. It’s not necessarily painful to watch, but the characters often fall out of model, and occasionally contort in ways that just look bizarre. Perspective sometimes slips and delivers some rather unflattering shots, and the lip-synching of character to dialogue is off in places. However, for all of its faults, I still prefer this animation to that of modern-day “Simpsons”. While the CGI of the current era has left the show with a bland and perfunctory sheen, these episodes have a kind of visual warmth that you can only get from hand-drawn animation, and I always feel enveloped by the world whenever I watch it.

Sound-wise, the show’s signature theme tune is present and correct, and the majority of the music and sound effects are fine. The voice acting is solid if not spectacular, with Dan Castelanetta’s Homer being noticeably different in delivery from later episodes (he switched the vocal tone around the end of season two, to one that sounded more comfortable and lovably dopey). The rest of the group fares well, with Yeardley Smith and Nancy Cartwright nicely capturing Lisa and Bart’s sibling squabbles and Julie Kavner’s throaty Marge making the character unmistakeable.

The transfer quality of the DVDs is fine, with the occasional visual slip-up being an actual part of the original animation as opposed to any kind of later processing error.

The Actual Show

Onto the episodes themselves, which are the primary focus of the set. All follow a fairly standard pattern of opening--conflict--resolution, with some kind of notable change in a character or relationship at the end of the show. The charming Christmas-themed opener “Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire” is a nice example, doing a great job of showing the characters’ personalities and how the family functions as a unit. We see Bart acting without thought (getting a tattoo he thinks will impress Marge), and Homer silently paying the consequences, working as a store Santa Claus so that the family will have the money to be able to celebrate Christmas. “Bart The Genius” is another hit, with Bart cheekily taking a classmate’s paper as his own and ending up being sent to a gifted children’s school. There’s a notable change in his relationship with Homer as a result, and the denouement is both character fitting and funny.

Other episodes explore some slightly more complex themes. “Life On The Fast Lane” and “Homer’s Night Out” seem pretty antiquated today, but still deserve respect for dealing with issues of temptation and conflict in a marriage in a far more graceful manner than many live-action shows. “Life On The Fast Lane” is particularly impressive, setting up its story of Marge’s near-liaison with a bowling alley gigolo flawlessly, as one selfish act from Homer too many nearly pushes her over the edge. Although things obviously resolve in a predictable ‘Family Values’ way, the story works because the characterisation of Marge and Homer is spot-on. As a viewer, I can truly understand both of their feelings, with no ‘good guy’ or villain in the piece.

Lisa is probably my favourite Simpson, so I’m a fan of her first showcase episode, “Moaning Lisa”. This edition is notable for being the only one of the entire series to decently explore the Marge-Lisa relationship, depicting the strength of their bond and how it helps sustain Lisa even when she’s at her loneliest. Closer “Some Enchanted Evening” is also great, Homer and Marge taking a night off from parenting but being unaware they’ve left their children in the hands of the notorious ‘Babysitter Bandit’. The Simpson kids are perfect in this episode, and their way of dealing with the criminal is rather ingenious.

As for weak points, I didn’t really find any. There are occasional points of cornball mawkishness (the closing to “Homer’s Night Out” boasts a cringingly obvious speech about how women shouldn’t be treated as sex objects; “Bart The General” closes with a public service announcement about the coolness of libraries), but I went through every episode happily and came out amused, and occasionally touched. I suppose the ‘Bigfoot’ tale of “Call of the Simpsons” and the preachy “The Telltale Head” are a little over the top, but they’re still perfectly serviceable episodes that do their jobs well.

DVD Extras

There are some nice supplements included in the box set. Show creator Matt Groening (accompanied by various writers and producers) provides an audio commentary on each episode, although the 12-year gap between producing the season and the making of the commentaries has blunted their informative value somewhat. Scripts for five episodes are also included, allowing you to see the original teleplays (including doodles and handwritten corrections). A gallery of sketches allows examination of how the character concepts has progressed, while five foreign language clips show how the series has been translated in other countries. The Marges in these clips are very amusing to me, with actors trying to emulate Julie Kavner but coming across either as chain-smokers or men in (vocal) drag. A few deleted scenes from “Some Enchanted Evening” (with super-ropey animation) and amusing audio-outtakes from “Life On The Fast Lane” round things off, making a pleasantly full set of additions.

Concluding Remarks

Make no mistake – this is not the best “The Simpsons” has to offer, and is regularly cut out of its period deemed ‘classic’ (which is usually considered seasons 3-8), but it’s the solid and sturdy foundation that enabled the show to attain the heights it would go on to reach. I really enjoy watching these episodes, and I think that anyone looking for a plot and character led show would like them, provided you can forgive the occasional animation glitch or mawkish bit of sentimentality. Happily recommended.

***
"The Simpsons" on DVD:
Season One; Season Two; Season Three; Season Four; Season Five; Season Six; Season Seven; Season Eight; Season Nine; Season Ten

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older