The Simpsons: Complete Season 1 [DVD]

The good news is that we get an entire series spread over three discs with substantial extras. The bad news is that - even though it's still good- Series One of The Simpsons fares pretty badly against the subsequent series of The Simpsons. The animation is not brilliant, the voices have not been honed and some of the episodes are just plain weak- true all these factors do start to be ironed out, but because of the ordering of the episodes some of the later episodes are actually the weaker ones.

All this is excuseable of course- it is The Simpsons we're talking about, not some BBC One sitcom starring Dennis Waterman as a retired Fireman (it's probably in the pipeline). Some of the episodes are genius- Bart The General, Life on the Fast Lane, Crepes of Wrath to name three in particular. We start to see the beginnings of what made The Simpsons the best television programme ever- the quirky characters, the richness and comedy value of the 'backup' cast.

Of course you cant make an omelette without breaking eggs so we have to see some 'alternative' colours for characters hair/skin and hear some mildly irritating voices coming out of the mouths of charcters whose voices will develop (this is particularly in Homer and his 'Walter Matthau' voice).

As stated earlier the extras are substantial. We get scripts, deleted scenes, a short from The Tracy Ullman Show and commentaries on all episodes. A couple of quibbles here- the commentaries: the box boasts Matt Groening commentary on every episode- if he's there on some of them he's really, really quiet. Also some of the comentaries are repetitive- it's claimed at least twice that "this is the first appearance of Apu isn't it?" when to be honest the first time he appears it goes unmentioned. But there is enough there to make the comentaries worthwhile. Again the sennse that as The Simpsons became more complex as a programme with time the commentaries on later series will have more to offer. Final quibble- the documentary is just a painfully short segment (six minutes)of one broadcast on BBC2 last year, a little more could surely have been offered.

So - buy it buy it now. It's not fantastic but it's good enough. Besides, from here on in every series is an essential purchase- and your shelf will look as though there's something missing without the first series wont it? So, don't think-just get it.

I was amazed at how vibrant and familiar these first shows seemed; it seems like only yesterday that I was introduced to Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie, and all the denizens of Springfield. Every episode here is a classic. Watching There's No Disgrace Like Home, the third episode, I was unexpectedly taken back to the very beginning of Simpsons mania as I watched the Simpsons repeatedly administer shocks to themselves to the consternation of family therapist Marvin Monroe. And who could forget the terrible ordeal Bart endured at the hands of two French cretins (or little Adil Hoxha, foreign exchange student from Albania - a legend in the lore of Simpsons trivia) in The Crepes of Wrath. In terms of pure hilarity, look no farther than Homer's Night Out, in which Homer becomes the swingingest swinger in town and elicits a plea for help in the ladies' department from none other than Mr. Skinner himself. The first memorable guest performers also lended their special magic to the show early on: Penny Marshall as the baby-sitting bandit in Some Enchanted Evening, Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob in Krusty Gets Busted, and Albert Brooks as the RV salesman in Call of the Simpsons and Jacque, Marge's French admirer and bowling instructor in Life On the Fast Lane. I could write a paragraph about every single episode, as each one is a classic.

The commentary for each episode is fabulous, as a whole gaggle of the geniuses who brought the show to life come together to laugh at the best bits, talk about the show's genesis and evolution during this experimental first season, and provide fans with all kinds of trivia and juicy tidbits about the whole Simpsons phenomenon. You can clearly see the show develop with each passing episode, particularly in terms of the level of detail in the animation and, to some degree, the voices. With the help of the commentaries, you get a whole new perspective on Homer and the gang. One can't help but be impressed by the way each character was developed early on, the chemistry that quickly emerged between all the characters, and the way in which serious issues were explored in such a comedic manner. Gosh, you had Marge and Homer's marriage on the rocks in a couple of episodes, Bart's deportation to France for his excessive shenanigans at school, the capture of Bart and Lisa by a wanted criminal, the framing and imprisonment of Krusty, the problem of illiteracy, etc. This show really had it all, right from the very start.

I don't know why I waited so long to add The Simpsons Season One to my DVD collection, but I can't wait to get all of the seasons on DVD. After 15+ years, it's easy to take this show for granted, but this Season One DVD with all of its extras has reawakened my old passion for this incredible television show. Speaking of extras, you get a look here at the first animated version of the show, and it's just as horrible as Matt Groening and the other Simpsons bigwigs said it was. You have to see it to believe it. After seeing that, you realize more than ever how lucky we are to have The Simpsons in our lives.