Kicking on all cylinders, regardless of leg cast
When I worked for the local Fox affiliate here in Lexington (that’s in Kentucky), it was my job to create promotions for national and local shows. Why am I telling you this? Well, I got the most comedy out of this one particular season of The Simpsons more than any other seasons available at that time. So when this was sent on DVD for review, let me just tell you it was the easiest season of The Simpsons to watch because it was kicking on all cylinders.
The ‘Pros’ of season twelve come in my forms. You have a story that is solely dedicated to The Comic Book Guy. You get to see his lonely world and understand how funny this character can be. It’s a departure from his quick one-liners and certainly a great way to expand his character. Groening had to have really wanted to show him in this particular season and his episode stands out among all the other ones featured. His single episode pretty much propels the rest of the season antics. His persona is the theme for the entire DVD set, which says a lot about how much they wanted to feature him. Comic Book Guy aside, you get some really fantastic comedy in this set which includes:
– Homer tearing his ACL and painfully re-tearing it.
– Homer starving himself in protest of the local baseball team moving.
– Dolphins taking over Springfield (and pretty much everything in Treehouse of Horror)
– The kid’s getting trapped during a snowstorm because Skinner refuses to cancel school
– The re-emergence of Mr. Plow (related to the snow episode)
– Homr episode (not a typo) where they discover Homer has a crayon stuck in his brain (and he turns smart once removed)
These are just some of the episodes I really enjoyed on this season. The comedy was kicking, the timing on the jokes was on and the acting was top-notch.
Now, the cons I have with season twelve are far and few between. Anytime there is a Lisa episode it’s just simply ‘blah’. Her character type just isn’t strong enough to lead an episode, so when Groening feels the need to give her one it just doesn’t have the same witty pizzaz as the others. I don’t know if it’s the underlying message, but it’s like watching a liberal 30-minute short; see the word ‘painful’ in the dictionary for details (and no I’m not conservative, I just don’t like my comedy preachy).
The other episode I really disliked was the Insane Clown Poppy. Much like Lisa, Krusty has some great comedy, but it should only be performed in small doses. Having an episode driven by Krusty is just as exciting as if Lisa drove it. The episode revolves around Krusty discovering he has a daughter (voiced by Drew Barrymore) and while it’s cute in some areas, the comedy just isn’t as strong as the others.
Outside of these complaints, everything else is really quite strong. I always felt like after season seven of The Simpsons that maybe Groening (and his writers) started to get a bit thin with the comedy, but this season of The Simpsons disproves that theory. Now, I can’t wait to review season thirteen and hopefully find more fresh comedy waiting for me.
As for the features, here’s what you’re looking at on this season:
– Special intro by Matt Groening
– Commentaries on every episode
– Deleted Scenes with commentary
– Multi-angle animation showcases
– Comic Book Guy: Best. Moments. Ever.
– The Global Fanfest
– The Commercials
– Original Sketches
– More
I really think that with each season you’re getting some bang for your buck in the features category. Fox and Groening could nix the features and still make their money, but they give you all they have with each season and this list shows. The commentary is always good and the clip reel of moments is damn funny. Really great features all around.