Simpsons Season 3...August 26th (1 Viewer)

[Jeremy Allin]

I'm glad their letting the VA's in on the commentaries to liven them up a bit

Agreed. I figured they'd have to shake things up a bit. How many more anecdotes can the writers etc. have?

 

[Anthony Neilson]

It's good news that the cast will be contributing to the commentaries. It's NOT good news that there are ten people
on one of them. It's just far too many.
The commentaries on FUTURAMA 3 - the ones I've listened to -are a mess, due to too many participants. They're obviously having fun, and there are some very funny moments (Groening does a brilliant William Shatner impersonation !) but you don't get the feeling they're doing them for the listener.
Because there are so many people, no one person gets any kind of momentum going on any subject, and very little information is imparted.It's a bit like having really noisy neighbours.
Much as I appreciate the effort, the sets would be better if they targeted particular episodes with particular participants. I'm always pleased when I see commentaries on every episode but maybe the BUFFY folks have got the formula right.

 

[Josh C]

Only 40ish more days to go. And as those days go by, we learn more and more new features about this set. This set looks to top the previous 2 by a lot.

 

[Rob Speicher]

Consider yourself lucky if you're still seeing any episodes from this series' golden years in syndication anymore. In my neck of the woods (DC/VA/MD), the Fox affiliates never let anything earlier than maybe 1997 get on the air anymore. Plus they show the same lackluster episodes over and over again, it seems (Bart's vision at the Indian casino where Lisa is president, Lisa camps out in a tree, Connie Appleseed, etc.).

Actually for the last couple weeks, Fox 5 has shown a really early episode (like S1 - S2) at 6:00 and then a slightly later episode (like S6 - S7) at 6:30...it's almost depressing to see how funny the show was around season 6.

Now if they would just put in the episode information for TiVo so it doesn't get recorded as new!

 

[Brenton]

I hope that the commentaries are not done in-character. I'm sure they would be hilarious, but ultimately pointless. I'd rather hear the actual actors reminiscing.

 

[Ryan FB]

I'd say they might slip to in-character every once in a while for a joke or something, but I doubt they would do it all in-character. I think it'll be kind of like the way they acted on their appearance on Inside the Actor's Studio (which, btw, would make a great extra for one of the season sets ).

 

[Brenton]

I'd say they might slip to in-character every once in a while for a joke or something, but I doubt they would do it all in-character.

That's exactly what I had in mind as well.

 

[James Reader]

Guys, just listern to the Futurama discs. I would expect the format will be duplicated on the Simpsons sets.

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

Guys, just listern to the Futurama discs. I would expect the format will be duplicated on the Simpsons sets.

And listen to the King of the Hill discs. (In-character commentaries) We don't know what Fox is going to do. But I hope you're right and they do use the Futurama format. I would also prefer the out of character (or in-and-out of character) commentaries.

 

[Brenton]

And listen to the King of the Hill discs. (In-character commentaries) We don't know what Fox is going to do. But I hope you're right and they do use the Futurama format. I would also prefer the out of character (or in-and-out of character) commentaries.

Well, I would but I don't have either.

 

[James Reader]

But being as Goering is in-charge of both Simpsons and Futurama they are more likely to follow the Futurama examples.

 

[Scott_J]

More extras revealed, according to the DVD News Page at The Simpsons Archive.

BBFC reveals that in addition to the director's commentary, at least "Separate Vocations" will also have a full-length Al Jean commentary track. While the information at BBFC is still incomplete, we can only guess whether there will be two commentary tracks for more than this one episode (or even all of them).

Interesting.
Personally, I like how they continue to include award show appearances and commercials (the previously revealed Toyota and Butterfinger ads on the set) with each subsequent season set. Sure I would love for the sets to come out more quickly but with the care they're putting into the sets and the extras on them, I can wait.

 

[Kristoffer]

Any UK R2 reviews yet?
It comes out, monday? Right?

 

[James Reader]

NO. It's now released in the UK on the 1st September :frowning:

However on a positive note, season 4 of Futurama is going through the BBFC now!

 

[Dan Brecher]

Mini Review:

I took delivery of The Region 1 Season Three set recently and thought I'd drop by to offer some thoughts seeing as no site seems to have reviewed it yet.

Of all the releases thus far, season three is certainly the best yet both in terms of their general presentation and supplements. The ability to put one of my all time favourite episodes on a loop (Homer at the Bat) is a godsend. “Mattingly, get rid of those sideburns!!”

The menus are, for the most part, fully animated for season three, with the main menu of each disc taking the form of a couch gag. There's a handful of alternating gags so viewers are treated to a variety of different jokes each time. The episode menus, their scene selections and special features listings, are nice and basic and relatively easy to navigate and find what you're looking for. The Language and caption/subtitle selection menus, which are animated, are very cute.

Last but most certainly no least regarding the menus, there is now a much desired 'Play All' feature on the main menus of the four discs.

The commentaries are fun, and little different to those on the previous seasons. It's mostly the same people, and a fair few things get repeated here and there. Brad Bird joins in for a number of commentaries, and voice talent from the show (Castellaneta, Kavner, Cartwright & Smith) are scattered about a few, but not all, of the tracks as well. Cartwright is perhaps the most verbose of the four, but none of them really liven the tracks up much if that's what people were hoping for.

The season 3 commentaries put this myth that they've been sitting on fully recorded commentaries for the first few seasons for years, to rest. A joke at the expense of Treasure Planet along with reference to James Coburn's passing would suggest they did not sit to do these recordings until the winter of 2002.

I've yet to find any of the Easter eggs (ironically it seems more may be hidden on the discs than is actually available from the individual episode supplement menus from the start), but on the whole I'm delighted with Season Three.

It would be nice to think that given (what, to the best of my knowledge, I believe to have been a...) change in the production team behind these discs, partly resulting in another year's wait for another season, that 2004 will see the start of two season releases a year. The wait is worth it when one is treated to a package as pleasing as this of course, but still the reality of the situation dictates that at the rate of one a year, DVD would be surpassed by another format before we reach season ten.

Daniel (UK)

 

[Scott_J]

Nice preview, Dan. One quick question. How is the packaging? Is it a gatefold like the first 2 Simpsons seasons or are the discs in the thin cases FOX has used for recent TV releases like Futurama and Family Guy? Thanks.

Can't wait for this set. Season 3 has some of my favorite episodes, including Radio Bart, Stark Raving Dad, and Homer at the Bat (good taste on that one, Dan ).

 

[Dan Brecher]

Hi Scott,

The packaging is the same as the previous two seasons, with a rather garish colour being used this time round it must be said (a shade of purple). There's also a cut out hole on the back of the sleeve now, as well as the usual one on the front.

Homer at the Bat (good taste on that one, Dan ).

I'm of the rare breed of British baseball fans. I think the episode is simply wonderful.

Dan (UK)

 

[Kelvin DP]

Is anyone missing features. Only the Colonel Homer episode has pop-ups on my discs and there is no sign of audio outtakes, animation interview or the Al Jean commentary for Seperate Vocations.

Have I received a faulty batch?

 

[Allan Petersen]

Small nitpick: My R1 set came with an index card covering the back. Unfortunately the glue made it damn near impossible to remove and only after a lot of work did I manage to separate the paper from the actual package itself. I had to carefully tear it off and was left with an ugly smudge of glue that took quite a while to remove. One wonders why they even had to glue it on in the first place.