The Simpsons -- Is there a release schedule? (1 Viewer)

[Jamie Cole]

As much as I look forward to the upcoming second season release, I'd love to see a schedule (a la Disney Platinum) or some commitment by Fox that these sets will be released in a timely manner.

Even as I write that it seems like too much to ask, but as a Simpson fan from way back, I find myself envious of those X-Philes that somewhat know when to expect their next DVD fix.

I mean, the second season is great and all, but the third...

"mmmmmmm... third season."

So, since I know Mr. Staddon hangs out in here, can you let us in on some plans for Simpsons releases?

 

[Dan Brecher]

It's indeed a rather frustrating situation. One can only hope that 2003 sees the rate of one season a year abolished and upped to two (or, dreaming now, 3).

I truly like what Fox have done with the sets, they are pretty much everything the fans could want, but at the rate they're coming I know of many giving up on buying the seasons in the knowledge they know they will never have them all on DVD.

Dan

 

[Richard cash]

i think that doing the commentries for each of the episodes doesn't help the speed at which they come out. doing over 20 commentries for a season must slow the project down by a few months and personally i think their a waste of time. THe ones on the first season were dry and to be quite honest boring.
Without these commentries they could perhaps reduce the number of discs by 1 and save us some money. Then again, the price isn't as much of a problem as the release times. For £15 and £21 for season 1 and 2 respectivly i cant complain.

 

[Frank Anderson]

What are they going to be doing this fall, Season 14?

Take 6 years at a rate of 2 per year and that's not taking into effect that the Simpsons may air a few more seasons.

 

[Adam Tyner]

i think that doing the commentries for each of the episodes doesn't help the speed at which they come out.

...though the season two commentaries were finished, from what I understand, quite some time ago. Whatever the delay is for season two, it doesn't appear to be the recording of commentary tracks.

 

[luke cav]

The season 2 box set has been out a while on R2.

 

[Nick Sievers]

I also saw the R4 version the other day sitting on the shelf. But dammit, I want my R1 version to arrive

 

[MatthewA]

I, too, wish these discs would come out in a more timely fashion. One set per year just won't do.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

The S2 commentaries are far superior to the S1.

 

[Robert Ringwald]

I just think a show that could use commentaries on every episode would be something along the lines of Buffy, The X-Files, or other shows that have a deeper meaning behind them. The Simpsons is mostly about the humor, and there's only so much that they can say about the show.

 

[Tony_Faville]

I personally would gladly forgoe the commentaries in order to get The Simpsons at a faster rate than one season a year.

I know this will be heresy to some of you but it's the way I feel.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

It's meant to be 2 a year, there was a problem in production, probably rights issues. The Simpsons is FULL of licensed music, so I won't be suprised at more delays. I'm sure that Fox is working on clearing EVERYTHING now

The commentaries are not the issue, they probably record them en masse.

 

[MatthewA]

I hope that the music rights clearances can also be made en masse and not just one season at a time.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Matthew, Music clearances cannot, by their very nature be made en masse

I'm sure Fox is working as fast as they can

 

[Jeff Jacobson]

Unlike some here, I liked the commentaries.

 

[Brenton]

As much as I love commentaries, I would gladly sacrifice them to get more than one or two seasons a year.

I kind of like the commentaries on Season One (well, I listened to three or four of them), and while I enjoyed them, it bugs me when they say "I think this is the first appearance of Apu," on three episodes.

Its depressing to imagine getting just one of these every year... it would take ten years to get caught up to the now-current season!

 

[Nick Sievers]

Brenton,
Is Jeff on your ignore list or something

 

[MikeDeVincenzo]

I seem to recall Matt Groening making remarks at the time of the first season's release to the effect of "We recorded commentaries for the first four seasons and then I ran out of things to say!"


As others have remarked, I'm almost certain the commentaries are already in the can and not the cause of the delays. This reminds me of the huge delay that occured between the release of the first and second discs in the Evangelion set. Its painful to wait it out, but something tells me FOX will speed things up in the future.

 

[Kurt N]

One thing I hope Fox takes into consideration--

With the amazing stuff coming out between now and Xmas, I'm going to have to put off some titles I'd normally snarf on day 1. If there's a year between seasons, Simpsons 2 could wait. I'd rather buy something that has the next season coming out in a few months. 4 months seems like a good time frame to me--time to watch and rewatch everything. Staying interested in the series.

My Simpsons set probably hasn't been in the player this year...just sitting there forgotten. I could have bought it 6 months later and gotten just as much pleasure out of it.

A year is just too long to wait and maintain interest.

 

[Jeffrey Gray]

I think music clearance issues are part of the reason the sets are coming out so slowly and so far apart. Would you rather get one set every three months, with all the licensed music edited out or dubbed over with generic music, or would you rather get the original versions of the episodes, about 2 a year?