The Simpsons - The Complete First Season

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Where it all began..., 2008-10-07
Ok, so this isn't actually where the Simpsons had their beginning. Anyone who really knows about them will know that they were first introduced to America on the Tracy Ulman show. They were so successful however, that they soon had their own cartoon.
For the record I'll say that I never saw the Tracy Ulman shorts. But I was there from the very first season to now, and while I'll freely admit that much of the clasic humor is gone from the series I still very much enjoy watching it. That said I will probably collect Simpsons seasons until they're no longer produced.
The first season, though the quality isn't nearly as good as in later seasons, still has some classic gems. The very first episode that I remember watching with my family was Bart the General, where Bart leads a group of downtrodden kids in a war against local bully Nelson Munts. Other notables include Moaning Lisa, which saw the first appearance of Bleeding Gums Murphy, Bart the Genius, wherein Bart fakes his way through an aptitude test and finds himself in the gifted class, and of course Call of the Simpsons, which is probably one of my favorite episodes of this season. And of course we must not forget Babysitter Bandit, Crepes of Wrath (Bart's infamous trip to France), and Krusty gets Busted, first appearance of Sideshow Bob.
All in all this is an excellent season despite its shortcomings. It wasn't the first season I saw on DVD but it was the first one I ever bought. And I'll probably continue to buy each season as it becomes available.

Classic Simpsons, 2008-09-24
I start my review this way because The Simpsons is approching Season 20 as I write this review. And only in the last several years has the show started to show serious signs of age!I am 28 now and this is a Simpson season I fondly remember one of my fathers' co-workers dubbing off of cable for us because we didn't have it;it was on right before "Married With Children" at the time if I recall. I cannot watch this season without images of "Don't Have A Cow Man" T-Shirts and even McDonalds offering a line of Simpson dolls;for a time they were as big a marketing item as The Beatles were in the 60's. It's funny how irreverant,witty,anti-authoritarian figures such as The Beatles and The Simpsons could have any capitalist angles but they did. But these 13 shows have a lot of special meaning to me. In this season Bart cheats on a test and ends up branded a genious,Marge has a near affair with a hursuit bowling teacher,Lisa jams her blues away with local jazzman Bleeding Gums Murphy (am I the only Simpson fan out there who liked this character?) and the entire family give each other electroshock treatment. Of course being when this is this season sometimes seems like the Bart Simpson show;Bart goes to France,Bart fights a bully,Bart outsmarts the babysitter bandit,Bart reveals Sideshow Bob had framed Krusty The Clown,etc. But before Homer became the breakout character Bart was the star vehicle. But that doesn't matter.Neither does the difference in the animation;the main characters have very rubbery movements,a lot of the backround characters are either horrible mutants or just look like blobs with faces in the crowd scenes. Not only that but Bart isn't as full of clever quips as he would be later,Homer talks more like Walter Matheau then he would later on and Ned Flanders hasn't yet become a religious fanatic;he was just the Simpsons yuppie neighbor at this point. But as a later Simpsons episode pointed out sometimes TV show change after a pilot or first season;some characters are baught upfront or pushed into the backround and sometimes you can change them almost entirely. Interestingly enough this would be the last of The Simpsons I'd see for another five years;I caught seasons 2 and on through network syndication. I have since diligantly purchased the DVD sets and will continue to do so but still this stands out as really one of my favorite Simpson seasons.