Customer Reviews

The Simpsons - The Eleventh Season

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I didn't want to just write a review about my initial response to the new box design because I think we all know how we as fans feel about that. First I wanted to give actual information about the set to people who are unsure or when shopping on Amazon don't want to be bothered to look on tv.com for episode lists.

The set contains the following episodes from Season Eleven:

Beyond Blunderdome- Mel Gibson and Homer team up
Brother's Little Helper- Bart has ADD, takes Focusyn Drug
Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner- Homer, Food Critic.
Treehouse of Horror X- Ned: Werewolf, Bart, Lisa: Superpowers, Y2K: World Ends
E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)- Family lives on a farm, Tomaco
Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder- Homer bowls 300 and his life peaks
Eight Misbehavin'- Apu has his octuplets
Take My Wife, Sleaze- Homer becomes a biker, biker's kidnap marge
Grift of the Magi- Christmas, Funzo and Gary Coleman
Little Big Mom- Marge breaks leg, Lisa takes over
Faith Off- Bart becomes a faith healer
The Mansion Family- The Simpsons live in Burn's Mansion
Saddlesore Galactica- The Simpsons get a horse, again, Furious D.
Alone Again, Natura-Diddily- Maude Flanders dies
Missionary: Impossible- Homer Vs. PBS, save me Jebus
Pygmoelian- Moe gets plastic surgery.
Bart to the Future- Bart is a deadbeat, Lisa is president.
Days of Wine and D'oh'ses- Barney goes sober.
Kill the Alligator and Run- The family goes to Florida, Spring Break.
Last Tap Dance in Springfield- Lisa finds difficulty tap dancing, Bart lives at the mall.
It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge- Otto's girlfriend moves in with the simpsons, Marge gets paranoid.
Behind the Laughter- A parody of behind the music.

Those are the episodes for anyone wondering. As for the box, Amazon sells the limited edition Krusty head cheaper but it is the same as the regular box but with a krusty face rubber cemented on, the same stuff used to hold on the listing of episodes on the back of all previous box sets, so you can remove it and have the regular box but I don't know how much damage the stuff is capable of if it bonds too much and I'd rather just pay more for the other one. The inside of the box is very disappointing, we all know and seem to agree, the cardboard is a bad idea because it defeats the most important purpose of the box set which is to keep our discs well stored and accessable. The tight carboard slots rather than plastic holders make it more difficult to get at our discs and store them properly, though I haven't had problems with it yet I foresee down the road a few years when the constant contact with cardboard will erode and scratch the discs no matter how careful I always am. We buy boxsets to own the episodes and be able to keep them so why make a set that won't preserve the life of the discs? It's not for the enviroment or they wouldn't use that wasteful Krusty head on it or use non-biodegradable cardboard. I think it is just laziness or a bad idea.

Anyway everyone debates their last great season of the Simpsons and this is the one truly great last season for me. Opening with Mel Gibson and ending on the Behind the Music Parody it's entertaining from beginning to end. Twelve and thirteen move further into a bad place in the series where for some of us who grew up on it it became too hard to relate to anymore. I stopped watching completely by the end of thirteen. From here the comedy gets more obvious and straight forward and rather than the quick, rapid fire joke pacing they developed (and Family guy came out with and became known for) they move to a place where they hold on a joke for too long and seem to try too hard. It feels to me like they wrote it trying to make it funny to other people when the rule of comedy is to write something you find funny and so will other people.

Great episodes on the set, commentaries and extras are what they always are and provide some viewers entertainment, I find the commentaries rather amusing as they poke fun at themselves and you can see here that they really find what they wrote in those years amusing. Packaging seems to be everyones sore spot here and I agree but sadly am used to Fox disappointing me in these recent years, first by stopping the release of King of the Hill box sets before the last great seasons and second by only releasing the first season of Malcolm in the Middle and finally with the huge amount of time they took in releasing the Simpson box sets thus far. Thankfully I will only be buying season twelve and then after that I'm finally done with Fox and their dreadful box sets. (What happened to the days of Futurama volumes 1-4, those sets were excellent).

PS.
People in America think they've had trouble with the sets but I live in Canada and besides the set back of season 6 and this recent development with 11 I also had them screw me up on season 8 by changing the titling on the side of the boxes to include les Simpson reverting the Simpsons to half the size to make room (since they have moved both around numerous times on following sets in experimentations but none ever match the previous box sets in the series). With the distinctive art of the show on the cover and the name simpsons in yellow on it you think anyone in any language could tell what this is without specific useless articles of speech being translated. Now I buy from the US. GOB BLESS THE USA.

Thanks For Your Time.

I had been wondering when I would stop purchasing season box sets of the Simpsons. Well, I am wondering no longer. After having watched this set all the way through, I recall vividly the point at which this show "jumped the shark."

But I'll get to that in a bit. First off, let me echo all of the other negative reviews of the packaging. This is by far the worst packaging Fox has foisted upon us - and that is saying a LOT. The cardboard sleeves seem designed to either rip in half or scratch the discs inside. Also, let me just say that the DVD menus of the Simpsons sets are atrocious. A user is forced to burrow through layer after irritating layer of menu to find an episode or to do something like turn on subtitles - a function which the disc will not allow you to adjust while the video is playing.

As far as the show itself, here are the highlights:
-"E-I-E-I-Annoyed Grunt": The 'Tomacco' episode is a gem.

-"Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder": A classic. It has all the elements. Bowling, an emotionally based family-values story with Maggie, and a funny guest star who isn't too obtrusive.

-"The Mansion Family": Burns/Smithers is generally golden, and they don't disappoint here.

-"Bart to the Future": Simpsons future stories have always been pretty good. They allow for character development and future humor, which usually works.

-"Little Big Mom": once Lucy Arnez showed up, this show took off.

-"Behind the Laughter": a swan song if there ever was one. After the dreck of the preceding 2 discs, such a perfectly executed and funny episode was almost sad. Except it was still hilarious.

The (very) lowlights:

-"Saddlesore Galactica": Is this the one where the show jumps the shark? Gosh, when you have a 2-minute musical number featuring evil elfin jockeys, it's hard to argue. Except for:

-"Alone again, Datura-diddly": this has to be just about the worst episode in the show's run. It has joke about an oversized penis, which is REALLY inappropriate for this show; it tries to pull heartstrings by killing a character, but fails because of the off-key humor and the fact that no one cares about Maude Flanders (not even the original voice actress, apparently); it goes on for minute after minute on two painfully unfunny sequences (NASCAR and Ned's dating), it's just a disaster from start to finish. If "Saddlesore" began the leap over the shark, This episode was the stuck landing on waterskis.

-"Days of Wine and D'oh-ses": another side-character focus episode, this one ruining Barney for no apparent reason.

-"It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge": any group of writers who can render Parker Posey unfunny has really achieved something for the ages.

Overall, this season has a few more duds than good ones. But its major offenses against the franchise would take nearly a decade and a feature film to recover from. The parade of unfunny, nonsensical guest-stars, and the departure from the kind of storytelling that made the Simpsons "golden age" so good (character driven stories with recognizably human motivations) were really pretty fatal to the show. I LOVED the Simpsons. But it became very difficult to watch after this season. I'm sure there are theories. The departure of this or that writer or producer, actor, etc. But it simply comes down to this: since this season, the show has never really recovered, the bloom was off the rose.

It's worth a purchase at under 20 bones (I got it for 15 in a post-Xmas sale), but not for full price. It's still the Simpsons. It's still better than most stuff on TV. But if you are a true fan who has loved the ten seasons preceding this one, this one will be bittersweet at best (and downright infuriating at worst). If you are a newcomer to the show (which is difficult to imagine), you'd be better served purchasing season 4, let's say.

Ordered this season to complete my girlfriend's set that I got her for Christmas. The only reason this is getting 1 star is because The Simpsons are just all around greatness. The packaging however...ummm...not so much.

I tried to avoid the Krusty head packaging at all costs, but this is just as bad! The DVDs are kept in these little sleeves and the DVDs are so hard to get to, you practically have to pinch it and get your fingerprints all over the DVD, and as you're sliding it out, the packaging is so tight, you're scratching it to all hell. That is...of course...that they weren't scratched when they were put in by manufacturing.

Gave it the benefit of the doubt and asked for a replacement box set to be sent out. I mean...who wants an incomplete set...right? Man, when we got the new set, it was even more scratched up than the first! LAME!

It's really bad. And I mean...really bad. Until they come up with a new packaging system, we won't be purchasing this eleventh season. And to top it off, I just found out that some of her other seasons' discs are scratched as well. Wow. Someone needs to get on this ASAP.

If you don't have any of the DVDs...I suggest you wait for a Blu Ray release. Maybe then...they'll have come up with a way to actually get you unscratched and completely playable discs. There's no point in getting these if episodes are going to be skipping around in places.

WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME.

Not AMAZON's fault by the way.

Welcome to the eleventh (!) season of "The Simpsons", one of the best and longest lasting shows on television! With this season you get some of the greatest episodes, including one of my personal favorites, "Behind the Laughter". Of course you also get some wonderful commentaries, which are always entertaining, and the usual raft of extras. All in all, a great set, with one notable exception.

The packaging bites. Totally bites.

The producers of "The Simpsons" and "Futurama" seem to have got it into their heads that making "green" packaging for their DVD's is somehow better. This is also seen with movies such as "There Will Be Blood". Basically what it boils down to is "cheap, cardboard packaging that is almost guaranteed to damage your DVD's when you remove them."

The packaging for this season of "The Simpsons" is particularly notable for this failing. The disks are jammed inside tight cardboard sleeves. When you remove them, you're almost going to have to grip them by the top and bottom, promising tons of fingerprints. Unless you're very careful, you're also likely to scratch them.

I understand the idea of wanting to not fill up our landfills with tons of plastic, but really, people. How many of you bought the previous seasons of the show on DVD and then threw away the plastic trays that the discs were in? Not many, I'm wagering.

So five stars for the show and, much as it pains me to do it, only one for the packaging. Thus the set gets a sad little three stars and no love.

I've resisted for as long as I could, but I'm finally jumping on the bandwagon of complainers about the Simpsons DVD's. I have bought every season up until 13 and kept my frequent disappointment or frustration quiet. No more. It's nice that they want to make the packaging pretty and all, but I (used to!) buy the DVD's to WATCH them, not admire artwork or packaging. This packaging ensures that the discs will become scratched or broken and worse, yet AGAIN, they have opted for transluscent images/holes in the disc printing, making it impossible to read in some DVD players. It's taken me way too long, but Groening, Fox, et al, will not see another penny from me. If I want any future seasons, I will buy them USED from Ebay, thus cutting money out of their greedy, ignorant pockets. Remember the season where the discs had to spin to match heads a bunch times before every viewing?! How hard is it to just make a friggin DVD that just PLAYS well??!!! Worst marketing ever.

The packaging of this box set is one of the worst I've purchased. It's difficult to remove the DVD from the sleeves. I almost had to rip one of the sleeves to get the DVD out. It's great that they're trying to cut down on packaging, but there must be a better solution than this terrible box.

I am an avid Simpsons fan, and have bought every season as soon as it was available, so that I would have another piece of pop culture to enjoy forever. However, this is the last Simpsons season I will ever buy, until they get the message that we fans will not tolerate their cheap excuses for packaging. This set has the cheapest cardboard envelopes to hold the DVD's in, you can't pull them out more than twice without one of the disks becoming scratched. Vote with your dollars, and send FOX the message that we as Simpsons fans deserve better quality than this.

Yes, people argue about what seasons are good or bad but I wish I had listened to those who said to stop your collection at Season 10. Season 11 episodes struggle to hard to be funny and fail miserably in the process. There are a couple of keepers, but with with 20 episodes a year it's not that hard to get two or three right. Another point that is mentioned often in the reviews is the packaging,and IT IS AWFUL. I'm starting to get the feeling that someone has pure, uncontrollable hatred for the Simpsons-buying public. Why else would they make this awful cardboard contraption that is impossible not to damage if you try to open the slits for the discs more than 2 millimeters? And of course sliding the discs in & out between sandpaper can't be good, either. It's purchases like this that make me wonder if all my video-downloading friends aren't on to something.

So far, 2 of 4 of my discs have damage. This is the cheapest, lousiest packaging I have ever seen any DVD set in. No way to remove discs without tearing the packaging or putting your fingers on the disc. Looks like someone wanted to make a few extra bucks by using the cheapest, cruddiest packaging EVER. And since you are sure to damage the discs, you are sure to buy this again. The only reason I bought it is I am a major Simpsons freak. So, unless you have a sick need to own them all, like I do, don't waste your money on this season. Whoever OK'd this at Fox should be tied to a flatbed and ran out of town, or catapulted. A fine example of how Babylon tries to suck the last dime from the workin man. Very sad. I am ashamed I was too weak to pass this up.

This is a very short review for the "regular" box release.
Cons:
The outer slipcase is smaller than the previous releases. The 4 dvds are placed in an "accordion-style" cardboard sleeve. If anyone thought that Seasons 6-10 were getting the shaft compared to Seasons 1-5, then this is the next step in the Fox shafting process. It really is sad to see Simpsons come to this. To put it in a financial perspective - I would pay $30 for Seasons 1-5, $25 for Seasons 6-10, and $20 for this season.
Bravestarr volume 2 from BCI got a better treatment than Simpsons Season 11 - only a few of you would know what I'm talking about.
The "accordion-style" cardboard sleeve can scratch your discs b/c it's cardboard that the disc rests against.

Pros:
I'm trying to be optimistic too. The "accordion-style" cardboard sleeve is colorful and colored on both sides. The booklet is bigger than the other releases and is detailed, per usual. And a slimmer outer slipcase takes up less room on my already crowded 300+ dvd bookshelf, of which most are cartoons. It's about as slim as the CaptianN/SuperMarioWorld Shout! Factory dvd release - maybe a little bit bigger though.

I thought Fox couldn't shaft their releases any further but I was wrong. I guess Seasons 16-20 will be paper dvd sleeves in a Simpsons themed cd jewel case if seasons 11-15 are this.

I hate to see how King of the Hill is going to get treated.

I gave it three stars because it's not the end of the world.