Product Details

• Actors: Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Julie Kavner, Yeardley Smith
• Format: AC-3, Animated, Box set, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Surround), French (Stereo), Spanish (Stereo)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Dubbed: French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: January 12, 2010
• Run Time: 456 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (156 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001L1S1PI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,651 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In South Park's 86th episode, Butters, a.k.a. Professor Chaos, concocts various schemes to wreak havoc but abandons each when he learns that ""The Simpsons already did it."" By the end of its historic 20th season, The Simpsons comprised more than 440 episodes, so imagine the challenge for the writers to come up with something they haven't already done or resist the temptation to make every episode a clip show. So it's heartening to see that after two decades, The Simpsons still draws inspiration from such highbrow sources as Stanley Donen's 1967 sophisticated romantic comedy Two for the Road (the episode ""Dangerous Curves""), Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures (""Lisa the Drama Queen""), and Ayn Rand and Shakespeare (""Four Great Women and a Manicure""). The flashback episode ""Take My Life, Please,"" marks the show's switch to high definition and the debut of a spectacular new opening with some of the best couch gags ever (except for one that Comic Book Guy inevitably declares to be the worst). Episodes such as ""Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes"" (Homer and Ned become bounty hunters), ""Lost Verizon"" (the family chases Bart to Machu Picchu), and ""Waverly Hills 9-0-2-1-D'Oh"" (Alaska Nebraska???) are good; they're just not Simpsons good. But those who claim that the show has lost its heart are directed to the touching ""Dangerous Curves"" and ""Eeny Teeny Maya, Moe,"" in which Moe falls in love with a little person. The voice work by the core ensemble is as inspired as ever. Dan Castellaneta won an Emmy for ""Father Knows Worst."" Notable guest stars this season include Denis Leary as himself, Emily Blunt as Lisa's partner in fantasy in ""Lisa the Drama Queen,"" Anne Hathaway as a goodhearted older girl who captures Bart's affections, and Jodie Foster as the rebellious voice of Maggie in ""Four Great Women and a Manicure."" Two separate episodes feature rousing renditions of the show's theme performed by Fall Out Boy and by a cappella group Canvas, respectively.

It makes good business sense to release The Complete 20th Season in advance of seasons 13 to 19. When an animated series ties (and has now surpassed) Gunsmoke as prime time's longest running show, attention must be paid (and exploited). But unlike previous sets, there are none of the extras Simpsonites have come to expect save for a less-than-4-minute ""sneak peek"" at Morgan Spurlock's excellent 20th-anniversary special. In trying to come up with just the right clever thing to say about that, one must look, as with everything in life, to an episode of The Simpsons, the one in which Bart discards a Where's Waldo book that eschews the usual crowd scenes for a single life-size illustration of Waldo. ""Man,"" Bart remarks, ""He's not even trying anymore."" --Donald Liebenson

Product Description

• Audio: English: 5.1 Dolby Surround / Spanish & French: Stereo
• Language: Dubbed: English, French & Spanish / Subtitled: English & Spanish
• Theatrical Aspect Ratio: Widescreen: 1.78:1

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

292 of 313 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Boycott this Baloney! January 12, 2010

By Jacob Lennington

Format:DVD

DO NOT PURCHASE THIS 'COMPLETE' SET!

Fox is screwing it's fanbase over with this BS "Complete Season 20" set. If you're in the USA, the only real preview is of the "Simpsons 20th Anniversery Special" that aired two days BEFORE the set was actually released! Furthermore, there are no commentaries, no deleted scenes, or any other bonus material that graced the previous DVD sets. Also, IMO, this set uses the silly cardboard accordian design which makes taking out the discs a chore.

--And it's still priced as much as the other DVD sets when they were released. To quote Edna: "HA!"

Whether or not you feel the Simpsons is as good as it used to be, this set is a sham. For a set that supposed to ring in two decades of one of the greatest comedies of all time, you'd think someone other than the potential buyers might have cared, and if you're buying this as a gift, RESIST! The more people who close their wallets to this will mean a faster release of the real Season 20 set and hopefully an 'extended cut' of the Anniversery Special.

Jake

154 of 163 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars 20th Season should be EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA AWESOME, right? January 12, 2010

By M. Larsen

Format:DVD

Luckily, I didn't pre-order this season like I did on seasons 1-12. Why? I didn't even know it was being released. But when a friend found out, he got it immediately. We both figured that Season 20 would be extra extra extra packed with awesome extras - like maybe the Tracy Ullman shorts like we thought we were going to get with Season 1. Maybe it would be extra packed with documentaries (including the one we just saw on TV a few days ago). Maybe it would have all of the news clips throughout the years showing the slow acceptance of society (they went from BAD for the family to a Great example of a good family). Maybe it would have lots of behind the scenes footage of some of the stars over the years? Maybe...

Then our dreams were shattered. We opened the package and put it in the DVD player. First, it has the same awful disc-scratching packaging as seasons 11 and 12. Second, it had ZERO (1-12 had lots) extras. And no, I don't count the teaser clip of the 20th anniversary special a feature. Third, it was obviously rushed to market to capitalize on the 20th anniversary documentary.

I will not be buying *THIS* version of Season 20. I will continue to buy 13-20 in the order they are released. I'm 100% positive they will re-release this with a ton of extras when they do it in the proper order. If all future releases are as shoddy and light on extras as this one, I won't be buying any more. :(

95 of 103 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as great as the others January 12, 2010

By Jason Johnson

Format:DVD

I just bought this today just because I love the Simpsons; And to be honest this set sucks! Sure they start getting better this season but this set sucks because there are no special features. There isn't even a greeting from Matt Groening like the previous sets. Honestly this is not the kind of thing we expect from the crew that works on these sets but maybe they were just rushed into doing a crappy release for the 20th season. In that case it still sucks because this is the season they should have celebrated the most with. They should of had so many special features and Easter eggs that you would get tired of looking for them after a while. This is the first Simpson set that I give a bad review to for the simple reason that there is no special features, commentary, or any other great thing like the first sets had. The only good thing about this series is that the episodes start to get good again.
JD

78 of 85 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Cash Grab Betrayal January 12, 2010

By Chris Rowley

Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase

No matter what your opinion of the various seasons of The Simpsons, you could count on a lovingly constructed DVD release full of special features, particularly audio commentaries for each episode. In skipping many seasons ahead to coincide with various Simpsons 20th Anniversary events it appears FOX (who knows who all was involved with this decision) all that goodwill has been erased with these barebones releases. The only "special feature" is an abbreviated preview of the just-aired 20th Anniversary Special. No commentaries, no animatics, no nuthin'. While the DVD version still has a full booklet with episode summaries, the Blu-ray has a tiny insert that lists only the titles. Neither has the customary Groening welcome letter. This is a blatant cash grab, I guess we're expected to double-dip once the older seasons are finally released? I am ashamed to have purchased these releases, and the long-running staff of The Simpsons should be likewise embarrassed to have these releases sit alongside more than a decade of hilarious, feature-packed DVD sets that came before.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Shame on you FOX January 12, 2010

By B. Harmon

Format:DVD

Quickly thrown together to cash in on the 20th Anniversary, this "collector's edition" is a real shame. No extras, just the episodes. Thanks but no thanks, Fox.

37 of 39 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing. January 12, 2010

By Henry Fylstra

Format:Blu-ray

I have always liked the Simpsons box sets. The best parts are the special features, the commentaries and the booklet with information about the episodes and such. This had none of those. Its basically just the show on a disc. If that's all you want than great but until now they have all had extras, what happened? Also, because its BD I expected the entire season to be the new high definition stuff, its not. They switched to the HD mid-season. That part is not really their fault, that's when they made the switch but the lack of features, commentaries or quality packaging is completely their fault. I can see them re-releasing this one because this is just bad and the fans are not going to take it. The problem is now I am stuck with this one.