Christmas With The Simpsons
I love the Simpsons, have done for a while, but I've always gone for the complete season DVD's rather than the loosely grouped collections that appear now and again. In saying that, Christmas with the Simpsons has a few classic episodes that are worth watching again and again, even when I wrote this ... in the middle of June!
I love the Simpsons, have done for a while, but I've always gone for the complete season DVD's rather than the loosely grouped collections that appear now and again. In saying that, Christmas with the Simpsons has a few classic episodes that are worth watching again and again, even when I wrote this ... in the middle of June!
Those episodes are ...
SIMPSONS ROASTING ON AN OPEN FIRE
"Oh please, there's only one fat guy who brings us presents, and his name ain't Santa."
The first full length episode shown on US TV. No Christmas bonus from the power plant and an expensive tattoo removal for Bart mean no money for the Simpsons this Christmas. Taking Bart and his last few dollars to the dog track, Homer bets the family Christmas on dog number eight, Santa's Little Helper. A classic episode that sets a precedent for the future ... the classic cartoon Christmas miracle doesn't happen for The Simpsons and they lose the race, badly. Simple family values save the day as they adopt the losing dog and make him part of the family.
It's hard to believe that come Christmas 2004 this episode will be fifteen years old! It looks very dated compared to later episodes, and the actors haven't decided on the final voice for their characters, but it still has its moments and in places is funnier than episodes a decade younger.
MR. PLOW
"The waiting game sucks. Let's play Hungry Hungry Hippos!"
Mr. Plow, that's my name, that name again is Mr. Plow. The familiar Simpsons storyline of Homer changing jobs, succeeding at first, and eventually failing, gets a new twist here as his best friend becomes his arch rival, with Linda Ronstadt doing his commercials. Homer buys a plow he can't really afford, but makes extra money from it by clearing snow for Springfield residents. All goes well until Barney buys a bigger and better plow of his own and takes Homer's business. Homer gets his revenge by sending him up into an avalanche zone, but has a change of heart when he see's his friend trapped. The two of them make up and decide to work together just as there's an almighty thaw. Homer's plow is repossessed, but it's ok, he still has the Mr. Plow jacket.
Not exactly a Christmas episode, but a classic that's worth another watch if only for Homer's rap, "I'm Mr. Plow and I'm here to say, I'm the plowingest guy in the USA. I have a big plow and I move a lot of things. And I'll sack
your cow if you have one."
MIRACLE ON EVERGREEN TERRACE
"You'll all get yours in hell, you lying, thieving, er... blanking blankers.
Sincerely, Moe."
Bart gets up before anyone else on Christmas morning, and accidentally sets fire to the Christmas tree with all the presents underneath. He hides the evidence and claims he saw a burglar leaving with everything. The town rally round and donate a large sum of money, but Bart's fraud is uncovered and the town turn against the family. After a failed appearance on Jeopardy, the Simpsons return to Springfield to find that the whole town has forgiven them, but they've got their money back by stealing everything from the house.
A weird episode, that ends on the family chasing each other through the empty house. The message is simple, who needs material goods, when you have each other, but you can't avoid the fact that it ends on a bit of a downer.
(And you can't get onto final Jeopardy if you've got a minus score!)
GRIFT OF THE MAGI
"What's going on here? And I want the non-gay explanation!"
Bart has to spend some time in a wheelchair so Springfield Elementary has to build ramps to accommodate him. The local mafia rip them off and the school has to close. A toy company takes over the school to conduct secret market
research on a new toy, but Lisa finds out and eventually gets Homer to steal all the toys on Christmas Eve.
Typical of many episodes, the Grift of the Magi takes quite a while to settle down into a story, but gets there eventually making a middle of the road entry to this Christmas DVD. Plenty of celebrity voices including Gary
Coleman and a criminally underused Tim Robbins.
SHE OF LITTLE FAITH
"That's it, no more chat rooms for you"
After a few failed attempts, Homer and his nerd friends build a model rocket that takes off beautify, but goes off course and destroys the local church. Mr. Burns takes the church over, running it like a business, but Lisa is so
disgusted by the commercialisation and blasphemy that she leaves, never to return. She searches for a religion, finally settling on Buddhism.
I've read a lot of bad reviews of this episode, but I think it's very sweet. It shows Lisa as an intelligent, free thinking spirit, but also still a little eight year old girl. Christmas is used as a lure back to Christianity, but as Buddhists are tolerant of other religions, she gets to celebrate Christmas with the family by paying 'lip service' to her Church. Perhaps not so much a resolution to the episode as a commentary on religion
in the USA?
Special Feature: Best of Mr. Burns
A selection of clips featuring Mr. Burns, many from the same few episodes, that aren't very funny out of context and have sod all to do with Christmas.
The quality varies from episode to episode, essentially the newer it is, the better it looks. Animation aside, all the episodes are clean, clear and bright with a stereo or surround (not 5.1) audio track depending on age.
Other than the Mr. Burns feature, no extras are included, which is a bit of a disappointment. At £15.99 (the same price as the complete season DVD's at Play.com at the time of writing) I would have expected a little more.
Overall though, you can't really go wrong with the Simpsons and this DVD would go down very well, not just in the middle of summer, but at Christmas as well.
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