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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
The Simpsons-Bart Wars (1989)

The Simpsons-Bart Wars (1989)

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Released 31-Mar-2004

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy Trailer-The Simpsons Complete First And Second Seasons
Trailer-The Simpsons Film Festival & Backstage Pass
Trailer-The Simpsons Treehouse Of Horror & Risky Business
Featurette-Making Of-The Making Of Bart Wars - The Simpsons Strike Back
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 1989
Running Time 86:10
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Neil Affleck
Bob Anderson
Mikel B. Anderson
Wesley Archer
Studio
Distributor

Twentieth Century Fox
Starring Dan Castellaneta
Julie Kavner
Nancy Cartwright
Yeardley Smith
Hank Azaria
Harry Shearer
Marcia Wallace
Phil Hartman
Tress MacNeille
Pamela Hayden
Maggie Roswell
Russi Taylor
Doris Grau
Case ?
RPI $24.95 Music Alf Clausen
Ray Colcord
Danny Elfman


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
French
German
Italian
Norwegian
Spanish
Swedish
French Titling
German Titling
Italian Titling
Spanish Titling
Smoking Yes, cartoon smoking.
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    The Simpsons Classics – Bart Wars: The Simpsons Strike Back is another collection of four classic episodes, again chosen by those execs at Fox Home Entertainment looking for a little cashflow from DVD releases of the show alongside the full season releases. In this release we have:

    For die-hard fans, you have the ease of watching four good episodes from various seasons on the one disc. These four aren’t quite as funny as those on the Dark Secrets collection, but that’s just my opinion. But I still don’t know why you’d buy a collection of four episodes when you can buy a whole season instead.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    These episodes are presented in their original 1.33:1, Full Frame broadcast aspect ratio. Overall, the picture quality is good but variable.

    Colours are mostly good, though the later episode The Secret War Of Lisa Simpson was probably the best. The image is prone to cross-colouration in the whites of the eyes (well, the animated eyes) and where lines are closely grouped.

    The image is well defined without dirt.

    There are no major MPEG artefacts, and film-to-video transfer artefacts were limited to some cross-colouration, minor aliasing and some background dot-crawl.

    Subtitles are available in English for the Hearing Impaired, regular English, Danish, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish. They appear as white with a grey/black border and are easy to read. While not verbatim, you get the gist of what is being spoken.

    The dual-layer pause is hidden in between the episodes.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Audio is available in the original broadcast English 2.0 Dolby Surround and also in French, German, Spanish and Italian.

    The audio pretty much originates from just the front and centre with the odd left-right directional cue.

    There were no dialogue or audio sync issues. The rears came to life a little with the music.

    There is no subwoofer use.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Menus

    All menus are presented in 1.33:1 Full Frame. They are static and silent.

The Making Of Bart Wars

    Presented in 1.33:1 Full Frame, 2.0 Dolby Surround, this is a little promo spot that looks at all the Star Wars references in The Simpsons.

Trailers

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    From what I can tell, this was not released in R1 on DVD – they went straight for the complete season DVD releases.

Summary

    The Simpsons Classics – Dark Secrets of The Simpsons is another small collection of fun episodes.

    The video is decent, but I have suspicions that these were transferred from VHS.

    The audio is basic but adequate.

    One extra is good for a chuckle - the others are just promotional.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Edward McKenzie (I am Jack's raging bio...)
Saturday, June 12, 2004
Review Equipment
DVDPanasonic DVD-RV31A-S, using S-Video output
DisplayBeko 28" (16x9). This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver.
AmplificationMarantz SR7000
SpeakersEnergy - Front, Rear, Centre & Subwoofer

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