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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-The Last Temptation of Homer (1993)

The Simpsons-The Last Temptation of Homer (1993)

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Released 2-May-2005

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Animation Trailer-The Simpsons DVD Collection
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 1993
Running Time 88:35
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Ads Then Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Mark Kirkland
Dominic Polcino
Neil Affleck
Bob Anderson
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 Alan Braden
Alf Clausen
Ray Colcord


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 Danish
Dutch
English for the Hearing Impaired
Finnish
French
German
Icelandic
Italian
Norwegian
Portuguese
Spanish
Swedish
Turkish
French Titling
German Titling
Italian Titling
Spanish Titling
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes

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

Plot Synopsis

    The Last Temptation of Homer is a release from the Simpsons Classics collection - each disc in the collection contains four episodes that are typically thematically linked (some more than others - it's difficult to find the theme in this collection). It's hard to see what designates the episodes as "classics" when compared to episodes on other non-season discs, but the episodes here are a good collection from the earlier seasons.

    The disc has a long, irritating and only partly-skippable copyright piece at the start, and if you choose to watch single episodes rather than make use of the "Play All" function there will be the standard Fox multilingual assertion of copyright after each. This is a fairly substantial obligation on those who've paid for the disc, but seems to be standard procedure for all similar discs by this studio.

    Episodes featured in this collection are:

    Simpson and Delilah - Episode 2X02

    Homer defrauds his health insurance plan into paying for a miracle baldness cure that actually works. Promoted to an executive position, Homer finds a mentor in his new secretary.

    One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish - Episode 2X11

    Terrified that the sushi he ate at a local restaurant carries a potent poison, Homer is terrified that he may only have one day to live.

    Homer Alone - Episode 3X15

    The demands of the family cause Marge to lose control and she takes a holiday alone to recover. Lisa and Bart are left with their aunts, but Homer loses Maggie when she goes looking for her mother.

    Colonel Homer - Episode 3X20

    Upset by a family brawl at the googolplex cinema, Homer finds solace in a redneck bar and agrees to manage the musical career of a waitress he finds there.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

    Yet another Simpsons disc with an appalling video transfer. Cel animation may have a hard row to hoe compared to the digitisation of film, but Simpsons transfers should be afforded better than this. Note that all four episodes on this disc are released in season sets and are presented here at the same quality as those.

    These episodes are presented in their original 1.33:1 aspect ratio and are not 16x9 enhanced.

    This is the third Simpsons disc I've reviewed on this site and it's hard to find a new way to put this. Cellular animation doesn't measure up to the standards of this medium without substantial work (see the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes releases), and this presentation shows every flaw typically seen. Lines are soft and move from frame to frame, the grain of the film is highly evident, and even through an S-Video connection dot crawl is everywhere. With that said, on a small display this will be much less noticeable and a younger audience will probably neither notice nor care.

    The Simpsons uses a very bright colour palette, which is well represented on this disc.

    Both black and white film artefacts litter every scene - again, a liability of the cel animation process. Cross-colourisation and aliasing occur frequently.

    The subtitle track - as in the season sets - is very poor with words removed for no readily apparent reason (it didn't seem to relate to any timing issue). Lyrics will often be omitted and replaced with the tag "(SINGING)", whether or not they carry any meaning internal to the episode.

    The RSDL change is wisely located between episodes.

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

Audio

    While the video is generally sub-par on Simpsons discs, the audio is of a cheerfully high standard and this is no exception.

    There are five language tracks on this disc - all encoded at 192 Kb/s in Dolby 2.0 Surround.

    The dialogue is faultlessly clear on this disc, although synchronisation with the characters' lips is not always perfect, presumably due to dialogue rewrites.

    Both Danny Elfman's theme and the incidental music is well presented and never overwhelms the dialogue.

    The Simpsons' use of a three-dimensional audio stage is well presented by the Dolby Surround track.

    The subwoofer was not utilised by this disc.

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

Extras

Trailer

     The only extra on this disc is a trailer advertising the first four Simpsons season sets and other collections available.

R4 vs R1

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

    Although not available in Region 1, this disc appears to be the same as available in Region 2.

Summary

    The video on this disc is typical of all Simpsons releases to date and is quite poor.

    The audio makes a good presentation of three-dimensional sound and is well represented here.

    There are no extras to speak of.

    While it's hard to see a connection between the episodes presented here, they're all relatively good ones from seasons two and three. Unfortunately pricing of Simpsons discs varies widely from store to store. Last week I saw this disc retailing for $10, $32 and various prices between. I've also seen the season sets - containing six times the number of episodes - for as little as $35 and as much as $76. This disc might be an impulse purchase to pass 90 minutes or a cheap way to acquire these four episodes, but all four episodes are split between two season sets and may be better value in that form.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Nick Gaut (A bio? Have I no privacy?)
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-535, using S-Video output
DisplayPanasonic TX-86PW300A. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderPioneer VSX-512.
AmplificationPioneer VSX-512
SpeakersWharfedale Diamond 8.3 fronts, Wharfedale Diamond 8.2 rears, Wharfedale Diamond 8 centre, Wharfedale 12" sub

Other Reviews NONE