Hard to believe that season sets of The Simpsons started coming out five and a half years ago, and we're just now up to season nine. These are sure coming out slowly. But the good news is they're worth the wait.
The fold-out portrait inside is of the Simpsons extended cast paying tribute to the cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The set's booklet is an issue of "Rocking Stone" magazine, with details and photos from each episode. The set also includes postcards of The Simpsons' Rolling Stone covers from several years ago, in which the animated characters recreate the covers of The Beatles' Abbey Road, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA, and Nirvana's Nevermind. Other postcards recall images of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis.
Season 9 continues the tradition of great themed packaging and clean transfers of the episodes, not to mention extras that include commentary on every episode, which is a rarity for television DVDs. The theme for this season's DVD set is music, which makes sense since saxophonist Lisa is the featured player on the cover (and the corresponding "head" package).
The fold-out portrait inside is of the Simpsons extended cast paying tribute to the cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The set's booklet is an issue of "Rocking Stone" magazine, with details and photos from each episode. The set also includes postcards of The Simpsons' Rolling Stone covers from several years ago, in which the animated characters recreate the covers of The Beatles' Abbey Road, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA, and Nirvana's Nevermind. Other postcards recall images of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis.The episodes include some great moments in Simpsons history. The premiere is "The City Of New York Vs. Homer Simpson," in which Homer must retreive the family car from where Barney illegally parked it at World Trade Plaza. The show aired four years before 9/11 and promiently features the Twin Towers, among other New York landmarks. The episode was rumored to have been "retired," but it is here as we remember it.
"The Principle And The Pauper" features Martin Sheen as the real Seymour Skinner. Sheen plays a variation of his role as Capt. Williard in Francis Ford Coppolla's Apocalypse Now, and while the episode is not one that sits well with Simpsons fans (it strains credibility that the Principle Skinner we've come to know all these years isn't the real Skinner), the show is a nice parody of Sheen's Apocalypse Now character, although it doesn't really get to be the parody of the movie and the Vietnam film genre that it could have been. 
Other highlights from the season include "The Cartridge Family," in which Homer laments the waiting period for buying a gun because "I'm angry now!"; "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace," one of the series' Christmas episodes in which Bart burns down the family tree and presents; "Simpson Tide," in which Homer and friends join the Navy and sing a hilarious version of the famous Village People tune; and the 200th episode, "Trash of the Titans," in which both Steve Martin and U2 guest star -- any show that can get rock and roll superstars like Bono to sing "The Garbage Man Can" to the tune of the "The Candyman Can" deserves some kind of award.
Suffice it to say that the extras are what we expect from the Simpsons DVDs and are what other television shows should produce. Besides the commentaries, there are loads of deleted scenes, an overview of the season from creator Matt Groening, animation, sketch and storyboard features and even a preview of 2007's Simpsons Movie.
With 2007 poised to be a big year for the Simpsons (it will complete its 18th season, begin its 19th, and have its first feature film in the summer), the release of the season set DVDs should increase. Two sets a year just isn't enough for a show that has such a rich history.
Many fans will lament the decline in quality they feel the series suffered as it aged, but in truth, the show has remained remarkably consistent in its 18 years. If anyone tells you the show wasn't worth watching after the fifth or sixth year, you can take out The Complete Ninth Season and prove them wrong.
More info: The Simpsons Channel
