DVD proves disappointing

While The Simpsons Complete Second Season Collector's Edition DVD may not quite deserve the status of "Worst DVD Ever," it sure isn't very good. It is, however, better than the Complete First Season Collector's Edition, which may very well be the worst collector's edition DVD ever with its very few and very lame special features. In stark contrast to the DVD, the second season of The Simpsons was excellent. Whereas the first season was devoted to Bart and his shenanigans, the second season afforded more time to other essential characters. Marge is central in "Itchy, Scratchy and Marge," Lisa is the lead character in "Lisa's Substitute" and Homer is, well, Homer in "Dancin' Homer." Moreover, the second season introduces other memorable characters. Among them are news anchor Kent Brockman; the family physician Dr. Julius Hibbert; the bumbling, ambulance-chasing attorney/babysitter/etc. Lionel Hutz, who was voiced by the late Phil Hartman; Ralph Wiggum, whose cat has breath reeking of cat food; the mega-sarcastic Comic Book Guy; Groundskeeper Willie and Professor Frink. The second season also featured episodes with Larry King, Ringo Starr and Tony Bennett as themselves, Danny DeVito as Homer's brother Herb and Jon Lovitz as Marge's high school prom date Artie Ziff. Among the monumental episodes from the second season are "The Treehouse of Horror," the first of many Halloween specials; "Simpson and Delilah," the time when Homer cheats on his company health insurance to obtain an anti-baldness drug; "Bart the Daredevil," a classic episode where Homer falls into Springfield Gorge and "Three Men and a Comic Book," the episode where Bart, Milhouse and Martin procure a rare comic book. The trouble with the second season DVD set begins with the case. Simply put, it stinks. It looks really nice, but it is very easily damaged. Look at this thing wrong and it bends. Unfortunately, the trouble only begins with the weak case. It continues with getting to the menus. Simply put, this process is annoying - extremely annoying. After inserting a disk and watching a legal warning and other useful information and disclaimers go by, one is suddenly whisked away to a wheel with several Simpsons characters. What's this? That head doesn't go with that body. Why, they're all mixed up. How clever. Actually, it's not that clever. It's ridiculous. We all know these characters, and we all know which head goes with which body. So why must we waste time with this? Oh, well. After racking our brains to match a head with the appropriate body, good things happen, right? Not really. The menus are drab. All the episodes have commentaries, but they're kind of boring and monotonous. There are a few interviews, but not with the people who voice our favorite characters. All in all, the special features aren't that special. But wait! This collector's edition does contain 22 classic episodes of the greatest television show ever, so at least that's something special. Rating: C