The Simpsons - Backstage Pass

As the Hans Moleman-paced release of complete seasons of The Simpsons on DVD continues un-apace (at the current rate season 12, which gives us one episode here, will be out around 2012), for a second time we’re given a chance to catch some episodes from later seasons on our beloved little shiny disc format. An idea that has been used on VHS for some time, it may not be a perfect solution, but it is enough to satiate the hunger for Springfield’s finest for many just a little bit – even if it really only satisfies about as much as a Duff-Lite with no peanuts. No peanuts? Awwwwwww...

This collection cobbles together four episodes with music-based themes from the show’s vast catalogue, and includes a true classic in the form of the delightfully cynical at times Homerpalooza. To be more precise, with the typing and the describing and the mentioning of quotes n-hey, this is what’s in store...

A Tale of Two Springfields (season 12): Springfield has outgrown its area code, so a second one has been introduced – something Homer is having immense trouble coping with. Deciding to make a stand, at a town meeting he suggests they split into Olde and New Springfield, and he takes mayoral duties for the latter. Soon there’s fussin’ and a’ feudin’ between the two factions and a separating wall is built – but when a gig by The Who is announced at Olde Springfield’s historic Yahoo Search Engine Arena, Homer is faced with a mass exodus – unless he can woo The Who...

"Homer stole our rock performance! That fat, dumb and bald guy sure plays some real hardball." – Moe Szyslak.

Homerpalooza (season 7): When an Otto led mishap causes the school bus to be cubed, it’s car pool time for the parents of the Springfield Elementary kids. The kids leave Homer feeling out of touch with rock music - after all as far as he’s concerned it reached its pinnacle in the time of Grand Funk Railroad - so he makes an effort to increase his cool in the eyes of Bart and Lisa with tickets to the rock festival Hullabalooza. A mishap with Peter Frampton’s inflatable pig (courtesy of a Pink Floyd garage sale) then sees Homer inducted into the festival’s Pageant of the Trans-mundane, he sets out on tour but discovers that it may not be too good for his tummy. Cypress Hill, Sonic Youth and the Smashing Pumpkins (complete with some truly classic lines) all make appearances.

"Wow! It’s like Woodstock, only with advertising everywhere and tonnes of security guards" – Lisa Simpson.

Homer’s Barbershop Quartet (season 5): The Springfield swap meet yields an intriguing discovery for Bart and Lisa – their Dad was once in a band called The Be Sharps. While Marge is sent off to fix a flat tyre, Homer relates the story of his rise to fame on the coattails of barbershop along with Apu, Seymour and Barney (after dumping Clancy Wiggum along the way), in a story which will have many familiar moments for fans of The Beatles – George Harrison (RIP) even makes a couple of brief appearances – and David Crosby pops up too.

"Barbershop is in danger of growing stale – I’m taking it to strange new places..." – Barney Gumble "Number 8, BUUUUUUURP!, number 8, BUUUUUUURP!, number 8, BUUUUUUURP!, number 8, BUUUUUUURP!, number 8, BUUUUUUURP!"

The Otto Show (season 3): Bart gets to see his first rock gig – Spinal Tap, however the show is aborted and a riot ensues. Inspired to be a rock star, Bart is given a guitar but struggles even with Polly Wolly Doodle - then Otto gets hold of it and really puts on a show – which leads to his suspension as bus driver as it’s discovered he doesn’t have a licence. Drag! Kicked from his home and living in a Trash-Co (no luxurious Dumpsters for him), Bart invites him to live in their garage. After Homer kicks him out, and still struggling to get his licence, he finds an ally in somebody united in his hatred for a certain big fat, balding doofus...

"Otto. That’s one palindrome you won’t be hearing for a while" – Principal Seymour Skinner.

It should come as no surprise that all four episodes here come in full frame, 1:33 format – just how they were intended to be seen. Being a grab bag of episodes spanning a number of years from the early ‘90s to as recently as 2000, it should also hardly make you slap your cheek and wail “I can’t believe it’s not perfect!� to learn that, well, visually it isn’t. Don’t start looting your local shopping strip at this news, however, as all is mostly good, and in most cases better than seen in either of the season box sets released thus far – but a few nasties in the form of speckles and wobbly pans do crop up at times. Suffice to say colour is gorgeously vivid, generally things are nice and clear, it’s uncut, and scrubs up better than you’ll ever have seen it on television – which should be enough to make any self respecting fan of The Simpsons emit a hearty “Woohoo!�.

Whereas the collections of entire seasons released so far have had Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes lavished upon them, this collection, being more a smash and grab affair like the previous release The Simpsons Film Festival, simply comes with surround-encoded Dolby Digital stereo. Still, it’s what we get on telly, so it’s authentic and certainly does a great job, being clear at all times (except for a brief crackle in A Tale of Two Springfields just on the 20 minute mark – strange) and about as well-synched as a cartoon such as this ever gets.

As always, Alf Clausen’s score work adds so much to proceedings, much of which gets to stretch out of its well-worn couch groove and dance about the surrounds at times. There are a few other random musical treats in store, most notably revered feedback kings (and queen!) Sonic Youth being let loose on the end theme for Homerpalooza.

More dull and lifeless than one of Louie’s Manhattans, the menus here smack of a rush job, with zero in the way of audio accompaniment or animated action – the latter made kind of ironic when this is an animated series. The only extra available is a 2:22 mini-clip show labelled Otto’s Finest Moments on the menu, and Otto’s Words of Wisdom on the actual collection. At least it is well billed whichever title you plump for, as a couple of the most utterly coooooooooooooooooooooooooolest of Otto’s appearances are featured, including his sagely only-adult-present advice from Bart the Daredevil.

Sure The Simpsons Backstage Pass smacks of a make-more-cash, band-aid solution to the incredible demand for Simpsons DVD action, but with four pretty good episodes on offer for those fans of the show starved of those wonderful ping-pong ball eyed yellow folk on OFF (our favourite format) it’s an excuse to do a Homer and be gullible for just the one purchase – unless you have enough patience to wait... and wait... and wait... and wait some more for the season set releases to catch up.