The Simpsons - Season 2 - Region 2 DVD

These include "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", in which Homer is reunited with, and ruins the business of, his long-lost brother ("He was an unbridled success--until he discovered he was a Simpson"), "Dead Putting Society", in which Homer lives out his rivalry with neighbour Ned Flanders through a crazy-golf competition between the sons ("If you lose, you're out of the family!") and one of the greatest ever episodes, "Lisa's Substitute", which not only features poor little Lisa's crush on a supply teacher voiced by Dustin Hoffman but also Bart's campaign to become class president. "A vote for Bart is a vote for anarchy!", warns Martin, the rival candidate. By way of a retort, Bart promises faithfully, "A vote for Bart is a vote for anarchy!". --David Stubbs

On the DVD: The Simpsons, Season 2, like its DVD predecessor, has neat animated menus on all four discs as well as apparently endless copyright warnings, but nothing as useful as a "play all" facility. The discs are more generously filled than Season 1, however, and each episode has an optional group commentary from Matt Groening and various members of his team. The fourth disc has sundry snippets including the Springfield family at the Emmy Awards ceremony, Julie Kavner dressed up as Bart at the American Music Awards and videos for both "Do the Bartman" and "Deep, Deep Trouble" (all with optional commentary). There are two short features dating from 1991: director David Silverman on the creation of an episode and an interview with Matt Groening. TV commercials for butterfinger bars, foreign language clips and picture galleries round out the selection. Picture is standard 4:3 and the sound is good Dolby 5.1. --Mark Walker