Simpsons: The Complete Third Season (Collector's Edition)

Last Minute Sales & Specials

Pardon me if I sound a little emotional in this introduction, but when I come home after work and turn on the TV and gaze at all the old re-runs of "The Simpsons," I get a bit choked up. When I see those yellow-skinned, overbitey cartoon characters I love so much running through their sweet, innocent paces in some almost-forgotten adventure from more than a decade ago, my eyes start to water. As I watch their high jinks and snappy retorts and merry mix-ups, I find myself stifling a sob or two. But don't get me wrong. I'm not crying because I'm sad. I'm crying because I'm filled with rage. Do they really have to hack up the syndicated episodes of "The Simpsons" so poorly, butchering them to the point of near incomprehensibility? Just to squeeze in several more commercials for heavily salted snack-treats? Is this how TV repays our years of slavish, unquestioning loyalty? What I'm trying to say is that if you're hip to the whole recycled Simpsonian merchandise thing, then you're really going to dig this little baby: the whole uncut third season of the show, with all the jokes, credits, and original animation glitches intact. We've continued with the acerbic audio commentaries by the writers, animators, and actors for every single episode - although by the end of this season you'll notice we've run out of things to say and have filled the soundtrack with a lot of quiet scuffling and squealing. (Just some foolish horse-play, I assure you. Won't happen in the next boxed sets.) This is the season in which "The Simpsons" found love. We see Homer and Marge getting married at Shotgun Pete's Wedding Chapel (just over the border from whatever state Springfield's in). We leer at Homer's near-romance with country singer Lurleen Lumpkin. We recoil at Marge's sister Selma's marriage to the ever-conniving Sideshow Bob. We stare in disbelief at Milhouse falling in love with someone other than Lisa (Samantha Stanky, to be precise).