PACKAGING
This was the first edition of these box sets that I got with the "head" design.
I was quite excited, because I didn't know what to expect, because a majority of fans disliked the Homer head from the Season
6 set. I think it's a creative idea, and can't wait to get Maggie for season 8. For those who don't get the heads, it is a
plastic shell in the shape of a family member's head, and when you open it there is a smaller box that fits comfortably inside
it, which holds the discs and the episode booklet (like a more compact version of the normal inner case for the digipack editions),
and then it's all held together with a clear slip-over case. I haven't had any errors with my package thus far, and am actually
intrigued to see what some people mean by their plastic head "caved in".
EPISODES
I hadn't seen
a majority of these episodes before, and I was astounded at how great the majority of them were (the only one I dislike is
"Bart the Fink"), in fact I loved these episodes so much Season 7 is actually my favourite season. Overall, I would rate them:
-Who
Shot Mr. Burns? (Part 2) B+ -Radioactive Man A- -Home Sweet Home-Diddly-Dum-Doodily A+ -Bart
Sells His Soul B+ -Lisa the Vegetarian A -Treehouse of Horror VI A- -King Size Homer B+ -Mother
Simpson A -Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming B -The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular A -Marge Be
Not Proud B+ -Team Homer B- -Two Bad Neighbors A -Scenes From The Class Struggle In Springfield
B+ -Bart The Fink C -Lisa The Iconoclast A- -Homer The Smithers A+ -The Day The Violence
Died A -A Fish Called Selma B+ -Bart on the Road A- -22 Short Films About Springfield A+ -Raging
Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish" A -Much Apu About Nothing A- -Homerpalooza
B -Summer of 4 Ft. 2 A
QUALITY The overall quality of the episodes is excellent. The only
complaint I have is that this, like Season 6, appears to have been 'cleaned up' using a method called DVNR, where the film
is put through a computer where dirt and other foreign bodies are deleted off it. However, sometimes the computer mistakes
lines on the characters as hair and dirt, so sometimes small parts of the outlines look as if they have faded a lot, but it,
in no way, takes away from the viewing process. The biggest pet peeve for me is the quality on those 4-episode compilation
sets, where all they do is transfer the episodes from a VCR (the full season sets, thankfully, are better than receiving that
treatment). The colours are really nice, and in this season the overall character models and overall flow of animation was
done with excellency.
SPECIAL FEATURES Like the previous sets, this features audio commentary on every episode
(so this time, we get 25 commentaries). These are way better than the [quite boring] Season 6 commentaries, probably because
we see the introduction of Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein as Executive Producers (they were present on previous sets, but
I feel as if they were better on this one because each episode was basically one of their own). There is also the normal animatics
for some special episodes (including Treehouse of Horror VI), has the normal opening message by Matt Groening, and we also
see the introduction of these things called "Bits From The Animators" -- It's like an illustrated commentary where they rewind
the tape to show us certain things in the animation.
OVERALL Of the episodes I had seen in this season before
I got this set, I have to say, I majorly underrated them. This is a great season, and surely deserves it place in the "Classic"
era. The overall presentation and care taken with this set is remarkable. I hope they can make the rest of the sets as good
as this.
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