Product Description

Audio: English: 5.1 Dolby Surround / Spanish & French: Stereo
Language: Dubbed: English, French & Spanish / Subtitled: French & Spanish
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen: 1.33:1

Disc 1: 110 Minutes
**Treehouse of Horror XI
**A Tale of Two Springfields
**Insane Clown Poppy
**Lisa the Tree Hugger
**Homer vs. Dignity

**Commentary:
*Treehouse of Horror XI - Matt Groening, Mike Scully, Rob Lazebnik, John Frink, Don Payne, Carolyn Omine, Matt Selman
*A Tale of Two Springfields - Matt Groening, Mike Scully, George Meyer, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Don Payne, Matt Selman, Dan Castellaneta, Shaun Cashman, Roger Daltrey, David Silverman
*Insane Clown Poppy - Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, John Frink, Don Payne, Tom Martin, Matt Selman, Dan Castellaneta, Joe Mantegna, Bob Anderson, Joel Cohen
*Lisa the Tree Hugger - Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Matt Selman, Don Payne, Tom Gammill, Tim Long, Yeardley Smith, Steven Dean Moore
*Homer vs. Dignity - Matt Groening, Mike Scully, Rob Lazebnik, Carolyn Omine, Don Payne, Matt Selman, Max Pross

**Deleted Scenes

**Featurettes:
*A Comic Moment with Matt Groening
*Illustrated commentary - Lisa The Tree Hugger

**Animation Showcase: - Treehouse of Horror XI
**Animatic/StoryBoard Compare
*Storyboards: Storyboard with episode PIP
*Animatic: Animatic with episode PIP

**2 Easter Eggs

Disc 2: 132 Minutes
**The Computer Wore Menace Shoes
**The Great Money Caper
**Skinner's Sense of Snow
**HOMR
**Pokey Mom
**Worst Episode Ever

**Commentary
*The Computer Wore Menace Shoes - Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Don Payne, John Frink, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Mark Kirkland, Joel Cohen
*The Great Money Caper - Mike Scully, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Carolyn Omine, Don Payne, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, Chuck Sheetz
Skinner's Sense of Snow - Matt Groening, Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Tim Long, Matt Selman, David Mirkin, Max Pross, Lance Kramer
*HOMR - Mike Scully, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Mike B. Anderson
*Pokey Mom - Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Tom Martin, John Frink, Don Payne, Matt Selman, Dan Castellaneta, Joe Mantegna, Bob Anderson, Joel Cohen
*Worst Episode Ever - Mike Scully, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Larry Doyle, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Hank Azaria, Chris Kirkpatrick

**Deleted Scenes

**Featurettes:
*Comic Book Guy: Best. Moments. Ever.
*Illustrated commentary - HOMR

3 Easter Eggs

Disc 3: 132 Minutes
**Tennis the Menace
**Day of the Jackanapes
**New Kids on the Blecch
**Hungry, Hungry Homer
**Bye Bye Nerdie
**Simpson Safari

**Commentary:
*Tennis the Menace - Mike Scully, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, John Frink, Don Payne, Matt Selman, Max Pross, Phil Rosenthal
*Day of the Jackanapes - Mike Scully, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Matt Selman, Tim Long, Yeardley Smith, Michael Marcantel
*New Kids on the Blecch - Matt Groening, Mike Scully, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Tim Long, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Hank Azaria, Steven Dean Moore, Chris Kirkpatrick
*Hungry, Hungry Homer - Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, John Frink, Don Payne, Matt Selman, Max Pross, Phil Rosenthal, Ben Rosenthal
*Bye Bye Nerdie - Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Don Payne, Matt Selman, Tim Long, Tom Gammill, Yeardley Smith, Lauren MacMullan, Steven Dean Moore
*Simpson Safari - Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Matt Selman, Tim Long, Yeardley Smith, Mark Kirkland, Michael Marcantel

**Deleted Scenes

**Animation Showcase: Day of the Jackanapes
**Animatic/StoryBoard Compare
*Storyboards: Storyboard with episode PIP
*Animatic: Animatic with episode PIP

**Easter Egg

Disc 4: 132 Minutes
**Trilogy of Error
**I'm Goin' to Praiseland
**Children of a Lesser Clod
**Simpsons Tall Tales

**Commentary:
*Trilogy of Error - Matt Groening, Mike Scully, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Rob Lazebnik, Matt Selman, Tim Long, Max Pross, David Mirkin, Mike B. Anderson
*I'm Goin' to Praiseland - Mike Scully, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Carolyn Omine, Don Payne, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, Chuck Sheetz
*Children of a Lesser Clod - Mike Scully, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Mike Polcino, Mike B. Anderson
*Simpsons Tall Tales - Mike Scully, Ian Maxtone-Graham, John Frink, Don Payne, Matt Selman, Tom Gammill, Max Pross, Bob Anderson, Joel Cohen

**Deleted Scenes

**Easter Egg

**The Commercials
*Nestle USA "Butterfingeritis"
*Nestle USA "Bart's Nightmare"
*Burger King International "Spaced Homer"
*Red Rooster "Loungearama"

**Deleted Scenes Intro by Mike Scully
**Deleted Scenes Gallery W/ Commentary

**The Global Fanfest
**Sketch Gallery
**Illustrated commentary - I'm Goin' to Praiseland

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #903 in DVD
• Brand: Twentieth Century Fox
• Released on: 2009-08-18
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: AC-3, Animated, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Limited Edition, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 473 minutes

Amazon.com

Stills from The Simpsons: The Complete Twelfth Season (Click for larger image)

Customer Reviews

"Limited Edition" packaging or standard? Comic Book Guy Head is BOTH!
Just a quick note about the packaging:

If you aren't sure whether to go with Comic Book Guy "limited" packaging or standard, (and I've notice some retailers, perhaps anticipating the unpopularity of the bulky "limited" packaging, are selling it at a considerable discount over the standard packaging) here's a little secret:

The "limited edition" packaging is little more than a 3-D molded Comic Book Guy face attached with rubber-cement to the front of the standard edition packaging. That's right--the standard packaging artwork is right there underneath Comic Book Guy's fat face! You can EASILY peel the Comic Book Guy face off the front of the box without damaging either, and you now have the standard DVD packaging, which will fit on your DVD shelf, as well as a Comic Book Guy face that you can display or toss in the trash.

Get It For The 1st Acts
By this point the series had settled into a too-comfortable format that this season exemplifies.
1. Hilarious first act that is soon left behind by the actual plot.
2. So-so second act that introduces the gratuitous guest voice and expands on the plot.
3. Hit or miss third act that either veers completely away from the general plot or takes the premise to an absurd level. Depending on the execution and one's personal tastes, this makes the episode either decent or awful.

Individual episodes deviate from this at times, but for the most part they stick fairly religiously to it. Did I say the guest voices are gratuitous? The stories should not be notable mainly because of the guest voice. This season leads off with The Who episode (which the commentary reveals doesn't feature the entire group, even as it existed then), a symbol of what's to come.

That said, I still give this 4 stars because of the mostly great first acts, which this period of the show elevates to an art form. The best ones have almost nothing to do with the direction of the rest of the episode but are loaded with great gags, like the trip to the Festival of Books in "Insane Clown Poppy."

Some of the third acts are brilliant, too, like The Prisoner homage in "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes," or the mob family gathering Homer & Krusty invade in "Insane Clown Poppy."

What's largely missing is the emotional core that was so memorable in the first several seasons. By this point many of the writers, directors, and producers who created and cared about these characters have all have long since moved on to other things. The commentaries make pretty clear that the 12th season staff just like making Homer appear as dumb and depraved as possible. "Homer vs. Dignity" is a particular low point featuring Homer doing baby talk in a diaper and getting raped by a panda. When genuine emotional substance is called for, such as Krusty trying to establish a relationship with his previously unknown daughter in "Insane Clown Poppy," no feeling comes through at all. (Compare it to "Like Father, Like Clown," where Krusty reconciles with his dad, or the end of "Lisa's Substitute" when Homer gets Lisa to laugh with him again.) In this specific case, part of the problem is Drew Barrymore's generic voice work completely fails to convey the emotion that's animated for her. In general, though, it reveals that the producers generally seemed to coast through the year.

Still, there are some highlight episodes, like "Trilogy of Error," and "HOMR," and the annual "Treehouse of Horror" is a little better than some previous years' Halloween eps. Even the lesser episodes have great moments. The animators' commentaries are interesting as they discuss and illustrate on screen certain aspects of drawing the show. The Comic Book Guy's highlight reel is fun to watch. There is still plenty to enjoy, even if you maybe won't enjoy it quite as often as the earlier seasons.

Special edition packaging this time not nearly as bad.
I won't go in depth here about the episodes in this season... anyone who's picking up the DVD set knows about these already. I will say the special edition head box is a lot better than last season. While it's not as easy to get them out of the sleeve as if they were in plastic holders, they made the cardboard dividers in between each disc a lot thicker and somehow that lets the DVD's slide out a LOT easier than with season 11. One disc in last season's set was nearly impossible to get out, but it's not so bad this time around.