My Other Self

Unfortunately my friend doesn't get FXX, but have you ever watched any of the earlier season episodes on the Blu-rays? Are the details (mainly the heavy black outlines) present on these broadcasts?

PhantomStranger

The series really picked up in quality when they started producing the Simpsons in HD. It was pretty obvious something had changed with the transition, be it new writers or tighter writing.

fumanstan

Saw a few episodes tonight and the more pronounced outlines were definitely the first thing I noticed. Overall they look good though.

Mike86

I have all the Blu-ray sets that are available. To me these broadcasts seem to be pretty close to the quality of those. The episodes just seem to have a certain crispness to them that they didn't before. The cropping isn't great is my biggest complaint.

My Other Self

They shouldn't be cropped to begin with, but I get why felt they had to do it. I'm just glad they'll be available in their original aspect online.

I hope this means, since the remasters are done, that Fox will release them on BD.

Mike86

Honestly I'm not sure they'll ever re-release the first twelve seasons. It seems like it'd be a big commitment to do so and who knows how well they'd actually sell.

TerryW

My guess why they are broadcasting the episodes cropped is so that when the BD's come out in proper 1.33:1 they'll sell a ton of copies.

My Other Self

Considering the episodes will be in 4:3 online, your theory is flawed.

They were cropped because Joe Blow casual fan doesn't want black bars on the sides of his TV and they need as many eyeballs as possible to watch the marathon.

This has nothing to do with home video sales. FXX paid an ungodly sum for the syndication rights. They're not going to alienate a majority to their viewers who don't understand aspect ratios or cropping when there's a lot at stake in terms of ad revenue.

Alan Smithee

That's hilarious, given that the ONLY time I've ever seen messed-up 4x3 content on broadcast (not cable) TV was when the Ion network was showing "Married With Children" and they had that in a stupid 'smart-stretch' mode, where the middle of the picture was somewhat normal but stretching got worse as it got to the edges of the screen. Some TVs have that built-in, thankfully mine doesn't. I've heard stretching is common on HD cable channels, but thankfully I haven't had to see any of those. Most "Joe Blows" have their TVs set wrong anyway- and they don't care about black bars as they'll have a 4x3 letterboxed feed stretched to 16x9 with the black bars still on top and bottom, rather than just zooming it to cut off the bars and keep everything proportionate. See it all the time in restaurants that show ESPN.

RichC2

I haven't watched Season 1 - 3 in ages, it is amazing how much the show has changed.

TheKing

Today's a pretty big day: Seasons 3 and 4!

Flaming Moe's, Homer At The Bat, Kamp Krusty and Marge Vs. The Monorail all coming up today or tonight (Well, y'all on the east coast missed Flaming Moe's).

RichC2

Which reminds me, somebody better record Conan performing the monorail song next month.

skatefan20

Comcast also has an SD version of the FXX channel showing everything letterboxed stretched. yikes. On these HD channels, it's annoying that they can't have non-static bars to the side showing the network logo for 4:3 programming, or better yet for them - advertisements.

I don't own any of the DVDs and my local FOX affiliate seems to only show the recent widescreen/HD episodes for syndication. Woke up this AM starting with the run of season 3 - absolute heaven.

PhantomStranger

Yep, this is the day for a litany of classic episodes.

After sampling a few of them on FXX, the cropping really does pose a problem considering this is animation. It's not just the composition, but the context of some jokes are getting lost in the backgrounds. I will say the remastering in HD has done minor wonders for episodes starting in season three and later, showing vastly better colors and quality. The first season still looks terrible, I am not sure they've done much more than use a fancy upscaling algorithm and some filters on the first season.

Ladies and Gentleman, I've been to Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq;
and I can say without hyperbole that this is a million times
worse than all of them put together.
-- Kent Brockman, ``Kamp Krusty''

emachine12

Funny thing about the cropping, the Itchy & Scratchy segments are in the proper 1.33:1. Probably because cropping it would ruin the illusion of seeing it on a TV whilst watching TV.

Rypro 525

Curious if episodes will be aired in 1:33 when the show starts it normal FXX syndication run (once the marathon is over and all)

PhantomStranger

I highly doubt it. There is great resistance among cable and broadcast networks to show 4:3 content in HD. I think the belief among them is that general audiences are too dumb to realize remastered Hi-Def content can still remain in that aspect ratio.

TheKing

FXX will only show the cropped version.

FX Now will have the 4:3 versions.

Troy Stiffler

Many (most?) people don't understand or care about HD and aspect ratios. I would scold my parents every time I catch them on the SD instead of HD channels (our cable company starts the HD at 1001).

Rypro 525

fxx has shown 90s shows (sports night for instance) in 1:33

PhantomStranger

But those haven't been "remastered" for HD. Part of this syndication deal is the first look at the supposed HD remastering for the Simpsons, previously unseen before yesterday. They are using the cropped transfer as a signal to mainstream audiences the video quality has been revitalized.

After looking closer at some episodes, I can't call the HD restoration an unqualified success, even discounting the cropping. Fox has definitely pulled a Disney here, digital cloning tools used to brush up older animation are in full effect. It is more successful in some episodes than others.

I have a feeling we'll eventually see Fox reanimate the early seasons in the current Simpsons' animation style. Once they have wrung every dollar out of this syndication deal, look for it to happen. Same voice recordings, simply a complete replacement for the supercheap animation of those early years.

My Other Self

The "cheap" animation adds to the Golden Era's charm. I doubt Fox would Lucas-ize The Simpsons. Not only that, but the voice cast is getting up there and you can noticeable tell the difference between now and just 10 years ago.

mhg83

I think the only season that needs a reanimation is season one. I don't see a problem with the animation S2 and on.

bluetoast

Were the Tracey Ullman shorts part of this deal? I read that Matt Groening doesn't think they hold up, but it would be interesting if those were put out in some form.

My Other Self

Someone asked Al Jean if they would be aired on FXX, but he said not for the marathon. So he didn't deny that they weren't included as part of the deal.

I interpreted that as they may show them during commercial breaks, as filler after films, or offered on the Simpsons World website when that launches in October.

I think they hold up just fine. I acquired them through tape trading and whatnot over the years (most of them sourced from when Comedy Central re-aired The Tracy Ullman Show back in the mid-90s), and I still watch them from time-to-time.
You're right in that the animation is horrendous. The first season aired episodes out-of-order due to animation problem with the studio in Korea. The second episode was so bad James L. Brooks threatened to leave the show.