When will I learn? The answers to life’s problems aren’t at the bottom of a bottle. They’re on TV!— Homer
Homer tells the kids the story of the rise and fall of his barbershop quartet with Apu, Principal Skinner and Barney, called 'The Be Sharps'.
Sideshow Bob is paroled from prison, and he has only one thing in mind for Bart: revenge.
Homer must attend college to become properly qualified, but gets his nerdy friends expelled when he plays a practical joke on the Dean.
Mr. Burns longs for his teddy bear Bobo, however, it turns up at the Simpsons' household and Maggie does not want to let it go.
In a Night Gallery parody, Bart presents three more tales of terror: The Devil and Homer Simpson: Homer sells his soul to the devil for a donut. Terror at 5½ Feet: Bart witnesses a gremlin taking the school bus apart, but no one believes him. Bart Simpson's Dracula: Mr. Burns is a vampire, and he turns Bart into a vampire.
Marge goes to the ballet with Ruth Powers, the next door neighbor. However, when they go out again the next night, Ruth is driving a stolen car.
Brad Goodman, a feel-good therapist comes to town, and tells the whole town to act like Bart and do as they feel.
After a wild night high on sugar, Bart wakes up to find that he joined a boy scout troop.
Homer falls in love with a new female employee at the nuclear plant who is slobbish just like him.
When gambling becomes legalized in Springfield, Marge gets addicted.
When a cat burglar hits Springfield, Homer forms a vigilante group who end up causing more crimes than they prevent.
Bart becomes an overnight star after sneaking onto the Krusty The Clown show and uttering: ''I didn't do it'' when he wrecks a set on live TV.
After getting food poisoning from eating Kwik-E-Mart food, Homer gets Apu fired, and Apu comes to stay with the Simpsons.
After objecting to the sexist phrases used on the latest talking Malibu Stacey doll, Lisa creates a new doll for the 90s.
NASA decides to send the 'average man' into space after seeing their ratings decline, and Homer is picked to be that man.
After Ned Flanders invites Homer to a football game, Homer becomes Ned's best friend. Ned, however, doesn't like the attention.
Bart wins a radio contest on KBBL, but instead of taking the $10,000 cash prize, he opts for the gag prize - a fully-grown elephant.
After nearly drowning in the bathtub, Mr. Burns decides to find an heir. He chooses Bart, and turns him against his family.
After Bart's dog causes a riot at the school, Skinner is fired, and Ned Flanders takes over as principal.
Bart skips class and witnesses a waiter brutally beaten. The Mayor's nephew, Freddie Quimby, is the prime suspect and only Bart can clear his name.
Grampa Simpson falls in love with Marge's mother, but Mr. Burns woos her away from him.
Homer gets a job to teaching an adult education course about how to build a successful marriage, but can't help spilling personal secrets.
This is undoubtedly my favourite Season ever. Simpsons-mania was still prominent and showed no signs of stopping. Season Five (1993-1994) carried on the trend of Season Four with witty, multi-layered jokes, but also introduced more character-based episodes.
We hear the story of how Homer, Barney, Apu and Principal Skinner became Bigger Than Jesus for five-and-a-half weeks singing barbershop; Apu living with the Simpsons after losing his job; Sideshow Bob make a welcome return in a parody of Cape Fear cleverly titled... "Cape Feare"; and no less than three major appearances of Mr. Burns.
This year starts Homer's "dumbening" - you can really tell the writers consciously made him stupider - but it works quite well here. This Season also marks the show's 100th episode, "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song", featuring the blackboard gag, "I Will Not Celebrate Meaningless Milestones".
This - the Fifth Season Jumbo Special Edition Boxed Set of The Simpsons on Digital Versatile Disc (or "DVD") - may be the finest one yet. We've loaded this thing with all the time-wasting extras that fans demand, like interactive, multi-angle views of our crude animatics and storyboards; fully animated, never-before-seen, deleted-for-good-reason sequences; illustrated commentaries by directors that allow them to visually point out all sorts of sneaky details; and a number of downright shameless TV commercials. We also continue our proud Simpsons tradition of providing garrulous audio commentaries for each and every episode, including brief moments when we actually pay attention to what's happening on screen.
Season 5 (1993-94) contains many of our snappiest or most disturbing sequences. You'll get to see Grampa and Mr. Burns wooing Marge's mom, Homer eating potato chips in outer space, Lisa inventing the Lisa Lionheart doll, Bart getting an elephant, Marge going on the lam, and Maggie beginning her lifelong feud with the One-Eyebrowed Baby.
You also get Sideshow Bob explaining that his "Die, Bart, Die" tattoo is actually just German for "The, Bart, The." And The Romanes playing at Mr. Burns's birthday party. And a field trip to a cardboard-box factory. And Homer happily pulling a pig's tail until the pig viciously bites him. And the historic first appearance of Cletus, the Slack-Jawed Yokel.
And of course we've larded the whole season with healthy dollops of Bumblebee Man, Apu, Milhouse, Dr. Hibbert, Mrs. Krabappel, Principal Skinner, Kent Brockman, Rod and Todd Flanders, Itchy & Scratchy, Comic Book Guy, Moe, and Ralph Wiggum. Our guest stars include James Brown, George Harrison, Albert Brooks, David Crosby, Kathleen Turner, Kelsey Grammer, Werner Klemperer, Pamela Reed, Gerry Cooney, Sam Neill, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Goulet, James Taylor, James Woods, Michelle Pfeiffer, Buzz Aldrin, and former Simpsons writer/producer Conan O'Brien.
So sit back and enjoy this high-velocity season of classic Simpsons shows. On behalf of the hard-working writers, animators, musicians, producers, and actors, we thank you for your enthusiastic letters, drawings, and gifts, and remind you of our standard policy: No Refunds.
Your pal,
Matt Groening