In the past years, Homer has evolved greatly. From the first season, to the current one, it's almost like there are two different characters. I'm going to list my opinion on how he's changed, and whether the change was good or bad.
This is probably the season with the Homer that's the most different from now. I mean, the structure for the character is the same, but the intangibles are what's different. Like for instance, the first thing you'll notice is that Homer looks....strange. Kinda crudely drawn, eh? That's because the studio that did the animation messed it up enough for it to look bad. The next thing is that Homer's voice is deeper, and more gruff. This is because during the first few seasons, Dan Castellaneta had a different style for Homer's voice. The next thing you'll notice is that Homer isn't as dumb as he is now. In fact, he could actually pass for a human with an average IQ. Because of this, some people don't think he's as funny, but I think this Homer is suited for a different kind of humor than the newer Homer. One thing I notice is that in this season, Homer actually tries to be/is a good father. The newer Homer is nothing of the sort. This Homer is the closest you'll see to a real human, because he actually acts normal. This Homer is one of the less-appealing Homers, because I just don't like the style they used for him.
Season two is where the Homer as we know it started to take shape because this is where we first see glimpses of the dumb Homer that we're so familiar with. In such episodes as "Simpson and Delilah," is where we see those glimpses. Also very noteworthy is the improvement in the animation. Although not nearly as sharp as today's standards, the Homer you see in season two is much sharper than the one in the preceding season. I mentioned above in the season one paragraph about how Dan Castellaneta used a different style for Homer's voice in season one, in season two is where he stops using the deeper voice and gets very close to the voice he currently uses. This is one of the better Homer's because while he's dumb like we know him today, he's not TOO dumb, like today's Homer, and he's also believable as a person.
This is where Homer begins to stray from being believable. But he's still hilarious, and in fact, season five is my favorite season because Homer's absolutley stupid, but the writers still haven't gone to far as to make him too stupid. The animation in season five is the best up through that point, but the coloring is still slightly off (The yellow in his skin is a bit too orange, as you can see in the picture to the left). If you ever want to see Homer at his prime, in my opinion, see season five.
This is the season where Homer goes too far in being stupid. At that point, he was the least believable Homer yet. While it's occasionally enjoyable to see the very stupid Homer, most of the time, it isn't. I'd much rather see a believably stupid Homer, that every now and then gets really dumb. This is also when Homer starts showing his violent side, although as of that point, it's in moderation. Another thing is that the animation is excellent in this season, very close to what we're familiar with.
This is the point when Homer becomes less and less enjoyable to watch. Not only is he violent towards his children, he can also become a wailing, crying annoying twit in a few seconds. Although he does provide some laughs here and there, it's not nearly enough to repay what the writers have done to this great character. Truly disappointing. On a lighter note, the animation is very good in this season; it's almost as good as the latest seasons.
This is where the show doesn't become a show about a family; it becomes a show about an annoying, crybaby, violent, EXTREMELY dumb person. In episodes such as "Simpsons Safari" and "the Great Money Caper," it's hard to watch. It's hard to believe that this is supposedly the same character as the one in such episodes as "Homer the Great." Once again, the animation improves while the quality decreases.
For the first time in a while, Homer's character actually improves from the preceding season. The reason this happened is because for once in a looong time, the writers actually made this a show about many characters, and not about one. In fact, there were episodes where he barely said a thing. You know the cliche: absence makes the heart grow fonder, and it worked for me. Also on the brighter side, Homer seemed to get smarter in the time between season twelve and season thirteen, and the animation is the best yet. Let's hope this continues through the end.
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