Mr. Bean - The Whole Bean (Complete Set)

Rating:
Summary: Great show - not so great package
Review: Mr. Bean is truly one of the classics of comedy, transcending nationality, language, age, etc. Rowan Atkinson is a master of physical comedy, and Mr. Bean is an excellent showcase of these skills.

Unfortunately, for some reason A&E decided to edit some of the episodes, thus making this an incomplete set. As somebody who is obsessive about having complete collections, this editing is inexcusable. Hopefully somebody some day will actually make a complete DVD Mr. Bean set. In the meantime, this will have to do.

Rating:
Summary: Mr.Bean is a classic
Review: Mr.Bean is a classic comedy series. But I am sad that there is only 14 episodes. If you like the humor in the simpsons or you love to laugh this is the collection for you. (PS the best episode is Merry Christmas Mr.Bean)

Rating:
Summary: The great Bean
Review: To have it complete is great. And also the specials are very interesting, specially to see Rowan speaking normal - what a difference! If you have seen something of Mr. Bean and like it, this is a must have. Because Mr. Bean is a mostly non-speaking comedy this DVD also works for non-english speaking people, so if your family speaks spanish only like mine, they will have great fun too!

Rating:
Summary: Info from A&E on the DVD-cuts issue
Review: I, like many, was worried after hearing a lot of buzz that there were cuts in the DVD set of the Mr. Bean series. I emailed A&E to ask them whether the rumors were true and received this reply:

"We have received numerous emails from viewers like you who believe that our recent release of Mr. Bean: The Whole Bean is missing footage. We discussed these concerns with Rowan Atkinson's team. According to the executive producer of the show, the masters that we received were the official complete versions approved by Rowan Atkinson. The "missing" scenes referred to by fans were extra footage shown on television outside of the United States. We have released this complete series as Rowan Atkinson himself intended it to be viewed."

This still leaves some questions unanswered, such as: since the series is not in fact American at all, how is footage shown "outside of the United States" 'extra,' and not, rather, the original version? However, since they state that the A&E tranfers were approved by Rowan Atkinson, one can only speculate that they can indeed be considered legit; perhaps these are effectively a new cut from the producers of the show. At any rate, my own concerns were largely quashed after reading this, so hopefully this will put things to rest for others as well.

Rating:
Summary: My Mother-In-Law doesn't laugh. It's genetic or something..
Review: I'm serious about that title. Her lack of humor is legendary in her house. My wife remembers sitting and watching Warner Brother's Roadrunner cartoons with her father and brother, rolling around on the floor laughing their heads off while her mom would stand there ironing and shaking her head. "Stupid" was all she would say. I had a mission.

I had seen Mr Bean on a local PBS channel and loved the four or five episodes they broadcast regularly. The lunch in the park had always been my favorite. It always reminded me of Chaplin without the heavy soundtrack. The math test always brought forth a smile and Bean's visit to the dentist is the stuff legends are made of, so I ordered the complete set.

Christmas. Oh my Lord, sweet Christmas. I had never seen Rowan Atkinson's Bean Christmas shopping and the way he occupies himself while waiting for a cashier to ring him through. This scene is worth whatever Amazon is asking for the set. My wife and I watched this while our sons were taking a nap and nearly had to turn it off because we were afraid of waking them up. The sheep!! The T-Rex!! Oh my GOD! The T-Rex!! Then my mother in law arrived with diapers and bagels. (She shops at one of those wholesale clubs and is always showing up with bizarre combinations like that.)

We immediatley hit the back button and played the scene for her. Her face brightened when Bean bounced the ornament, she smiled when he began the play at the manger and when the T-Rex appeared... "That's just stupid".

Oh well. Maybe Blackadder???

Rating:
Summary: Closed-Captioning
Review: For Deaf or Hard of Hearing folks,

Sorry, there's no Closed-Captioning or English Subtitles on this DVD complete set of Mr. Bean. I am working on to get Mr. Bean Complete DVD set with closed-captioning. Please e-mail to [e-mail] and request for Anthony Long - Online Customer Service to get an action with closed-captioning for Mr. Bean tv set, thanks.

Jeb~

Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the best "silent" comedy of all time.
Review: Though "Blackadder" is, in my opinion, his best series, "Mr. Bean" is ultimately what put Rowan Atkinson on the map. The story of a bumbling, almost mute loner getting through life might not sound overly exciting, but it is made hilarious by outrageous situations and Rowan Atkinson's priceless delivery.

Newly released, this 3 DVD set has all of the episodes, and some decent extras. Anyone who purchased the VHS tapes when they were made available (circa 1995) would know that the episode "Hair by Mr. Bean of London" was not televised. It is included here. As well, all the episodes that we know and love are here to enjoy. My favorite episodes are "Mr. Bean in Room 426" (where he stays at a resort hotel), "Do-It-Yourself Mr. Bean" (where is drives his car while sitting in an armchair on the roof), and "Back to School Mr. Bean" (where he gets the wrong pair of trousers and steals them back). All of the episodes are funny in their own way, but some definitely stand out. Similar to most comedy shows, the jokes will dull with repeat viewing. Most of these episodes I have seen many times, so I don't laugh quite as hard as I used to. But I could watch Rowan Atkinson in anything, and I think he rivals any comedian around. I enjoy him more when he plays more speaking parts, because he's very well spoken and funny on a more intellectual level, but Mr. Bean is for the more slapstick comedy fan.

The DVD package has some nice extras. The big attraction is a 40 minute documentary called "The Story of Bean", which is actually the story of Rowan Atkinson. It has interviews with Atkinson himself, his past collaborators (writer Ben Elton, actors Angus Deayton and Helen Atkinson-Wood), and it also includes information tidbits on how he started out in comedy, how he develops his characters, and so on. It is very entertaining. They have also included two sketches from UK comedy relief, where Mr. Bean goes on a dating show (hilarious!) and where he caused trouble at an ice skating show (also very funny). There are also two Mr. Bean sketches that have never seen the light of day, and they are both very funny.

Happy as I was with what was included, I couldn't help but be disappointed by what they didn't include in this set. There is no commentary, which would have been good since there is no dialogue in the episodes and the commentary (especially from Atkinson) would be fun. Also, they didn't include any of Atkinson's wonderful standup comedy bits. I would have loved it if they could have included "Rowan Atkinson Live" in this package, to give Mr. Bean fans a chance to see some of his better work. But you can't always have your cake and eat it too, so I am content overall with this DVD package.

Rating:
Summary: What A&E Says:
Review: I sent this question to A&E about the "editited" Bean:

Are any of the episodes of the DVD "The Whole Bean" edited in any way? I've noticed that the there are fifteen fewer minutes on the DVD set than there are on the VHS set? If there has been editing, will there be an
unedited version available?

Here is their reply:

We have received numerous emails from viewers like you who believe that our recent release of Mr. Bean: The Whole Bean is missing footage. We discussed these concerns with Rowan Atkinson's team. According to the executive
producer of the show, the masters that we received were the official complete versions approved by Rowan Atkinson. The "missing" scenes referred to by fans were extra footage shown on television outside of the United States. We have released this complete series as Rowan Atkinson himself
intended it to be viewed.

It sounds legit to me.

Rating:
Summary: ITV vs BBC? Who cares? It's still not complete!
Review: This collection would receive five stars from me if only A&E hadn't blown it by shipping edited (and thus, undeserving of the title "The Whole Bean") episodes in this package. As such, it receives the minimum one star until they correct this flaw.
Sorry Matt West, but being from Britain doesn't make you an expert on Mr. Bean, regardless of whether it was ITV or BBC that screened these episodes (and who cares?). The simple fact of the matter is that this DVD collection contains edited episodes missing footage that did appear both on the PBS screenings here in the U.S. as well as the first edition of videotapes. There is absolutely no excuse for releasing butchered Mr. Bean episodes on DVD when A&E home video could have released them on exactly the same number of discs in unedited form. The good news is that A&E has corrected their mistakes in the past. When "Pride and Prejudice" was first released on DVD, it was a terrible transfer and the outcry caused A&E to let it go out of print and then release a "Special Edition" with a proper transfer. Pride looks great now and Bean deserves similar treatment.

Rating:
Summary: Should be: Mr. Bean - The Not So Whole Bean (Incomplete Set)
Review: First of all, when I finally saw Mr. Bean on DVD, I jumped because I just don't purchase VHS any longer. When I began watching the DVD, I found that there are scenes cut out! Can this be possible?! Who cut up Bean!? Anyways, It is a decent buy. But, if you have the VHS tapes of Bean, don't get rid of them if you wish to see the COMPLETE BEAN.