Home :: DVD :: Television :: A&E Home Video  

A&E Home Video

BBC
Classic TV
Discovery Channel
Fox TV
General
HBO
History Channel
Miniseries
MTV
National Geographic
Nickelodeon
PBS
Star Trek
TV Series
WGBH Boston
The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus Megaset

The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus Megaset

List Price: $199.95
Your Price: $159.96
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 .. 10 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It's.....a must have for the Python fan
Review: I am really, really, really glad I didn't start collecting these episodes tape-by-tape a couple years ago....DVD is definitely the way to enjoy these classics. It beats the pants off my grainy tapes of PBS and Comedy Central broadcasts. I was really surprised how good these 30-year old episodes looked and sounded (only Dolby 2.0, but still darn good). Best of all, with the DVD format you can easily skip the sketches that didn't quite work, and go right to your favorites. Or you can have a Python Party and watch all 45 episodes...they're all there. On top of all that, this set is a very good deal -- I was very impatient, and bought the collection two discs at a time, as they were released over the past two years (lemme tell you, it was more expensive that way). The extras are fine, but are nothing special...it's all about the eps. Monty Python can be an acquired taste, so this might be a bit much if you don't know what you're getting into...but it's a must-buy for fans!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Its...every single episode! - "Can't be bad."
Review: This is a set of 14 DVDs which contain all 45 episodes, every sketch you know and love (all 4 seasons, 1969-1974) of the ground-breaking Monty Python's Flying Circus starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. It comes in a neat and pretty orange and pink box that's roughly 5.5 x 8.5 inches. In terms of digital format there are some minor blemishes but this show dates back to 1969! Get a grip! Its almost as if the presenters new that people would be complaining about this and wrote on the DVD cases - "...enjoy the original scratches, pops and hisses with crystal clarity." The bigger complaint you will hear or read about is the fact that somethings (mostly a word or two) have been censored from the original episodes. I admit there is nothing sillier than censoring a completely normal word and yet leaving the topless woman in, but this is a minor detail to having the entire series at the push of a button. I'm not about to hunt down all the VHS tapes just so I can have a few (and I do mean a few) words. I also don't plan on aging a decade to see if they will bring out another set. If you love this show, I don't recommend you do that either. This will be the definitive set for quite some time, if not until the next new format arrives, so why wait? Start the lunacy right now! Here are the episode titles and corresponding DVDs. Why? Because I care, silly.

DVD 1 (1-3): Wither Canada, Sex & Violence, How to recognize different types of trees from quite a long way away
DVD 2 (4-6): Owl-stretching time, Man's crisis of identity in the latter half of the 20th century, Its the arts
DVD 3 (7-9): Youre no fun anymore, Full frontal nudity, The Ant-an introduction
DVD 4 (10-13): Untitled, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra goes to the bathroom, The Naked ant, Intermission
DVD 5 (14-16): Face the press, The spanish inquisition, Deja Vu
DVD 6 (17-19): The Buzz Aldrin show, Live from the grill-o-mat, Its a living
DVD 7 (20-22): The Atilla the Hun show, Archaeology today, How to recognize different parts of the body
DVD 8 (23-26): Scott of the Antarctic, How not to be seen, Spam, Royal Episode 13
DVD 9 (27-29): Whicker's world, Mr. & Mrs. Brian Norris' Ford Popular, The Money Programme
DVD 10 (30-32): Blood Devastation Death War & Horror, The All England summarize Proust competition, The war against pornography
DVD 11 (33-35): Salad days, The cycling tour, The nude organist
DVD 12 (36-39): E. Henry Thripshaw's disease, Dennis Moore, A book at bedtime, Grandstand
DVD 13 (40-42): The golden age of ballooning, Michael Ellis, The light entertainment war
DVD 14 (43-45): Hamlet, Mr. Neutron, Party Political Broadcast

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: More 'Python' for your bucks
Review: Where to start? The amazing genious of the show? The complete and utter silliness? The way your sides hurt because you're laughing so hard?

How can anyone start a review judging what is perhaps the funniest show ever made? Well. Let's start by listing what this collection DOES have:

Everyone's favourite episodes are there. From "Bycicle Repairman" to "the Spanish Inquisition". From "Climbing Uxbridge Road" to "the Ministry of silly walks". From "Wink Wink,Nudge Nudge" to "the Lumberjack". This set has it all. It's all there, really!

Except? Two of my favourite memories (and I might be wrong here) are not on there. One being the race of the Incontinent (Which I know is starred on the 'The Life Of Monty Pthon' DVD, but in a different form than I remember) and the other being a skecth about the car being an extension of a man's genitals.

Let's not bicker and argue about what's and what's not though. For a mere 170 bucks, you'll be the proud owner of close to 24 hours of Monty Python pleasure. Completely at your leisure to impress your friends with whenever you want. 14 (!) DVDs in total, this set comes at an amazingly low price.

The extras could have been better, and the menu gets annoying after the third DVD, but for any major Monty Python fan (and I know there's a LOT out there) this box is a must-have.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Who screwed it up, Gilliam?
Review: Naturally this is a must-have. Possibly THE greatest film humor work of the 20th century. I mean it; don't let this go out of production without buying it. One BIG GRIPE, though: I don't know whether it was Gilliam who did the programming or what, but number one, every blinking time you want to watch a particular sketch you have to suffer through a very long, pointless intro of Gilliam's animation (which I'm so sick of at this point I could puke), with the Skip function disabled, and number two, the programming apparently hides some stuff so you only see it if you get to it the right way. That's not humor at all; it's just antisocial. I watch mine far less than I would because of the intro problem, and I'm ripped about it because I love the sketches so.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The ultimate Monty Python episode collection!
Review: This collection of 7 sets (14 DVDs total) of Monty Python's Flying Circus episodes (#1-45) is a must for any fan of Python, or British humor in general! It will keep you rolling in the aisles for years! It includes ALL the classic episodes and skits (Nudge, nudge, wink, wink... The parrot sketch, The Spanish Inquisition, Marriage Councelor, Spam, and ALL the rest in a beautifully restored digital format. It also includes outtakes from their later live performances, behind the scenes info, trivia, special programs for computers with DVD drives, and more! I can't recommend this enough! Plus, since you're getting all the sets in one bundle, you can save a bunch of money. Rediscover how all the episodes are so cleverly interwoven with the theme of the evening (How not to be seen, etc.), and brilliantly come full circle by the end of the episode. I have every Python CD and DVD made, and couldn't survive without this set! Buy it, watch them often, and enjoy!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Absolutely the greatest television show of all time
Review: This show is, hands down, the funniest show ever produced on either side of the Atlantic. As another reviewer pointed out there are minor cuts...I myself was disappointed that the line by Biggles in Episode 33 ("I'm not a Spanish person!") was cut, but it's worth it. Every episode in perfect condition and the collection is almost weighted down by the special features, which include trivia, quizzes, biographies, sketch montages, live versions of select sketches (from the 1983 Hollywood Bowl performances), and special bits about the animations (as well as a link to the Monty Python web site if you're using your computer). All but the biographies are different on each of the 14 DVDs (although the biographies start by showing a bit of a sketch featuring the respective Python, which varies), so you can spend loads of time accessing these after watching all the episodes 20+ times.
These special features, however, take a back seat to the loads of prestine comedy. Even a rabid fan like myself found that I had never seen the vast majority of the material before buying this DVD, as I only had access to the out-of-order VHS tapes before this came out. These more obscure bits are often just as funny or even funnier as the mass-memorized classics. I have heard that some sketches fall flat, but I haven't seen one do so yet (although a few, admittedly, go over the head of the uninformed non-British viewer and a very few are a bit overlong).
Another irritation some have put forth is the absence of John Cleese from the fourth series (the last six episodes), and although it's true that he leaves a considerable gap, these final six are easily the most surreal and dreamlike of the show, and 99% of the time just as funny and original as any of those that preceded them. Three of them are half-hour skits in themselves, which are incredibly funny and on par with the rapid fire short skits (just as the Cycling Tour in Series 3 was). If one had to pick a series that was inferior, I'm afraid the fourth would be it, but it's still damned good and worth every minute of it.
I hope you get as much enjoyment out of this as I have, which is a hell of a lot. It's worth every penny and an invaluable addition to anyone with a sense of humor's DVD collection.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Vicious fun with nothing spared with MP humor
Review: This box set of DVD's culled from all the MP shows is literally a treasure. I have so many favorite episodes that it would cheapen it to say one DVD is better than the other (although the episode 21 from second season containing the sketch 'Archeology today' is simply brilliant)... the genius that was/is MP is the acute grasp of what they were trying to portray in intellegent manners in the silliest way possible. You know these folks were very smart, yet they acted so immature and goofy... and linked it all together.

I still find every episode funny, and I never seem to find any of the material boring or overdone.. I can literally watch this set anytime anywhere for any reason at all. Simply a treasure that should not be missed, either new to MP or an old fan like myself.

If you don't want to buy the whole set, you can get them in two packs... but really folks, that is a waste of money since you will most likley get them all. This is worth every penny and then some.

Everyone says it, but it is really true here, this deserves a couple of more stars at least!!!

Have fun.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Flaws are Minor
Review: I don't have the gift of gab, or the experience in writing reviews that others do. So I'll get right to the point! If you've been reading everyone's comments, you know this is a very silly, very funny series. I could go on and on about why people love it so much, but you've already read that a hundred times.

The bane and the bonus are the extras they've included. On each DVD, you get an assortment of features, including brief biographies of the boys, perhaps some of Terry's animation, or a dictionary of Python-induced words. Some DVDs even have a fun, interactive trivia contest (you against yourself, of couse!) But, at least on my discs, many of the extras didn't work as expected. The biographies locked up and I'd be unable to proceed to the next one, or the trivia game wouldn't allow me to enter an answer. This is really frustrating and made me wonder if the set was thrown together haphazardly without proper testing. But, the features that *do* work sure are fun!

The last flaw is one that the troupe proudly advertises on each disc ...

"How the DVD Process Works: The imperfections of the origial ANALOG Monty Python shows have been analyzed and painstakingly reproduced as DIGITAL imperfections."

I'm not an audio/video buff, so I can live with this and enjoy each and every digitally imperfect episode!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: There's nothing funnier in the world...
Review: ... than MPFC. I could watch this over and over again. However, the fun with this DVD set is definitely spoiled because of the fake canned laughter dubbed over, sometimes louder than the actors' voices. This fake laughter is not present in the original series which is aired from time to time here in Germany. That's why I gave it only 4 stars, otherwise it would have been 5 stars...

If you're not disturbed by this typical American kind of editing (or worsening), the DVD set is recommendable.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: european humor not for europeans
Review: believe it or not, this masterpiece of european (actually british) humor is not available in good ole europe. Unfortunaly is there in europe a different DVD country code, so it is useless to purchase this DVD set unless your DVD device can switch to different codes.

So anyone who is able to watch MPFC is a real lucky person because it is a real privilege to do so. And more then everything else it is the best comedy in the world. I've watched the series from a recorded video tape so often that in the end the tapes grew thin and teared apart.

And for me it was the start of learning English in a very very very funny way


<< 1 2 3 4 .. 10 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates