Rating: 
Summary: Too Bad They Couldn't Follow The Beatles' Lead...Again!
Review: First of all, let me state that this review does not concern itself with the content of the Monkees episodes. I grew up with the show in 1970's syndication and love it. I'm a big fan of both the show and the Monkees' music.The axe I have to grind is not with the show, the music, or the (1960's) Monkees themselves. Those aspects of the show get a 5-star rating from me. (And if you are reading this, then I assume you are also a big fan.) It's just that while Apple was able to wonderfully restore the Beatles' legacy in the "Anthology" DVD collection, Rhino chose not to do the same thing here... My first problem is the fact that Rhino (or more precisely, AOL Time Warner, which bought Rhino in 1998) did not bother to spend any money to restore & clean up the audio or video of any of these episodes. If you bought the mid-90's VHS box set and were expecting an audio & video upgrade, you're going to be in for a disappointment. Rhino seems to have used the same video masters they used for the earlier collection (the 1994, 1995, & 1996 "program content" copyrights on the DVD boxes would support this theory). The audio portions of each episode sound much softer than the title screens. As a result, you have to crank the volume up when you watch an episode. When the episode is finished, and you go back to the title screen (and forget to reset the volume), it's almost like being hit on the head when you are blasted by the *very* loud Monkee's Theme that will greet you there. Granted, this is a minor annoyance, but after you are startled a number of times, it starts getting to you. The video quality is also rather poor. The episodes appear *very* dark and murky. Lots of details cannot be seen as they have faded into the shadows. The prints used for syndication were a bit edited in places, yet they had MUCH more vibrant colors and were not as dark as the prints Rhino used. If you saw the show in the 1970's, then you should remember how much more colorful it looked at that time. If you are lucky enough to own one of the early 1990's Japanese Laserdisc box sets, you'd know how much better those episodes look when compared to the ones released by Rhino. The LD box only contained 40 of the 58 episodes, yet that's what I still reach for when I want to watch the show. Now, let me direct my attention to the audio commentaries: In a perfect world, all four of the Monkees would have done the commentaries together and they would have been complimentary to the producers who gave them the show, the fans who have supported it all of these years, and the other guys in the group. In a less perfect world, they would have at least done a little fact-checking before they got behind the microphones. It's sad to say that in the Monkees' world, none of this happened. All four of the Monkees (with the exception of Davy, maybe) don't come off very well. Their commentaries are short on anecdotes, and collectively, they appear to be rather dysfunctional. I'd bet that paychecks were driving force behind a few of the commentaries, not out of respect for the fans or the show. Micky comes off the worst. He may have believed he was being cute and funny, but his rather obnoxious commentary is like a poor-man's version of MST3K. He offers precious little insight into the episode he co-wrote and directed. He is also quite blistering in his assessment of the 33 1/3 special. It really seemed like he didn't want to do the commentary and he was carrying on just to prove a point. Mike seems to show bemusement that the show was and continues to be popular. He says the intelligence level of the show appeals to 9-year olds. He can't seem to understand that adults like (and continue to watch) the show. While he has mellowed in regards to his place in the Monkees' legacy, it still appears he feels the show was beneath him (and that its fans might be too). Peter (or "Former Monkee Peter Tork" as he identifies himself at the start of each commentary) uses his commentaries as a platform to rip into Mike and (to a lesser extent) producer Rafelson. Some of his Monkees' history is a bit faulty (like going on about how his song "For Pete's Sake" was edited onto the end of *first* season shows when the show was in syndication in the 70's - it wasn't). Peter has replaced Mike as the group's curmudgeon. Davy is the only Monkee who is gracious to the others, and who appreciates the fans who have kept the show going for all these years. His commentary is light on the facts and anecdotes, but it's not mean, dismissive, or obnoxious. He definitely comes off the best. Conversely, the two non-Monkee commentaries here (by Bob Rafelson and Brian Auger) are the most informed and interesting. Mr. Rafelson is very gracious to the group he created and he is very complimentary of the guys. Mr. Auger shares some interesting insights about the 33 1/3 special and he never attacks it (unlike a certain Mr. Dolenz). Both Rafelson & Auger enhance this collection, unlike the Monkees themselves. So, unless AOL Time Warner / Rhino decides to spend the dough and really restore these classic TV episodes, then this rather disappointing collection is all we're going to get. I recommend it for the inspired content it contains (the original episodes), not for its presentation.
Rating:
Summary: Too Bad They Couldn't Follow The Beatles' Lead...Again!
Review: First of all, let me state that this review does not concern itself with the content of the Monkees episodes. I grew up with the show in 1970's syndication and love it. I'm a big fan of both the show and the Monkees' music. The axe I have to grind is not with the show, the music, or the (1960's) Monkees themselves. Those aspects of the show get a 5-star rating from me. (And if you are reading this, then I assume you are also a big fan.) It's just that while Apple was able to wonderfully restore the Beatles' legacy in the "Anthology" DVD collection, Rhino chose not to do the same thing here... My first problem is the fact that Rhino (or more precisely, AOL Time Warner, which bought Rhino in 1998) did not bother to spend any money to restore & clean up the audio or video of any of these episodes. If you bought the mid-90's VHS box set and were expecting an audio & video upgrade, you're going to be in for a disappointment. Rhino seems to have used the same video masters they used for the earlier collection (the 1994, 1995, & 1996 "program content" copyrights on the DVD boxes would support this theory). The audio portions of each episode sound much softer than the title screens. As a result, you have to crank the volume up when you watch an episode. When the episode is finished, and you go back to the title screen (and forget to reset the volume), it's almost like being hit on the head when you are blasted by the *very* loud Monkee's Theme that will greet you there. Granted, this is a minor annoyance, but after you are startled a number of times, it starts getting to you. The video quality is also rather poor. The episodes appear *very* dark and murky. Lots of details cannot be seen as they have faded into the shadows. The prints used for syndication were a bit edited in places, yet they had MUCH more vibrant colors and were not as dark as the prints Rhino used. If you saw the show in the 1970's, then you should remember how much more colorful it looked at that time. If you are lucky enough to own one of the early 1990's Japanese Laserdisc box sets, you'd know how much better those episodes look when compared to the ones released by Rhino. The LD box only contained 40 of the 58 episodes, yet that's what I still reach for when I want to watch the show. Now, let me direct my attention to the audio commentaries: In a perfect world, all four of the Monkees would have done the commentaries together and they would have been complimentary to the producers who gave them the show, the fans who have supported it all of these years, and the other guys in the group. In a less perfect world, they would have at least done a little fact-checking before they got behind the microphones. It's sad to say that in the Monkees' world, none of this happened. All four of the Monkees (with the exception of Davy, maybe) don't come off very well. Their commentaries are short on anecdotes, and collectively, they appear to be rather dysfunctional. I'd bet that paychecks were driving force behind a few of the commentaries, not out of respect for the fans or the show. Micky comes off the worst. He may have believed he was being cute and funny, but his rather obnoxious commentary is like a poor-man's version of MST3K. He offers precious little insight into the episode he co-wrote and directed. He is also quite blistering in his assessment of the 33 1/3 special. It really seemed like he didn't want to do the commentary and he was carrying on just to prove a point. Mike seems to show bemusement that the show was and continues to be popular. He says the intelligence level of the show appeals to 9-year olds. He can't seem to understand that adults like (and continue to watch) the show. While he has mellowed in regards to his place in the Monkees' legacy, it still appears he feels the show was beneath him (and that its fans might be too). Peter (or "Former Monkee Peter Tork" as he identifies himself at the start of each commentary) uses his commentaries as a platform to rip into Mike and (to a lesser extent) producer Rafelson. Some of his Monkees' history is a bit faulty (like going on about how his song "For Pete's Sake" was edited onto the end of *first* season shows when the show was in syndication in the 70's - it wasn't). Peter has replaced Mike as the group's curmudgeon. Davy is the only Monkee who is gracious to the others, and who appreciates the fans who have kept the show going for all these years. His commentary is light on the facts and anecdotes, but it's not mean, dismissive, or obnoxious. He definitely comes off the best. Conversely, the two non-Monkee commentaries here (by Bob Rafelson and Brian Auger) are the most informed and interesting. Mr. Rafelson is very gracious to the group he created and he is very complimentary of the guys. Mr. Auger shares some interesting insights about the 33 1/3 special and he never attacks it (unlike a certain Mr. Dolenz). Both Rafelson & Auger enhance this collection, unlike the Monkees themselves. So, unless AOL Time Warner / Rhino decides to spend the dough and really restore these classic TV episodes, then this rather disappointing collection is all we're going to get. I recommend it for the inspired content it contains (the original episodes), not for its presentation.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely delightful
Review: For me, this was worth owning just for the performance of 'Cuddly Toy' at the end of the 'Everywhere a Sheik, Sheik" episode. Davy dancing with an impossibly cute blonde, and the other three Monkees hamming it up with vaudevillian hats and canes-- that moment captures all the fun and happiness and still woefully underrated musical talents of The Monkees. The shows in season 2 aren't as consistently innovative and clever as the first season product, but the music is superb (Daydream Believer, Pleasant Valley Sunday, Randy Scouse Git and all of Nesmith's country-pop contributions). Sure, the commentaries and sound quality could be better, but just having these shows in my collection is enough for me.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely delightful
Review: For me, this was worth owning just for the performance of 'Cuddly Toy' at the end of the 'Everywhere a Sheik, Sheik" episode. Davy dancing with an impossibly cute blonde, and the other three Monkees hamming it up with vaudevillian hats and canes-- that moment captures all the fun and happiness and still woefully underrated musical talents of The Monkees. The shows in season 2 aren't as consistently innovative and clever as the first season product, but the music is superb (Daydream Believer, Pleasant Valley Sunday, Randy Scouse Git and all of Nesmith's country-pop contributions). Sure, the commentaries and sound quality could be better, but just having these shows in my collection is enough for me.
Rating:
Summary: Nice to have it, could be better
Review: I agree with some other reviewers that the sound and picture quality on some of the episodes is pretty shoddy.
But my biggest complaint is the packaging. Very cute, but completely impractical. Whatever glue is holding the "sleeves" together just doesn't work (three of the five are already breaking) and the "record player" box is so broken that it looks like it should be holding a fast food burger rather than a set of dvds. I plan to replace the packaging with some real DVD boxes as soon as I get a chance.
Rating:
Summary: Hey, Hey! It's The Second Season!
Review: I enjoyed this DVD. The Monkees seemed more involved in the creative aspects of the show this season. They make fun of themselves a lot and the shows go beyond the bad guy w/ a fake mustache & bad accent who is a spy/Mafia guys with dumb sidekicks stuff from the first season. The "33 1/3" special is awful but hilarious to watch. It's not without some nice moments but it was bad.
Rating:
Summary: Hey, Hey! It's The Second Season!
Review: I enjoyed this DVD. The Monkees seemed more involved in the creative aspects of the show this season. They make fun of themselves a lot and the shows go beyond the bad guy w/ a fake mustache & bad accent who is a spy/Mafia guys with dumb sidekicks stuff from the first season. The "33 1/3" special is awful but hilarious to watch. It's not without some nice moments but it was bad.
Rating:
Summary: From a second generation and extremely satisfied fan...
Review: I got off work at 9 pm yesterday when this set was released, rushed down to the store to pick up Season Two, and I finally went to bed at 6am this morning after watching each and every episode. I think that says enough about how great this set is :)
Rating:
Summary: Great, but could have been a bit more content.
Review: I have awaited this second season set (as the first season) for years. The quality of the prints are great with the well known exception of "Monkees In Paris" which was supposedly filmed in 16mm. The commentary is nice with the exception of Micky's contributions. It seems he does a lot of tearing apart, even the episode he directed "The Frodis Caper"! His commentary to "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee" (here in the correct running order unlike the way it was originally broadcast) is so trashing I wonder why RHINO even let it remain. I know good and well the special does take some getting used to for the non-Monkees fan, but for it's day, in my opinion, was a break-through in television. Brian Auger's commentary is great! I was quite surprised he remembered so much! Now, like the title of my review, I feel there could have been more added. The bonus footage from "The Glen Campbell Show" shows the 2 more obscure comedy clips from that show but doesn't include their "live" medley, The "Tear Drop City" lip-sync "video" or the fabulous history musical skit. I wonder why they didn't press to get the Kool- Aid Commercials on this set also. Seeing in most cases, this set is a bit more expensive, with less episodes, I feel there could have been a bit more. Funny that Michael even mentions their reunion episode but wouldn't let Rhino include it. That would have made it come full circle. I have rated it 5 stars on the content and it's quality. If I was rating on how much effort was put into this project compared to the 1st season box set, I guess I would take a star away. The Packaging is as great as the 1st season with the psuedo 45 picture sleeves! I know most complain that the discs slide out but I never had that problem with the 1st box set. Being a fan of "Star Trek" as well, I wished Paramont would put those episodes out in a set because at the average $17.99 per disc with 79 episodes plus the unaired pilot and 2 on each of all 40 disc's, it's roughly $720.00 minus local tax. That's neither hear nor there but I guess it does illustrate the great value of both of these sets! Cheers to RHINO at keeping the costs at a minimum! I guess what I'm trying to say is, "I'm A Believer"!
Rating:
Summary: True Monkees fans... READ THIS!!!
Review: I have been a Monkees fan since my childhood in the 70's. Now, as an adult in the professional entertainment business, I still find the Monkees very fun to watch. AS FOR THIS BOX SET... the shows from season two are a little crazier, wilder & funnier than season one, but the music is not as good. The triva info on each DVD is GREAT, and the image & sound quality is pretty good. However, I'm not a fan of the commentary stuff (never have been). To a true Monkees fan, the season two box set is worth the money (in the $60 to $80 range). As for the complaints about the video & sound quality... quit whining! Did you expect Rhino to hire ILM for several million dollars to clean everything up to absolute perfection? These things are only noticable if you are super nit picky & have a $5000 TV. To the rest of us with mid-range entertainment systems at home, the video & sound quality is just fine. Overall, if you like the Monkees, and you're not super-picky about every little detail, then this is a great box set to have.
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