Rating: 
Summary: Monkees-Season Two
Review: I just received it yesterday from another online marketplace. I previewed it last night and I thought hey hey this is the grooviest product I've ever ordered like the frist season boxed set in the spring of this year. All of the 26 episodes in that season plus 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee are in there expect the vintage commercials like the Kool-Aid ones in which the Monkees minus Peter did after their TV show was canceled by NBC. But it's okay now and now that includes my collection of the Monkees that I will always treasure them forever. THE MONKEES RULE! MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED.
Rating: 
Summary: the monkees 2
Review: I REMEMBER WHEN MTV HAD RE RELEASED BACK IN THE 80S I STAYED UP TO
TO RECORD THEM MY QUALITY WAS BAD.THANKS RHINO FOR PUTTING THEM ON
DVD THEY LOOK BETTER THEN EVER.
Rating: 
Summary: A Rhino Rush Job???
Review: I was pretty stoked to hear that Rhino was finally going to release the second season of the Monkees' TV show. Once I got my package and opened it up I was pretty disappointed.
The 45 record sleeves that held the discs were very poorly glued together. One was completely open as it had not been glued properly at all!
The quality of the prints are very poor-there's lots of dirt on them in every episode. I was surprised at what a poor "remastering" job they had done on the prints. Many of the tunes (especially "Goin' Down") sound very muffled, no matter whether you set the audio at 2.0 or 5.1!
I like these episodes immensely but I can't help but express my disappointment at the poor quality of it all.
Rating:
Summary: Monkees are rockin it
Review: I was really hoping there would be more commentary on this set considering the fact that they got Micky to do it. In fact, his commentary was a bit disappointing.
However, for fans, this is a great thing to own. Having the Monkees on DVD at my beck and call is absolutely fantastic. Bad moods are instantly eliminated with a bit of Monkee hilarity. It is a huge shame the show couldn't continue, new format or not.
As far as the packaging, it was nice to open the box and not have the DVDs and their sleeves leaping to my cat hair-covered carpet, eager to dust themselves up. The trivia continues to give me dozens of useless bits of monkee knowledge that I eagerly mention until someone quiets me.
All in all, this is a great set to have despite a couple disappointments.
Rating: 
Summary: Mediocre overall
Review: I'm a huge Monkees fan, and especially, a huge fan of the second season. To begin, I'm with fans everywhere in being thrilled that the entire series is now available on DVD. It's long overdue and I'm happy to have it. BUT -- and it's a big BUT ---BUT, this DVD set has many, many shortcomings that are unacceptable in this day and age. 1) AUDIO & VIDEO: the quality of these film prints is, in many cases, abysmal. Dirt, scratches and other damage abound. I find it TERRIBLY difficult to believe that Rhino couldn't find a better copy for transfer. Rather, I suspect they didn't want to spend the money 'cleaning' up the picture. I work in TV & Film and ALL of these scratches and dirt marks COULD have been removed digitally. But, they were not. Likewise, the audio is often muddy and at very inconsistent volume. Some passages are soft while others are way too loud. A little quality control would have corrected this problem. 2) AUDIO COMMENTARY: With the sole exception of Mike's commentary on "Fairy Tale Monkees", all the commentaries on the episodes are 99% worthless. We're lucky if, in a given 28-minute episode, there are 5-10 minutes of actual commentary. Most of the time, Davy or Peter just seem to be silently watching the episode alongside us. And most of their comments are of the "Hmm. I remember that shirt!" variety. Just totally inconsequential and very few and far between. If your major contribution on an audio commentary is, "Hmmm, I remember that shirt!", why bother even doing it? It boggles my mind that Rhino even included these commentaries. That's how inconsequential they are. One would expect slightly more insightful commentary given that the commentators are, in fact, the Monkees themselves. 3) EXTRAS: The inclusion of "33 1/3rd" is almost worth the price of admission alone. It's great to have and in the best quality I've seen thus far. The other "extras" are two :30 clips of the Monkees as a trio in '69 on a variety show. You will watch them once, and that's probably it. Also, there is an interesting but overlong interview with the series Editor who sheds many interesting insights into putting the show together. Bottom line: even though Rhino came through with "33 1/3rd", we're supposedly buying the set for the episodes of the series: and that is where Rhino has totally dropped the ball. Rhino must either a) feel that Monkees fans are not sophisticated enough to enjoy properly restored audio and video a la the Beatles Anthology, or, b) simply not wanted to spend the money doing a proper job. This box set, we must hope, will NOT be the definitive collection of the Monkees TV series on DVD for very long.
Rating:
Summary: Great shows, but sound quality not so great...
Review: I've had this set for a while, but finally got around to watching them just recently, as I was working my way through the first season. I actually enjoy the second season episodes to the first, but I was disappointed at the sound quality of the music. Rhino owns the original master to the Monkees recordings, and could easily have improved on the sound over the original 16mm prints, but unfortunately didn't. The music clips on most episodes sound muffled and distorted. This is especially true for the "Rainbow" performances, the end-of-show music videos that feature the Monkees lip syncing to their songs. I didn't notice this on the audio of the first season shows. How hard would it have been to overdub the stereo recordings to these clips? On the plus side, the picture quality was generally excellent, and the inclusion of the rare 33 & 1/3 special (with very good audio) makes this worth recommending. However, I was still disappointed at this set from Rhino, a label with a usually excellent track record
Rating:
Summary: Enough Already!
Review: Please remember that these are the Monkees. They were, at best, a pop fad. Nothing more! They can be compared to the boy bands of today. A group of guys thrown together based on the look and popularity of a particular generation. Yes, they did have a unique sound, and a very popular TV show, but they should in no way be considered icons, or have their work be scrutinized by theater and drama critics. I enjoyed the show and sound very much, but I was not even a teenager at the time! The Monkees are not Led Zeppelin or Nirvana. They are a "cult classic", like Rocky Horror...no more, no less. Just enjoy the music and stop picking them and this release apart. They were young men having fun. Sex, drugs and rock n' roll was the motto at that time. That should say it all.
Rating:
Summary: Enough Already!
Review: Please remember that these are the Monkees. They were, at best, a pop fad. Nothing more! They can be compared to the boy bands of today. A group of guys thrown together based on the look and popularity of a particular generation. Yes, they did have a unique sound, and a very popular TV show, but they should in no way be considered icons, or have their work be scrutinized by theater and drama critics. I enjoyed the show and sound very much, but I was not even a teenager at the time! The Monkees are not Led Zeppelin or Nirvana. They are a "cult classic", like Rocky Horror...no more, no less. Just enjoy the music and stop picking them and this release apart. They were young men having fun. Sex, drugs and rock n' roll was the motto at that time. That should say it all.
Rating:
Summary: great set
Review: Rhino did a great job with this one. What and where are the easter eggs? The 1997 TV special isn't here, but it's not really an episode anyway.
Rating:
Summary: MONKEES ARE A MUST
Review: Season Two looks a little tired in retrospect. The boys may have had more power, but they sure didn't know what to do with it! What kept Season One from being worthless pop trash was the earnest manner in which Mike, Micky, Peter and Davy applied themselves to farcical situations. Also the way the show would segue from comedy to (light) drama and back again. This complexity is what made the films of Charlie Chaplin such classics. Without that sincereity, farce no longer works. It becomes insulting to watch. And that's Season Two! The only message seems to be that the Monkees hate being the Monkees and they think it's all stupd and so are you for watching. Not the best basis for comedy. So why watch? Well, because there are still some shining moments and great songs in the second season, in spite of all their efforts to muck it up. While Peter's self righteous hippy trip and Micky's embarassing mugging may try your patience, keep watching and you'll hit lots of paydirt, even if it isn't of the same calibre as Season One. Micky Dolenz's commentary is gratingly shrill; if only he had taken a valium or something, he might have cut the shtick and come up with some insightful reminiscences, which is all anyone wants of these commentaries, isn't it? Mike's commentary is a little better in "Fairy Tale", which--surprisingly--he cites as the most fun he ever had making the show! As for the 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee special at the end, it's painful to behold. Although, as an archivist, I'm still glad it's here. Even Micky in his commentary says at one point, "Is it just me or is this really boring?" I suppose it holds some morbid fascination, like the proverbial car crash that you just can't help but watch. But mostly, it's a chaotic and pretentious hodge podge that doesn't do much to credit the idea that the Monkees should have had complete control over their product. I much prefer them "in bondage" before the lundatics took over the asuylum! Still, this is a must for Monkee fans and they will just have to resign themselves to the fact that this time out, you have to weather some bad moments to get to the good ones.
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