Rating: 
Summary: Viewing Pleasure for all Ages!
Review: I cannot praise this DVD enough, my 3 year old son, 4 year old daugher,and I (28) sing along to all the songs together. They request to watch it constantly, and the long overall length of the DVD makes it well worth the money spent. I highly recommend it for everyone's library, young and old! :)
Rating:
Summary: Still great after all these years!
Review: As a child in the early 1970's I eagerly watched Saturday morning cartoons AND Schoolhouse Rock. While I can no longer see what it is I saw in the cartoons (though I still think they are better than what is on today) I can clearly see why I loved Schoolhouse Rock (and still do)! I forgot all these tunes/cartoons when by the mid to late 1980's I was in college. One night over the dinner table my usual group of about 10 people stated "Hey, whatever happened to Schoolhouse Rock? I loved those songs?" We then all began singing our favorites and wishing they could still be seen. These songs allowed us all to know the difference between a noun, verb, adjective, adverb, to know about the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Louisiana Purchase, the Revolutionary War, math, and even a little science. They are catchy, memorable, make learning fun, and best of all in today's ever popular "don't-put-anything-on-children's-television-unless-it-also-has-a-toy-to-sell" world, simply good for goodness' sake. I have seen other reviewers criticize this for not being 100% correct, well perhaps, but more importantly, Schoolhouse Rock may inspire children to want to learn more about the subject matter - a key step! The day my husband and I first discovered they were available in VHS/DVD was a great day. We can't wait for our daughter to be able to sing along with these tunes/cartoons.
Rating: 
Summary: Schoolhouse Rock!
Review: I remember Schoolhouse Rock from childhood (as do many of my friends I found out, when we were reminiscing one day). I wondered if there was a way to expose my daugther to the songs to let her enjoy them too. I found a CD collection at a local store, but when I searched on Amazon and saw the DVD with EVERY Schoolhouse Rock video ever made, I had to have it! (Interjection)She loves the CD's and the DVD. The DVD allows for great flexibility in playing her favorite songs, in whichever order she desires. As she is 2 1/2, that means playing "Loli, Loli, Loli", and "Conjunction Junction" over-and-over again. There is also a nice section of bonus material which has a voice over interview with the creators of Schoolhouse Rock discussing the videos you are watching. My only complaint centers around the America Rock group of videos. A history lesson addressed to primarily white children of the 70's, really looks like a white-washing of history in today's more ethnically aware society. "Elbow Room" and the other America Rock videos don't address the more troubling parts of America's past (i.e. the treatment of native Americans and of slaves). Really, these are impossible issues for funny video's to cover, so I would have suggested leaving the history part out. Overall, these videos are wonderful. I'm not sure how much I learned from them, but they are a lot of fun and if my daughter is any indication, a entirely new generation of kids will embrace them as well.
Rating:
Summary: Schoolhouse Fun As Never Before!
Review: This DVD is one of the best. It features the original 46 songs as they were originally broadcast, a play all feature, a shuffle all feature, and a top ten jukebox. I will now tell you about the whole set: In the set, there is a book to start it off. The first pages are an interview with George Newall. The next two list all the features. Open up the flaps and you get the lyrics to the top ten shows. The next page shows the features on disc 2. Next page, the new song "I'm Going to Send Your Vote to College" lyrics. Next, is all the songs on this disc. That is the list. After you finish the book, open up and start your show. When you put the disc in, there will be an opening. Ater the opening, you should go to the playlist menu. Here, you can choose to watch any category of Schoolhouse Rock: Grammar, Science, Money, Multipication, and America. You could also watch the new song, choose how to see them all, or go to the Top 10 Jukebox. The Top 10 Jukebox is top on the menu. You could select up to ten songs and then press the play button. It will play all the songs in the order you selected. You could choose any of the following songs. They are in order of popularity: Conjunction Junction, I'm Just A Bill, Lolly Lolly Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here, Electricity Electricity, Interjections!, The Preamble, Three is a Magic Number, Interplanet Janet, A Noun is a Person Place or Thing, and The Shot Heard 'Round the World. Second on the list is Grammar Rock. You could select what you want to play or play all. On this menu, you could see: Unpack Your Adjectives, Lolly Lolly Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here, Conjunction Junction, Intergections!, Rufus Xavier Sasaparillia, Verb: That's What's Happening, A Noun is a Person Place or Thing, Busy Prepositions, and The Tale of Mr. Morton. Third on the list is Science Rock. You could select what you want to play or play all. On this menu, you could see: The Body Machine, Do the Circulation, Electricity Electricity, The Energy Blues, Interplanet Janet, Telegraph Line, Them Not-So-Dry Bones, and A Victim of Gravity. Fourth on the list is Money Rock. You could selct what you want to play or play all. On this menu, you could see: Dollars and Sense, $7.50 Once A Week, Where the Money Goes, Tax Man Max, Walkin' on Wall Street, This For That, Tyrannosaurus Debt, and The Check's In the Mail. Fifth on the list is Multipication Rock. You could selct what you want to play or play all. On this menu, you could see: My Hero Zero, Elementary My Dear, Three is a Magic Number, The Four-Legged Zoo, Ready or Not Here I Come, I Got Six, Lucky Seven Sampson, Figure Eight, Naught Number Nine, The Good Eleven, and Little Twelvetoes. Sixth on the list is America Rock. You could select what you want to play or play all. On this menu, you could see: No More Kings, Fireworks, The Shot Heard 'Round the World, The Preamble, Elbow Room, The Great American Melting Pot, Mother Necessity, Sufferin' Until Sufferage, I'm Just A Bill, and Three Ring Government. Seventh, you could see the new song, I'm Going to Send Your Vote to College." Eighth, is the play all 47 song list. You could select either to play each one in the order just given or shuffle each one. It takes 140 minutes to see them all. Those are all the features on disc 1. On the "Extra Credit DVD," you could see a lot of features. First, you may go see the long-lost song that would be in Science Rock, The Weather Show. There us the never released three song set, "Scooter Computer and Mr. Chips." This set featurest three songs: Software, Hardware, and Number Cruncher. There is a documentary on the making of "I'm Going to Send Your Vote To College." After that, you may watch this show. There is the Top 20 Shuffle. It features 20 songs. They could only be shuffled. There are two games. The first one is the "Earn Your Diploma Trivia Game." You have to answer 5 questions for each category of Schoolhouse Rock. At the end, there is a word you have to unscramble. Do all 5 and then you get the monster jumble word. If you get that, then you have a little voting song at the end. The second game is "Arrange A Song Puzzles." You arrange 3 songs in order. They are mixed up. The easiest song is I'm Just A Bill. The middle song is Conjunction Junction. The hardest is Three is a Magic Number. You may previw what you did wrong if you were wrong. There are 4 music videos by contemporary artists for Conjunction Junction, I'm Just A Bill, Three is A Magic Number, and One more. There is an Emmy Award featurette. You will learn about every Emmy Schoolhouse Rock won. There is a commercial with Three Is a Magic Number being used, Audio Commentaries for selected songs, and little "easter eggs" to watch out for. Well that about wraps it all up. This set is one of my favorites and you should really get it. This is from the back cover: Now every day will feel like a Saturday morning when you sing along with I'm Just A Bill, Three is a Magic Number, Interjections! and the rest of your favorite tune. Feautring a catchy new animated song by the original series' creators, the 30th Anniversary Edition DVD rocks your history with every Schoolhouse Rock Short Ever Created. Yes, I think you should get this. Get it and you won't be sorry. All of the shows are in excellent condition and sound quality is amazing. So I rank it 5 stars. It actually deserves more. Darn! That's the end!
Rating:
Summary: It's has Everything!
Review: People criticize the advertising community, but when you hear that admen thought up most of the bits, you start to think that maybe they should be running the schools! This is an excellent way to introduce your kids (or yourself) to History, Multiplication, Grammar, Science and Money. I had never seen the ones on Money, but it has helped me reinforce some of the concepts I'm trying to get across with my son. If you have children, you really do need this. It will help!
Rating:
Summary: 25 years later, it's still great. My toddler loves it!
Review: This is a great DVD containing all of the original songs we grew up with during our Saturday morning cartoon days. It's just as entertaining and catchy as it was in the early 70's, and if my daughter's any indication even children as young as 2 will find it enjoyable. What surprised me when I saw the list of songs was that there were many that I had never seen. In particular, all seven money songs didn't get on the air before I stopped watching cartoons, so there was actually new stuff (from my perspective, anyway ;-D). You can play the songs in a few ways. First, you can go to the Play List and select songs by their group -- grammar, science, history, money, multiplication. There's also an option called "The Whole Enchilada" which will play all 46 songs. Depending on the style you choose ("mild" or "spicy"), the songs either play back in order by group or in a random shuffle. There's also an option called "Jukebox", but this was deceptive. Instead of letting you pick any set of songs you want, you can only pick from the top ten songs (as determined by the publisher based on viewer feedback from years ago). My daughter just turned two in September, and she loves to watch the Grammar Rock set. Within two days of seeing it, she was singing the chorus of "Interjections!" (as well as a two-year old can sing, that is ;D). I don't know if it's mainly due to this or just the rate her language skills are naturally developing, but her use of pronouns has greatly improved in the last couple of months and that song is another of her favorites in the Grammar set. The other sections are moderately advanced for her age (especially multiplication rock and money rock), so she's not so interested in those yet. Surprisingly, she loves to watch "Suffering Until Suffrage" in the America Rock set -- probably because of the music. The bonus materials DVD is OK, but apart from the Emmy section it's mainly fluff. The Scooter Computer and Mister Chips set is the one set of songs that's visibly dated, just by virtue of the subject matter. And I'm not sure why they called "The Weather Show" a lost song -- I clearly remember seeing that on Saturday mornings, which means they had to have been playing it pretty regularly. Maybe it was "lost" from the Science Rock VHS tape, but then why not just put it in that set on the DVD? Overall, a definite 5-star buy!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely, positively, very, very necessary!
Review: This is the definitive collection. There are a few shortcomings, but they by no means detract from the overall package. You do get every SHR song (so they say) and the ability to play them in just about any combination you want, which pretty much sums up disc 1. You also get a wonderful documentary on disc 2 that is mainly about the new song, but also touches on some SHR history. There are some challenging trivia games and other oddities included as well, making this a well-rounded archive, but there are some curious omissions. I'll unpack "frustrating" first. There is a top 20 list of SHR songs on disc 2, presumably from the on-line vote prior to this collection's release. Why not list all 46 with their vote totals/percentages? Why is this list on disc 2 and not on disc 1 as a play list option? There are also some fairly interesting (but not too revealing) commentaries for a couple of handfuls of tunes on disc 2. Why are these commentaries not on disc 1, and why not for all of the songs? Only 3 of the original 4 Scooter Computer songs are included, and the long-lost "Weather Show" is obviously edited. A history of the failed Scooter Computer series would have been nice, as would an explanation of why the "Weather Show" was pulled from circulation and then edited for this release. These items were omitted, but the Nike commercial was included? What were they thinking?! Don't let my griping turn you off. This set does contain a lot of nice touches, including some hidden features. Be sure to complete the trivia challenge for a special treat! If you love SHR, you cannot go wrong with this collection, despite its few flaws. Darn, that's the end.
Rating:
Summary: Schoolhouse Rock Rocks my house!
Review: Great! It's amazing that in 25 years no one's been able to top Schoolhouse Rock!
I wonder how many high school seniors know as much as a kid who watches these videos. I love the new DVD.
My kids watch it all the time. I like it too. The songs are fun! The clever rhymes are unforgettable, but unlike some annoying kid's songs, you don't really want to forget these.
I really feel like my kids need to be informed about the Bible too, so I'm overjoyed that they recently made a CD and DVD called Scripture Rock.
Rating:
Summary: Takes me back to saturday mornings
Review: I used to look forward to these shorts more than the cartoon that were aired around them. These informative shorts were hip and fun for my generation and I dare say still hold up. This dvd is loaded with extras and great interactive menus (with hidden features, keep your eyes open). It even contains modern artists interpretions of some of these songs (some excellent renditions and fun videos). Do yourself a favor and buy this for the child inside and the children you have now!!
Rating:
Summary: This Is So Cool--Facts can be Fun!!
Review: And it's even educational! I was so pumped (now that I have a DVD player) to hear that they were releasing a big-time anniversary edition of Schoolhouse Rock in its entirety. I've had four of the videos for years, but this set is so much better. Disc One has all of the original songs--you can play them in order, randomly, just the top ten--and an all-new song about the Electoral College (inspired, no doubt, by the 2000 presidential election). The way you can navigate your way through any and/or all of the songs is very easy and great for when you don't just want to hear about grammar (or history, math, etc. . .). What really puts this over the top, though, is Disc Two, with a bucket load of extras: the lost "Weather Show," a new computer three-song set, a making-of feaure, top 20 countdowns, an interactive trivia game, music videos by contemporary artists, audio commentaries, Emmy Award footage, etc. . . . I can't wait to explore even more than I got to last night! This will be such a great tool for my 21-month-old daughter (who will know how a bill becomes a law and how to use a conjunction in a sentence!) and a ton of fun for me in the process. The video quality isn't MONSTERS, INC., but it doesn't have to be. The old animation holds up just fine, as does the audio, which audiophiles could probably complain about if they want to poop the party for the rest of us. What really stands up to the test of time, aside from the basic content, is the music. These guys (primarily) did some really good arranging, little of it in the rock 'n roll genre, ironically. Jack Sheldon delivers some spectacular jazz vocals on several of the more famous tunes. Complicated yet catchy melodies are the strength--that's why we all remember "I'm Just a Bill" and "Conjunction Junction"--with great backing vocals and instrumentation to boot. The contemporary artists' renditions didn't hold up to the originals, but they were pretty interesting to hear. The interactive stuff will be great for kids hearing these songs for the first time. The interviews and commentaries are really interesting, especially in hindsight. Great new additions, discoveries, and formats all add to the charm of the original forty-six songs. How they managed to get all of that factual information into essentially a music video, while keeping the kids (and me) entertained, is still a mystery to me. Bottom Line: You'll be hard-pressed to find a better combination of education and entertainment. If there are any factual inaccuracies, they are minor enough to overlook and could actually spark interesting conversations. The basic content is right on-the-money. The fact that they'll actually be talking about and be interested in the grammar, history, science, and economics is important enough to overlook any minor flaws.
The fact that my daughter, who two years (and a couple of months) old, actually knows that "Wow!" is an interjection, a fact that most of my juniors (I'm a teacher) wouldn't know off the top of their heads, speaks volumes. . . !
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