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403 of 410 found the following review helpful:
 The Nearly Complete MPFC..... Jul 01, 2002
By David L. White
I just couldn't bring myself to give this set 5 stars. I wish it were possible to give it 4 1/2 stars.
First of all, it's true, the episodes are not 100% complete, however, many people, in my opinion, have been over-reacting about the cuts. Actually, the A&E DVD #1 has a sketch in the 2nd episode called 'The Wacky Queen', which was edited out of the show after the first broadcast & was never shown again on TV in the UK or abroad, as far as I know. Seasons 1 & 2 have no cuts, at least none that I spotted when comparing the DVDs to the synopsis in the Monty Python books by Jim Yoakum & Kim "Howard" Johnson. There is a slight edit of one word in the 5th episode of the 3rd season during the 'Summarize Proust Competition' which the BBC made to the episode before broadcast. Broadcasts outside of the UK had the uncensored version of the sketch. Unfortunately, A&E got a censored master. In the 7th episode of the same season during the 'Biggles Dictates a Letter' sketch, there is a slight glitch which can be blamed on slopply mastering on A&E's part. It doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the sketch very much. The episode that appears to be worst hit is the 12th episode of season 3. A&E goofed when they included 'Party Political Broadcast' on the box to this episode. The sketch was edited from the master tape and hasn't been seen since the original broadcast in 1973. This material is very probably lost forever. The very end of this episode, which has a trailer for Dad's Doctors & Dad's Pooves, is also missing from the episode. This was probably sloppy editing on the part of A&E video as the episode does a fade to black with the BBC TV logo then fades up again with the BBC TV logo again and the 'Dad's...' trailer. The person transfering the episode, who probably had no familiarity with Python thought that it wasn't part of the episode or something. A&E should have hired one of the US Python experts like Kim 'Howard' Johnson, Jim Yoakum, or David Morgan to oversee the A&E transfers so these mistakes might have been prevented. As far as I know, the cuts I just mentioned are the only ones that have been made to these DVDs. Not that much, in my opinion. Certainly not enough to bring this set all the way down to one star. Some have also complained that this set didn't include the German episodes 'Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus'. These episodes were produced for German TV & not for BBC TV. In fact, the 1st one, which was done in German, was never shown on British TV. This set does contain all 45 episodes that were produced for BBC television. A&E has released the 2 German episodes. The first one, in German with English subtitles, is in the set 'Monty Python Live' and the second one, shot in and in English, is in the 'Life of Python' set.
Yes, yes, the quality of the picture and sound is not perfect, but still better than any TV broadcast that I've seen. I suspect that the quality of the shows as broadcast wasn't terribly impressive. BBC Television only started broadcasting in color in 1969 (the year Python started) and it was still new technology to them. The sound is Mono. The BBC didn't go to Stereo until 1988! To do some kind of stereo remaster, one would need access to seperate dialogue, sound effect, and music tracks, which I'm sure don't exist with the Pythons or the BBC. Such a thing did exist for Holy Grail, which is why Columbia was able to do a remastered Stereo soundtrack. Furthermore, each show had a budget of $6000. These shows were done on a shoestring and the BBC probably didn't have state of the art equipment, being a Government funded broadcaster.
I love Monty Python, and these 45 shows changed the face of comedy. There are a few, very few, bits missing.
If you love Python, you should buy it. Some fans have over-reacted way too much about the missing material. If something like the Lumberjack Song, or Parrot sketch, or Cheese Shop, or Nudge Nudge were cut, that would be reason for outrage. Not for the few fairly minor missing bits. Over 24 hours of pure fun.
345 of 355 found the following review helpful:
Wiped clean by A&E May 28, 2006
By vlad48
"Vlad48"
As some of the other reviews have pointed out, some bits from the original series are missing or dubbed over. Those writers noted changes in the Summarizing Proust and Australian Philosopher sketches. Add to that list the removal of most of Terry Gilliam's religious animations from the "Not Being Seen" episode. (The show ends with a fast-forward summation of the episode and you can see a glimpse of what was expunged.)
I saw all of these episodes uncensored in Canada when they were originally broadcast -- now 35 years later A&E decides what we can and cannot see, even as we pay to own the set. It's disturbing for many reasons that BBC comedy that pushes the boundaries with religion and philosophy is wiped clean by the hand of A&E.
187 of 193 found the following review helpful:
 Its...every single episode! - "Can't be bad." Jul 28, 2002
By B-MAN
"B"
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
100 of 104 found the following review helpful:
It's a weak DVD set by today's standards, but the material is great. May 03, 2006
By Josh Lesnick
"SuperHappy"
A&E released this series a long time ago, back before sets like The Simpsons came out and set new standards for TV DVD collections. It was passable, at the time, for them to include only 3-4 shows per disc and lukewarm Extras, but these days... not so much.
Thus, I was a little disappointed when they re-released the Season set a few months ago, and it turned out to be the same thing, only in thinpacks. Don't get me wrong, the slim cases are nice, but I really wish they had gone the distance and repressed the DVDs, and put 6-7 episodes per disc, cobbled together some commentary tracks from archived recordings, and at the very least fixed the mistake where they deleted a skit from the end of one of the episodes.
Instead, we still have DVDs that are looking rather outdated, complete with a really long, unskippable intro that's the same on every disc, and "Special Features" that are mostly redundant. Why include clips from the episodes when we could just watch the episodes? Not to mention that we know A&E can do better now, as seen by their work on the Kids in the Hall DVDs and other sets.
As you can see, this is just a review of the DVD set. As for Python itself, there not much I can say that hasn't been said already. I give the material SIX stars, and the DVD set three stars, which averages out to four. I am a little disappointed, but this remains a must-buy for fans of Python.
133 of 141 found the following review helpful:
Already a great DVD set made even BETTER! Sep 22, 2005
By S. A. Johnson
"misterscooter"
4.5 (almost 5!) Stars
Take a fantastic set of shows from an excellent British series, add two more discs of the troupe doing the classic bits live, and give it to the customer for practically the same price and you've got something for every Python fan.
First, my review of Monty Python's Flying Circus. I love the show. I think it is groundbreaking in its style and is still incredibly funny today. However, a type of humour doesn't appeal to 100% of the people and this is British humour so I know it won't appeal to a larger percentage. That being said, if you like British humour or sketch comedy, you will probably like Monty Python's TV show.
But, I am here to review the DVD set more than anything since that is what you are considering to buy. I am no Python expert so I can't tell you every little nook and cranny that should or should not exist on this collection. Like most box sets, it is missing something here and there and some of the other reviews point this out. For the most part, unless you are saturated in Python lore, you will not notice.
What you get is every episode put out on the BBC and I think they did a fine job working with the product. This isn't digital transfer so there are limitations. All of the skits I knew were on there, many that I had forgotten and many that I hadn't seen broadcast in the U.S. It is great to see them one after another in their original form. It is also great to have them all together in one box. If you are looking to find just a few specific skits or episodes, you may only need one disc or one of the smaller sets. But the price adds up if you get several, making the box set worth it.
The extras give some nice insight into the making of the series through some written blurbs about each episode and they have spliced together some thematic skits and animations. You can test your trivial knowledge of the Pythons and you can learn some history of the players. Also, some of the skits that they later performed live are available in the extras. The menu, as expected, is also well done using Terry Gilliam's animations.
However, the chaptering of the discs isn't real obvious so if you are searching for one skit, it may take some work to get there. Also, the packaging doesn't list all of the skits on each disc and in each episode so if you haven't memorized the series completely, you will have to go online to find that resource.
The boys went all out when putting extras on Holy Grail and I wish there was a bit more to this set. I would love commentary or interviews or a documentary or something. It would be quite a chore for this much but even a little bit would be nice. Otherwise, this would rate 5 stars as a DVD set. With the additional discs, it comes even closer than the last set.
For me, though, I'm very happy having the episodes to watch whenever I want, whenever the mood strikes me. Some of the gems are the lesser known skits that aren't part of the public consciousness. Again, you don't need to be a Pythonphile to enjoy this set, just someone who really likes the show and the humour.
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