Product Description: This unassuming case is packed with 16 tons of funny: 14 discs of THE COMPLETE MONTY PYTHON S FLYING CIRCUS packed with every madcap moment from the programme s four year run plus 2 MONTY PYTHON LIVE! discs featuring--well you figure it out.While to the uninitiated they may look like ordinary .65 oz. digital video discs due to the unique physics of comedy (it s like quantum but with fewer dead cats) each disc actually weighs a full metaphoric ton! Please remember to lift with your knees.This 16-Ton Megaset contains every single episode of MONTY PYTHONG S FLYING CIRCUS--four years of blood sweat and blancmange--jammed into slivers of plastic the size of a tea plate and MONTY PYTHON LIVE!--Legendary live performances the 20-year celebration of Monty Python Parrot Sketch Not Included and the all-German Monty Python s Fligender Zirkus episode #1 squashed like pancakes. Sad really.Want to find the funny fast? Jump right to your favorite sketches in The Flying Circus with this index!Disc 1: The Funniest Joke in the World The Wrestling Episode and Nudge NudgeDisc 2: Art Critic Silly Job Interview and Crunchy FrogDisc 3: Dead Parrot Lumberjack Song and Vocational Guidance CounselorDisc 4: Undertaker s Film Upperclass Twit of the Year and AlbatrossDisc 5: The Ministry of Silly Walks The Spanish Inquisition and ComplaintsDisc 6: The Bishop Blackmail and DungDisc 7: Attila the Nun Silly Vicar and Exploding Penguin on the TV SetDisc 8: Scott of the Antarctic Dirty Hungarian Phrase-book and Exploding Blue DanubeDisc 9: Icelandic Saga Fish-Slapping Dance and Argument ClinicDisc 10: Blood Devastation War and Horror Mount Everest - Hairdresser Expedition and Gumby Brain SpecialistsDisc 11: Cheese Shop A Naked Man and The Olympic Hide and Seek FinalDisc 12: Elizabethan Pornography Smugglers Kamikaze Scotsman and PenguinsDisc 13: Montgolfier Brothers Department Store and RAF BanterDisc 14: Hamlet and Ophelia Mr. Neutron and Most Awful Family in BritainDisc 15: Live at the Holl
Amazon.com: New for 2005, The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset packs together the original 14-DVD megaset with the two-disc Monty Python Live in space-saving Thinpaks. While more cautious fans may want to pick and choose among the previously released individual volumes of Monty Python for their collection, true Pythonites will want to own this definitive megaset that contains all 45 episodes (in chronological order) of Monty Python's Flying Circus. This "persistently silly" collection encompasses three-and-a-half seasons of dead parrots, cross-dressing lumberjacks, loonies, upper class twits, and spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, and spam. Click past the occasional clunker and go directly to such signature sketches as the Ministry of Silly Walks, the Spanish Inquisition, the Fish-Slapping Dance, the Dead Parrot Sketch, the Lumberjack Song, the Cheese Shop, the Argument Clinic, and Nudge, Nudge. Taken as a whole, one marvels at how Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam thoroughly subverted television convention with "something completely different," like sketches with no punch lines ("Your average TV viewer isn't going to understand this"). A warning to the uninitiated: there is much "material that some may find offensive, but which is really smashing." Violations of something called the "Strange Sketch Act" are the least of the troupe's offenses, as witness the Oscar Wilde Sketch, the Dirty Vicar Sketch, and the Most Awful Family in Britain Sketch, all of which achieve "the really gross awfulness" all Python fans are looking for. Say no more.
Monty Python TV shows, movies, records, and books are a time capsule of their anarchic lunacy. But more precious is an audience with Python, and as close as we can get is Live at the Hollywood Bowl, the long-sought-after 1982 concert film in which the Fab Six perform their greatest hits before a wildly enthusiastic crowd. Robert Klein moderates Live at Aspen, the irreverent 1998 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival tribute that reunited John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, and Terry Jones onstage for the first time in 18 years on the occasion of the troupe's 30th anniversary. Highlights include a shockingly funny moment involving Graham Chapman's ashes, and a joyous "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" sing-along. Less essential is 1989's clip show Parrot Sketch Not Included: 20 Years of Python, which also does not include "The Oscar Wilde Sketch," "Cheese Shop," "Nudge-Nudge," and many other signature sketches. --Donald Liebenson
And now for something completely brilliant! I must confess, I've been a Python fan since the early Seventies. When I was in High School, memorizing their sketches was a rite of passage. So when A&E released the 16-Ton Megaset, it was a gift from the gods. And I am so happy that the list price has come down to a level at which every Pythonist can afford to add this most essential DVD box to their library.
Every episode of the original BBC series is here on the first 14 discs. The show was shot on film and on videotape, so there is a certain amount of roughness to the editing, which was present from the beginning and adds to the charm of the series. Yes, there are slight omissions here and there, but so few as to be almost unnoticeable to all but the most rabid Python fan. 99.9% of the material is here. Also on each disc are bits of trivia, biographies of the troupe, "Pythonisms", Terry Gilliam's animation broken down and with trivia, live material from the last two DVDs, and more.
On DVD 15 is "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" from 06/25/82, at which the troupe was greeted like Rock Stars, and "Live At Aspen" from 1998, a retrospective tribute at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, hosted by Robert Klein. There are bonuses on this disc as well. On DVD 16 is "Parrot Sketch Not Included: 20 Years Of Monty Python", a nearly two-hour retrospective hosted by Steve Martin (and the last appearance with Python of the late Dr. Graham Chapman) and "Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus", the legendary special the troupe made for German television. Also, more bonus material such as Post-Python highlights, a section called "Bleeding Critics", and "Confusing Musings" (I won't explain. . . just enjoy!).
A&E has repackaged this set in slimline cases, so the 16-DVD set will fit nicely on your bookshelf.
Start to finish, this is an essential set for any fan of British comedy. The import and influence of the Python troupe is incalculable, so sit back with a glass of Australian wine, a fresh box of Whizzo Crunchy Frog, and laugh your head off. These chaps were, and are, brilliant.
Kings of the Absurd The 1st thing that hit me when watching these episodes again was how ahead of the curve the comedy troupe was. I came across this show as a pre-teen via syndication on local TV. The very "British humor" ingrained itself in my psyche and has had a hugh influence.
"IT'S" all great stuff!! Episodes are intelligent, silly, surreal and thought provoking. The Pythons string seemingly random sketches together brilliantly and make it all work as a whole more often than not.
If you're unfamiliar with Monty Python or just want to reaquaint yourself with their brand of comic absurdity, this boxset is a great way to do it. The box set contains every episode, 2 live discs, plenty of extras and looks and sounds great.
"And now for something completely different..."
Python Megaset is Awesome! This is a really excellent set of the series that ran on the BBC, and has a few extras to look at as well. The humor and satire are very funny, along with all the great skits that include "Nudge, Nudge" and "Ministry of Silly Walks". It is hard to believe that the guys did these shows nearly 40 years ago and they are still as fresh as they were in the late 60's. No disappointment here!
Great pack!!! Great price 16 discs for under $ 55!!!! An this is the Monty Python that a few years ago cost us $ 150 and many less extras. Everybody who loved comedy and Python should appreciate this very very much. Might note that I have read that the pack included Spanish subtitles. Not true!!! Only English subtitles for the deaf.
And now for something completely reviewable! But funny.
If you know Monty Python from their movies (younger generations), this isn't consistently as funny as what you are used to. At times it is hillarious but at times it is nothing more than strange.
Anything Goes Trivia
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