Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43036 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-03-01
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Original language: Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
• Number of discs: 4

DVD Description
A 4-disc DVD box set containing The Best of Monty Python’s Flying Circus - Volumes 1, 2 & 3 and the Live At Aspen show.

Smeared in a healthy portion of bizarre animation, Volumes 1, 2 & 3 feature the very best from the first four series. The volumes contain classic sketches such as The Ministry for Silly Walks, the Dead Parrot sketch, Spanish Inquisition, the Lumberjack Song and many more. Live At Aspen was filmed back in 1998 when the remaining members of the Monty Python team got together for a comedy festival in Colorado. It was the first time in 18 years they had all appeared on stage together and the reunion was to celebrate the impending 30th anniversary. The team performed their favourite skits and the late Graham Chapman made his appearance in an urn.

Special Features

• Fully animated menus
  
• Previously unseen footage from the BBC’s 1999 Monty Python night including It’s The Monty Python Story, Pythonland and From Spam to Sperm

DVD Technical Information:

• Total Running Time: 281 minutes

Synopsis
A four disc set of Monty Python's endlessly influential wit and silliness. Contained here are Volumes 1-3 of the Best Of's plus LIVE AT ASPEN. Naturally it includes the legendary Dead Parrot sketch, Ministry of Silly Walks, Spanish Inquisition and the Lumberjack Song.

Customer Reviews

don't bother unless....
If you are a casual python fan, who just likes the famous sketches that everyone knows about then this dvd is for you. If you are serious about comedy and love python then don't bother.

All the sketches are shown totally out of context and lot's of brilliant sketches have been ommitted. Admittely this is not the fault of whoever put this package together, the whole point is that you cannot do the best of monty python. How can you reduce over 24 hours worth of material and do it justice in just 4 hours. It's not possible, and it is evident here.

The material itself is 5 stars, the package is no stars, it's that simple. So if you want the real thing it's worth importing the mega set from america. It's region 0 so it plays in any dvd player, I have one and it plays in my region 2 dvd player.

Watching the episodes as they were meant to be seen is the only way to watch Python. And for anyone serious about comedy then Python is a must have. 90% of comedy that was made after python could not exist without it.

Impressive box set with quality bonuses
This collection offers superb value for money. Do the math and it works out at under 6 pounds per DVD.

Each of the 3 "Best Of" DVDs are 90 minutes each and are packed with only the classic Python material. Much as I love the Pythons there was an awful lot of "padding out" in the TV series to make it run to 45 x 30 minute episodes (the last 6 without John Cleese). But the 4 and a half hours on offer here are the absolute best.

The fourth "Live At Aspen" DVD is a real bonus though.

Not only do you get the hour long Live At Aspen show but also the 2 hours of new material which was made for the BBCs Python night back in 1999. These are a 50 minute "Its...The Monty Python Story" (presented by Eddie Izzard), a 30 minute "From Spam To Sperm (presented by Meat Loaf and about the band's musical career), 20 minutes of new sketches made in 1999, a 20 minute tour with Michael Palin through Pythonland (showing where the series was filmed)

Which makes this collection something like 7 and a half hours long. Certainly great value for money.

Rip Off
Let's be clear that the one star rating is not a reflection of the material here - Monty Python is still one of the best, and boldest, comedy series of all time. But the BBC are seemingly reluctant to acknowledge this, and so we get another re-release of a best-of compilation, rather than the full 45 half-hour programmes we deserve. There may be complicated rights issues at work for all I know, but why are all the episodes available on Region 1, whilst in the UK we get some poorly edited botch job? For god's sake "Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps" is available on DVD and Python isn't? Doesn't that sum up the BBC for you?