Monkees TV series outtakes - what exists?

I thought I had read that Andrew Sandoval had alluded to finding outakes from The Monkees TV series. Does anyone know if outakes have been found and what kind? Extra scenes? Bloopers?

Also, the Monkees Video Vault Web page says that an unedited copy of the original pilot episode with extra scenes was found recently in the archive of an NBC executive. Anyone know any other information about what scenes are on it and what happened to the print. Does Rhino have it?

Just curious. You never hear much about what outakes exist from the series.

 

I'd like to know this as well.
I thought I heard awhile back that any outtakes were long gone.
Or I could be thinking of Head.

Darryl

 

I wonder if there is enough footage in the vaults to piece together full band performances of certain first season tunes. For instance, we only see snippets of a lip-synched Pa Pa Gene's Blues.

 

Ok, I found this quote by Andrew when he was promoting the "HEAD" CD box set:

"I would like to upgrade the shows, if possible. There are outtakes and other things that could be added to the shows that are newly discovered. Whether or not Rhino wants to do that is really up to them," he says. "I can only advise them or encourage them. They really do deserve to be restored and upgraded."

I would love to know what kind of outtakes. If Andrew ever reads this, are you at liberty ot say what's been found? HEAD movie outtakes exist but Bob R. won't let them be used. I wonder if the TV outtakes could be used. I'm assuming Rhino holds the rights.

Mmm, maybe Rhino should be emailed. Probably too expensive to redo the series but I'd still love to know what was found. Maybe an update to Andrew's book with what has been found?

 

Just sent this email to Rhino Records at [email protected]:

I was just wondering. Is there any chance of a Blu-Ray release for The Monkees TV series possibly with outtakes added and the sound and picture upgraded? I know Rhino recently reissued the series through another company but they were just clones. I have the new Blu-Ray of "HEAD" and saw how fabulous the picture upgrade was and how nice the original screen tests looked.

Any chance of The Monkees TV series being upgraded for Blu-Ray?

If anyone else is interested in seeing The Monkees series upgraded for Blu-Ray, email Dr. rhino and see if you get a response.

 

i'd love go get a blu ray version of the series. with all the bright colors and such, it would look wonderful in hi def. i just don' see it happening. unless there could be a cheaper way to remaster for hi def. the sets would be so expensive. the original dvd sets were almost $100 themselves.

chad

 

Blu rays of the series would be nice. . But what I Really Want are hi res 5.1. surround mixes of the albums. Their material would sound great in surround with keyboard solos mixed in the rear channels. Etc.

 

I've written to the man who claims to have it. He told me that he'd offered it to Rhino for use on the Monkees DVD set, but they never got back in touch with him.

And, yes, I also asked if he'd be willing to trade for a copy of the pilot, but he declined - saying it would devalue the worth of his print if copies started floating around.

Finally, he told me that if he sold it, he'd do so via a proper auction house - not eBay.

 

How interesting! Did he say what condition the print was in? Has he viewed it? How different is it and how much longer than Bobby Hart's print on the current DVD set?

Too bad Rhino never got back with him. THAT would really be interesting. Seems as if Warner isn't as interested in The Monkees legacy as the old Rhino company. If these kind of things don't happen soon they probably never will. Thank goodness that The Monkees audio legacy has been so well looked after.

Still hold out hope for the series and possibly the 1997 TV Special, The Billboard concert and an expanded "Hey, Hey, We're The Monkees" documentary.

In fact, the documentary would be a perfect place for outtakes or the pilot print if Rhino didn't want to redo the entire series!

 

I asked him if it was the same version as the shooting script (with the shot of the guys bursting into the record store wearing trench coats ), but he said he didn't remember.

Quite honestly, just about all the info I got on his print was written above (meaning he didn't really offer many details on it and didn't seem particularly interested in finding out). (He did say it looked better than the red-shifted print Rhino used.)

IIRC, this owner of the "lost" pilot print wrote about his efforts with Rhino on an Amazon review of one of the DVD box sets.

 

The guy who has a copy of the extended pilot is obviously looking to retire on his prize. I don't blame Rhino for not coming to terms. I am guessing his terms are not reasonable.

 

You know that makes sense, he might have been asking too much money for the print - too bad. Maybe someday or maybe another print exists.

I wonder what other outtakes Andrew found - just bloopers or more complete musical segment or deleted scenes. The "Too Many Girls" uncensored segment that's on YouTube does have different camera angles than the Rhino DVD. If that was created for syndication why would they go to the trouble of redoing the edits/angles, etc? I guess since they were editing in new songs why not? Wonder when that switch was made?

The outtakes must have existed through the 70s. Interesting to know what's been found.

Andrew?

 

Speaking of "Too Many Girls" uncensored:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdbX58miT_U

 

Aren't there some outtake snippets on the "Hey, Hey We're The Monkees" CD-ROM (ca 1997)? I haven't put this into the PC for years but I think I remember also reading something about that somewhere.

 

I'm not one to wax philosophic about fantasy projects, but with all the outtake footage from the TV show, the Head outtakes, the Diltz footage, and Micky's home movies that would be an incredible load of goodies that I'd spend countless hours viewing in front of a TV!

Fort those that aren't aware, Micky purchased a 16mm movie camera in 1968 and had it strapped to his being until about 1974.
He's got footage from "Lennon's Lost Weekend" fercryin'outloud!

In 1969 Mike & Micky were collaborating on a short film which was apparently never finished. Here are some pix of them with 16mm cameras.

 

I completely disagree with this. If anything it would help fan the flames for this to pop up in better quality on a legit release. His logic is way off on this one.

 

"I'm not one to wax philosophic about fantasy projects, but with all the outtake footage from the TV show, the Head outtakes, the Diltz footage, and Micky's home movies that would be an incredible load of goodies that I'd spend countless hours viewing in front of a TV!"

Me too! I would love to see some of this footage put to good use rather than just rot. Love to see the "HEAD" outtakes as well but that seems doubtful at the moment.

Rhino could really put out a great extended doc with all this footage as bonus. Or friggin let Shout Factory reissue the series and add them like they supposedly wanted to recently!

 

Just got this response from Dr. Rhino:

Dear James,

We do not have current plans for a Blu-Ray reissue of these titles, but
thank you for your input. I will forward your email to our suggestion
box.

Pretty much what I thought but at least a bug in their ear. I don't think that Warner is really looking to do much with The Monkees beyond reissues though.

 

Interesting! I'd love to see some of that.

 

Suggestion Box - codename for circular file or..file 13!

 

I doubt the film still exists, but I'd love to see the full performances of these:

Papa Gene's Blues (with the guys wearing suits) - Portions were shown in "Find The Monkees" and "Monkees In A Ghost Town", but even if you collect the shots from all the shows it appears in, you cannot reconstruct the full thing.

She - Same basic setup as above, but shown in "Monkees At The Circus" and "Monkees A La Carte".

Salesman - From the rainbow room. Only a few shots of Mike remain (as seen in "The Devil and Peter Tork"). I'd love to see the whole thing, as the rainbow room "videos" were my favorite.

What other songs had performance clips, but ones that were hacked up for the romps? I mean, there has to more than these three.

 

I'd love to see some of the outtakes of the concert in Salt Lake City from "HEAD". In the finished print, you can see Micky singing into a mike at his drums in one quick cut away so obviously more than "Circle Sky" was filmed. Maybe not the whole song but I wonder if any of the four songs that have audio from the "HEAD" box set were shot and the sound be re-synced - THAT would be great!

As for the series - what about the concert footage from "Monkees on Tour"? Are there full songs in outtake form? That would be fun to see too.

 

Oh, and Gene Cornish of the Rascals said he was filmed for one of the musical guest segments in Season 2? Does that exist? That would really be fun to have added to a revamped TV series set as well.

I would love to see some bloopers like the Texas Prairie Chicken segment. There have to be blooper reels somewhere - wasn't that a common practice to assemble blooper reels?

 

I had often wondered about 'Salesman'
IIRC they also show a small clip of Davy & Peter (but I though that bit was from a different song).

Darryl