i am not sure it was a waste of time or not but I e mailed Video Ranch and asked them to ask Mike to look into the videos and merchandise issues.. Worth a try..
I still have the Betamax copies that I made the weekend of the Monkees MTV marathon. All 56 episodes.
I suspect they didn’t care they misplaced them because the set didn’t sell to their expectations. And I also suspect that caused a loss in faith in producing any other new Monkees box.
There were counterfeits of the first standard DVD sets, correct? I bought both seasons through the usual online retailers, and I'm reasonably certain that Season 1 is counterfeit. The inner plastic holders came unglued and the main video menus don't look right. So, if anyone buys these sets at the prices they're going for now, they might or might not be authentic.
I believe the first DVD release(s) of the show were the two individual seasons packaged in faux miniature record players-These were never bootlegged/counterfeited as far as I know.
The first issues looked like record players, but there were subsequent Rhino issues that had an illustration of the Monkees on a TV set. It was a folding cardboard cover with the CD's in trays. These sets are priced on EBay for as much or more than the record player sets.
Those were re-released by a different company under license from Rhino. How long ago was that? It seems like it was just a couple of years ago and they were much more reasonably priced than the original sets. And now they too are out of print and being price gouged?
Yes. Just off the top of my head, the DVD sets have a few extras (some are "Easter Eggs") which are not on the Blu-Rays. There are a couple of brief episode intros with guest stars (Billie Hayes and Butch Patrick IIRC, possibly also Ruth Buzzi?) which look like they were shot at a convention. There is also NBC news footage of the Monkees in New York City, and two comedy sketches from the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour ("Secret Agents" and "Touch Tone Symphony") different from the clips on the Blu-Ray set. Additionally, several episodes have either Kellogg's cereal boxes or Yardley Black Label logos in the closing credits, which were removed from the Blu-Ray versions of the shows. In one episode (I think "Monkee Vs. Machine") during the audio commentary Peter Tork makes reference to the cereal boxes during the closing, but they aren't there (on the Blu-Rays). There also are one or two episodes which had Kellogg's closings on the old VHS set which didn't carry over to the DVD sets nor the Blu-Ray set. The VHS and DVD sets also had more episodes with Kellogg's sponsor billboards after the opening titles -- there are only a couple on the Blu-Ray set and I suspect those were only kept because the episodes in question had audio commentary so cutting them out would have disrupted it. But both versions of the Kellogg's billboard are represented at least once on the Blu-Ray set, so that's okay. Then there is the "Our Favorite Episodes" DVD which has brief introductions by each of the Monkees done during the interviews for the Disney Channel documentary. I note that in Davy's intro he's talking about "Royal Flush," but they use it to introduce "Hitting The High Seas." My guess is because the latter episode has "Daydream Believer" in it and they preferred an episode with a hit song -- unless someone genuinely goofed and thought he was talking about that episode.
I did not realize that the Glen Campbell clips were different. Very good information. Thanks for taking the time to post!
Sure, any time. The comedy sketches on the Season 2 DVD set are there as an Easter Egg. Beyond that, I don't remember the specifics of how to find them.
Being an Easter Egg is probably why I did not remember those being on there. I will have to dig those out. More good info.
One other thing, and I'm gonna have to go back and "A/B" them just to verify this -- but there is an episode in Season 1 where the DVD version fades in at the beginning while the Blu-Ray version "cuts in" or "begins cold" or however you want to say it. And on the Blu-Ray set, there are one or two episodes in Season 2 where the "second act" begins abruptly as if someone was asleep at the switch and missed the beginning of the scene. "Monkee Mayor" might be one of them, but I have to go back and verify this.
The reissued DVD sets (on Eagle Rock) were released back in 2011. I bought both sets a few years later when they were still available, and Season 1 definitely seems counterfeit. I read at the time I bought them that some sets were counterfeit, but it only cost about $25. Now, sets are going for $150 or more, counterfeit or not.
That's insane. I actually considered buying them again just to have a "shelf-friendly" version. Both of my "record player" sets had the boxes crushed over the years in the course of storage, moving etc. My recollection is that the Eagle Rock versions were still available when the Blu-Ray set came out, so at least as late as 2016 if not later.
I can't swear to it, but I seem to remember seeing them (the Eagle Rock sets) at Barnes and Noble within the last year or two.
It's possible. The one by me seems to have just about all their DVDs marked way down as if they plan on clearing out the entire department.
Still-sealed new copies of the Eagle Rock sets are currently selling on Amazon (third party sellers, Amazon itself is out of stock) for around $250 per season. B & N outlets may have had some old stock that they never sold, so there may be a few selling at original prices at brick and mortar stores. I don't understand why the online prices are so high, maybe the BluRay release makes the old DVD sets look cheap by comparison, so the prices became higher after that set was released.
There are actually 56 fully scripted episodes, plus the two special episodes The Monkees on Tour and The Monkees in Paris which are pseudo-documentaries.