The Monkees Complete TV Show: Did You Upgrade To The Blu-Ray Set Or Did You Stick With The DVD Set?

Actually, I would submit that in 2018 far, Far, FAR more people listen to the Monkees music than watch DVDs of the TV show.

 

I voted for The DVD Sets Are Just Fine With Me, but that's not to say that I've completely ruled out upgrading to the Blu-ray set at some point. It's going to have to get discounted a lot more before I'll even be slightly tempted, though - under $100 might do the trick.

 

MIami Vice rules!!!!!!!!

chad

 

Don’t wait too long. It’s a limited edition, and once Rhino sells out expect to pay higher prices on Amazon or eBay.

 

I guess I should have been more specific, because my comment that the TV series spawned 52 years of entertaining folks included people listening to their music... Not just recorded music, but reunion concerts, etc...

 

I ordered the set then realised I hadn't enquired if they were region coded. So when it arrived I nervously put the first disc in my player and it played fine, so you've no problems if you go ahead.

 

To me, the TV show is really dated and the slapstick routines just arent funny. The sped up film sections seem amatuerish to me today.

The MUSIC tho, holds up today by 100%.

 

It depends. The show is dated (As is pretty much any show from that time), but moments still hold up. Much of the dialogue/breaking the fourth wall still works.

And the music video, which certainly had an impact on MTV/the video explosion in the 80s still holds up. Some of the later, season 2 episodes, the broke from the show’s original formula are still fun to watch too.

Of course, one can argue that the more improvised, stoner-ish humor of the later episodes is dated too. But I still enjoy that quite a bit. No argument the music holds up better, overall, though. Even if not ALL of it does. I mean, “The Day We Fall In Love,” “We Were Made For Each Other,” etc., sucked then and still suck now.

 

I just want to say that Lon Chaney Jr.'s monologue in Monkees in a Ghost Town is hilarious

 

I'm waiting for the 8K.

 

They will pass 8K and go to 124K, where the image is implanted in our heads telepathically!! hey, saves miney on hardware.....

 

I agree with you for the most part. Funny thing tho...SOME old shows arent tarnished by time. Like, I watch "Hogans Heroes" a couple of times a week and i end up laughing hysterically.

 

I vivdly remember my dad watching Hogan’s Heroes all the time. Must’ve been in reruns — say, mid 70s, before Bob Crane was murdered. I remember some of the characters. Klink and Schultz, especially. Richard Dawson was there. And I remember the hats shown during rhe closing credits. But I have little memory beyond that.

I think Crane’s grisly demise has always put me off from watching that show. That, and I’ve always been unsure how to take theconcept of a Nazi prison camp for laughs. I know it’s something of a classic though. MeTV might be airing it?

Anyhow, while The Monkees (The show) is a bit dated it holds up reasonably for a children’s show and much of the humor (Certainly by season 2) goes beyond “kids stuff.” Certainly no worse than Help! (The movie), and maybe better. Better than most other 60s sitcoms too, I’d say.

If nothing else, the show was innovative and groundbreaking in its time. Without it, there would be no Monkees music to discuss either.

 

What extras didn’t make it over from the DVD to Blu-ray set? Anything substantial?

 

Off the top of my head:

Two skits from the Glen Campbell show ("Touch Tone Symphony" and "Secret Agents")

NBC news footage of the Monkees in New York City

Bobby Hart interview

Easter egg interviews with Butch Patrick, Ruth Buzzi and Billie Hayes -- apparently taped at some convention (Krofft related?)

(There are also the brief intros each of the guys did for the "Favorite Episodes" DVD -- Davy is talking about "Royal Flush" but they use it as an intro for "Hitting The High Seas" -- how much you want to bet they did that because the latter has "Daydream Believer" in it?)

Did I miss anything?

 

Based on what I’ve read on this site, the Blu-ray end credits are missing at least some sponsor logos vs what’s on the DVDs. Not really an extra, but worth noting.

 

I think that was done quite deliberately, because Sony was making HD masters for the episodes they could sell to cable. That's the whole reason this project happened in the first place.

I also note some episodes in the VHS box set had cereal boxes in the closings (which are not in the corresponding episodes on DVD), but I don't remember which ones. (Aaron Handy III probably has it on his website.)

What is odd is on certain ones with audio commentary (repeated from the DVD sets) sometimes they will comment on the cereal boxes in the closing, but we're not seeing them because they've been removed on the Blu-Ray set.

Also, only two or three Kellogg's sponsor billboards made the Blu-Ray set. They happen to be ones that have audio commentary, and I bet that had a lot to do with their being retained. Speaking of audio commentary, the Blu-Ray episodes have a longer pause than the DVDs had where the commercial breaks went. The timing of the audio commentaries is adjusted accordingly.

 

I'm still on the VHS box. I'd like to have the Bluray, but I don't even own a Bluray player.

 

I rarely watch the TV show. If I do, once in a while, I just pull something up on Youtube. I already had the DVD sets, so I don't see the point in shelling out for this set. It's basically just outside my price range to buy this time around.

 

I never had the DVDs. So, for me, the biggest omission, is the cutting of “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” from the 50s medley in “33 & 1/3.” Sandoval’s hand was forced, I know, since there was a legal issue at the time over ownership of the song. Rhino told him to cut the one song or lose the entire special

It’s only about a minute at most, I know, and it’s not like the show was all that great anyhow, but I think that segment is one of the best parts of the special.

Would still love to have ALL the songs in the program available in an audio format — regardless of best quality available. Doubtful that will ever happen, and, even if it did, the 50s medley would probably be cost-prohibitive due to royalties and still be left out anyhow.

If nothing else, the show is in its correct running order now. So it makes slightly more sense than it did? Hard to say.

Oh, but I love the alternate “Listen to the Band” jam session. That’s a gem. Just a shame the horn players weren’t mic’d for that one. You can see two sax players playing their tails off, but you can’t hear ‘em!

 

Whole Lot of Shakin' was cut because Jerry Lee Lewis' estate wouldn't give Rhino permission to use that song on the blu-ray.

 

I’d have to find where I read it again, but I seem to remember Andrew saying that it wasn’t Lewis himself (Not sure what you mean by “estate,” as Jerry Lee is alive) but there was some legal wrangling over ownership of the song.

While that was being contested, they couldn’t use it. Andrew suggested keeping the royalties for the song in some kind of holding account, in an effort to keep it, until the issue was settled. Rhino said no. Cut the song or leave the entire show out. So they cut the song.

At least, this is how I remember it. Maybe those comments were even posted here? I’d have to look for it.

 

You're correct, the cutting of "Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On" was a publishing issue, nothing to do with Jerry Lee Lewis nixing anything... Also, his other clip from the 50s medley is included (that being "Down the Line")... Jerry Lee didn't write either song, and he has no stake in their publishing rights, so he wouldn't have anything to gain, or lose, by not having both songs included (except for possibly residuals for his appearance)...

Now the Johnny Cash estate, there's something else: His estate didn't give permission to use his image, so that's why his intro for the guys (singing "Last Train to Clarksville") and"Everybody Loves a Nut" weren't included on the Blu-Ray set...

 

You probably know it, but if not, audio of three of the guys' four "solo spots" from the "33 1/3 Revolutions per Monkee" special were included on the super deluxe edition of "Instant Replay"... For some reason, they didn't include Micky and Julie Driscoll singing "I'm a Believer"-I've asked about it's exclusion on these forums, but I never really got an answer, other than what I suspected anyway, that being it was probably a royalties issue... But yeah, a CD of all the music from the special would be cool (although if you listen to his commentary of the special, Micky Dolenz might disagree )

PS: Also included on the super deluxe of "Instant Replay" are "I Go Ape" and its backing track, as well as other backing tracks for songs from the special...

 

I confused the Johnny Cash scenario with that of Jerry Lee Lewis. My bad.