It's not just the TV show. You also get the film, the 33 and 1/3 special, a 45, and a plethora of unreleased stuff, commercials, & tv appearances. It's the Monkees and they NEVER looked better.
I agree completely with you Genesim. The money spent on the flashy packaging that generated the majority of complaints when arrived damaged could have been devoted to add subtitles or soundtracks in differents languages to the Monkees blueray box set. This way it would have sell more units this Christmas in other countries (France, Germany, Spain, etc) as well as on the english market. But the powers that be at Rhino prefered to concentrate their sales only on USA and the United Kingdom.
The Vinyl is also a waste and could have been sold separately as well. It being a likely digital origin is what makes it swag.
Besides the packaging, a lot of complaints (or at least the loudest ones) had to do with a preliminary list of planned extras, which changed by the time of release but was never updated. While "extras" are exactly that, "extra," and while the restoration of the shows themselves was the main event, a lot of this material was of great interest to serious Monkees fans (the kind likely to spring for an expensive set like this) and probably the deciding factor in double-dipping on the shows, which have been released on VHS and DVD before -- granted, never restored like this. Stuff happens. Licensing issues, elements issues, all kinds of issues. But given that, the stuff that did make the cut is great -- some significantly upgraded from what was out there previously, and a good chunk of it not ever available since its first showing. Then there is stuff like the outtakes from Head and the TV series, which had been completely unseen. I would hope eventually, there will be a "mainstream" release of just the show for those who want it, in a more sensible package. But maybe the truth is at this point, most people who want the Monkees TV show restored also want all the other stuff too?
I'm still holding out. Almost jumped at the $150 w/free shipping a while back, but I didn't. It was tough. I see it's still at $150, so I will probably get it some time this upcoming year if that price sticks. I was hoping for less than $100, but I'm sure that's not going to ever happen.
My wife did indeed pick up the set for my Christmas present. (She got me a few other cool things too.) I'm looking forward to revisiting the show. I'll be curious to see how Head compares to the Criterion release.
I have the Criterion DVD. Head seems to be identical, except a Rhino logo replaces the Criterion one at the beginning. Side note: When I first saw Head, it had a silent 1980s Columbia logo at the beginning. It should have the 1960s torch lady, I'm assuming, right? Actually, I guess I shouldn't assume anything with this movie -- the name of the movie isn't even shown until the end. The Head-related extras are on a separate disc at the end. The screen tests and all that stuff related to the pilot episode is there -- Peter's is a little longer -- outtakes from Head are included -- the documentaries and "Hy Lit Show" do not carry over to the Blu-Ray set -- trailers are there -- audio commentary seems to be the same.
I feel the same. I already have the older DVD set and Head on Criterion. If the set was priced at 100, I would probably buy it. I doubt Rhino would sell the set for less than 150, so this would be the time to buy. (still listed at a discounted 150 on 1/1/19) I thought the set would have sold out by now. I don't really watch the TV show as much as I did when I was younger, so I think it would sit on my shelf not being used for a while. I mostly like to watch the romps anyway and not so much an entire episode.
It was purchased through Amazon (Warners was the 3rd party seller). I have to return the set and reorder. A pain, but at least they're attempting to make it right.
I doubt it too. They overshot the set and overestimated the interest. Even at $150 that’s a lot for a two-season show on blu-ray. $200 was a hefty price tag even for fans. Most folks never heard of Head and it did already see light on blu-ray before this set so I don’t feel that brought extra value. With that, it’s a nice set and the show looks great. For $200 and not very limited, I think including a mystery autograph from one of the Monkees in each set would have helped move boxes. Maybe have a few include everyone’s signature. Perhaps they should have done a small run of the boxes, 1,500 perhaps, and then released a basic version with the other 8,500.
Luckily for me, this was a Christmas gift. It is indeed expensive but, I have to say, I think it's a beautiful package. I'd never purchased the episodes in any previous format, so this was the way to go, and it was nice that Head and the TV special were included in the set. I lived in Europe when the series had its initial US run, so I'd only seen a couple of episodes previously, and I've been enjoying the series. Seems to me that things start to really gel about halfway through season 1. The show looks fabulous on BluRay, IMHO.
Evert since I was diagnosed with heart failure, I got rid of all that Monkee stuff, I'm afraid I could die with them in my house and that would be embarrassing.
