The Best of Not the 9 O'Clock News
by Bill Wilson, Bob Spiers, Geoff Posner
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Chris Langham, Griff Rhys Jones, Mel Smith, Pamela Stephenson, Rowan AtkinsonDirector: Bill Wilson, Bob Spiers, Geoff Posner
Brand: A&E
Writer: Griff Rhys Jones
Writer: Andrew Marshall
Writer: Andy Hamilton
Writer: Clive Anderson
Writer: Colin Bostock-Smith
Writer: Craig Nicholls
Writer: David Renwick
Writer: Dick Fiddy
Writer: Douglas Adams
Writer: Guy Jenkin
Writer: Guy Meredith
Writer: John Henderson
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 197 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-03-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: A&E Home Video
Product features:
- Not the 9 O Clock News, The Best ofAttention, comedy fans: NOT THE NINE O'CLOCK NEWS is the real thing. This is scathing, no-holds-barred Brit humor at its best. Rapid-fire skits starring Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) are as politically incorrect as they are side-bustingly funny, sparing no one as they take on the British Royal Family, Margaret Thatcher, Scotland Yard, country music, Christianity,
Movie Reviews of The Best of Not the 9 O'Clock News
Movie Review: What Python Hath Wraught?
Summary: 5 Stars
It's really thrilling to see this out on DVD stateside, even though if you don't recall much of the late 1970s/early 1980s and aren't up on government history in the UK during the time (and if not, a few hours with the Young Ones will help), you might be at a bit of a loss on certain parts. If you are still moping over Princess Di being in the past tense namewise, you might be squeamish over parts of this as she still had that new Windsor smell at the time these were made.
Okay, caveats aside, the rapid fire satire sketch comedy of the Pythons is prominent here, probably due in large part to Rowan Atkinson's work with the Pythons on the Amnesty International concerts during this time period (this is before Mr. Bean/Black Adder/Thin Blue Line), but Stephenson, Rhys-Jones and Smith (second only to John Tuturro on the humor scale in the blatant Marx Bros. ripoff (albeit still funny as H---) _Brain Donors_) are just as great in this double-disc set.
Highlights? Mel Smith and Rowan Atkinson's parody of the debates over the brouhaha surrounding Life of Brian at the time ("Jesus Christ is John Cleese right down to the same initials!"), the Oi! band parody song about Moseley with Mel Smith singing, Atkinson's ska parody "I Like Bouncing," the cast take on ABBA, footage of the Pope edited to where it looks like he's singing "Jungle Rock," the Royals entering a room to "In the Mood" as fanfare music, and the list goes on and on.
Best line: "Nurse, I can't feel my legs." "Yes, sorry we had to amputate your arms."
This DVD set also has cameo appearances by Amnesty alum Chris Langham of the "How to Speak Japanese in Three Steps" fame, so that's always nice to see.
Rik Mayall said in the Young Ones that he wanted to capture the spirit of the Pythons in that you didn't know what was coming next. Not the Nine O' Clock News did. Sorry Rik, but that's what you get for being a Cliff Richard fan, clever trousers!
BUY IT NOW OR PAY LATER!
Signed,
epsteinsmutha
Summary of The Best of Not the 9 O'Clock News
Studio: A&e Home Video Release Date: 03/28/2006This two-disc set doesn't collect the best of Not the 9 O'Clock News per se, but, more accurately, eight extremely funny episodes of this 1979 British sketch comedy series that launched the careers of Rowan Atkinson (Blackadder, Mr. Bean), Pamela Stevenson (later wasted on Saturday Night Live), and Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones (Alas Smith & Jones). Between a squashed hedgehog and a dead parrot, comparisons with Monty Python's Flying Circus are inevitable. Not the 9 O'Clock News is more aggressively paced, with a riot of sketches, fun-with-real-video segments, non-sequitur bits, visual gags, and musical spoofs. It was also more topical, so it has perhaps not aged as well as Python. But one doesn't have to be familiar with the British politicians and personalities being pilloried (sorry, Britt Eckland) or the television game and talk shows being spoofed to enjoy the commitment of the performances and the savvy and sometimes savage writing. In the first episode, talk show panelists respond to news that Russian bombs are 4 ½ minutes from England, prompting a leftist to decry "the appalling record of this conservative government... that three million people will die unemployed." The silly bits are the most lasting, including footage of a golf tournament repurposed as the "Pro Am Silly Pants Tournament" and Atkinson and Smith as an urbane gorilla and his trainer ("He was completely wild." "Wild? I was absolutely livid"). This marks 9 O'Clock's DVD debut, and that's good news for British comedy fans. --Donald Liebenson
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