The Monkees: Season 2
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Canada
Movie Reviews of The Monkees: Season 2
Movie Review: A Tip From A Rhino
Summary: 5 Stars
To all the Monkees fans: look for the bonus "easter eggs" on this set. They are pretty neat-o.Disclosure - I work for the company that produced this DVD.
Movie Review: Memory lane
Summary: 5 Stars
I used to watch the Monkees when I was a kid, and now my kids are watching it. I feel old! Great fun!Movie Review: Better than season 1!
Summary: 4 Stars
While season 1 of "The Monkees" had a handful of episodes, it is season 2 that has a fresher, more genuine off-the-wall feel to it.
And, by the end of season 1, critics were complaining that the mnusic wasn't "theirs". As a result of this and Mike Nesmith's subsequent prodding, the music used in this season was done BY the Monkees and not behind-the-scenes artists. Many songs that even bested some of the "legit" music of the time, include "Salesman", "For Pete's Sake", "Randy Scouse Git", "The Door into Summer", "Zor and Zam", "Daily Nightly", "Pleasant Valley Sunday", "You Just May Be The One", "You Told Me", and there are many others...
The best episodes include:
* Monkees Marooned (Peter sells his guitar for a treasure map and, after being berated by the others is joined by the others to see what it's about. The one liners in this one are great...)
* The Picture Frame (The group is conned into pulling a bank robbery by a "producer" who is actually a crook!)
* Monkee Mayor (Mike Nesmith runs for mayor in an attempt to drive out the corrupt incumbant. One of my top 5.)
* Hillbilly Honeymoon (A spoof of The Beverly Hillbillies and ironically more realistic... One of my top 5.)
* Fairy Tale (A surreal and outrageous spoof on old fairy tales; Mike also dresses up in drag and there's a lot of fun to be had here. The lack of laugh track is also intriguing. Another top 5.)
* The Devil and Peter Tork. (A great plot, which contains one of their best-ever songs, almost banned by NBC because of a hidden drug reference (though the song is clearly AGAINST drugs...). It's my absolute favorite. (the 5th one being, of course, "Monkee vs Machine" but that's season 1...))
* Mijacogeo (aka "The Frodis Caper") - unusual social commentary about television, even if the story is written and directed in such a bizarre (and likely deliberate) manner by Mickey Dolenz himself.
As for the DVDs themselves:
Menu/layout:
A+++ for the menuing system. I was impressed by the use of audio noise between the master and sub-menus, and the layout. Very impressed indeed.
Trivia:
A nice addition with some interesting bits and pieces, along with guest cast filmography.
Video:
Colors look deep and saturated and flesh tones remarkably accurate from a filmed ~38 year old show. As the show was filmed and not taped, that has led to
The prints seem reasonably sharp too.
There are some dust and other film-related issues, but that is unavoidable and I only know of one TV show whose restoration team actually removes by hand all signs of scratches and dust...
The only problem is DVD compression artifacting, which tends to make the picture seem a bit muddy; particularly with background/darker areas; they suffer the most from this artifacting. It's not entirely bad, but bad enough for me to make a mention of. :-)
Audio:
Sounds great but please stick to the standard Dolby 2.0 mono. I tried out the 5.1 and maybe they thought the viewer ought to be on LSD while listening to the show. The 5.1 produces a very bizarre sort of echo effect that makes everything difficult to understand. And as I don't have this problem with any of my other 5.1 movies/shows, it must then be a problem with the encoding. But the Dolby 2.0 is crisp and clean; like how it was originally, minus that wretched hiss. :-)
In short, the MSRP is too high. Buying it used or clearance would be a better choice; $80 for BOTH seasons is a much fairer price given the video quality and that bizarre 5.1 transfer (B+ for effort but they needn't have bothered to take this step. I'd rather have better compression for the video.)
It's quite acceptable quality in the end, especially when compared to offerings from certain other vendors, who clearly don't put much time into their releases at all.
Movie Review: Better than the first season, good extras, bad sound
Summary: 4 Stars
The second season box set is much like the first, in that it is overpriced, with suprisingly poor sound (the 5.1 selection is best but even that is not anywhere near what it should be), but otherwise a great compilation of all the episodes. Some fans prefer the tighter first season, and some the looser second year. I go for the second season, primarily because the songs are superior (with nearly all stemming from their two finest works "Headquarters" and "Pisces, Aquarious..."--just imagine what those teenyboppers back in late '67 must've thought when they heard "Star Collector" for the first time!), and I do enjoy the greater spontaneity and half-improvised nature of the scripts. The group look like they are having fun, goofing around on set and filming cool tags for the end of each show that parody normal television formulas. The jokes are more sophisticated, culminating in thedelightful "Frodis Caper", directed by Dolenz and quite possibly the first sitcom episode to feature drug humor. There are also cool guest spots by Zappa, Tim Buckley and Charlie Smalls, a stunning a capella rendition of "Riu Chiu" for the Christmas episode, and the increased color and intensity of the psychedelic era in general. Note also the transitional nature of the earliest episodes filmed in the spring of '67 (which you can tell because Mickey's hair is still straight in them): some of the tightness of the first season remains (along with the use of several rejected first season scripts), but the wilder fashions and more risque humor of the latter half of the season also begins to creep in; it is this perfect combination of tight and loose which makes that period my favorite of the show.
The best episodes include the aforementioned "Frodis Caper", the touching "Devil And Peter Tork", the truly bizarre "Monkees Watch Their Feet" (with Pat Paulsen in fine form and Dolenz an absolute riot as a robot) and "The Monkees' Paw" (Dolenz in dazzling comic form once again). The band were even allowed to parody their own frustration with the increasingly formulaic nature of the scripts in "The Monkees In Paris"--which only proved that they weren't so formulaic, although Davy Jones still falls in love every other episode. The commentaries are generally pretty good, and Mickey is a scream reminiscing about "The Frodis Caper".
Finally, the extras are nice, including some TV appearances and news footage, as well as the vastly underrated and overlooked special "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee". While "33 1/3" has a thin plot and some filler--including their worst filmed moment as singing chimps--it also contains some of their best-ever performances and *spectacular* guest stars, including Julie Driscoll (a superb singer) and her partner Brian Auger (a brilliant Keith Emerson-like organist), plus the three piano giants from the 50s: Little Richard, Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis. Add The Buddy Miles Express, and the complaint that The Monkees were second-billed in their own special becomes moot--with guest stars like these, who cares? The band itself are still good, and the closing performance of "Listen To The Band" has to be seen to be believed--their mind-blowing final live appearance (before the 80s/90s reunion tours) being the total avant-garde antithesis of their commercial bubblegum image. In short, the entire box set is worth it, although you'll have to pay a pretty penny for it...and be sure to turn the volume *way* up.
Movie Review: These are my people!!
Summary: 4 Stars
Well here I am again keeping the British end up! I have loved the Monkees for at least 23 of my 26 years on this earth so heres my two pennies worth:Good Bits About The Set:
They are all a lot more themselves and less cheesy. I.e. Peter is more hippy and less dippy, Mike is more mardy and sarcastic and less strong and silent, Davy camps up his cheesy lines and is a bit more funky, less boy next door and Micky is as silly as ever - but even more!!! His hair says it all!!
I like the way they take the micky out of the stupid situations they are put into. I particularly like Wild Monkees and Some Like It Lukewarm. Speaking from my perspective (as a rag a bone and a hag of hair!) Davy looks particularly gorgeous and apart from Micky they all look loads more attractive in their more natural styles.
Ok so theres some bad bits ....
Sounds goes up and down, need more commentary - and more USEFUL comments I agree with a previous commenter that they dont have a great deal to say about the episodes (Fairy Tale commentary from Mike is the best). 33 and a third RPM is sooooo boring. The one good bit is Mike singing Naked Persimmon and the rest looks like a hippies nightmare. I wonder if these people were paid?
Still, as a die hard Monkees fan I have to like the series itself it and its in stark contrast to the first series. Its a lot cooler but the cold sarcasm and unveiling of their situation only goes to put a nail in the coffin of The Monkees. There is a very samey feel to the episodes - why wasnt Mike ever in a romantic episode? Surely they didnt all fancy Davy - Mike is about 6"2 after all!!!
Ive rated this 4 stars because the Monkees have a special place in my past. If they have that in yours then buy this. If they dont laugh at a friends copy - may be best viewed after a few bottles of wine though!!
Melissa :)