My Review Of The Monkees Season 2 DVD Boxed Set (1 Viewer)

[Aaron Handy III]

First off, love the phonograph box housing of the set; and in my favourite color, too: red! Also, I've spent a great deal of my time enjoying my Episode Trivia (blowing my own horn here!) and the splendid quality of the new prints struck from the original 35mm interpositives. I've also seen all the Easter Eggs, the clips from NBC News, and Micky, Michael and David's skits from The Glenn Campbell Goodtime Hour.

This I've got to say about Micky Dolenz's commentary of "Mijacogeo" (a.k.a. "The Frodis Caper"): COMPLEETLY OVER THE TOP!! Just like the very episode he represents!

There are a few downsides to the set, as well. First off, I was majorly disappointed that the tag sequence to "It's A Nice Place To Visit..." (the first episode I played in the set) was not included; it may go on to be one of The Great Mysteries Of Television History. Also, the film print quality of some episodes wasn't without its faults: scratches, green tints, and/or lavender cheeks. And I'm not too keen on the fading out of the sound along with the picture as the episode pauses for commercial; it kind of defeats the whole purpose of what they're trying to do: show the episode fully intact (in sound as well in scene). Not to mention the fact that the disc covers were murder to try and remove from the box!

And this is the one discovery of The Monkees which I found the most perplexing: the show still used the Kellogg’s™ sponsor billboard sequence from the first season (even with the new package faces in the end credits!), even as far as February 1968! (Probably used the same Monkees Rice Krispies commercials from Season 1, too!) And it wasn't until about March 1968 (the tail end of the season) that they updated the billboard! Now where is that at?!

Anywho, it was a real pleasure to get the set. I am proud and happy to have been part of both The Monkees Season 1 and 2 sets by Rhino. What a groove (did I just say that?!) to be blessed with all 58 episodes of The Monkees television series (NBC, Sept. 12, 1966-Sept. 9, 1968) on DVD in my collection! I'll never rely on syndication again! The Circle Is Compleet!!

I highly recommend The Monkees Season 2 DVD Boxed Set. Many of the episodes' off-the-wall style in a way makes Season 1 pale in comparison. A long way from Vanessa Russell's Sweet 16 birthday party, indeed!

 

[Gabriel Katikos]

Unfortunately, the Screen Gems "S from Hell" logo is not on this set, nor is it on the season 1 set. You'd better enjoy the Screen Gems Monkees, Aaron, because the rights to the Monkees now belong to Warner Bros.!

 

[Robbie^Blackmon]

I thought Rhino had the Monkees exclusively now-- shows, albums and all. When did Warner get hold of them?


Handy, what is missing in that tag sequence you mention? Is it something from the original run, or has it been seen in syndication?

 

[Ruz-El]

I never did pick these up. does season 2 incluide the 33 1/3rd revolutions per monkey special? ( A terrible special, IMO, but features a great peformance of "Listen To the Band" IIRC)

 

[AndySvn]

Yes, Volume 2 has the 33 1/3 Revolutions special which is worth viewing because of the scathing commentary from Monkee Dolenz.

 

[Robbie^Blackmon]

Apart from the Dolenz commentary, there is no other reason to watch 33 1/3. The musical numbers are ruined by the cruddy soundtrack.

What is really irksome, though, is that better prints of some of these shows do exist. The final episode of the series in this set is faded with a strong red push, and skin tones are almonst non-existant, while 35mm dupes aired on Nick, VH-1 and MTV (many years ago) contain a more rich colour spectrum.

And, yes, those 5.1 remixes are useless. They add nothing to the songs or the film soundtrack.

Don't get me wrong! I'm not blasting the set- I have both seasons love 'em. But rather than just "re-mastering" (read: re-transferring) the films, there should have been more effort in restoring them.

-rb

 

[Random Hero]

I have the Season 1 set and I love it so far. I just need to pick up Season 2, and that's the whole series, isn't it?

 

[Robbie^Blackmon]

Those two boxed sets are everything except their movie (Head) and the ABC reunion special from the late 90's.

 

[Aaron Handy III]

I haven't had the pleasure of seeing it. According to its entry in the Screen Gems Storylines, “Visit…” originally ended with David tearing away from kissing Angelita long enough to knock out El Diablo.

Though I'm beginning to think it never had a tag sequence to begin with! :-P

 

[Mark Y]

Sort of...since these sets do include some commercials and a few post-TV show items, I'll mention the following:

The Monkees also did a few "performance clips" (what we would now call music videos) which are post-TV show. One was "D.W. Washburn" (which I have only read about, I've never seen it and it may or may not still exist) which was only shown in England and only features David Jones (even though Jones was not the lead singer and may not even have participated in the recording of the song). There also is a clip of "Oh My My," which was directed by Micky Dolenz. Besides this, the Monkees did scads of commercials, some for Kellogg's, some for Yardley Black Label, and (post-TV show, as a trio without Peter Tork) they did a bunch of commercials for Kool-Aid, Parker Brothers and I believe also Post Cereals in 1969-70. (Are any of these on the DVDs? I know only one Kellogg's commercial was on the VHS set.) I don't have either one of the "season sets" but I understand the "Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour" footage, aside from not being the complete show, also does not include all of the three Monkees' footage (they did a lip-sync performance of "Tear Drop City" on that show, a clip of which was shown on the Disney Channel documentary in 1997).

The Monkees trio did a few other TV appearances during 1969. "The Joey Bishop Show," "The Tonight Show" and "Hollywood Squares" (actually done at the tail end of 1968) are presumed lost (though audio of Carson exists in pretty lousy quality). They also did one episode of "Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In" in 1969, which was part of the TRIO run a few years ago. (David Jones also did one episode of "Laugh-In" on his own). Their appearance on "The Johnny Cash Show" (where they did Michael Nesmith's "Nine Times Blue," which is a great performance, IMHO) has circulated also.

Now, if you're talking about reunion stuff, that's a whole other subject altogether...