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The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset | 
 enlarge | Directors: Ian Macnaughton, Terry Hughes
Actors: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones
Studio: A&E Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $99.95
Buy New: $44.00
You Save: $55.95 (56%)
New (56) Used (17) Collectible (1) from $43.00
Rating:  136 reviews
Sales Rank: 1174
Format: Box Set, Color, Closed-captioned, Subtitled
Languages: Arabic (Original Language), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), German (Original Language), Italian (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Number Of Items: 16
Running Time: 1749
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.1
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.5 x 4.6
MPN: AAED72952D
ISBN: 0767085515
UPC: 733961729528
EAN: 9780767085519
ASIN: B0009XRZ92
Theatrical Release Date: June 25, 1982
Release Date: September 27, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
14 discs of the complete monty pythons flying circus packed with every episode from the series 4 year run 2 additional discs filled with legendary live performances the 20 years of python retrospective hosted by steve martin the pythons 1st all german episode & more! Studio: A&e Home Video Release Date: 09/27/2005 Run time: 1749 minutes
Amazon.com
New for 2005, The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset packs together the original 14-DVD megaset with the two-disc Monty Python Live in space-saving Thinpaks. While more cautious fans may want to pick and choose among the previously released individual volumes of Monty Python for their collection, true Pythonites will want to own this definitive megaset that contains all 45 episodes (in chronological order) of Monty Python's Flying Circus. This "persistently silly" collection encompasses three-and-a-half seasons of dead parrots, cross-dressing lumberjacks, loonies, upper class twits, and spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam, and spam. Click past the occasional clunker and go directly to such signature sketches as the Ministry of Silly Walks, the Spanish Inquisition, the Fish-Slapping Dance, the Dead Parrot Sketch, the Lumberjack Song, the Cheese Shop, the Argument Clinic, and Nudge, Nudge. Taken as a whole, one marvels at how Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam thoroughly subverted television convention with "something completely different," like sketches with no punch lines ("Your average TV viewer isn't going to understand this"). A warning to the uninitiated: there is much "material that some may find offensive, but which is really smashing." Violations of something called the "Strange Sketch Act" are the least of the troupe's offenses, as witness the Oscar Wilde Sketch, the Dirty Vicar Sketch, and the Most Awful Family in Britain Sketch, all of which achieve "the really gross awfulness" all Python fans are looking for. Say no more. Monty Python TV shows, movies, records, and books are a time capsule of their anarchic lunacy. But more precious is an audience with Python, and as close as we can get is Live at the Hollywood Bowl, the long-sought-after 1982 concert film in which the Fab Six perform their greatest hits before a wildly enthusiastic crowd. Robert Klein moderates Live at Aspen, the irreverent 1998 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival tribute that reunited John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, and Terry Jones onstage for the first time in 18 years on the occasion of the troupe's 30th anniversary. Highlights include a shockingly funny moment involving Graham Chapman's ashes, and a joyous "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" sing-along. Less essential is 1989's clip show Parrot Sketch Not Included: 20 Years of Python, which also does not include "The Oscar Wilde Sketch," "Cheese Shop," "Nudge-Nudge," and many other signature sketches. --Donald Liebenson
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| Customer Reviews: Read 131 more reviews...
 Already a great DVD set made even BETTER! September 22, 2005
99 out of 102 found this review helpful
4.5 (almost 5!) Stars
Take a fantastic set of shows from an excellent British series, add two more discs of the troupe doing the classic bits live, and give it to the customer for practically the same price and you've got something for every Python fan.
First, my review of Monty Python's Flying Circus. I love the show. I think it is groundbreaking in its style and is still incredibly funny today. However, a type of humour doesn't appeal to 100% of the people and this is British humour so I know it won't appeal to a larger percentage. That being said, if you like British humour or sketch comedy, you will probably like Monty Python's TV show.
But, I am here to review the DVD set more than anything since that is what you are considering to buy. I am no Python expert so I can't tell you every little nook and cranny that should or should not exist on this collection. Like most box sets, it is missing something here and there and some of the other reviews point this out. For the most part, unless you are saturated in Python lore, you will not notice.
What you get is every episode put out on the BBC and I think they did a fine job working with the product. This isn't digital transfer so there are limitations. All of the skits I knew were on there, many that I had forgotten and many that I hadn't seen broadcast in the U.S. It is great to see them one after another in their original form. It is also great to have them all together in one box. If you are looking to find just a few specific skits or episodes, you may only need one disc or one of the smaller sets. But the price adds up if you get several, making the box set worth it.
The extras give some nice insight into the making of the series through some written blurbs about each episode and they have spliced together some thematic skits and animations. You can test your trivial knowledge of the Pythons and you can learn some history of the players. Also, some of the skits that they later performed live are available in the extras. The menu, as expected, is also well done using Terry Gilliam's animations.
However, the chaptering of the discs isn't real obvious so if you are searching for one skit, it may take some work to get there. Also, the packaging doesn't list all of the skits on each disc and in each episode so if you haven't memorized the series completely, you will have to go online to find that resource.
The boys went all out when putting extras on Holy Grail and I wish there was a bit more to this set. I would love commentary or interviews or a documentary or something. It would be quite a chore for this much but even a little bit would be nice. Otherwise, this would rate 5 stars as a DVD set. With the additional discs, it comes even closer than the last set.
For me, though, I'm very happy having the episodes to watch whenever I want, whenever the mood strikes me. Some of the gems are the lesser known skits that aren't part of the public consciousness. Again, you don't need to be a Pythonphile to enjoy this set, just someone who really likes the show and the humour.
THE SHAKESPEARES OF COMEDY: ONE OF THE BEST COMIC GROUPS EVER!!!! September 18, 2005
70 out of 85 found this review helpful
For those who don't know, the Monty Pythons were a group of british guys who clearly revolutionized TV comedy with a weekly tv show called The Monty Python's Flying Circus.
In it, they would develop and perfect a style that we started to define as "the perfect example of british humour". Today we see such style followers averywhere. And perhaps 90% of britcom owes a lot to these great men of straight faces and devastating effectiveness. Like The Beatles... there was only the before and the after... say no more!
Instead of jokes, the shows are composed by short sketches that mock anything you can think of.
....It can be something simple yet unexpected as "the guy who reports a stolen wallet to a policeman and ends up inviting him home (to do you know what)"
....it can be something phisicaly demanding, hysteric yet full of political critique like my favorite "the Silly Walk" sketch (something no comedian could do as effectively as John Cleese);
...it can be something obvious yet nobody thought of it before like... the diner at a restaurant whose menu only has topics for discussions;
...it can be their unique way of making comedy an intelectual thing without compromising either audience nor comedy... like "picasso painting a picture in a bicycle";
...or it can be the uncontrolable bursts of inspiration like the "nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition"-thing along one of the shows.
....IT WAS THESE GUYS WHO TURNED TV COMEDY INTO ART!!!!!
With Monty Python, the viewer gets the impression there were no limits to what they could do. It seems nothing could stop them. They were the absolute comic masters whose speciality was to take very little and deliver a very lot.
This new DVD collection ads two live DVDs and an incredible row of extras. The die hard fans of the group will be delighted to see them again.. in a kind of humour that ironically enough has not aged in many ways... possibly because they made fun of things that are too universal and contemporary.
The production values of the series are clearly 70's BBC style (the only dated thing about the series)... but five minutes after start you'll be laughing silly with the quality of their texts, chracters and situations.
This box is a great buy because one gets so much great entertainment from any individual show that he/she will want to see more and more of it.
In the word of modern comedy, the Monty Pythons are like The Beatles. No other group is so missed. No other group was so creative and influential. No other group ever left the expectancy/myth/secret-desire in their audience for a great comeback... of course their members did keep working and even got together occasionaly (like Cleese and Palin in "A Fish Called Wanda" or Gilliam's movies)...
But after the Flying Circus and the movies, live shows and their records, I wonder if there will ever be a group like the Pythons...
No (or after the next 500 years... maybe).
Subtitles work for me July 15, 2006
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
I read the review that complained about the lack of closed captioning...I pushed the "subtitles" button on my DVD player remote and there were beautiful captions, nice because I can't always understand the accents. Better than the usual CCs, more nicely done. Perhaps DVD "Subtitles" are different from over-the-air "Closed Captions"? Anyway, they're there, and they're very helpful.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!! September 30, 2005
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
Monty Python fans rejoice. Previously released titles of the groundbreaking, non-sequester, anything goes, insubordinate, 70's British comedy series are now available in a definitive yet compact, space-saving set. THE COMPLETE MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS 16 TON MEGASET (A&E) has all the classic routines: Argument Clinic, Crunchy Frog, Dead Parrot, Exploding Penguin, Cheese Shop, Nudge Nudge, Pearl Harbor and my two favorites: Silly Walks and Crunchy Frog.
For the completist compulsives, all 45 episodes are in chronological order. Although no longer "something completely different," it's nice to see clean transfers of the subversive silliness (think "spam, spam, spam...") that still evokes big yuks with its fish-slapping, cross-dressing and loonie, all-singing, all-dancing lumberjacks skits. The set includes two bonus discs of live performances.
It's reassuring to see what an elite Oxford education did for Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and ex-pat American Terry Gilliam.
Now more than ever, what the world needs is a mass conversion to radical Pythonism.
Full of Puns, Palindromes, Litotes & Spam. July 14, 2006
19 out of 21 found this review helpful
I bought the entire series individually from Amazon as the complete series isn't available in England.
I've always thought this was THE funniest show ever written It's good to see other people feel the same.
Yes it's a shame that some of the sketches have been cut, but I'm just glad it's out on DVD.
The Summarize Proust sketch was censored by the BBC way back in the 70's, they (the BBC) didn't mind the strangling animals comment, it was the self abuse reference they censored.(A strange set of priorities!)
The Python member that will catch the eye initially, is obviously, John Cleese and even though he is a funny man don't let his physical presence over shadow the others.
Michael Palin in particular with his funny little asides and expressions, is in my humble opinion, the funniest Python.
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The show ran from BBC 2 :~1969-1974.
45 episodes (30 minutes.)
John Cleese left after season 3 to start writing, "Fawlty Towers"
with his wife at the time Connie Booth.
And don't overlook Palin's and Jones'es, "Ripping Yarns".
But where on Earth is Eric Idle's, "Rutland Weekend Television" ?
Happy viewing; "But for heavens sake keep an eye out for Spiny Norman."
(Writing this review was all in a days work for Bicycle repair man.)
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