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Congratulations on your exceeding cleverness. You have discovered
the complete third series of Monty Python's Flying Circus
is available on DVD. Good for you. This gorgeously remastered,
authenticated and totally complete set contains a veritable
treasure trove of comedy. It's the Pythons at their best:
outrageously off-the-wall and brilliantly silly. The classic
third series contains such side-splitting hilarious sketches
as The Fish Slapping Dance, Argument Clinic
and, of course, The Cheese Shop...
The
third series of Monty Python's Flying Circus features
many classic moments and contains 13 episodes spread across
two discs.
The
first episode, Whicker's World, opens with Njorl's
Saga - it's obvious to see where a lot of ideas in Monty
Python and the Holy Grail came from when you watch this
sketch. This is a 12th century Icelandic saga which is funded
by the North Maldon Icelandic Society - the result being a
number of plugs for businesses and tourists to come to North
Maldon. There's also a trip to Whicker's World - an island
that's sole indigenous species is a race of Alan Whickers.
Other
highlights in this collection include:
Mr
& Mrs Brian Norris' Ford Popular, and we are off on
a journey with Mr Norris who is keen to prove his theory that
the inhabitants of Hounslow were created when the natives
of Surbiton moved there en masse. This episode also includes
the legendary Fish Slapping Dance.
The
Money Programme includes the classic Argument Clinic
sketch.
Blood,
Devastation, Death, War and Horror has a running pantomime
horse gag - which climaxes in a great Bond title sequence
spoof.
The
All England Summarise Proust Competition features Miss
Ann Elk's theory about the Brontosaurs.
Salad
Days features The Cheese Shop sketch and the gory
Salad Days movie trailer.
Disc
two kicks off on a totally new slant. The Cycling Tour
sees a half hour tale of one keen cyclist who is cycling
around North Cornwall. Michael Palin stars as the rather anal
cyclist who keeps crashing his bike. This is probably the
funniest episode in this collection - mainly because the characters
are a little more fleshed out than usual and a lot of the
ongoing gags are allowed to build over the course of the episode.
The
Nude Organist kicks of with Eric Idol walking into the
cockpit of a plane and announcing that he has hidden a bomb
on board. He offers to tell them where it is for a £1
million. When the captain tells him that he will die too,
he realises that he hasn't thought his money making scheme
out very well. The rest of the episode sees him pop in and
out of sketches offering to not interrupt the gags "for
a £1". This episode also has one of my all time
favourite sketches (one that not many people seem to remember):
The Olympic Hide & Seek sketch. There's also some
crazier than usual happenings when the Cheap-Laughs come to
dinner.
E.
Henry Tripshaw's Disease has another favourite sketch
of mine - the Annoying Vicar skit.
Dennis
Moore has the classic (though not that funny) Dennis
Moore highwayman sketch. There is also an ironic gag in one
of Terry Gilliam's animated links. Securicor are running the
ambulance service. Little did Gilliam suspect that Securicor
would one day be involved with the UK's prison system.
Was
that an intentional gag I spotted on the menu screens? Or
just poor planning? Under the "Audio Set Up" option
on the main menu we don't get a choice, just a page stating
that the languages are... er... English... not really much
point in including this option at all really then.
Another
annoying aspect is that the sound on the episodes is incredibly
quiet, meaning that you have to whack the volume up to hear
what is going on. However, after each episode, when the disc
returns to the menu page, the recorded volume is high. This
means you have to hunt for the remote control to turn the
volume down before you annoy the whole street.
The
biggest disappoint for fans will be the total lack of any
extras whatsoever. There isn't even an audio commentary. This
is a crying shame a few nice extras would have made this a
must own collection. To be honest, if you already own these
episodes on video, there is little point in buying them again
on DVD. The quality is not that great and, as I've already
mentioned, there are no extras.
Darren
Rea
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