Meathead

Yup!

Watched another episode last night. The restoration and books... just awesome.

Jay G.

If it was just Blu-rays it probably would've been fine. The issue is that each season set comes with a substantial book which makes up the bulk of the weight of each set, and appears to be more than those separators can handle with anything more than a light jostling.

Jay G.

Two more reviews, one for the series 1 set, and one for the box set:
Monty Python's Flying Circus: The Complete Series 1 - Network - Blueprint: Review
https://setthetape.com/2019/11/11/py...lu-ray-review/

Also, the Digital Bits review has been updated to cover the whole set.
https://thedigitalbits.com/item/mont...rwegian-bd-box

Jay G.

New email from Network about the damaged boxes.

Meathead

Yeah I'm sending my photo evidence in ASAP... That's BS on "first come first served basis". If they have to have more manufactured to make up for their stupidity in the box design...

Jay G.

They might be able to get away with not making more. I asked for the £10 refund because I personally don't care about the box that much.

Meathead

Good point... I'm going to end up keeping the sets out of the box as I don't see the dividers holding up in the long run. For the price thou... I wanted the undamaged box assuming UPS can deliver it without putting it thru the meat grinder again. Shouldn't be an issue without the weight of the sets inside.

Jay G.

I did some math. Now, the US hasn't had any standalone releases yet, but the UK got two standalone releases of series 1. the £20 standalone Series 1 doesn't come with the book, only the £32 digipak version does:
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Monty-Pyt...dp/B07XN4BKQC/
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Monty-Pyt...dp/B07XW6SNQG/

The complete set comes with the digipak version of each series, with 4 books, and was £100. So assuming all 4 standalone series digipaks cost the same, that's £128. Even if Series 4 turns out to be half price due to half as many episodes, that's still £112. So even not counting the box, those in the UK who wanted all the discs and books likely saved money buying the full set from Network over buying them separately.

Now, in the US it gets complicated due to the removal of VAT and the higher shipping costs. Still, I paid £104.33 for the set shipped, so subtract £10 equals £94.33 total. At the exchange rate of $1.28 : £1, that's $121.08. That's more than the cheapest Amazon has had the set, ($115) but cheaper than it is now by about $20.

Now the Network site mentions that it's a "Limited exploding box Norwegian Blu-ray edition," So I imagine there's a non-exploding box edition. I feel like they should fast-track that release, and put it out side-by-side with the limited edition box, so people can buy it with a box that works, for Christmas presents and the like where dealing with a return or an exchange would be a headache. Or pull the limited box, pull out the digipaks inside and repackage them in a simpler box, and set the limited boxes aside for replacements.

Meathead

I don't see that edition... I see "Box that Explodes! (sort of)" in the description but that was there when I ordered.

And wait... didn't us unlucky ones get the exploding box?

Jay G.

Lower on the page.
https://networkonair.com/all-product...lu-ray-edition

Jay G.

Amazon US and Amazon UK also refer to is as a limited edition.
https://smile.amazon.com/Monty-Pytho...dp/B07YMFVQ3M/



https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Monty-Pyt...dp/B07YMFZ5MP/

Brian T

Would've been nice to see the four digipacks inside a sturdy slipcover akin to the ones used, for example, on the Powerhouse Indicator Hammer sets or even some of Arrow's more recent deluxe editions; really thick, hard-box material that withstands the shipping process and doesn't waste real estate on the shelf.

That said, this thread has convinced me to wait these out. I've had both the digipack-only and blu-ray case-only editions in my UK cart for ages now. The only difference appears to be the book, and as the owner of several Python books, including at least one that goes into details on each episode, I'm not sure how essential I'll find the new ones. Guess I'll wait until someone posts pics or video of the contents. As for pricing, these will drop inevitably. I remember buying the A&E sets for what I thought were reasonable sale prices back in the day, only to have them drop considerably more months later. When the 16-ton Megaset came out, I skipped that one and eventually it was reissued with slimcases, and eventually I got that for a song. I'm confident these new individual sets will go on sale . . . some day.

Meathead

Ah... now I see it. Isn't it the same set we have? With the box flaps open it looks like the box exploded...?

Jay G.

Yes, I'm saying the current packaging is a limited edition.

Presumably, that means there's non-limited edition packaging that is planned to be used once the limited edition sells out. Unless they plan to only sell the seasons individually, which seems unlikely.

So if such a "standard" box set is planned, and they have those boxes already, they could start selling those now, and disassemble the existing limited editions into the digipacks, which can go into the standard box set, and the limited edition box, which can be sent out as replacements.

dsa_shea

I got my set in on Saturday in mint condition and it is something else. It is a bit of a pain to get the four inner walls up and together to get the box top on.

Jay G.

I finished series 1 of the set, watching all the episodes, the extras, and reading the book.

The episodes looked great, although of course the filmed material that they still had film to scan from looked a lot better than the upscaled video. It was all pretty seamless though.

The extras were basically interesting outtakes they discovered during the restoration process. It was interesting, but most of it I probably wouldn't watch again. The best bits were the original 2 takes of the flying sheep demonstration sketch, where the fake moustache swap kept failing, and the extended Ron Obvious sketch, with extra bits that were funny, although I understand why they cut them to make the sketch shorter and punchier.

The book was extremely comprehensive. If you want to know each and every work the Python team worked on before the show, this book has it. It also has info on each and every sketch, each and every taping and filming, and even info on the original versions of some sketches, either as they were originally written, and some even as they were originally performed and cut, only to be performed later for another episode.

Overall, despite my damaged box, I'm happy with my purchase.

Meathead

Definitely... the restoration and books are top notch.

Jay G.

The 60i "US Compatible" version of the boxset has been OOP for a while now, but Universal is releasing the set without the "limited edition" box in the US on 11/10/2020. All indications are it's the same discs, but in simpler packaging, and without the books.

Amazon currently has it listed for $129.99:

Target has it cheaper for $99.99:
https://www.target.com/p/monty-pytho...0/-/A-81427954

DeepDiscountDVD is a bit cheaper at $97.84:
https://www.deepdiscount.com/monty-p...4/191329153178


This "standard" set is also coming out in the UK and Australia.

Brian T

Thought that would take longer to come out, but glad it is. Those prices are too close to the ballpark of the exploding set – especially if this presumably doesn't include the books – but they'll inevitably drop.

milo bloom

I have never seen a "cheap" price on the complete Monty Python set.
I thought I had found one once at a garage sale, the thinpack DVD set. The sticker looked like it was $15, but I go to pay and the lady said it was a 7 not a 1, so $75. She said she had compared the price to online and it was fair. I'm like, I don't go to garage sales for online prices. I go to garage sales for cheap shit.
I was pissed about that for a couple days.

TheBang

DeepDiscount would be a good candidate for their periodic 15% off sales.

Josh-da-man

I got the first A&E DVD set (the one 14 regular-sized cases) for dirt cheap, around $20 new, from what I recall. I might have gotten it at SAM's Club, I don't really remember where I got it. I think the original sets were being remaindered because they were putting out the thin case set.

Jay G.

CamelCamelCamel shows that Amazon once had the 16-ton Megaset DVD set for $29.99, although it mostly hovered around $40-50
https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B0009XRZ92

The regular case edition was as low as $50 from Amazon, and $34.99 new from third-party sellers:
https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B001E77XNA

The 14-disc set Josh-da-man had was as low as $30 new from third-party sellers:
https://camelcamelcamel.com/product/B00004ZEU5

Of course, they're all now a lot more expensive, since they're OOP. Maybe this Blu-ray set will drive the DVD prices back down.

Brian T

Those prices sound about right. I remember buying the individual two-packs (like a fool) at fairly high prices, then replacing them with the first big box after waiting for a substantial price drop as noted above, then replaced that with the slimpack box for right around the $50 noted. A lot of those old A&E collections would drop steeply from time to time. There's no way this new Python set – which appears not to include the books – won't drop down the road, especially as it's not likely to be a limited edition or go out-of-print anytime soon. The 'Exploding Norwegian' set (or whatever) was in the $115 US range at Amazon for months, so I can't imagine many people biting at $129 for this stripped-down version.

TomOpus

Yeah, I have the 16-ton set. Crazy how much it is now.