The Monkees: Season 2

Mediocre overall
I'm a huge Monkees fan, and especially, a huge fan of the second season. To begin, I'm with fans everywhere in being thrilled that the entire series is now available on DVD. It's long overdue and I'm happy to have it. BUT -- and it's a big BUT ---

BUT, this DVD set has many, many shortcomings that are unacceptable in this day and age.

1) AUDIO & VIDEO: the quality of these film prints is, in many cases, abysmal. Dirt, scratches and other damage abound. I find it TERRIBLY difficult to believe that Rhino couldn't find a better copy for transfer. Rather, I suspect they didn't want to spend the money 'cleaning' up the picture. I work in TV & Film and ALL of these scratches and dirt marks COULD have been removed digitally. But, they were not. Likewise, the audio is often muddy and at very inconsistent volume. Some passages are soft while others are way too loud. A little quality control would have corrected this problem.

2) AUDIO COMMENTARY: With the sole...

Too Bad They Couldn't Follow The Beatles' Lead...Again!
First of all, let me state that this review does not concern itself with the content of the Monkees episodes. I grew up with the show in 1970's syndication and love it. I'm a big fan of both the show and the Monkees' music.

The axe I have to grind is not with the show, the music, or the (1960's) Monkees themselves. Those aspects of the show get a 5-star rating from me. (And if you are reading this, then I assume you are also a big fan.) It's just that while Apple was able to wonderfully restore the Beatles' legacy in the "Anthology" DVD collection, Rhino chose not to do the same thing here...

My first problem is the fact that Rhino (or more precisely, AOL Time Warner, which bought Rhino in 1998) did not bother to spend any money to restore & clean up the audio or video of any of these episodes. If you bought the mid-90's VHS box set and were expecting an audio & video upgrade, you're going to be in for a disappointment. Rhino seems to have used the same...

Better than season 1!
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...

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