Search - The Honeymooners - The Lost Episodes, Vol. 1 on DVD

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF MPI VIDEO MESSING UP A CLASSIC

Glenn Stolfi | Elkridge, MD United States | 09/03/2001

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I was anticipating MPI's first DVD release of the Honeymooners with much trepidation, having suffered through their completely botched releases of the lost episodes on VHS. And to no one's surprise, their first DVD release is just as bad.
Instead of taking the time and effort to do a quality box set of say, 20 hours of lost episodes, which is now the preferred way to release television series on DVD, a la the X-Files, MPI apparently is going to release these episodes in drips and drabs. The whole point of DVD is the ability to put 3 - 4 hours of material on one disc, not the 90 - 120 minutes that MPI is doing with these classic episodes. And what is the meaning of the so-called "Bonus Episode" on the disc?? Are we to believe that MPI is actually giving us something? The menus are completely confusing, and the video quality is no better than the VHS releases were.
It will also be interesting to see if they will repeat their horrible mistake of the VHS releases by putting the Baseball Manager episode on two different discs, as they did with the VHS releases, instead of releasing the alternate version of the same episode, which is what they claimed they did on the VHS.
Unfortunately, since MPI has exclusive rights to the Honeymooners, these problems will never be corrected. And MPI has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are to DVD what Goodtimes Video was to VHS."

Great concept, disappointingly executed

R. MCCOSKER | California | 01/31/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW was a very successful variety show in the 1950s, and its finest moments were occasional skits known as "The Honeymooners," relating the tragicomic misadventures of a frustrated blue-collar worker, Ralph Kramden, his wife Alice, and their similarly downscale neighbors, Ed and Trixie Norton. Having run these wildly popular skits for years, THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW was "officially" discontinued for one year in the late '50s so that "The Honeymooners" could be filmed as a sitcom. Most of us draw our memories of "The Honeymooners" from reruns of that short-lived (39-episode) sitcom.THE HONEYMOONERS--THE LOST EPISODES is the first of a long DVD series collecting "Honeymooners" skits from THE JACKIE GLEASON SHOW before "The Honeymooners" became a sitcom.These "Honeymooners" skits are necessarily cruder than the later sitcom most of us know so well. They were produced for live television, so no scenes could be reshot if anything went wrong. They were just part of an hour-long show, so they lacked the sitcom's rehearsal time. And Jackie Gleason & co. were just discovering how to make "The Honeymooners" work best -- its best trademark conventions hadn't set in yet.Moreover, unlike the later sitcom, these skits weren't filmed at all, because this was live television. Instead, they were recorded in a crude precursor of videotape.So THE LOST EPISODES don't look nearly as good and aren't written or acted as well as "the classic 39" sitcom. But they're STILL brilliant, and offer much insight as to how the mature HONEYMOONERS came to be.Unfortunately, the makers didn't put together this DVD well. They don't even bother to explain that these "episodes" are skits from live television, which would help viewers understand why they're so crude. The menu is confusing, there's little rhyme or reason to the sequencing, and only about half as many minutes of programming is included as a one-sided DVD will hold. Nonetheless, true HONEYMOONERS fans will want to see this. Oh, didn't I mention?: THE HONEYMOONERS remains probably the best American sitcom EVER. And THE LOST EPISODES are inspired too -- even if they're only presented as scraps."

Quality not quantity

Sabrina Little | far rockaway, ny United States | 05/18/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I have all the dvd's released to date. I love them all. Laugh out loud funny. I am disappointed in the quality of the dvd. It's similar to an old 10mm reel.
True Honeymooner fan that i am, I must own them, there is still nothing funnier."