DVD Review: THE GOODIES COMPLETE LWT SERIES (R2)

I am a big fan of Monty Python, the humour is right up my street. But I can honestly say that I had never watched an episode of The Goodies. The main reason I think is because of the stars. When I was growing up Bill Oddie was a TV presenter who mainly did nature programs, Tim Brooke-Taylor was a TV actor who appeared in sitcoms and Graeme Garden.....well, I don't think I even knew who he was!

So to be honest with you I really didn't know what to expect when I loaded the Goodies Complete Season 3 into my DVD player. I certainly wasn't expecting what I got!

So what did I get? Well, seven episodes of some of the most surreal TV I have ever seen, thats what! I'm not joking! The first episode saw the Goodies watching "Snow White 2" (complete with blood dripping down the screen during the title sequence) in the local cinema. Then they are transported to a fantasy land where the only employment to be had by men is as dwarfs or Prince's, otherwise you are on the scrapheap (quite literally).
Eventually the men have had enough and are led in revolt by the Goodies, which see's the Goodies making an assault on the fairyland castle in a panto cow costume (which inside looks like a WWII bomber), and ends with the nuttiest lightsaber fight you are ever likely to see!

And thats just the first episode! The rest of the episodes see's the Goodies doing everything from creating a baby robot, trying to track down bigfoot and Arthur C Clarke to taking the mickey out of themselves and the show. The episode where they do that is brilliant as they show how they do all the special effects etc but it works so well! It totally knocks down the "fourth wall" and gets us inside their world (which to be honest I'm not sure I want to do again!).

This is without doubt one of the more surreal TV shows I have ever seen. The production values are low (but then, they realise they are low and use it for the comedy), some of the jokes are corny, and a lot are of a style that you couldn't show on a TV show in the politically correct era we now live in and it is very bloody funny indeed! I made the mistake of drinking a coffee while watching the first episode and nearly caused myself an injury I was laughing so hard!

Extras

There are 3 commentary tracks with Bill Oddie, Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor on three of the episodes which are really worth a listen. They don't go into much detail about the filming but it's worth it to hear their reminiscing on working on the show, how things have changed and trying to get away with it now.

There is also a huge collection of archive interviews with each of the Goodies, a selection of their pop songs videos (Do, Do, Do the funky
Gibbon...) and stills galleries. Basically everything a fan of the Goodies could want!

This is possibly one of the funniest shows I have seen in a long time. If you enjoy things like Monty Python then I suggest that you give The Goodies a go as, even though they might not be as brilliant as Python, they are still very very funny. With the amount of extras on offer on the disc, as well as all seven episodes from the LWT years, this is an essential purchase for existing fans and if you are not a fan, but fancy something a little different then give this a go.