Customer Reviews

The Beverly Hillbillies - Ultimate Collection, Vol. 2

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was excited to watch the extras so I immediately put in disc 4.
I watched the 4th disc and was horrified to see multiple white emulsion scratches in most of the episodes. This transfer was made from Paul Henning's personal 16mm film collection which has gotten scratched over the years. Too bad they didn't work a deal with Paramount for access to the 35mm fine grain negatives!

That said, the extras are great! And I am glad they restored the origional sponsored titles! "K E doulble-L O double-Good Kelloggs best to you" is sung by Earl as part of the opening theme as the Clampetts drive past a Kellogg's billboard (in Beverly Hills?). Other episodes have the Clampetts pass a large truck with a WINSTON ad on it's side, the goodness of cigarettes is sung as part of the opening theme.

The cast commercials have been removed from the shows and stuck back-to-back on disc 4 as an extra. I am glad to have these as they brought back fond memories, but since these were story specific (the story line is carried over as the concept for the commercial) I would have prefered these to be left intact in the episodes they played in.

It is quite out of character to see the Clampetts talking of the goodness of Winston Cigarettes!

The 1966 interview with Irene Ryan on Art Linkletter's show is also priceless. This is something that could have been lost forever, thankfully it has been saved!

We should be glad for these wonderful extras!

This set starts with Season 1, Episode 28

Disk 1
Jed Pays his Income Tax
The Clampetts and the Dodgers
Duke Becomes a Father
The Clampetts Entertain
The Clampetts in Court
The Clampetts Get Psychoanalyzed
The Psychiatrist Gets Clampetted

Disk 2
Elly Becomes a Secretary
Jethro's Friend
Jed Gets the Misery
Hair-Raising Holiday
Granny's Garden
Elly Starts to School
The Clampett Look

Disk 3
Jethro's First Love
Chickadee Returns
The Clampetts Are Overdrawn
The Clampetts Go Hollywood
Turkey Day
The Garden Party
Elly Needs a Maw

Disk 4
The Clampetts Get Culture
A Man for Elly
The Giant Jackrabbit
The Girl from Home
Lafe Lingers On
The Race for Queen

Note: As in Ultimate Collection 1, the Christmas at the Clampetts episode is not included. But, as before, this episode can be bought on a seperate DVD.

What are you folks griping about! Volume 1 was great, great extras and the theme music. Yes, I would like the entire season, but this is much better than any collection thus far, so let's enjoy! Volume 2 gets 5 stars as well!

For all those giving these sets 1 star, it is so unfair. These are great sets. MPI has released or will release in February every episode it has the rights to so cut them a break. Later in 2006 I am told Paramount will pick up where MPI left off with season sets. So you will be able to get every episode (the Christmas episode in season one is available in another collection but it IS available).

P.S. All the people complaining about these sets will be wishing MPI was still releasing them after Paramount delivers their sets with no real extras, scratchy film, and missing scenes.

First thing out of the gate, I understand that the estate of "Hillbillies" creator Paul Henning owns the rights to roughly the first 55 or so episodes of the series, and I understand the desire of his family to cash in. But instead of brokering a deal with Paramount (which apparently owns rights to the remainder of the series), and releasing complete, quality, season by season sets for a percentage of the royalties, we're left with this swill: all of the first season, and about 85 percent of the second season, spaced out between two four disc sets. This of course, minus the Christmas episode, which MPI has decided to market as a separate disc, to make more money!!
That being said, the thing that irritates me most about this set, is the picture quality. Where did these film prints come from? They are of substandard quality. As with volume one, nearly every episode has a series of scratches in the film, that leave trailing lines up the center of the screen, for the first 30 seconds of so of each show. They are so distracting, that one can't even enjoy the episode without being distracted by jumpy picture, lines, washed out black and white contrast, or other issues pertaining to the film. One episode, the Thankgiving one, has a big blurry spot that appears on the left side of the screen. This is unacceptable. Especially when you see the same episodes on televison, in BETTER quality than they appear on the DVD set! The producers of this set have obviously gone to a lot of trouble to dig up lots of bonus material for both volume's 1 & 2. If they really cared, they should have remastered the picture and sound from the original film negatives OR lowered the price of the set to around 13 dollars or so. This set is so cheap, that is doesn't even include a booklet. So you have no information about the episodes, nor any idea which ones are even on the thing.
I feel absolutely fleeced by this purchase, and hope that Paramount will do a better job on future Hillbillies releases.

If you don't have the rights to an episode, that's just too bad.

As far as the quality of volume 1, though, it was THE BEST I've seen yet. I was more happy with volume 1 than all my other copies COMBINED! (I'm trying to collect all 274 episodes.)

It looks like we (us collectors) are just going to have to buy from a lot of different companies. I think I got the missing Christmas episode for something like $10... I would recommend the BrentWood version of this since it doesn't appear MPI can produce it. (Amazon sells it under the name of "Beverly Hillbillies 1" It has a picture of everyone riding in the old pickup.) It's missing the original intro music, but the quality is great.

As stated in other reviews, the reproduction quality is not what it should be and could be. Some body needs to start this series over, do it right, and do all 9 seasons, season by season.

The first collection was put together brilliantly, and I am sure that collection 2 will be just as great. The special features alone are worth the price of the sets. So for those people bad mouthing these wonderful releases of the Beverly Hillbillies, get your facts straight before giving it one star. You don't have a clue as to what you are talking about! The shows are complete including all the original commercial bumpers and cast commercials. The first Ultimate collection was one of the best DVD releases of last year. Do not hesitate to buy.

I bought this item for Father's Day for my husband. He loves the old shows. One really neat thing about it is that you get to see all the old commercials built into the show. There are alot of Winston cigarette and Kelloggs cereal commercials. They are really fun to watch.

The Beverly Hillbillies Ultimate Collection Volume 2 is yet another wonderful set in the same way as Volume 1 is wonderful. It features the final nine episodes of the first season and the first eighteen episodes of the second season. This series premiered on the CBS TV network in 1962 and ran for a total of nine seasons. For the first two seasons, this was the #1 watched show on TV. It has also been rerun in syndication lots of times and as a result of that, many new fans have discovered the series and became part of this unique pop culture phenomenon known as The Beverly Hillbillies. Volume 2 offers more of the same and then some of this wonderful, classic and still as funny as heck TV show.

This DVD set, like it's predecessor and it's follow-up, offers episodes that have been digitally remastered using the original episode negative that are owned by the estate of the late Paul Henning for not only superb quality, but far more superior quality than of those previously issued public domain DVD sets. Likewise, it is also the only set that is approved of and authorized by the estate of the late Paul Henning. It also has original cast sponsor commercials. Episode commentary by Stephen Cox, who is the author of the novel called The Beverly Hillbillies Book. It also has interviews with the cast members and special footage. Volume 2 offers the rest of the first season and the first half of the second season as this also makes mincemeat out of all those public domain issued DVD sets. It is also, alongside it's predecessor and it's follow-up The Beverly Hillbillies/Petticoat Junction Ultimate Christmas Collection, the definitive Beverly Hillbillies set as it has all the stuff that those public domain DVD sets lacked and also missed. It is also well worth the price that you pay for them.

MPI Home Video does a wonderful job with Volume 2 and it's predecessor and it's follow-up. As stated, the episodes are digitally remastered from the original episode negatives owned by the Paul Henning estate for superb and superior quality. The episodes audio sounds great and also, the episodes look fresh, clean and new as the day that they were initially shown on the CBS TV network. It doesn't get any better than this.

This and it's predecessor and it's follow-up, are THE ones to have and own in your DVD library. Whether you watched it during it's first run or discovered the show in syndicated reruns like myself, this set is THE one to own and to keep. Once you have this and it's aforementioned Ultimate Christmas Collection, you will never watch those public domain DVD sets anymore. In fact, you just might get rid of those public domain DVD sets once you have these. Likewise, this is THE best collection yet and again, MPI Home Video does a wonderful job on this set.

This is THE one set to own alongside Volume 1 and the aforementioned Ultimate Christmas Collection. No true blue Beverly Hillbillies fan should be without this set in their DVD library.