Customer Reviews

The Goodies

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"The Goodies" is barely known Stateside despite being a wildly popular comedy series in Britain for 10 years. This is largely due the series complete unavailability here since (apparently) '70s PBS airings. Well, now this DVD is available so people who are interested in British humor can check it out. Will they be disappointed? I don't think so. For those hoping for another "Monty Python," take caution when approaching this show and keep an open mind. "Python" was decidely more adult and satirical in tone, whereas "The Goodies" is lighter and more whimsical. It relies more on outrageous cartoon-like visual gags rather than the aggressive, surreal wordplay of "Python." In tone, it reminds me of the U.S.'s "The Monkees" or the zany, speeded-up filmed pieces in your typical "Benny Hill Show" (minus the smutty innuendo jokes). The three stars and writers of the show - Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, & Bill Oddie - all came from the same pool of Cambridge-raised talent as Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, and others. Indeed, all three starred with Cleese on the popular pre-Python radio series "I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again" and Brooke-Taylor headlined the pre-Python sketch show "At Last the 1948 Show" (out soon on DVD) with Chapman, Cleese, & Marty Feldman. Brooke-Taylor can also be seen as one of the sketch performers with Cleese, Chapman, & Michael Palin in "How To Irritate People." Tim, Graeme, & Bill created this show in 1970, a year after Python, and continued long after Python vanished from the BBC. Most significantly, the show is very funny, VERY '60s, and VERY British. Some less versed in English culture and comedy may enjoy it less than those who are but it has a lot of appeal (especially for kids, I'm sure). The series centers around the group who will "do anything, anytime, and anywhere," from opening a vet clinic, a safari park filled with celebs, or becoming vigilante boy scouts (in the three episodes included here). Save for "Kitten Kong," these episodes are apparently not the absolute cream of the series' crop (a better selection can be found on the British DVDs), but for us Yanks, this is all were likely to see. Anyone interested in British Comedy should give it a shot! Funny and charming stuff!

I have been a Goodies fan since I first saw them while on vacation in Northern Ireland in 1973. Selected episodes were rebroadcast on PBS in 1976/77. I had always hoped to someday see them again and now they are available. I only wish they had more than 3 episodes on the DVD and a better selection. The four star rating here is for FANS only. I used to watch this show with my siblings and NONE of them remembered it. I convinced my brother to watch the DVD with me, but he didn't think the episodes were anything great. And I think the reason is the specific episodes chosen for this American release. Better episodes that would have appealed to Americans could have been chosen. For instance the takeoff on the television show Kung Fu (known as Kung Fu Kapers)would have been great (the martial art of Ecky Thump). Also the Bunfight at the OK Tea Room would have had a greater appeal to Americans. My personal favorite Goodies episode has always been The End. Here's hoping the next American release of The Goodies will include these classics.

As a public service to those of you wondering what this, the very first multi-region Goodies DVD collection, might hold, allow me to elucidate, as Gray Bags himself would say. You get the following three episodes:

KITTEN KONG--Our heroes become vets and Graeme, with the aid of his special growth formula, unwittingly turns a fuffy little kitty into...well, the title sort of gives it away, dunnit? One of the most popular Goodies eps, though this was my first time to see it.

SCATTY SAFARI...A sad chain of events leaves the boys without a main attraction for their Star Safari Park. A trek to the Australian outback is planned and its so long Tony Blackburn, g'day Rolf Harris!

SCOUTRAGEOUS...Tim becomes a scoutmaster and his roomies retaliate through vicious, conniving means after being drummed out of his troop for stealing Margaret Thatcher's bloomers for a badge that doesn't exist. Honestly.

The only extras you get are some slightly sloppy bio and filmography pages. Also, the first few minutes of "Kitten Kong" suffer from a poor transfer, and the overall program appears little more than of an SP-speed VHS quality.

Maybe the list price seems a bit steep for a release of this caliber (even the outer packaging looks limited-budget), but I had just about given up on ever having Tim, Graeme and Bill in my DVD archive, so the flaws are quite forgivable. I hope it sells well enough to encourage Wham! USA (young guns, havin' some fun) to produce additional volumes. I'd love to see "Hospital for Hire" and "The Stone Age" again, if suggestions are being taken.

The Goodies have not played much on TV here in the US. In Washington, DC, the PBS station had it on for, I think, a week--they mistakenly put it on in the middle of their kids' block, and this is by no means a kids' show.

But don't jump to the conclusion that The Goodies is as filthy as what generally passes for adult entertainment. The Goodies is an amazingly funny show that excels in both witty dialog and physical comedy. The show's stars, Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor, and Bill Oddie, will do anything for a laugh, and they know how to acheive what they want. Some of the stunts, which they performed themselves, are flat-out amazing. The Goodies must have been fans of silent comedies, and they easily equaled the best of Keaton, Lloyd, and other comedy legends.

There are more laughs per minute in any Goodies episode than in any Monty Python episode, but The Goodies just haven't had the exposure the Pythons have had. And somehow, inexplicably, the label "kids' show" has plagued the show, perhaps because of the prevalent physical comedy. The Goodies even had fun with this--in one episode (not on this DVD) John Cleese shows up and dismisses the goings-on with the disdainful utterance "Kids' show!".

This DVD includes The Goodies' signature show, Kitten Kong, plus two other episodes that may be a bit obtuse for non-anglophiles. But Kitten Kong is worth the price of the disc by itself. Just let the frenetic silliness of the Goodies' theme song set the mood, and ride the comedy wave.

I had to subtract one star for the DVD itself. This was mastered from an older videotape source, and the picture is a bit soft. Beautifully restored DVDs of The Goodies are available in England, but if you don't want to go to the trouble of obtaining them, this disc is a good enough way to get introduced to The Goodies. Then you can start clamoring for MORE! MORE!!

So, ok, I haven't seen the Goodies since I was a small child, back in the mists of the early'70s. However, the show left its mark, as I can still sing the theme song (Goodies! Goody, goody, yum-yum, etc.) and remember laughing hysterically. Can't wait to see this show again.

Its about time!
(now lets see about getting more "Fools & Horses" and "Last of the Summer Wine" seasons out over here!)

The Goodies aired on American public television along with episodes of the Marty Feldman show in the summer of 1973 and became an instant hit with my family. Unfortunately, they never aired again in this country. I was nine years old at the time and the humor struck me perfectly. I remember an episode where they were all trapped in a room playing an endless game of "I spy with my little eye something beginning with..." But the thing that really cracked me up was seeing one of them finally lose it and start shouting "I'm a teapot!" over and over again. In my family when things get out of control and really start to melt down we still say "I'm a teapot!"

I am also anxiously awaiting the release of the old Marty Feldman shows and hope that the BBC gets around to it soon. Frankly these two older BBC programs are much funnier than any of the more recent material they have released. Pythonesque humor from the Golden Age of British comedy!

I had forgotten just how brilliant the Goodies were!

This collection proves that I wasn't just looking back through overly rose-tinted specs. Oddie, Garden and Brooke-Taylor *really* were hugely talented comics, and their material verges on true comedy greatness in places!

The combination of outrageous visual gags and occasional wry political and social comment is a very potent recipe for a barrelful of laugh-out-loud moments!

Whilst not all of the gags work 100%, the Goodies' frenetic scattergun technique ensures probably more belly laughs per 30 minute episode than anything since Monty Python.

This collection is a splendid tribute to more innocent and less politically correct times - a very attractive addition to any comedy buff's collection!

I remember this show from my childhood although I was beginning to think it was all in my imagination. Not many people I have met remember The Goodies and their distinct brand of British humor. I can't wait to see them on DVD and refresh my memory.
I'll have to craft myself a new "black pudding" just for the occasion!

If you're unfamiliar with the Goodies, this would definitely be the disk to start with. I only gave it three stars because it only has three episodes. I watched most of the seasons when I was a kid, and still admit that this is one of the funniest shows ever made. if you want some real exposure to this comedy trio, check out the imports.

This DVD has three episodes from the Goodies, a British sit-com from the early 70s. The first episode is from early on in their production, and apparently the two other episodes are from later years.

Kitten Kong is THE BEST Goodies episode ever, with G or PG rated humor I can enjoy watching with my kids. It is also truly funny humor for old and young alike, featuring a turtle doing calistenics, and a giant kitten terrorizing Britain. There were tons of good belly laughs in this first episode.

It's too bad the Goodies later tried to be something more for "grown ups" with more "adult" humor. This ruined the fun. The second episode isn't too terrible, but the third episode makes numerous "gay" jokes that are inappropriate for young audiences.