Customer Reviews

The Munsters - The Complete First Season

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I grew up on both the Munsters and the Addams Family, so I've always had much love for both shows, but when it came down to it, the Munsters was always my top pick. Maybe it was the collection of "monsters" within the family, or Marilyn, or the family's crazy hot rods the Munster Coupe & the Dragula from legendary customizer George Barris, or just the comfort zone of the corny one-liners and family-oriented atmosphere. In any case, the Munsters is definitely classic in every sense and now it's here on DVD!

The set's package design is somewhat inspired. The outer box opens "coffin-style" to reveal the disc-holding "digipack" inside, as the flipped-open box top has the table of contents on it with only the episodes plus the unaired pilot listed. The episodes are spread across 3 double-sided discs. Here's a list of the season 1 episodes:

The Munsters Unaired Pilot
Munster Masquerade
My Fair Munster
A Walk on the Mild Side
Rock-a-Bye Munster
Pike's Pique
Lo-Cal Munster
Tin Can Man
Herman the Great
Knock Wood, Here Comes Charlie
Autumn Croakus
The Midnight Ride of Herman Munster
The Sleeping Cutie
The Munsters' Family Portrait
Grandpa Leaves Home
Herman's Rival
Grandpa's Call of the Wild
All-Star Munster
If a Martian Answers, Hang Up
Eddie's Nickname
Bats of a Feather
Don't Bank on Herman
Dance With Me, Herman
Follow That Munster
Love Locked Out
Come Back, Little Googie
Far Out Munsters
Munsters on the Move
Movie Star Munster
Herman the Rookie
Country Club Munsters
Love Comes to Mockingbird Heights
Mummy Munster
Lily Munster, Girl Model
Munster the Magnificent
Herman's Happy Valley
Hot Rod Herman
Herman's Raise
Yes, Galen, There Is a Herman (aka My Friend Herman)

38 episodes plus the unaired pilot, that's ALOT of Munsters!

I am overjoyed at the prospect of owning The Munsters - The Complete First Season. This series has been and probably always will be one of my all-time favorite television shows. I can still remember growing up watching the afternoon reruns on WPIX from New York.

The Munsters was created by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, the same team that brought Leave It To Beaver to television. Beaver was the quintessential American family sitcom of the late 50's - early 60's. Connelly and Mosher helped to establish all those nostalgic family sitcom cliches we've all come to love (or hate) in Leave It To Beaver then they went on to totally parody them in The Munsters. The first season opening credit sequence of The Munsters is a great example of the way they parodied the typical family sitcoms of the time. You see Lily Munster, housewife and mother, sending her brood off for the day in the same manner June Cleaver and Donna Reed did. Lily hands each of her loved ones their packed lunches or school books as she pinches their cheeks or gives them a little motherly kiss.

Although The Munsters was considered much less sophisticated than its 60s creepy TV rival, The Addams Family, it is overall a much more entertaining series to me. Although the subversive quality of The Addams Family continues to make it an entertaining series to watch as an adult, I have to admit I didn't enjoy it as a child. The Munsters with its broad comedy and more obvious monster characters was much more fun to watch as a kid. It's worth pointing out that even though Morticia and Gomez Addams had a fiery sexual relationship on screen, Lily and Herman Munster may have been one of the only 60s TV couples to have been seen sharing the same bed (rather than the customary twin beds).

The Munsters - The Complete First Season contains all 38 first season episodes (yes 38 shows in one season!) as well as the original unaired pilot (in color I think). It doesn't appear that there are too many more extras in this set which is a bit disappointing. I would have loved to have seen episode commentaries by surviving cast members, documentaries, behind-the-scenes footage, etc. Hey, maybe we will get some of those extras on the Second Season set?

I have purchased this set as a gift for a friend who was mentioning for the past several months how much he'd like seeing these episodes again. As I read some of the reviews posted here, I was concerned whether these DVDs will play properly and was delighted that the set I purchased through amazon.com played perfectly.

Having seen these episodes for the first time now (with my friend) I found the series both entertaining and heartwarming and was happy that the episodes are also geared toward instilling ethics and moral values. Whatever challenges the heroes of these episodes may be facing, they always act with integrity, and even though the main character - Herman Munster looks like Frankenstein and is rather clumsy, his good nature makes him a very lovable character. He is a wonderful example of what makes a human being worthy of love and respect, regardless of the physical appearance and whatever quirks one might have.

The Munsters are an ageless classic. Though they only lasted 2 seasons on CBS, The Munsters are still around 41 years later to please their fans!

This complete first season set, features all 38 episodes from The Munsters first season on CBS. Also featured is the color pilot episode, "My Fair Munster", which features different people playing the characters of Lily and Eddie.

Some VHS tapes have been released in the past featuring this color pilot, but only the first 5 minutes of it. Well, rest assured, this color pilot episode is fully intact. It is the original first pilot of The Munsters, in all it's colorful glory.

Here's one thing you should look for, as you watch this set, take a look at the make-up change from the first 13 episodes. The Munsters are not as dark, and the sandy look in their faces, disappears. Not to return again, until the very beginning of the second season, because episodes from the early first season re-ran during the summer of 1965, so they had to had some extra darkness to the Munster's faces, until about 10 weeks into the second season.

Another thing to watch for in this Season 1 set, is that the first 13 episodes, were almost filmed in the dark. There is almost no light or contrast in the very early episodes like "Autumn Croakus," "Munster Masquerade," "My Fair Munster," and "A Walk on the Mild Side." It is not a DVD problem, it's just how the original early episodes were filmed, as to establish a light tone, and not have children scared away.

Also, take a look at Al lewis' widows-peak. It changes from episode to episode, and eventually is no longer drawn in with a pencil. They finally get him a widows-peak wig to wear in "Munsters on the Move."

The last three issues I would like to address, is space of episodes on the discs, B&W film turning sepia, and the picture quality of "Autumn Croakus," and "Lily Munster~ Girl Model."

There are 39 half-hour items on this set. If you have 3 double-sided discs, why not use the space appropriately? The episodes should have been spaced in this manner, seven episodes on Disc 1 A, Disc 1 B, and Disc 2 A, then 6 episodes on Disc 2 B, Disc 3 A, and Disc 3 B.

There is also a visible problem with some episodes turning sepia. Not all the episodes have their original rich B&W format. Some episodes have a yellow-brown tint that is visible by turning up the color on your television set. The only episodes with real B&W, are "Low Cal Munster," and "Love comes to Mockingbird Heights."

"Autumn Croakus," and "Lily Munster~ Girl Model," both seem to have some sort of video problems. In "Autumn Croakus," their is a huge lightning-bolt shaped film crack for one frame. It is big, and makes the whole picture jump. "Lily Munster~ Girl Midel," has a unique video problem. There are about five small black dots that stay in the middle of the screen for about the first 7 minutes. Then, they finally fade away and the picture gets better.


DVD info for The Munsters The Complete First Season
Spoken language: English
Captioning: English, Spanish, French (There is NO captioning at all for the Pilot episode)

DISC 1; SIDE A
Unaired Color Pilot "My Fair Munster"
Munster Masquerade
My Fair Munster
A Walk on the Mild Side
Rock-A-Bye Munster
Pike's Pique
Low Cal Munster

DISC 1; SIDE B
Tin Can Man
Herman the Great
Knock Wood, Here Comes Charlie
Autumn Croakus
The Midnight Ride of Herman Munster
The Sleeping Cutie
Family Portrait

DISC 2; SIDE A
Grandpa Leaves Home
Herman's Rival
Grandpa's Call of the Wild
All Star Munster
If a Martian Answers, Hang Up
Eddie's Nickname
Bats of a Feather

DISC 2; SIDE B
Don't Bank on Herman
Dance With Me, Herman
Follow That Munster
Love Locked Out
Come Back Little Googie
Far Out Munsters
Munsters on the Move

DISC 3; SIDE A
Movie Star Munster
Herman the Rookie
Country Club Munsters
Love comes to Mockingbird Heights
Mummy Munster
Lily Munster~ Girl Model
Munster the Magnificent

DISC 3; SIDE B
Herman's Happy Valley
Hot Rod Herman
Herman's Raise
Yes, Galen, There Is a Herman


Don't forget to check out:

The Munsters The Complete Second Season
Munster, Go Home!
The Munsters' Revenge

... which are all on DVD!

~ENJOY!!!

Universal continues to frustrate. A Great show. Timeless comedy and performances. A nice spin on the family sitcom. Great to have it on DVD. Good picture and sound. Nice menus with episode synopsis. A nice DVD package. BUT two defective DV-18 double-sided dual-layered discs on my set. Two episodes on different discs (Rock-a-Bye Munster and Come Back Little Googie) either pixelate for 10 seconds or pixelate then stop the player. It's terrible holding your breath wondering if/when the disc will freeze or completely stop playing. This happens too often on Universal DV-18 DVD's. Universal's Quality Control is horrible. The bonding process, poor manufacturing or cheap materials or something else is at fault, not to mention the discs scratch eaiser and are more difficult to handle than DV-9 single sided discs. Universal DV-18's seem to have a failure rate that's unneccssarily high in this day and age. I've had it also happen on Dune Extended Edition. I exchange it twice at Walmart. Both copies had pixelation problems in different scenes. Another copy bought at Best Buy was fine. Buck Rogers Epic Series Disc One had a large scratch on it right out of a new sealed box. Many people I know had pixelation problems on Miami Vice Season One. Thankfuly I did not. Universal's continued choice of using DV-18 discs is a bad one. FWIW I emailed Universal at universalstudios.com. They said they will replace the defective discs. The DVD's will supposedly be tested prior to shipping. They will send a pre-paid envelope in which to return the discs. They want just the discs not the entire set and packaging so that's fine with me if the replacements play fine. But this shouldn't even be a continuing issue with any discs. 5 stars for the Munsters Show and having it available on DVD. Zero stars for Universal continued use of poorly manufacturered DV-18 discs on great shows like this.

The series and episodes are terrific fun, but--as typical with multi-epsiode DVDs from Universal--the disks suffer from manufacturing defects and poor quality control. I eagerly bought this set and enjoyed Disk 1, Side A, all the way through; but part-way through Disk 1, Side B, the video started to pixelate and freeze up throughout the episodes (similar problems with the Abbott & Costello collections). Very disappointing and frustrating to have to go through the process of returning and exchanging defective disks from Universal. The included pilot (in color) adds to the appreciation of the set design, choice of black and white film, the music and cast in the ultimate series. The aired episodes included on this DVD are television treasures.

The Munsters is hands down simple minded brilliant camp comedy. The show was cast perfectly and Fred Gwynne, in my opinion, is one of the funniest people to ever grace American television.

There are reviewers using words like "hammy"..don't you get it??...this show was PARODY....like an "AIRPLANE" movie, it was all done tongue in cheek, minus the vulgarity. This is NOT Masterpiece Theatre, and never pretended to be.

Not everyone appreciates this type of humor, and that's okay.. ...but be fair... evaluate something on its own merits. "The Munsters" was pure candy for the brain...it made millions laugh...people still love it and legions of new fans are showing up to buy this classic on DVD.


As for the "Munsters" and "Addams Family comparison, there is none.The shows had different approaches..like comparing apples and oranges . I always preferred "The Munsters" because I am a fan of slapstick, vaudeville, and camp...I am a stooge fan, and a "Car 54, Where Are You" fan...for me the "Addams Family" never felt carefree and fun like Herman and his brood.

I gave this set 4 stars instead of 5 only because I too had playback problems, and had to return to the store for an exchange. Universal must have been half assing it on quality when they produced these discs....but getting the second box set home, and finding it played just fine snapped me out of my bad mood quickly..Thanks Herman, Grandpa, Lilly, Eddie, and Marylin...now bring on season two or I'll change myself into a bat!

Buyer Beware! I purchased The Munsters DVD box set about a week ago through Amazon. When I received the DVD box set, on the second DVD, it must have had a scratch or something like that on it because the DVD stopped and turned itself off everytime it came to that point. I returned it, got another box set, and I'll be damned if there wasn't the same glitch but it happened during another episode.

I buy a lot of DVDs and this is the first time this has ever happened to me. Frankly, I think there is a bulk of bad DVDs out there for this Munsters set. Just beware....buying this DVD could cause you a lot of unnecessary time and trouble.

We surely must be grateful to the producer of this DVD for bringing it on DVD. The Munsters are a TV Comedy classic of yester year still appreciated by millions of viewer's world over today.

This DVD Box Set is a collector's item to be treasured and re-lived for generations to come. The re-production on DVD is very well done and the fact that the series is in Black & White as the original does not really matter.

We hope and pray that Universal Studios together with its associated producers will introduce the second series in a similar DVD Box Set - a wait worth waiting for!

Now I'll admit that I was a bit too young to have really watched Munsters in their initial run. My experience is more when they hit afternoon re-runs in the early 70's as well as currently on TV land.

I always preferred the Munsters over the Addams family as I am a big fan of classic horror and here you had the Frankenstein Monster, Dracula, Dracula's daughter and even a little wolfman. Throught the series other monsters would pop up such as the Mummy, the Creature, and I think the Invisible Man, all as relatives of the Munsters.

The Munsters was more low-brow than the Addams family, relyinig more on slapstick humor, but I love it. The Munsters was much like any other early 60's family sitcom where the parents tried to teach the kids about life and right and wrong...they just happened to be Monsters!

The fun is seeing them interract with people they meet and the usual reaction of the people running away in utter fear.

Amazons description is a bit confusing at it refers to an "unseen aired pilot". Well how can it be unseen if it was aired????

As I understand it, three different pilots were aired. One of which had a completely different marilyn, and Eddie. Anwyay, I won't go through the entire list of season one Eps, but here's my favorites:


1. Munster Masquerade - Marilyn's boyfriend invites Marilyn and her family to a masquerade party. Marilyn goes as Priscilla her boyfriend as John Alden. Lily is Little Bo Peep, Grandpa is Napoleon, and Herman is King Arthur dressed in armor. At the end of the night Herman with a prize for wearing a Frankenstein costume under his suit of armor. Lily and Grandpa are insulted because that is Herman's real face! Herman doesn't realize that he is being insulted.

Rock-a-Bye Munster--Herman and Grandpa overhear Lily and Marilyn talking and somehow get the idea that Lily is pregnant. What's really happening is Dr. Dudley's son, Elmer, is coming to stay with the Munsters while Dr. Dudley and his wife are on vacation.

Tin Can Man--Thanks to a recommendation from an investigator of The Board of Education Eddie is in danger of being expelled from school. The only way he can stay if he makes an excellent project for the school's Science Fair; Grandpa helps he make a robot. Herman walks on stage and is thought to be the robot causing Eddie to win first prize and stay in school.

Family Portrait--The Munsters have been chosen by Event Magazine as the average American family. Grandpa is insulted by being labeled "average." He disappears, jeopardizing the family's photo opportunity and the large amount of prize money that came with it. When a journalist and photographer arrive at the Munster home, Herman and Lily think they are burglars.

Herman's Rival--Lily thinks that Herman has lost all his savings through a bad investment - when in fact he loaned it to her brother, the Wolf Man. She decides to build-up the family's funds by taking a palm-reading job in a tea room. In a plot twist Grandpa and Herman suspect that Lily is sneaking out of the house to have a love affair.

All-Star Munster--Herman goes to the dean's office of Marilyn's college to straighten out a tuition matter. When searching for the office, he wanders into the gym and is mistaken for a student basketball star who is expected for a tryout. Herman amazes the coach with his superhuman abilities and is offered a contract to play for the college team.

Herman the Rookie--Leo Durocher, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, needs a power hitter for his team. When he gets conked on the head by one of Herman's line drives from seven blocks away, he believes he has his man. He tracks Herman down and asks him to try out for the team.


Mummy Munster--Herman arranges to meet Marilyn at the natural history museum. But he accidentally gets himself locked inside an Egyptian sarcophagus, whereupon a sleeping pill he swallowed earlier takes effect. A pair of museum curators open the box the next day and mistake the sleeping Herman for an ancient mummy. When Lily reads about their supposed scientific discovery in the newspaper, she goes to the museum and requests that the curators put Herman in a cab and send him home as soon as he wakes up.


And wow...can you beleive a season with 38 episodes???? Great stuff...a little light on Extras though