Customer Reviews

Only Fools and Horses: The Complete Collection

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I took Amazon's suggestion to purchase this Complete Collection as well as the 1991-2003 specials. The package arrived yesterday but the Complete Collection INCLUDES the 1991-2003 specials (4-Disc Set E4176 ). I now have two sets and need to return one.

So watch out!

This Complete Collection includes:
The Complete Series 1-3 (E1824)
The Complete Series 4-5 and the Specials (E2058)
The Complete Series 6 plus "The Jolly Boys Outing" (E2389)
The Complete Series 7 plus "Rodney Come Home" (E2689)
The Specials 1991-2003 (E4176)

Other than that, this is a must buy!

This set contains all episodes of OFAH, including the specials. It is simply all the seperately available R1 series box sets packaged in a big box. The disc packaging changes between Series 4-5 and Series 6 which makes it look a bit odd, but that's a minor point. The episodes and specials are arranged in more-or-less chronological order throughout the set - not all the specials have their own seperate discs, which probably explains why this set has less physical discs than the UK version.

However, if, like me, your main reason for purchasing this set is that you get all the episodes of OFAH complete and uncut, then you're going to be disappointed. I can only assume that those who have previously reviewed this set, proclaiming it to be original and uncut haven't yet watched all of it.

The edition of Miami Twice contained in this set is the same edition as released in the UK, i.e Part 1 (the TV episode) and Part 2 (The film - originally broadcast WITHOUT canned laughter) have been edited by chimps into "Miami Twice - The Movie", with bits cut out from the beginnings of the episodes and a new canned laughter track added over the film !

It surely must have cost more time and money to butcher it than just releasing the episodes as broadcast so why do it? No doubt the BBC have some lame excuse about "contractual reasons".

Yes, this boxset is vastly superior to the pathetically poor UK offering, but there is still no complete uncut boxset of Only Fools and Horses to be had on VHS or DVD.

Given the quality of some DVD releases - Dr Who and Red Dwarf for example - this is sheer laziness and arrogance on the part of the BBC. There is absolutely no excuse for this.

However, at present, this boxset is the best available, so if you have to get the complete boxset, go for this one. Otherwise, I'd hang back and see if it goes the same way as the Star Wars Boxsets - ie re-issue after re-issue. This is the BBC, after all, so it almost certainly will.

It always pays to do some research and it certainly paid off when buying Only Fools And Horses - The Complete Collection.

OFAH has been voted best British comedy of all time by the british public which is a measure of how popular it was and still is in the UK. IMHO it rates against any of the other classic UK comedies such as Dads Army, Fawlty Towers, etc. as it stands the test of time.

My review is intended to point out the fact that there are different versions of the "complete" collection and to be careful which one you choose. There are a fair few reviews on the UK Amazon site which should explain more fully, but suffice to say that the UK version has a whole bunch of stuff taken out. It appears that the main two issues were ...

1) Additional costs (bunce) related to paying for the rights to certain pieces of music. This has led to whole scenes having completely different background music in them.

2) Certain words deemed to be OK in the original versions, are now considered to be too riskee for the political-correctness-gone-mad UK censor of today. The nanny state has finally taken over. Their solution was, rather than to bleep or disguise the word in some way (which would have been too obvious and still ruined it) instead to remove the whole scene!!! What a plonker!

Whichever way you slice it, they have ruined what was and still is (in its original form) a classic piece of UK comedy, that spans the decades and indeed the miles. But hold on I hear you say, why the five star review.

Mange-tout and pot-pouri, I got the SP that the original version in Region 1 (US) format is being knocked out by on the US Amazon website for a score less than in the UK. Lovely jubbly. Apparently the US citizen, unlike myself the UK citizen, has a mind of their own.

I'm only half way through watching but I haven't noticed anything missing. The only problem is that one of the episodes doesn't play well, but that is because of a dodgy disk, not because of an anally retentive censor.

Hope this helps any other OFAH fans avoid the disappointment of getting striped by the UK BBC.

Bonjour.

A luvely jubbly set - way better than the UK chopped version.

I wanted to share the episode list from a friend.

DVD MENU
Disc #1 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Complete Series 1-3 - Disc 1, Series 1
Play in Order
Episode Selection
Big Brother
Go West Young Man
Cash and Curry
The Second Time Around
A Slow Bus to Chingford
The Russians Are Coming


Disc #2 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Complete Series 1-3 - Disc 2, Series 2
Play in Order
Episode Selection
The Long Legs of the Law
Ashes to Ashes
A Losing Streak
No Greater Love
The Yellow Peril
It Never Rains
A Touch of Glass


Disc #3 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Complete Series 1-3 - Disc 3, Series 3
Play in Order
Episode Selection
Homesick
Healthy Competition
Friday the 14th
Yesterday Never Comes
May the Force Be With You
Wanted
Who's a Pretty Boy?


Disc #4 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Complete Series 1-3 - The Christmas Specials
Christmas Specials
Christmas Crackers
Diamonds Are for Heather
Thicker Than Water
Extras
Biographies
David Jason (Del Boy)
Nicholas Lyndhurst (Rodney)
Lennard Pearce (Grandad)
Roger Lloyd-Pack (Trigger)
John Challis (Boycie)
Patrick Murray (Mickey)
Jim Broadbent (Slater)
Paul Barber (Denzil)
Kenneth MacDonald (Mike)
The Reliant Robin
John Sullivan (Writer)
Photo Gallery
Peckham Concise Totter Dictionary
Del's Basic Lingo
Del's Dictionary of Foreign Terms
Story Of


Disc #5 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Complete Series 4-5 - Disc 1, Series 4
Play in Order
Episode Selection
Happy Returns
Strained Relations
Hole in One
It's Only Rock and Roll
Sleeping Dogs Lie
Watching the Girls Go By
As One Door Closes


Disc #6 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Complete Series 4-5 - Disc 2, Series 5
Play in Order
Episode Selection
From Prussia With Love
The Miracle of Peckham
The Longest Night
Tea for Three
Video Nasty
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire


Disc #7 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Complete Series 4-5 - To Hull and Back/A Royal Flush
Play in Order
Episode Selection
To Hull and Back
A Royal Flush
Scene Selection
To Hull and Back
Royal Flush


Disc #8 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Complete Series 4-5 - Frog's Legacy/Dates
Play in Order
Episode Selection
The Frog's Legacy
Dates
Special Features
Photo Gallery
Cast Bios
David Jason (Del Boy)
Nicholas Lyndhurst (Rodney)
Buster Merryfield (Uncle Albert)
Roger Lloyd-Pack (Trigger)
John Challis (Boycie)
Patrick Murray (Mickey)
Jim Broadbent (Slater)
Paul Barber (Denzil)
Kenneth MacDonald (Mike)
Sue Holderness (Marlene)
Tessa Peake-Jones (Raquel)
The Reliant Robin
John Sullivan (Writer)
Trailers
BBC America
Classic Comedy
The Office
French & Saunders
Father Ted
Coupling
Scene Selection
The Frog's Legacy
Dates


Disc #9 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Complete Series 6 - Episodes 1-3
Play in Order
Episode Selection
Yuppy Love
Danger UXD
Chain Gang


Disc #10 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Complete Series 6 - Episodes 4-6
Play in Order
Episode Selection
The Unlucky Winner Is...
Sickness & Wealth
Little Problems



Disc #11 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Jolly Boys' Outting - 1989 Christmas Special
Play
Scene Selections
Special Features
Cast Bios
David Jason (Del Boy)
Nicholas Lyndhurst (Rodney)
Buster Merryfield (Uncle Albert)
Roger Lloyd Pack (Trigger)
John Challis (Boycie)
Patrick Murray (Mickey)
Paul Barber (Denzil)
Kenneth MacDonald (Mike)
Sue Holderness (Marlene)
Tessa Peake-Jones (Raquel)
Gwyneth Strong (Cassandra)
Denis Lill (Alan)
The Reliant Robin
John Sullivan (Writer)
Trailers
Little Britain
The Office
Men Behaving Badly
BBC Classic Comedy
BBC America


Disc #12 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Complete Series 7 - Rodney Come Home
Play in Order
Scene Selection
Trailers
Ballykissangel/Monarch of the Glen
Classic Comedy
Knowing Me Knowing You
The Thin Blue Line
Little Britain


Disc #13 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Complete Series 7 - Episodes 1-3
Play in Order
Episode Selection
The Sky's the Limit
The Chance of a Lunchtime
Stage Fright


Disc #14 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Complete Series 7 - Episodes 4-6
Play in Order
Episode Selection
The Class of '62
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Uncle
Three Men, a Woman, and a Baby


Disc #15 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Specials 1991-2003 - Miami Twice
Scene Selection
Play


Disc #16 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Specials 1991-2003 - Mother Nature's Son/Fatal Extraction
Play in Order
Episode Selection
Mother Nature's Son
Fatal Extraction


Disc #17 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Specials 1991-2003 - Heroes and Villians/Modern Men/Time On Our Hands
Play in Order
Episode Selection
Heroes and Villians
Modern Men
Time On Our Hands


Disc #18 -- Only Fools and Horses: The Specials 1991-2003 - If They Could See Us Now!/Strangers On the Shore/Sleepless in Peckham
Play in Order
Episode Selection
If They Could See Us Now
Strangers On the Shore...!
Sleepless in Peckham

This is the story of the Trotter brothers, Del-boy and Rodney. They live in a council flat in Peckham. Since their mum died when Rodney was "barely on solids" and their father walked out on them, Del has been the sole provider and breadwinner of the family. He makes his living buying "'ooky gear" and selling it in the market. His plans to become a millionare always fall short, probably due to the quality of goods he pushes. Still and all, Del is a family man, true to his loved ones and close mates. Del and Rodneys adventures take them all over the world in their 7 series run. They continued to make annual Christmas specials after the series ended leading all the way up to 2003.
The cast of colorful characters include the dim-witted Trigger, Boycie, the wanna-be posh entrepeneur, Marlene, his overly-friendly wife, Mike, the proprietor of their favorite hang-out "The Nag's Head", Grandad, who lives w/them intially and is replaced by their unlucky sea-faring Uncle Albert.
This series will leave you in stitches and occasionally bring a tear. The thick cockney accents of the players only adds to the humor.
Follow Del and Rodney as they marry, separate, become a father, become millionares (for a while), and live their hilarious lives.

This is the best British Comedy of all time as voted by the British public and when the program finished after being on the air for almost 20 years, the British public demanded more and sure enough since 2000 they have created a Christmas speical every year. I have watch each episode at least 5 times each, if not more and still find them as funny as watching them on the BBC when I was growing up and living in the UK.

I live in the UK and ordered this US box set as it contains less cuts than the UK version. [...] But after watching some of the episodes, I can say that it was worth it.

If you don't mind a few lines missing here and there then the UK version is for you. But the US version still has bits cut out, just not as much as the UK version. I used this website to see which cuts had been taken out of the UK version and compared the two.

(http://www.ofahcuts.talkspot.com)

It's a great help if you want to know what bits have been cut. Also beware that you need to have a multi-region DVD player to watch the DVD's. If you put them in a normal UK player they won't play.

Even though it was reviewed by others in the UK and USA that the USA version has uncut episodes, this is infact wrong. Having ordered the USA complete collection. Have found some of the following things.
1. Yes it does contain all episodes including the last 3 in 2003 and all special hour long ones etc so you won't need to buy any other DVDS to get the official released versions.
2. The episodes from the USA DVD set are cut and music changed. Some noticeable bits include:-
a:- Jolly boys outing, 7 mins cut just before they realise Raquel is on stage. (this includes how Boycie and trigger end up being in the same club as del and rodney watching the magic act with raquel... this where they talk while a singer is in the background singing and most annoying, you miss out on delboys great line "the singer will be on in a minute". once the singer has finished.
b.nightclub seen with rodney and cassandra where rodney asks cassandra to ance and chris De Burgh sony should be playing but it has been cut and another music track put over it and annoying, they have removed rodney / cassandras voice which is noticeable where she yes to the dance question from Rodney etc. you see lips moving but no voices. (due to them talking when chris de burgh sony started in original recording so they had to remove the voices also I guess. ) VERY ANNOYING
c. everytime Rodney sees Damien etc. some scenes and you hear the music (devils music or something like that), has been changed (eg. when damien born and rodney holds him etc etc. Have replaced music with other music and is bad.
d. 1 thing which was added in and not cut I believe, on the hand gliding episode, rodeny asks del over dinner with debbie I think was her name , Rodney asks Del about the faulty timer on the sun bed, don't remember it in original episide, maybe wrong though.

just beaware, we also had to pay £20 in customs duty when the DVDS arrived fro the USA so with the episodes being cut, music changed, customs to pay, Is it worth buying this from the USA for a UK buyer, would say no/

This is one if not the best British Comedy ever produced and I was delighted to find it available on DVD.
My husband and I watch one or two episodes every night and the dreary January weather does n ot seem to matter anymore.
I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to laugh out loud.
Just buy this set.

This is, in my opinion, the funiest and best-written comedy ever on television. I have never been happier with a purchase. It costs over $200 on the BBC America website and I got it on Amazon for $113!!! Worth every penny and more. It has every episode and every Christmas special along with a fabulous documentary about the history of the show with all the main cast members. If you are a fan of British Comedy--Buy it now!