Customer Reviews

The Story of Monte Python: A Celebration

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

 

 

It's hard to accept the credibility of a book that's full of either typos or outright errors. Halfway-knowledgable Python fans will spot these immediately: erstwhile Goodie Graeme Garden is repeatedly referred to as Graeme "Gardner", Neil Innes is both a member of the Bonzo Dog Band and the "Bongo" Dog Band, Terry Gilliam's opening sequence in "The Meaning of Life" is referred to as both "The Crimson Permanent Assurance" (its actual title) and "The Crimson Pearl Assurance," and the lyrics to "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" are misquoted... those are the ones _I_ found. The only place this book fills is for Python completists who might want its handful of possibly unique photos. Python fans, either oldtimers or newbies, are advised to stay away from this patent 30th anniversary cash-in project which, stripped of the author's subjective re-hashings of the TV programs and movies, leaves very little that is new or inspired. Instead, pick up a copy of the new and stratospherically superior "Python Speaks" (read the real stories from the Pythons and their associates themselves), and find copies of George Perry's "Life of Python" (even if it is a few years old), both volumes of "All The Words", and perhaps supplement with Robert Hewison's "Monty Python : The Case Against," all cornerstones of a worthy Python history library.

Show me where, in the Black Knight scene of Holy Grail, the Black Knight says "I'll bite your ankles" and I'll change my review to five stars. It's been said previously that this book is laced with inaccuracies, and I can only agree; far more egregious is that actual quotes from the Python shows, movies, books are incorrect. There are far better ways to spend ten bucks; I recommend any of the Kim "Howard" Johnson books, although "Python Speaks" is a very good book indeed. The author is guilty of attempting to represent his own silly little remarks as those of the Pythons, which is equivalent to Python blasphemy. Don't buy it.

Don't be fooled by "Simply Scrummy" a couple of reviews down. I'll bet it's the author plugging the book. Instead, listen to everything the review directly above "scrummy" has to say, and then I won't have to say it myself.

By far the VERY best book not to come out yet about Monty Python this year!! The wife and I both look forward to it not coming out any sooner,at all. In the best tradition of other books not yet released about Monty Python.... this is surely one of them!