Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Restless Records
• VHS Release Date: April 27, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305399034
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #197,734 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The wit and whimsy of John Linnell and John Flansburgh, collectively known as They Might Be Giants, is on display in this thoroughly entertaining video compilation. Twelve of the group's videos (dating from the mid-'80s to 1998) are here, filled with all manner of craziness and looking and sounding great. But the real prize may be the two clips from Tiny Toon Adventures, marrying TMBG's silly but also smart and clever music with the cartoon series' riotous animation; the twin Giants actually didn't write "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)," a "Puttin' On the Ritz" soundalike that's also one of the 12 main videos (with different animation), but it fits their style to a T. All of this quirkiness and freneticism can get a bit wearying after a while, but in small doses it's lots of fun. DVD extras include Linnell and Flansburgh's straightforward, informative audio commentary; there are also bonus audio tracks, a live video, and more. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Oh, how paltry MTV looks now!, February 10, 2004

By 

Felix the Black Cat (Madison, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: They Might Be Giants - Direct from Brooklyn (DVD)

Jonathan, you might want to check your DVD player, because I had none of the problems you had -- "Play All" DOES play all, and all of the videos have commentary. A few of the older videos are grainy, but I suspect that's more due to the source material, and I doubt they'd go to the trouble of professionally touching up and restoring them.

I don't know why they bothered to put the Quicktime "home movies" on the disc. I thought it was odd that they didn't make them available as regular DVD "special features" videos, but then I found out -- they're VERY low quality, and they're only about a minute each -- just snippets of the songs. There could have been much more in the way of extras, but, fortunately, there's a treasure trove of extras available on the _Gigantic_ DVD, and the ones that are included here -- the "Tiny Toons" clips, the "fiery" live performance, and the audio tracks -- are not on the _Gigantic_ disc. Plus, the "commentary" for the "Snail Shell" video is actually another song! Overall, this is a great video collection for TMBG fans. (By the way, I'm sure that the reason "Boss of Me" is not included is that it's owned by Fox, so perhaps they couldn't get the rights to it, or didn't think it was worth it, or maybe they're saving it for the next collection...)

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TMBG's Video Collection Rocks!, September 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: They Might Be Giants - Direct from Brooklyn [VHS] (VHS Tape)

TMBG's video productions are just as wacky as their music. This tape is superbly formatted, has very good quality and the music is great! The videos are arranged in order from newest to oldest.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, all the TMBG videos in one place! Outstanding., June 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: They Might Be Giants - Direct from Brooklyn [VHS] (VHS Tape)

TMBG fans must have. Note the early low tech but high energy style. John and John are excited to perform. The bigger budget videos follow, and the latter show a restrained use of sets and camera that comes with less cash for production. The music remains the best kept secret in rock, the videos serve as a chronologically reversed study of the duo. People paid 40 or 50 bucks to get the 1986-88 TMBG tape on e-bay. Here's your chance to see why.