I Hope You're Satisfied, Thatcher! by David Lambert (All reviews)
9/15/2002
"Yeah, shut up, Neil! We've got videos to talk about, haven't we, Mike?"
"The Young Ones" was a BBC show about 4 very different (and unlikable) college boys who shared a home: Mike "The Cool Person", Vyvyan "The Punker", Neil "The Hippie", and Rick "The Complete Bastard". The basic premise was that these lads got into all kind of strange situations, and you never knew what would happen next. The producers got it classified as a "variety show", in a clever move to get the series paid at a higher rate, simply by tossing in one live musical act per episode. The Young Ones lasted for two seasons (or "series", in British terms): the first 6-episode run was in 1982, and the second set of six aired in 1984. The show found an enthusiastic USA audience (myself included) when, in 1986, MTV aired all twelve episodes with only moderate cuts for the American censors.
It all got started in the early 80's, when BBC producer Paul Jackson was out for a night on the town, and discovered a group of comedians at London's Comedy Store. Jackson arranged for a recording of their performances, and soon after that one of the members, Rik Mayall, presented to him the basis of The Young Ones, which Mayall went on to co-write and co-star in. Fellow members of the group (Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer, and Alexei Sayle) co-starred in the series, while other group members frequently co-wrote or guest-starred in episodes. Among the guests were Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, a.k.a. French & Saunders, who later starred in their own self-named TV series, before moving on to write (and for Saunders, co-star in) the BBC hit "Absolutely Fabulous". It's also worth noting that Saunders and Adrian "Vyvyan" Edmondson got married less than a year following the final episode of TYO; they are still together, and have three daughters.
Meanwhile, the stars of The Young Ones went on to other series, and to parts in films or on stage. But most memorable is this show, the place where it all started. Where folks who we all know a bit better today joined them: the aforementioned French & Saunders, yes, but also the likes of Emma Thompson (winner of two Academy Awards), Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame), and Robbie Coltrane (from the Harry Potter films, where Mayall will join him shortly in the new release). A wide range of young British talent found their way through these dozen shows, and the set is well worth catching for that alone. But their off-kilter brand of humor will have you laughing out loud all the way!
The DVDs: "Every Stoopid Episode"
The complete series is presented on two DVDs, plus a third bonus disc full of supplements. The disc authors followed the obvious logic of putting each six-episode series (okay, "season" for the Americans) onto its own DVD, with a very simple menu structure that allows you to play all episodes at once, or to choose any single episode. If you pick one show, it will allow you to go directly to any one of the six chapter stops provided within each episode.
One of my concerns with this release was whether or not the musical portions of the shows would be included. After all, music artist's rights have affected the home video release of many popular shows of the 70's, 80's and 90's...and sadly some series will never appear at all on DVD as a result! Others, such as another MTV series of that era - Beavis and Butthead - simply have the musical portions removed. So, would The Young Ones get better treatment? Well, yes and no. It appears some of my concerns were genuine, unfortunately.
Every episode in the series (except for "Flood") had a musical guest, and one of them was a doozy. "Cash" featured a music sequence while Neil's mates accompanied him to the army recruitment office, attracting a crowd of followers as they walk. The song was called "Subterranean Homesick Blues", played by an act billing themselves as "Ken Bishop's Nice Twelve". Ken Bishop was a fictional name used by Simon Brint, reused years later when he appeared in the show "French & Saunders". In this episode, members of his band (the "Nice Twelve") included Stewart Copeland (of The Police), Jools Holland (of Squeeze), and others. But here the entire musical sequence is missing in action: a rather sloppy edit shows the boys leaving for the recruitment office, and then it just jumps to what I take to be the end of the number, playing out the end while the other lads shove Neil into the army office to be recruited.
To me, this appears to be the only musical number that was edited out of the series, although I'm not really qualified to say. But I can see that there are other seemingly obvious edits here and there: the sort of nip-and-tuck you associate with trimming a show down for time reasons. This is certainly the most obvious edit that I spotted, however...since it's the only one I noticed that affected the end credits! A red line marks the "splice" when the credits roll; see the screen shots section for a capture of this.
I can assure you, however, that this is NOT the MTV edit of the series: there are bad words that MTV would never have aired, plus at the beginning of the episode "Time" there are (very) brief flashes of naughty female bits visible. Stuff you just will not see on Music Television. On the other hand, I'm certain that these are NOT the complete and unedited episodes as the BBC originally aired them. Not in every case, anyway.
The episodes are as follows:
Disc 1:
Demolition - We meet the roommates and their landlord, who soon has to provide them with a new place, as this one is being torn down the next day. Musical guest: Nine Below Zero
Oil - When the lads discover oil in their basement, Mike and Vyvyan take control and put Rick and Neil to work collecting it. Musical guest: Radical Posture
Boring - The students are terribly bored, despite the many fascinating things going on all around them that they somehow just keep missing! Musical guest: Madness
Bomb - When an RAF jet's nuclear bomb safely lands in front of the refrigerator, Mike and Rick argue on how best to use it, while Vyvyan tries to set it off. Musical guest: Dexy's Midnight Runners
Interesting - A party is in the offing, but everything that can go wrong, does. The whole thing turns into a frightful bore, until Vyvyan's friends show up! Musical guest: Rip, Rig and Panic (featuring Neneh Cherry)
Flood - A lion tamer, a quick trip to Narnia, and a homicidal axe-wielding maniac are just some of the problems the guys face while all of London goes underwater. Special non-musical guest: Bobby and his man-eating lions
Disc 2:
Bambi - The students have to take a train ride so they can represent Scumbag University in the exciting game show, University Challenge. Musical guest: Motörhead
Cash - The lads are dead broke, so it's up to Neil to put "bread" on the table...as a policeman? Musical guest: Ken Bishop's Nice Twelve (MUSIC HAS BEEN EDITED OUT OF THE EPISODE AS PRESENTED ON THIS DVD).
Nasty - "Oh, have we got a video?" Yes! Mike has borrowed a VCR overnight, and they try to get it working, while evading the clutches of a South African vampire. Musical guest: The Damned
Time - Rick wakes up to find a pretty young lady asleep in his bed, and fibs to his mates that they've "done it". What he doesn't realize is that she's an escaped violent mental patient! Musical guest: Amazulu
Sick - The entire group is sick, but Neil is the sickest of all. He's about to get sicker, though, when his parents show up for dinner. Musical guest: Madness
Summer Holiday - As the school year ends, Rick's parents (who provide the rent) have just died, and the lads must now pay their own way. Rob a bank? Sure! Musical guest: John Otway
The Packaging:
The set comes in a three-panel digipak, one panel for each disc. There is no place for a chapter list insert, because all that information is printed right onto the panels. That lack of a pocket is still a pain, though, when four postcards fall into your lap (one featuring each of the lads...what, nothing for Alexei "Mr. Balowski" Sayle?). It was nice of BBC America and Warner Brothers to enclose these as a nifty extra, but they do tend to fall out easily. Especially as there isn't a slipcover for the digipak: that tends to fall open when sitting on the shelf, unless sandwiched between other sets. Columbia TriStar had a similar issue with their "All In The Family" and "Larry Sanders Show" box sets. The print design of the package is very nice, however. The discs feature artwork of a character on it, over a Union Jack background that is coordinated with the design under the clear plastic disc-holder on each inner panel. It's a shame that the middle one is marred by the sight of a security sticker that is impossible to remove without destroying the packaging.
Video
I have to say, I do approve of this transfer! There were all sorts of things that could go wrong, but they really got it right, all things considered. This series was taped 20 years ago, and the potential was there for this transfer to suffer major dropouts, and other effects of deterioration. Moreover, many of the outdoor sequences were recorded on film, and could have been subject to speckles and artifacts.
Not really so here. While hardly perfect, the authors have done a more-than credible job of delivering a good transfer here. The occasional edit-jump is visible, and there are a few artifacts here and there, but these things hardly stand out enough to warrant the expensive digital cleaning techniques required to fix them, which would have driven up the price of this set.
There are some scenes in this show that have a dark, murky look to them, and the normally bright colors become dank. In these scenes, the resolution of an 80's show recorded to tape unfortunately seeps through, especially if you have a higher-end television to view these DVDs on. But it didn't really take me out of the show; if I weren't in the position of a reviewer, it would never have occurred to me to complain. This is simply how the original material looked when it was broadcast over the air 20 years ago, and better than how most Americans saw the series in the mid-80's. I consider this transfer to be above average.
Audio
As with the vast majority of soundtracks from this era of Television, this was broadcast over the air without any use of stereo sound capabilities. The soundtrack presented on this set pretty much will sound identical to what you'll remember from back then. My receiver lit up with two channels, but it sure wasn't stereo. This is a good - but average sounding - transfer of what has always sounded pretty decent to begin with...for over-the-air mono. Don't expect the musical numbers to even rival a CD; there have been no enhancements. It'll sound like 1986 MTV all over again.
There are several excellent extras on the third DVD, but the ones that will stand out the most to the majority of Mayall and Edmondson's fans are the inclusion of two bonus television episodes: the pilot show of their 1987 collaboration "Filthy, Rich & Catflap" (with a very different-looking Nigel "Neil" Planer), and the first episode from their more successful 1991 collaboration, "Bottom" (where they reunited with Christopher "Mike" Ryan).
In watching these two bonus episodes, I realized that the essence is the same, but the experience is rather different. They are very funny shows, with some great gags and payoffs. But my guess is that not every fan of The Young Ones will enjoy these other series. Even so, it is great to have them available to satisfy our curiosity. If you enjoy them, I expect the BBC would like to know that, so they can decide if these series warrant their own complete releases.
Two featurettes are included with these supplements: "Creating The Young Ones" and "The Young Ones and the 80's". Both are excerpted from longer features made in 1999, celebrating comedy (Alternative comedy and British sitcoms, respectively). Each provides a rich look at the show's development, the work that went into the episodes, and the influence it had on the generation (much of it not fully felt until after its cancellation). The first featurette mainly consists of interviews with the people behind the show: Paul Jackson, Rik Mayall, Lise Mayer, Ben Elton, and Alexei Sayle. Also, a brief look at one of Mayall's 1981 comedy routines, "The Theater", is provided.
Finally, you will definitely want to explore the "Talent Files" section on this bonus disc. Usually this portion of the extras is easily dismissed, with less information than you can find on the IMDB. Not so here! The Talent Files for The Young Ones provides a rich, deep background of information in a compact form for each cast member, crew, major guest star, and most of the musical bands. I was pleasently surprised by the amount of information I found out about the show in these Talent Files...I think I learned more background here than in the featurettes!
The "trailers" included aren't for The Young Ones; they are ads for other BBC shows: French & Saunders, Absolutely Fabulous, Wallace & Gromit, and Robbie The Reindeer. Meanwhile, a skippable Father Ted ad appears during the boot sequence on Disc 1, and on disc 2 instead of Ted you get a League Of Gentlemen ad.
Summary
The Young Ones was a rather different television show, which broke all the rules that sitcoms built up since the days of I Love Lucy. In its own way, it was a pioneering effort by a group of people with extraordinary talent. It's a brilliant show, simply brilliant. It won't be to everyone's taste, but I recommend that everyone, whether you're a Young One or just a Young One At Heart, should give it a chance.
This DVD set won't win any awards or be considered "demo" material to show off your home theater system. In fact, some fans of this series will be considerably put out by the edits I mentioned. And, I agree, that gives one pause. Nevertheless, I do recommend this set. Fans of The Young Ones who found it "laugh-out-loud funny" back in the 80's should take this opportunity to rediscover the show, and enjoy it all over again. If you've never seen the show before, you should definitely give it a chance. Especially if you're a fan of off-the-wall humor (AbFab, anyone?).
