And Now For Something Completely Digital: The Complete Illustrated Guide to Monty Python CDs and DVDs Review

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And Now For Something Completely Digital: The Complete Illustrated Guide to Monty Python CDs and DVDs ReviewHaving recently purchased items such as Monty Python: Almost The Truth and the 2006 reissues of the albums on CD, a guide to all the various releases from my favorite British comedy troupe seemed like it would be a valuable resource in trying to fill holes in my collection. As it turned out, "And Now For Something Completely Digital" couldn't be farther from what its title purports it to be.
Most collectors of any object, be it stamps, sports cards, etc., have that one reference book that they rely on. I'm not even hung up on resale value and rarity as many collectors are, but when a book calls itself a "Complete Illustrated Guide" to CDs and DVDs, especially when the material covered has been released and re-released (and re-re-released) as much as the Monty Python films and albums have, it had better have a good deal of information as to the differences between the multiple versions of each title, which has better picture and/or sound, more bonus material, etc. This book doesn't even get around to the specifics of the actual DVD and CD releases until the appendices, and then only in a cursory fashion, with usually only one entry per title and vague descriptions along the lines of "contains the film plus bonus material".
For the most part, the book only recaps the FILMS and ALBUMS, not the DVDs and CDs themselves. Even worse is the fact that each chapter is largely a rather tedious retelling of what HAPPENS in the film or on the album rather than any kind of "guide". There are a few quotes and bits of trivia peppered in, but the quotes are sequestered within the agonizingly pedestrian descriptions of the films/albums ("the rabbit then bites off the knight's head...", etc. etc. ad nauseum) and both are almost always either direct quotes from Wikipedia articles or from the many Python documentaries that anyone serious enough about Python to want a DVD/CD guide would have already seen.
Worse yet, although not necessarily the fault of the authors, is that the only discussion of the 2006 reissues that prompted me to buy this book in the first place is an explanation that one of the authors was hired to work on them, and speculation as to what they might contain. How it was determined that it would be a good idea to publish a supposedly-complete guide PRIOR to the release of a new wave of reissues containing the very material discussed in such a guide is beyond comprehension. Better to have at least waited until the remasters were done, and the tracklists and packaging finalized. As it is, the album of outtakes mentioned in the book never saw the light of day, which adds yet another element of disappointment to this already disappointing book.
Completely unforgivable is the fact that The Monty Python Masters, a 1997 series of CD reissues from Arista, were overlooked entirely. I understand that the authors are British, but it's preposterous to point out the irony of all 45 episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus being available only in America, but then completely ignore a rather sizable reissue effort simply because it happened Stateside. Seems that any mention of those CDs might have been looked at as detrimental to the potential sales of the 2006 remasters, which I guess goes to show what happens when the author has a stake in the very merchandise he's writing about. Classic conflict of interest if you ask me. There is also no mention of high-definition titles like The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Monty Python's Life Of Brian - The Immaculate Edition or Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, although it's possible that they may not have been released until after the book was completed.
The book is not utterly devoid of value, but it literally seems to have no audience whatsoever. The casual fan who needs every scene of every film described to them isn't going to care about the musings of those involved and obscure trivia, yet serious Python fans will already know the vast majority of the information presented in the book. I can only console myself with the fact that I paid a mere $1.99 plus shipping for a used copy, and for anyone else considering a purchase, that's the venue I'd recommend. After all, there are enough poor saps who paid full price expecting a tome filled with cover variations and catalog numbers... why not throw 'em a bone and help them recoup some of the cost if you'd like to check it out for yourself.
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