The Young Ones - Series 1-2 [DVD]

Best ever

If you’re thinking of buying this set then you already know how great the content is, and how important this show is to the history of British television comedy and alternative comedy in general. What you want to know is whether or not it’s worth buying - again - on another format. Well the episodes are presented exactly as broadcast without the subsequent edits and omissions that have occurred on some other home media releases and streaming services over the decades. The only difference is that the location film sequences for series two have been restored and re-scanned and rebuilt in high definition from the original film stock and so you may or may not notice how much sharper and clearer those sections are than the upscaled old videotape recordings throughout the rest of the series. The rest of the series looks and sounds as good as it ever can. It was shot on open reel analogue videotape using 576-line television cameras that were somewhat vintage even by 1982/1984 standards, and editing analogue videotape causes a further reduction in quality so the pictures are somewhat low-res with a variety of image artefacts typical of electronic video cameras of the time. It’s still better than the VHS or DVD copies but until AI technology gets seriously miraculous this Blu-ray set represents the best possible quality that we’re ever going to get from those old classic recordings. You also get to see the outtakes and the usual extras that are tacked on to these releases for the completist. If you’re happy with your DVD box set then I don’t think you’ll get too much from this. If you’re an archival collector and are interested in the HD restoration of old SD TV classics then I would say this is worthy of a space on your shelf and you’ll love seeing bits of the Young Ones in true HD.

Classic memories from my youth. Nicely cleaned up and sharper than expected for an upscale. Slightly disappointed in the extras. Hardly any Rik. But a must for any Mayall or Comic Strip fans. Now do the same for Bottom please. Upscale and release Blu Ray.

Very funny to watch

Now here's an odd thing. I don't know how often the Young Ones was repeated after it had first been repeated, but maybe it wasn't much - I seem to remember it was A Big Deal when in the early-mid 90s comedy boom these were all shown on BBC 2. Then the DVD boom came, and yes, of course the repeats probably boosted sales. I watched them with my mates in the early 2000s but to be absolutely honest, we far preferred the Comic Strip and Bottom when it came to Rik and Ade. Fast forward 20 years and it's Xmas, more or less the same group of friends except now we only see each other either twice a year or monthly - but today, we are all meeting up at mine to go out. I've got the Young Ones blu-ray sat on the table having just arrived. The weather is terrible, and I suggest we might just watch an episode waiting for the weather to improve... To cut a long story short, we binge watched the whole lot, went to the local pub rather than town, ordered a curry and effectively stayed at home. Maybe it was the company but... these seem WAY funnier than we remembered, far more anarchic as I'd recall them, and with utterly crazy plots (perhaps more in Series 2) that belie the '4 blokes in a house' setup. We were howling with laughter after each stupid, hilarious line. Some stuff just doesn't seem as clever or funny now, Spaced being one that I can't believe leaves me a bit cold now, perhaps because of what Pegg turned into but who knows? They DO look better, though don't expect miracles. The extras are a bit piled in as seems to be the fashion now, I guess it won't be long before streaming is all we have, will there even BE extras? The reel of presentations is good though and I don't think was on the DVD version. Recommended!

The terrifying genius of this show is that anyone who was a student at _that_ time can watch it and recognise the house as either being their own, or some close acquaintances' own. The characters and the dynamics are captured beautifully. O.K. it's exaggerated a bit and real life characters don't really map onto the show's characters but there are echoes. Our Neil was called Peter; miserably unhappy hippy who kept arriving home with lost strangers needing somewhere to sleep. I think he lived entirely on sprouts and saved enough out of his student grant to open a deposit account. Our Mike actually was called Mike. Forget what I said about not mapping, there. Same grooming, style, attitude, hairstyle, facial expression. Taller, though. I suspect that the TV Mike was written by one of the waifs and strays that Peter had over to stay one night. Of course I, personally, don't map onto any of the characters at all. Well, I don't map onto Rik. Rik was an amalgam of several characters who came visiting and read terrorist poetry. A character they missed was the landlord's mother but she was so horribly weird no-one could have believed a character based on her. :shudder!: If there had been DVDs back then - or even video tapes - we might have stayed in and watched something like this excellent series and wondered if it would ever date. Unfortunately it _has_. It's still eminently watchable though The kid likes it too, but she does keep shooting me knowing, withering looks at those moments when she thinks she's spotted something that HAS mapped onto my mysterious, could-be-embarrassing past. I just live in the comfort of knowing she's completely wrong.

Je suis ravie d'avoir pu me procurer cette série humoristique des années 80 que j'adore. Attention cependant, elle en version originale anglaise.

UNA DE LAS MEJORES SERIES DE HUMOR QUE SE HAN HECHO NUNCA, LLEVABA TIEMPO BUSCÁNDOLA

Classic british comedy, still great after 40 years. Picture and sound are probably as good as it's possible to get from the source material.

Best ever

4 different young men share a flat and go to college (I guess). Surreal and 4th wall breaking ensue. We have a con man, hippy, punk rocker and anarchist as the main guys. No US show would have this much socio-political type humor. Watched this on MTV back in the mid 80s, they wouldn't touch this now. Only ran 2 seasons with 12 total episodes. They tried a US remake but just an unaired pilot was made. Might sound dated today, it's very linked to the Thatcher era. But somehow it's still funny today.