Mr. Bean: The Ultimate Collection

Great Compilation!! *and a warning to parents about content on an extra*
I viewed all the episodes and they seem to be in working order. Glitch free and the picture looked good. Sound was fine. I report this because it seems that a lot of dvd releases of tv shows are done crappily that there are lots of justified complaints.
The extras on the 3rd disc of the tv show series were worth viewing. The documentary about how Mr. Bean started was especially cool to see. **The warning to anyone who would like to know, especially maybe for parents, is that the documentary has shots of female frontal nudity that come up without warning.** That footage is from an opening from a comedy series Rowan was a part of in his earlier career. Thought I'd mention it since no other reviewer commented on this. And no, I don't need someone getting smart at me about how other countries are liberal with their tv programming and nudity. I know. I just didn't expect that material on a Mr. Bean dvd set and thought others might like to know.

They used to make them like this
The Dick Van Dyke Show. The Lucy Show. The Odd Couple.

What on earth do these wonderful old T.V. shows have to do with Mr. Bean's Holiday?

Well, not a whole lot thematically, but there is one very significant tie between them. The classic shows mentioned above were not children's programs. They were prime-time comedy series aimed at adults. They were clean as a whistle for the most part, as shows then tended to be, but the subjects of the shows revolved around divorce, marital troubles, problems at the office etc.

Unfortunately, modern entertainment equates "adult" with sex and violence. In other words, the word adult has been appropriated. Nothing could possibly be funny, clever, inventive or exciting if there isn't at least some sex or controversy right? It's a pretty sad state when "adult" has come to mean "15 year-old boy" :/

Now before you roll your eyes, I am as far from being a prude as you can get. I own and admire scores of R-rated...

Paradise for Mr. Bean Fans
"Mr. Bean: The Ultimate Collection" is a seven-disc box set featuring the antics of Rowan Atkinson's alter- ego, the long-legged, goofy-looking guy who manages to create comic mayhem wherever he goes. Mr. Bean, whom Atkinson describes as a child in a grown man's body, was created when Atkinson was a student at Oxford University. Borrowing from silent film techniques, Bean never speaks, relying instead on facial expressions, sight gags, and slapstick to milk laughs. Atkinson is Chaplinesque in the way he sets up gags, plants them, and then illustrates his mortification at how badly things have gone. We feel sorry for his sad-sack ineptness, but still manage to laugh at his constant penchant for getting into awkward, frequently embarrassing fixes. I was reminded of Buster Keaton and even Lucille Ball, two folks who knew how to incorporate and use props comically. Atkinson cites Jacques Tati's earlier character, Mr. Hulot, as another influence.
The box set contains all...

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