Unlike the previous version (not to mention the version in And Now For Something Completely Different) the identity of the blackmailee isn’t revealed and instead the ‘Behind The Hot Water Pipes…’ address turns into animation and links to a completely re-shot version of the ‘TV Newscaster arrested’ sketch from Series 1. The background music is the same but boasts a middle-eight previously edited out! ‘La Marche Futile’ links to the ‘Man Trying To Fly’ film (Series 2, Show 2), then to the ‘Butterfly’ animation before arriving at ‘Blackmail’ (Series 2, Show 5) which is identical to the original apart from the ‘Stop The Film’ section which has been totally re-filmed (to accommodate the line-of-gasmen running joke). This links to the original Series 2, Show 1 sketch (with a slightly longer edit of the black and white silly walks film – Palin’s top-hatted pointy shoes man continues his walk, reversing from right to left, similar to the version shown to the Live At The Hollywood Bowl audience). The loony who originally confused Mrs Pinnet (now played by Michael Palin rather than Terry Gilliam) enters and ascends to the heavens with Eric Idle to discuss his newspaper bill and Cleese’ ‘Silly Walk’ civil servant enters, buys a paper and leaves.
This cuts to a newsagents where a radio broadcasting Beethoven’s 5 th promptly explodes. Īnother new link features Cleese sitting sombrely on a big inflatable chair (previously seen in the ‘Ewen McTeagle’ sketch) which proceeds to deflate slowly while he announces ‘The Semaphore Version Of Wuthering Heights’.Īfter this is finished (cutting off after ‘Julius Caesar On An Aldis Lamp’) we experience ‘TheĮxploding Version Of The Blue Danube’ (with a newly constructed animation intro) before returning to Cleese on a now totally deflated chair and the final part of the It’s The Arts animation (with the Statue of David figleaf battle).
The long line of gasmen leading from Pinnet’s house turn into a different animation from the original, which itself links to ‘Conrad Poohs and his Dancing Teeth’ and the first part of the ‘It’s The Arts’ animation. The ensuing ‘Gas Cooker Sketch’ is a terse script-edit of the original, but still features the ‘gassing’ punchline. This continues into the Mrs Pinnet sketch, as before, but everything from the climbing over the garden wall bit onwards has been re-filmed/taped. Which links to Series 1, Show 1’s ‘Face The Press’ sketch (with a hitherto unheard opening sig tune).
‘Five past nine and nearly time for six past nine’ However a sign immediately flashes up afterwards announcing the end of the show and, with the accompaniment of the BBC Globe we get a new version of Series 2’s As per the original show, the titles follow. We can now hear that Miss Evans is pursued by a ‘man-eating roll-top writing desk’. The narration towards the end has also been re-dubbed (presumably because the audience had originally drowned out the lines. A slightly amended version, with an alternate opening narration (Jones rather than Palin) and no ‘frank adult death struggle with a giant electric penguin’ sequence. It starts with Cleese’ usual ‘And now for something completely different’ announcement (taken from the first series show which featured him in a chicken shed) but then launches immediately into Series 2’s ‘Scott Of The Sahara’ sketch. Here then, for those of you hungry for details, is a detailed description of that compilation: Unusually however it features exclusive material and links. This is a rarely broadcast compilation of the first two series.