Although Palin and Jones, working as a team, had written a few one-shot comedies for British television during Flying Circus's run, Ripping Yarns was their first major undertaking after that show had ended, airing during the long hiatus between the first and second seasons of fellow Python John Cleese's enormously successful Fawlty Towers. Where that show reflected Cleese's interest in the darkly funny side of human behavior, the Palin-Jones show seems deliberately built around Jones' fascination with historical fiction, and Palin's versatility as a performer and his penchant for all things silly.

Ripping Yarns was a real-life adventure annual from the early- to mid-20th century, and the show spoofs the various sub-genres popular in such fiction. There's a World War I tale about a POW's efforts to escape his German captors, a murder mystery set in a typically English country estate, a black magic story, etc. A wise decision was made from the outset to shoot these shows entirely on film rather than the usual practice in Britain of shooting interiors on tape, exteriors on (16mm) film, and editing everything together on videotape. Additionally, the period-setting shows are generally more lavish than other comedy programs from the time, with authentic-looking props, costumes and the like.

For this reason only six episodes (including the pilot) were made in its first season, and just three after that. (The episodes are: "Tomkinson's Schooldays," "The Test of Eric Olthwaite," "Escape from Stalag Luft 112B," "Murder at Moorstones Manor," "Across the Andes by Frog," "The Curse of the Claw," "Whinfrey's Last Case," "Golden Gordon," and "Roger of the Raj.") Conversely, because of its period settings and film look, the program plays less dated than even some superior television dramas.

Unlike Flying Circus's smorgasbord of comedy, Ripping Yarns satirizes a specific style of storytelling that will be less than familiar to most viewers today. There are great gags and funny non sequiturs throughout, but these come at the expense of suspension of disbelief. It's easy to admire the consistent cleverness of these shows, but for their lack of real human characterization and motivation, it's difficult to truly get caught up in these tales and instead viewers are more likely to laugh at them from a distance.

Guests stars include an interesting mix of "straight" dramatic talent lending verisimilitude to the material with seasoned comic actors: Kenneth Colley, Roy Kinnear, Denholm Elliott, Edward Hardwicke, Bill Fraser, Allan Cuthbertson, John Le Mesurier, and Richard Vernon all appear. John Cleese makes a fleeting appearance in one episode. Curiously, while Michael Palin seems to play no less than two roles in each episode, Terry Jones isn't in it at all, unless he's somewhere in there in disguise.

Video & Audio

As a Restoration Demonstration (included as an extra) makes clear, Ripping Yarns looks better than it ever has, with a good deal of color restoration and digital clean-up resulting in a brightly colorful full-frame image free from signs of wear and looking much more recent than it actually is. The shows, running 28-32 minutes, do not appear to have been time-compressed and are not edited. Audio is listed as 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo, but this reviewer noticed no true stereo mixing on any of the episodes, though the sound is certainly fine otherwise. Optional English subtitles are included, though on one player (a Cyberhome), the subtitles kicked in automatically and proved impossible to turn off. Listed as an extra feature is an optional Audience-Free Track that eliminates the riotous laugh track. (The function is not available on episodes 1 and 4.)

Extra Features

All nine episodes of Ripping Yarns include Audio Commentary Tracks with creators Michael Palin and Terry Jones. The tracks are a mixed bag, with long stretches where neither has much to say, and much of it more a "trip down memory lane" than informative. Commentaries like these cry out for a moderator who has done his research and is loaded with good questions.

Also included is Comic Roots: Michael Palin, a 30-minute documentary produced in 1982 about the writer-performer's early years in Sheffield, and featuring interviews with Palin's mother, old school chums, and Spike Milligan, whose Goon Show was a major influence. The documentary is a curiosity; part of it has Palin in character trying too hard to be funny, and it takes its subject only to about 1965, just as Palin was turning professional.

A better-than-average Gallery offers a few behind-the-scenes photos, while the episode "Murder at Moorstones Manor" includes a brief Deleted Scene.

Parting Thoughts

Because of its longish running time (too tight for 30-minute time slots) and limited run, Ripping Yarns has been almost impossible to syndicate, but almost perfect for the DVD format. The show is a mixed bag, but sometimes very funny when it catches you in the right frame of mind.

Stuart Galbraith IV is a Kyoto-based film historian whose work includes The Emperor and the Wolf - The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune and Taschen's forthcoming Cinema Nippon. Visit Stuart's Cine Blogarama here.