Mr. Bean: The Whole Bean (Remastered 25th Anniversary Collection)

Details: By Loron Hays; 08 April 2015

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Mr. Bean: The Whole Bean - Blu-ray Review

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The Bean is back! Newly remastered from the original SD video sources, Mr. Bean has never looked better than he does with this new set from Shout! Factory, the reigning kings of exceptional taste. The show will also never get any better than with this DVD set and, considering all the chaos unleashed by Bean, it really is worth your time – even (and, maybe, especially) if you are already indoctrinated into the best bits of Bean.

But why not put this anarchy on blu-ray? According to Shout! Factory, it’s just not going to happen and for a very good reason. The original masters of the show are not in HD and no amount of remastering will ever make video look sharp on blu. Now that that disappointment is over, let’s celebrate what this release has to offer. Included in this DVD set are all 14 episodes of the landmark original series that introduced Mr. Bean to an adoring, slapstick awkward, world.

Starring award-winning British comedy genius, Rowan Atkinson (Blackadder, Johnny English, Mr. Bean's Holiday and Bean). Mr. Bean, the television show and character, are internationally acclaimed and have so-far spawned two box office films. The character, brought to life by a healthy dose of physical humor at the idea of a child being trapped in a man’s body, continues to enthrall audiences worldwide and maintain his universal popularity with repeat airings of this classic run of 14 episodes, including the first episode – which won the Golden Rose and several other awards – and “The Curse of Mr. Bean”, which won several BAFTA awards, as well as the hilariously sacrilegious Christmas episode.

Interestingly enough, the show has a sort of controversial history here in the States. Reportedly when Mr. Bean first aired in the US, it was shown on PBS where they have no commercials. PBS requested extra material to be put in to pad them out to the required length. The production company obliged, put in little bits that had been left on the cutting room floor to stretch the episodes. The previous set included those bits as part of the show. This one includes them as bonus bits, returning Mr. Bean to its properly unedited status.

This release clocks in at 350 minutes. The DVDs include everything (and the $20 price makes it guilt-free for purchase). Re-live the timeless Mr. Bean, the hapless, rubber-faced clown, who never fails to leave a trail of merry mayhem and sidesplitting laughter in his wake.

Forget the movies. Mr. Bean: The Whole Bean is as tasty now as it was 25 years ago.

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Mr. Bean: The Whole Bean - Blu-ray Review

DVD Details:

Available on Blu-ray - March 24, 2015
Screen Formats: 1.33:1
Language: English
Discs: Four discs (DVD)
Region Encoding: Region-free playback

Supplements:

Commentary:

None

Special Features:

Fourteen 26-minute episodes—even well-remastered ones—don’t make for much of a grand 25th-anniversary celebration, so Shout! Factory has loaded the set with several hours of extras. These include a trio of scenes that didn’t originally make it into American broadcasts of the show, two sketches (“Bus Stop” and “Library”) that never made it to television at all, and The Story Of Mr. Bean, a 40-minute documentary of interviews and archival footage that show how the character came to be. There’s also The Best Bits Of Mr. Bean, which essentially serves as a 72-minute primer on how Mr. Bean, the man and the series, is clearly of another time—right down to his ill-fitting trousers.