ERIK THE VIKING

RELEASED OUT NOW! 1989 | 15 | Blu-ray & DVD

Director Terry Jones

Cast Tim Robbins, Imogen Stubbs,

Samantha Bond, John Cleese

Though written and directed by Terry Jones and featuring John Cleese, Erik The Viking is not a Monty Python film. Which is a shame, as it’s at its best when it feels most Pythonesque.

A fantasy romp about a peace-loving Viking’s quest to end the age of Ragnarok, it has moments of inspired lunacy that could be edited into a great 30-minute Python episode. Sadly they struggle to make an impact in a ploddingly episodic plot, filled with quirky but unendearing characters and ropey special effects that would benefit from being replaced by Terry Gilliam animations.

Extras From the special features menu on this Special Edition it looks like you’re getting oodles, but six of the featurettes are simply bite-sized re-edits from the main 30-minute featurette. Swizz.

However, that featurette, though made at the time of release and hampered by hyberbolic American narration, does boast extensive interviews and great behind-the-scenes footage. There’s also 18 minutes of extra, raw interview material shot for it.

The original theatrical cut has a new commentary by two US cult movie podcasters (which is surprisingly fun) while the Director’s Son’s Edit – radically recut and shortened by Bill Jones for a 2006 DVD – comes with the Terry Jones commentary from that release. Plus: trailer, booklet.