One of the worst episodes of the first three seasons was "The Cycling Tour," a dud primarily written by Palin & Jones. It was an episode-long story which fell flat, and lacked the zaniness of the usual MPFC show. So why, WHY would they make the same mistake again with this boring story about the Montgolfier brothers?
First, the show is obviously missing the presence of John Cleese, and without him, there is no Cleese/Chapman material in the show. Second, the Pythons rely on what would later be an SNL staple: repeating the same jokes until they become tiresome. There are a couple of moments which provoke a chuckle, but that's about it. What appears to be the only Eric Idle script is one of his typical droning monlogues, this time in faux-Norwegian, which also has about one laugh in three minutes. Terry Gilliam is also woefully underused.
One bright spot is the arrival of Bonzo Dog Band's Neil Innes, with whom the boys had worked on a previous show. His only contribution here is a girl-group song about George III, but he would return in later episodes...culminating in his appearance as Sir Robin's Minstrel in "Holy Grail."
First, the show is obviously missing the presence of John Cleese, and without him, there is no Cleese/Chapman material in the show. Second, the Pythons rely on what would later be an SNL staple: repeating the same jokes until they become tiresome. There are a couple of moments which provoke a chuckle, but that's about it. What appears to be the only Eric Idle script is one of his typical droning monlogues, this time in faux-Norwegian, which also has about one laugh in three minutes. Terry Gilliam is also woefully underused.
One bright spot is the arrival of Bonzo Dog Band's Neil Innes, with whom the boys had worked on a previous show. His only contribution here is a girl-group song about George III, but he would return in later episodes...culminating in his appearance as Sir Robin's Minstrel in "Holy Grail."