And Now For Something Completely Digital...

Around 1993 a little upstart company called 7th Level, which I believe was based in Richardson Texas USA at the time, somehow made a deal with Eric Idle and the majority of the original Monty Python troupe.

Unfortunately Graham Chapman refused to participate due to a contract made five years previously with the Grim Reaper, and John Cleese refused to participate because he is a stick in the mud, but the rest of the gang worked with 7th Level to recreate themselves in their own image, digitally remastered and fantastically funny even though some of them were grandfathers by now.

Not that grandfathers are not allowed to be funny, and all double negatives aside, let us begin without further placing our feet into our mouths. Off we go.

the Complete Waste of Time

In 1994, what is now known as Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time came into being. CWOT, as it is affectionately known by acronymbiacs, was an instant success, as it guaranteed to solve the secret to intergalactic success if only one was to click around in Mrs. Zambesi's brain and get hopelessly lost.

This happened to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Monty Python's Flying Circus first being broadcast in October of 1969, and fortunately unlike the 20th anniversary, no one unceremoniously died this time.

Based very loosely on the original 45 episodes of Monty Python's Flying Circus, and containing tons of new art by Terry Gilliam as well as new voice over work from Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, the PC-CDRom was amazingly exciting fun and a complete waste of time was had by all.

It made absolutely no sense whatsoever but who cared? It was funny, and once mastered, devoted fans could play the parrot sketch over and over again in a teeny tiny little box on their screen until grey matter oozed out of their skull.

It made money, and included four arcade games, videos and soundfiles of the best and worst the original television series had to offer, and it functioned as a game within a game within a game that just never seemed to end. In fact some people who started playing CWOT in '94 still think they are playing it. They may very well in fact might be.

the Quest for the Holy Grail

Two years later, out of a sheer desire not only to please their devoted following but also to ''retire at an early age''¹, most of the Monty Python members got together again and squeezed out the second PC CD-Rom game, Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail, based less loosely and more flawlessly on the movie of the same name. This, some argue, is the best of the PC CD-Rom series. Those that do argue are often rather unhappy with the fact that there's rarely anyone around to argue that point with them, as they are most certaintly right.

Advertised as the Best CD-Rom Game of 932 AD, Grail includes games such as ''Spank the Virgin,'' ''Burn the Witch,'' ''Drop Dead²,'' and ''Knights in Kombat³'' among others. The game also allows you follow King Arthur and his knights through the perilous and savage middle ages collecting gold and buying shrubberies and generally having a good time.

Again, Chapman and Cleese were not present, although by use of the material from the movie few could dismiss the fact that they were certaintly there in spirit. In fact, the liner notes of the second game list John Cleese as Voice Talent, via ''fax'' if that is at all possible⁴.

For the rebirth of this tale to computerized form, the troupe recreated the Never Before Performed King Brian the Wild Scene, which was originally written in the movie script but was never successfully filmed. Michael Palin faked the voice of Graham Chapman as best he could, and Terry Gilliam rushed together a black and white animation of the scene, as by this time they were most certaintly over budget. Again it was funny. Again it made money. Again the Monty Python troupe were securing their Autumn Years in the Sun, with new profits made from stuff they'd already done. What a glorious and flawless plan!

Then things took a strange turn.

the Meaning of Life

Due to the success of the first two PC CD-Rom Monty Python game titles, 7th Level and Monty Python teamed again to bring the world a third game. This one was to be based on the movie Monty Python's the Meaning Of Life. However, 7th level underwent some management hornswaggling and also an identity crisis.

Before the third title could be completed, rights to the Monty Python games were sold off from 7th Level to the Panasonic Interactive Media Company. The computer company 7th Level changed its name to Seventh Street, got out of the CD Rom game business, and then changed its name again to Learn2.com, for reasons which may never be fully understood or explained.

The Monty Python fan community was in utter turmoil. Some fans took to wetting their beds. Others ran around in circles mumbling near incoherent lines from the original series. Still others repeatedly banged their heads against walls until their brains hurt. Most nonfans of Monty Python didn't really notice much of a change in their behaviour. The Pope was contacted and asked to pray for the Monty Python troupe and their fans, but he was too busy playing Tomb Raider II. There seemed to be no end in sight and all hope had been dashed to the floor like a cheap reuben sandwich.

Despite all this, the third title was successfully made available to a waiting public. The third title was a 2 CD set game produced in 1997 that starts by following the motion picture Meaning Of Life rather flawlessly and then sort of goes off on a mad tangent through the animated mind of Terry Gilliam and gets quite convoluted and superfluous, until one ends up in Terry Gilliam's cottage house with a bunch of accumulated keepsakes and knickknacks from much of Gilliam's work both with and without the other Pythons.

Despite the fact it seems rather rushed together towards the end, it does ''contain hours of new material from all of the Pythons'' including Graham Chapman who they were able to get on loan from heaven via a seance and a promise by Eric Idle to God that he wouldn't eat anymore of those horrible black jelly beans.

Either on purpose due to a vindictive and disgruntled ex employee of one of the many companies involved, or by sheer accident due to the befuddlement and corporate convulsions that occurred near the end of production, Meaning of Life the PC CD-Rom game has many bugs, flaws and 'undocumented game features' that simultaneously make the game almost unplayable and uniquely more enjoyable. Only a Monty Python game could get away with being this haphazardly thrown together at the last moment and still impress the hell out of practically every devoted fan, and even a few people that hate the troupe's guts.

The most notable ''undocumented feature'' in the game, is as you are nearing the end of the game, the blurb that is meant to appear on the screen asking you to switch discs is for some strange reason invisible. If you happen to know where to click, you might get past it, but many players of the game never got to see the end of the film, despite hours and hours of futile fighting with the damn game to make some kind of reasonable sense.

The Internet has fixes and solutions for the worst of the game's problems. You can do a search on the Internet for a walkthrough. That will help you through the hardest parts. Overall the third game is just as enjoyable as the first two, and being the first of the three games to enjoy 360 degree scrolling screens and high quality full-screen video reproduction of scenes from the original film, it is technologically the most triumphant.

Will there be a fourth?

There was talk for awhile of a fourth CD Rom game from the Python troupe, based on the movie Life of Brian. These were largely rumors, never substantiated by the troupe itself, and since the original team of computer talent that inspired 7th Level and Python to start this mad venture in the first place have since been scattered to the four winds, the odds of a fourth title ever being born are slim to none.

With four PC CD Roms covering a quarter of a century of talent and humour, asking for more beyond that would be quite imposing on the part of the fan community. Also after the shennanigans of the third title, perhaps they'd be best to quit while still ahead.

...

One can dream though, eh?