I ordered a copy of Dolenz's autobiography (written in '89 or so originally, with a final chapter that's everything from then to the mid-naughts from his biographer; the rest of the book is written in first-person) on account of I'd read a library copy of it twenty years ago and remembered bits of it being interesting. I was right; he's a process theologian - and gives a pretty good layman's description of it in the chapter when he mentions it. (That same chapter makes me think it is very, very important that he and Dan Aykroyd never, ever be allowed to get drunk together; we would end up with a dimensional rift for sure.) It's also somewhat disconcerting, in that Micky-the-character might as well be the authorial voice; every third sentence is either a joke or a reference to something else. I don't particularly mind reading 190 pages of him goofing around (I am a fangirl, after all), but only the parts about his family come across as anything less than his public-persona-as-defense-mechanism. The upside of the author-as-harlequin is some screamingly funny descriptions of bits of the celebrity life. For example, his description of the last time he dropped acid:

I ended up sitting in the living room , watching the walls breathe and my hand turn into a snake, impatiently looking at my watch thinking, "Here goes the old hand-into-a-snake routine. I wonder when I can get out of here and go home to work on my gyrocopter?"

Anyway. On to the next three episodes :

Season 1 Disc 4 Episode 19: Find the Monkees! (a.k.a. The Audition)

This is a fairly typical plot at this point - the Monkees didn't get an invitation to an important audition, so they are trying to sneak in to play for the producer; meanwhile, the producer has stumbled across a tape of them playing "Mary, Mary," but their name's not on the tape, so he's searching all over for his mystery band. After finding them, he discovers that he prefers his long-suffering secretary's rendition of his theme song, and leaves all the bands who turned out to audition standing forlornly in the Pad's den.

Given how little continuity the show has, this has more than the usual amount of worldbuilding; there are three other bands who both know the Monkees and were invited to the audition. One, the Four Martians (whose costumes include colored stockings over the head) is a quartet, like our boys; the other two, the Foreign Agents (trenchcoats and dark glasses) and the Jolly Green Giants (if you've ever seen the '60s ads, you already know what they look like) are both trios.

At one point, the boys are attempting to audition via phone, from a public phone booth. A line forms, waiting for the phone; the first guy into the phone booth after them is clearly supposed to be Clark Kent. (DC comics again!)

Micky is driving the Monkeemobile in the end sequence, thus giving the lie to the theory that Mike is the only one who can drive (although he usually does).

The interview segment at the end is the most serious one we've seen yet, and intriguing in that Peter and Micky do most of the talking. In fact, I think this is the first time we've seen Micky give a serious answer to a question in the interview segments, and while he's sharp-tongued ("A lot of people and journalists don't know how to spell 'demonstration,' so they use the word 'riot' 'cause it only has four letters"), he's not really trying to be funny at all. And Peter uses legal language that sounds a little strange coming from the 'team dummy,' which just goes to show how poorly that role really fit him. Mike kind of gets the hammer-home line, though: the interviewer asks them whether they'd like to see every teenaged kid in the country wear their hair like they did, and Mike replies "I'd like to see all the kids in the country wearing their hair like they'd like to wear it," to enthusiastic agreement from both Micky and Peter. (Davy points out that he's still under 21 and thus legally doesn't get a say. At this point, Micky would have just turned 21, Peter would have just turned 24, Mike would be 23, and Davy would be 20.)


Season 1 Disc 4 Episode 20: The Monkees In The Ring

Another Davy episode, although unusually for his, this one doesn't involve a girl - a crooked boxing trainer recruits him to fight the champ, bribing his other opponents to take dives, so he can bet against him and rake in a fortune. The other Monkees figure out the scam, give the trainer's enforcer the slip, and arrive to disrupt the fight.

The Champ is clearly a Muhammad Ali (although I think he was still Cassius Clay at the time?) homage, and is the first black character on the show with more than a couple of lines. He's also clearly portrayed as not part of the crooked trainer's scheme; he's as much a victim as Davy is.

Speaking of homages, at one point Davy quotes what he claims is a Yugoslavian philosopher; it's actually a Bill Cosby nonsense line.

At the beginning of the scene where the other boys try to convince Davy not to meet the trainer, Peter is fooling around on a five-string banjo, playing something that sounds like a Bach piece, although it's short enough it's hard to tell.

The other three boys are at one point held prisoner in the Pad by the enforcer, each one handcuffed, as they watch the fight on television. They get out by goading the enforcer into boxing Mike to show that he can still fight, and then locking him in the closet. They then more or less instantaneously appear at the fight, with no travel time.

Their interference in the fight is the highlight of the show. Mike takes on the trainer, in a race around the ring; Micky similarly runs from the enforcer, but he climbs over, around, and through the ropes of the ring like a jungle gym. Peter takes over the fight bell and then becomes the announcer - clever enough to be mildly out-of-character for him.


Season 1 Disc 4 Episode 21: The Prince And The Paupers

Another Davy episode - two in a row for him. We've had quite a few Davy episodes, only one Mike-centric one that I remember, and two Peter episodes so far - and no Micky-centric ones. That seems odd, considering that he's the only one who had actually anchored a TV show before. Maybe they figured that, since he was getting the lion's share of the songs, he could stand to not be so much the center of attention for the shows.

The plot is another two-sentence one: Davy is the doppelganger of a prince of a fictitious European country who must get married before he turns 18 or he will lose his throne. Davy has to woo his only suitress while dodging the machinations of the evil count, while Micky and Peter teach Prince Ludlow how to treat a lady, and manage to substitute the real prince for Davy at the altar. It's actually essentially the plot of the first episode, with Davy's role and the girl's swapped, right down to Davy having a fencing match with the evil count again (actually, two - one with the count, and one with the count's aide). There's also a rather nasty court chemist who tries the old Hamlet gambit - poisoning the end of the fencing foil - but Davy accidentally switches foils and ends up poisoning a plant by mistake.

The show does a reasonable job of making Wendy, the girl Davy's courting for the Prince, an actual character - and then blows that by having her doppelganger show up in the end stinger, to comfort the slightly heartbroken Davy. (I think this is the first time we actually see Love-'Em-And-Leave-'Em Jones broken up over a breakup.)

The court chemist isn't credited in the end roll; he's actually one of the regular Monkee stunt doubles - from his height, either Micky's or Peter's.

Micky and Peter actually commit violence in this episode (they punch out the prince's jailer). That's actually remarkably rare, at least as part of the plot (there's a lot of slapstick face-slapping and such in the romps), and it's usually Davy who does it when it does happen (presumably because it's funnier when it's the short guy).


Three decent episodes, no real standouts (but no stinkers, either). Episode 19 shows some good ensemble work, and Episode 20 lets Davy and Micky show off some of their physical comedy chops; Episode 21 feels to me like Episode 1 done right this time, which is probably the wrong way to think about it, but there it is.

There aren't any commentaries on this disc, alas.