Ni! [The Holy Book of Days v1.0]

Author: Melcher Media

Price: $4.99 @ AppStore

Requirements: iPad, iOS 4.3 or later

Test Rig: iPad (3rd generation)

I love British comedy. Well, not all of it, but a great deal of it.  ‘The Young Ones,’ ‘Black Adder 1, 2, 3, and 4’ (2 was the best), ‘Fry and Laurie’ (yes, ‘House’s’ Hugh Laurie), ‘Mr. Bean,’ ‘The Goon Show,’ ‘Red Dwarf” … The list goes on. And, at the top of the list, something completely different – ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ (other suggested titles were ‘It’s,’ ‘Owl Stretching Time,’ and ‘The Toad Elevating Moment’).
After several seasons of TV, it was decided that it was time to move out of the front parlor and into the cinema. With a meager budget and a 28-day shooting schedule, production of ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’ commenced. And now you can learn what it took to accomplish what was to become a Herculean feat with their iPad release, ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail – The Holy Book of Days.’
“Submerge yourself in the world of Monty Python and the Holy Grail as the six members of Monty Python take you on their foolhardy quest to make an epic film in just 28 days (coconuts not included) through this interactively interactive Holy Book of Days.”
Let us “seek the grail.”

THE JUICE

” … the Pythons have gone back to their vaults and pulled out a treasure trove of never-before-seen (or heard) outakes, rehearsals, songs, sound effects, scripts, dozens of stills, and much much more.”
You have two paths that you can travel through this app – “Day by Day” or “Scene by Scene.” Navigation is extremely simple. Icons of film slates, diaries, and so forth cram every single page with dozens of items to browse for every single day of shooting.
Even though a stand alone app, you can sync it with your Blu-ray copy of the film, via WiFi, to provide a second screen that allows you to use your iPad as a remote control and directly access the scenes that you are referencing on your iPad!

THE PULP

Let me begin by saying that I don’t have a Blu-ray copy of the film (yet), so my review is based on THBoD solely as a stand alone app.
Navigation is not only intuitive, but an adventure. Every time that I have opened a page, I always find that there is some material that I’ve yet to access. And there is a wealth of material!

• more than 70 minutes of never before seen video
• interactive 360 degree props
• Michael Palin’s diary
• the screenplay
• continuity scripts
• an introduction by John Cleese
• more, more, more!

After watching some of the outtakes, I absolutely have to purchase the Blu-ray. As I recall the film when I first saw it in the theater, it looked liked it had been processed by a company that produces student films. But when I saw the outtakes on my 3G iPad … WHOA!
There’s also an engaging story bout the taunter at the top of the castle (“I fart in your general direction!”) . It seems that several weeks before production, Cleese was reading a book on the period. He came to learn that castles had men whose job was solely to taunt the approaching army. Of course, Cleese’s mind took it from there and the idea became one of the classic scenes of the film.

THE RIND

As I said earlier, I don’t currently own a Blu-ray copy of the film. So, I judged this as a standalone app. And I’m not engaging in hyperbole when I say that this is absolutely one of the best produced iPad apps that I have ever scene.

SUMMARY

‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail – The Holy Book of Days’ is a no brainer if you’re a Python fan. I would also recommend this for film school students, as it shows you the realities of what can go wrong and obstacles that you’ll encounter when producing a film out in the real world.
And if you don’t fall into either of those camps, buy it anyway. You’ll be entertained for days on end.

RATING:  10 out of 10

©2012 Frank Petrie / ympnowfsr.wordpress.com