Almost 29 years after airing on TV and its later expansion on VHS/DVD, The Beatles Anthology remains an epic documentary series.

I became a fan of The Beatles through watching The Beatles Anthology during its three-night ABC broadcast in 1995. It would lead to both Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road becoming the first CDs in my collection. I would also pick up a guitar for the first time, later dropping the trumpet. In college, I took a piano course for the same reason but never quite mastered it. Of course, there’s the time that I saw Paul McCartney in concert back in 2011. That’s my Beatles story in a nutshell but none of it happens without ABC becoming A Beatles C. Fun fact: I came into the series because of all the ABC stars promoting it at the time so you can blame the misleading marketing for my becoming a fan.

While the initial broadcast ran about six hours, the expanded DVD is even longer. The eight DVD volumes span 1940 through their breakup after recording Abbey Road. On top of that, there’s another disc with 81 minutes of special features. All of the music is remastered for 5.1. I took in all of it in just over a 24-hour period prior to the Olympics kicking off in Paris. This was my first time sitting down to watch the documentary since the 1995 broadcast. I’ve been wanting to add the box set to my collection but my preference was to wait for a Blu-ray upgrade. While a Blu-ray upgrade now seems unlikely, rewatching has been on my agenda for a few weeks and as they say, it was now or never.

The seeds were planted in the early 1970s when Apple Corps manager Neil Aspinall edited footage of concert, interview, and television appearances into what was then a 90-minute documentary, The Long and Winding Road. It was shelved and none of The Beatles had any involvement at the time. Things would change in 1980 as John Lennon made an announcement of a Beatles reunion. His murder changed those plans. One of the saddest moments in history is also one of the greatest what-if moments. Can you imagine the 1980s with The Beatles reuniting and recording new music? I know, right?!? But anyway, documentary plans were back on in the early 1990s. But instead of a 90-minute film. it became a 6-hour documentary with three surviving Beatles involved. John Lennon appeared by way of archival audio or video interviews. Aspinall, producer George Martin, and publicist Derek Taylor are also on camera.

This documentary is really a celebration of The Beatles. They could have easily added talking heads to add their own insight to The Beatles but they didn’t. It’s for the best. I mean, the series was already 6 hours on TV with an even longer run time on home video. The run time, as things currently stand, is just over 11 hours. Think about it for a moment–this documentary spans their births; childhood; Paul meeting John after a performance of The Quarrymen in July 1957; George joining in 1958; and the entirety of The Beatles, starting in 1960 with Ringo replacing Pete Best in 1962. Beatlemania itself would take its hold in 1963 and their lives would never again be the same.

I’m not going to rehash their career but just think about it for a moment: The Beatles: Get Back covers a month of their lives and runs nearly 8 hours. It’s rather comprehensive even if the point of view is from The Beatles and a small inside circle. It could be even longer with the amount of material that’s out there but again, it just speaks to The Beatles being one of the most influential bands of all time. The first U.S. visit in February 1964 didn’t come until after they hit #1 in America and a few months after the Kennedy assassination. There is an entire documentary focusing on the visit and a good bit of footage is in the Anthology. Until earlier this year, this was the only way to watch original footage from Let It Be, including the part where Paul and George are going at it.

In another universe, music journalists and cultural critics might have appeared in the doc to offer context about the music and world events going on. After all, The Beatles were singing songs about love, peace, and understanding. But anyway, if people want the additional insight, they can always go elsewhere. For instance, Philip Norman has penned biographies on John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison. It would not surprise me if he’s writing one on Ringo Starr, too. After all, he already wrote the definitive single-volume biography in Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation. Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn published the first volume, Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years Vol. 1, in his trilogy almost a decade ago. Volumes 2 and 3 have yet to be published but if fans need more, there’s an extended special edition of the first volume.

DIRECTOR: Geoff Wonfor
SERIES DIRECTOR/WRITER: Bob Smeaton
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Neil Aspinall
PRODUCER: Chips Chipperfield
FEATURING: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, George Martin, Neil Aspinall, Derek Taylor

The Beatles Anthology premiered November 19-25, 1995 on ABC. It was later released on VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD. Grade: 5/5

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