It was a long time coming but it’s finally here!
“The Beatles: Get Back” documentary, directed and produced by esteemed director Peter Jackson, had premiered on the Disney+ channel in November of 2021 and has been streaming there ever since but for some reason it’s journey to physical media has been somewhat rockier road.
This past February 8th “The Beatles: Get Back” was supposed to be released on DVD and Blu-ray. “Supposed” being the operative word. For some technical reason the DVD and Blu-ray sets were about a week or two from hitting store shelves when the rug was pulled for their release.
Now here’s the weird part. A few keen Beatles fans managed to make their way to stores like Best Buy and Target on the original February 8th release date and were able to find copies of the set on the shelves!
Most were met with a roadblock when they went to checkout the sets as the stores registers came up with a notice saying this item can’t be purchased. Of course that didn’t dissuade everyone and a few of these “defective” sets were sold.
(Note: Target store employees told some customers that they had to hold onto the discs until this upcoming September and they could sell them then! First off if they’re defective why on earth would they hold them and secondly why oh why even put them out on the shelves in the first place!)
Apparently discs were sent to stores without being stopped by distributors. This is a truly strange situation and leads me to believe this last minute issue was either discovered too late to stop shipments OR Disney had some other wacky (and as yet unknown) reason to keep these sets from retail sale.
Reports online by the few people that did manage to buy these sets claim that they couldn’t detect anything wrong with them. The initial, and only quite frankly, word from Apple or Disney was that the due to a technical glitch the sets had been pushed back with a new release date forthcoming.
Online there has been speculation that there was an issue with the surround sound being mixed down to stereo so there was no true stereo soundtrack on these defective discs but that hasn’t been officially stated as the reason for the sets delay.
Not that there’s been much of anything further officially addressed about this mess other than the discs are delayed. Apple, The Beatles company, and Disney themselves have had little to say about the physical release for “The Beatles: Get Back” and still have not revealed a new release date and you can’t order the set from most online retailers.
Fast forward over two months later to the end of March 2022. What happens to appear as in stock online at Amazon but “The Beatles: Get Back” DVD set! And it’s just the DVD set mind you as the Blu-ray set still says unavailable.
Well of course my curiosity was peaked so I quickly ordered the set and hoped for the best. Now here’s the weirdest part of all – I was just shipped the DVD set of “The Beatles: Get Back” by Amazon and I now have it in my hot little hands!
I’m guessing this is the corrected set but I haven’t seen other retailers show a new release date so I’m not one hundred percent sure. Is this one of the early sets that somehow is still in the pipeline and made it out? Why is Amazon the only place I’m seeing this DVD set in stock? And why on earth would Amazon be sending out “defective” sets at this late date?
Weird is the only word I can think of at the moment. I’ve read other folks have been sent the DVD set from Amazon and it was indeed the earlier “defective” set so this may or may not be a corrected set I don’t know how to tell at this point.
The weirdness with the physical release of “The Beatles: Get Back” is kind of poetic as the original release of this material eventually called “Let it Be” was also delayed several times before it too finally released to movie screens and record shelves around the world.
As for this DVD set I received today, it looks and sounds great. I’ve only skimmed through some of the contents but everything I’ve played sounds and looks just fine. It has surround sound mixes and a stereo mix but are they the correct mixes, I have no idea. All I know is everything looks great and I am happy with my purchase.
The packaging for the DVD set is really bare bones but decent enough. The cover is groovy but the discs themselves are just stacked in the center of the cover with a flyer for the “Let it Be” box set from last fall in the left hand side of the cover. No booklet to be seen but at least all the discs were pristine without a scratch in site even though they’re just stacked together in a pile.
I’m truly glad to have a physical copy of this set. I did managed to do a free trial of Disney+ last November but I rushed through the eight hours of the documentary pretty fast and only watched it once before my trial was over.
Having the physical DVDs is much better for me as I can take my time and slowly digest the contents of this monumental documentary. As a Beatle fan I can see wanting to watch this set over and over as it’s a once in a lifetime window into how The Beatles actually created their music.
There is no other in-depth film of them inside a recording studio or rehearsal hall working out material and creating it from thin air as you see in “The Beatles: Get Back”. I can also see how a casual fan may get bored as it can be tedious viewing at times but for any true Beatles manic this eight-hour documentary is pure gold.
I’m hoping that if Peter Jackson gets his way he’ll be able to release an even longer deluxe set later that could add several more hours of footage which would be great. If he does I would spring for a Blu-ray copy and have this shorter version as a back-up.
So there you have it. Is this “The Beatles: Get Back” DVD set the final version? I guess if it pops up other places soon I’ll know it is but if Amazon is somehow leaking out the earlier pressed sets I would truly be shocked but pleasantly surprised that I managed to get one.
Well, that’s all for now. Just a quick look at the new DVD of “The Beatles: Get Back” set from Disney and Apple. If you’re a Beatles fan and want a copy go to Amazon right now as they still had some in stock. Who knows if they’ll disappear again into the ether and not come up for sale again until who knows when?
And as usual you can take a gander at the set above as I’ve posted several photos of it from every angle.
Until next time be well and safe and see you soon!
Records, CDs and Music: 