In a deleted scene from Pulp Fiction, Uma Thurman’s character Mia posits that there are two kinds of people in the world, Elvis People and Beatles People. While it’s possible to be fans of both the King of Rock and Roll and the Fab Four, everybody likes one or the other more, and which you choose says something about who you are as a person. I tend to agree with her. However, it is also possible to start as one but become the other.
My mother was an Elvis fan, so growing up, I listened to my share of classic Elvis. “Jailhouse Rock” and “Return to Sender” were two of my earliest favorite songs I can remember. However, in high school, I was really introduced to The Beatles. This was thanks to a high school friend who was already a big fan when I met him, and The Beatles Anthology.
The Beatles Anthology Is Still Incredible, Even Three Decades Later
I already owned my copy of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, when The Beatles Anthology first debuted on TV during my senior year. I was as excited as anybody to watch this unprecedented deep dive into the Fab Four by the men themselves. That Christmas, I received the complete eight-episode series, with far more than had aired on TV, as a VHS box set. I kept them far longer than the VCR I needed to play them on.
So I was in heaven when it was announced that The Beatles Anthology was finally coming to streaming. Anybody with a Disney+ subscription can now experience this incredible look at one of the greatest bands to ever exist. The (then) three remaining Beatles, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison, told their own story in a way that only they could, alongside archival interviews with John Lennon. It’s as close to the Beatles reuniting that we’ll ever get.
I certainly remembered The Beatles Anthology as being perfect, and, like The Beatles’ iconic songs, it’s damn close. The problem is the brand-new ninth episode that was put together as part of the streaming release. It’s not that it’s bad. It might actually be the best single episode of the entire Anthology, but it inadvertently reveals the one thing I never realized the rest of the series was always missing.
The Beatles Anthology Episode 9 Finally Brings The Living Beatles Together
Part of the reason The Beatles Anthology was so special at the time of its creation was that it included the three living Beatles working together again for the first time in decades. The breakup of the Beatles in 1970 is a well-known story. While the Fab Four were still clearly friends in a general sense, they had seemingly reached the point where they just couldn’t work together anymore.
And yet, the vast majority of the interview footage in Anthology consists of Paul, George, and Ringo, alone, speaking to the camera. There is some interview footage of the three of them talking together, but it’s remarkably little for the nearly eight hours of total footage used.
This changes in a big way in Episode 9. The new final episode is basically a documentary on the documentary, where the Bealtes discuss the process of making the Anthology happen, as well as recording the two “new” Beatles songs, “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.” Obviously, this means we get to see the trio reunite to record the music.
But beyond that, there is additional material of the three Beatles being interviewed as a trio that wasn’t included in the original series, but certainly could have been. They discuss the origin of the iconic Beatles haircut as well as where the Beatle Boots came from. They sit in the EMI studio and talk about their experience of recording there.
It was only after seeing that it really struck me how little of the trio together we saw originally. They’re playing off each other, making jokes, and so clearly enjoying each other’s company. We even see them investigating old Beatles takes with their producer George Martin, something we don’t see at all in the main series.
Especially considering that in the last three decades we lost not only George Harrison but also George Martin, seeing them all together is especially heartwarming.
I wish there were more of this in the collected Anthology. Still, it does make the final episode a welcome addition to the collection. It’s a postscript that will absolutely put a smile on the face of any old school Beatle fan, or anybody who just became one.