The episodes first came out in the ‘90s in the days of things being shot on video. Peter Jackson’s team can restore everything. It’s amazing with the benefit of hindsight. In the years before ‘Anthology’ first came out, no one was talking about The Beatles in that whole chasm of time. Since then, that triggered a plethora of stuff. My dad brought me in on it, but even he was telling me back then that he hadn’t worked on anything to do with The Beatles since 1970.
Giles Martin – From NME, November 21, 2025
It sounds great. The difference with Shea Stadium and the Washington concert is incredible. People heard a bit of that in The Beatles ‘64, that Scorsese film I did. I was doing mixes, but I wasn’t sure what they were for. Now it’s certainly listenable. It’s funny how if you listen to Shea Stadium, what was released was really rough. There were no drums, and now we can restore that.
I always believe that you can bring people back to the place they were, or the place they never were. You can get people close to the action using technology, and that’s the whole point. All of what we do is about revealing the humanity.
Giles Martin – From NME, November 21, 2025
Apple And Disney + Have Butchered The Beatles’ Anthology Worse Than Capitol Records Butchered The Beatles’ Albums In The 1960s : I’ll be honest, I’m pretty sick to my stomach right now. For weeks I had been just as excited as anyone about the re-release of the Beatles Anthology. I remained positive. I told friends, family, and co-workers to get Disney + to watch what I’ve told them is the greatest music documentary of all time, “The Beatles Anthology”.
Granted, for years I have been waiting for it to be released on high definition Blu-Ray. But to be able to see the “FULL UNEDITED” version in all of its glory on a streaming site in a remastered form was the next best thing. And if the new 9th episode had at least 15 to 20 minutes of unseen footage of Paul, George, and Ringo working on “Free As A Bird”, “Real Love”, and “Now And Then” would be icing on the cake.
Well I didn’t expect the train wreck that I’m experiencing now. Each episode is not only much shorter than the VHS/DVD version, there is also a ton of essential footage cut out. The original Anthology was over 11 hours long with the bonus features. This new Disney + version even with the new bonus 9th episode will only clock in at around 9 hours, with up to 20 minutes an episode being cut.
Many indelible quotes that we as fans have come to know and love are missing too ! And I’ll just give some examples in the very first episode alone. Like Paul Telling the Pete Best “Condom” Story. Or George getting deported from Hamburg. Or Paul speaking about how he loves ukulele players because they all remind him of John’s mom Julia. And one of my absolute favorite quotes from Ringo when he talks about Brian Epstein calling him to join The Beatles even though he read in someone’s book that it was actually John. (The perfect Ringo being Ringo moment). I could go on and on.
Some fans are defending this disaster by stating that it’s the longer version of the original 1995 television version that clocked in at almost 6 hours. But if that was the case then it should have been presented that way in the form of three, two hour episodes. This was promoted as the eight episode version that was originally released on VHS tape in 1996 almost a year after the television version, and then eventually on DVD with two more discs of bonus features . […]
From The Beach Boys And Beatles 101 : The Bands The Music The History on Facebook, November 27, 2025
“Anthology 2025” offerts a notable enhancement over the original 1995 series. The restoration process, led by Peter Jackson’s team, delivers substantial visual improvements, like those seen in his “Get Back” series. With the documentary now remastered in 4K, viewers experience a remarkable increase in clarity and detail.
Despite thoese upgrades, some fans have complained about how Jackson’s machine learning technology was used in the remastering, saying it created distorted images, especially with folks in the background. Most of these problems show up in the older, black and white footage, where the quality wasn’t great to begin with.
It is a point to be made, but not worth discussing beyond that. Given the overwhelming visual improvement overall, the look of this series comes out far on the plus-side.
The remixed audio (in Dolby Atmos, for those equipped) is much better, too, as one might expect after 30 years. Some performances sound noticeably better, including those at Shea Stadium, the Hollywood Bowl, and several other live show performances. Still, while the improved visuals and audio are impressive, it is disappointing that none of the performances are presented in full. Viewers will be left wanting more.
Essentially, the new series is the same old Beatles story we’ve had for decades. But 30 years later we have different sensibilities regarding social mores, so some passages have been edited out. We don’t really need to see John Lennon’s spastic antics or hear Paul McCartney throwing shade at Fabian as a minor artist in order to understand and enjoy The Beatles’ history. […]
There has been considerable new scholarship in The Beatles’ history since the show’s original airing. None of it is reflected in this retelling, and that’s a missed opportunity.
Similarly, apocryphal accounts — such as Paul’s insistence that The Beatles postpone their first trip to America until they secured a No. 1 hit on the U.S. charts — are still with us.
The 2025 edition features some new (although brief) scenes within the main story. The nice footage in India stands out as a prime example. Some segments of footage — such as the scene from “The Wild One” with Lee Marvin — simply have been rearranged to improve narrative flow.
While the DVD set added five hours to the 1995 television broadcast version, expanding it to more than 11 hours in full, the Disney+ version trimmed that to just a bit more than eight hours’ worth. As a result, the new streamlined streaming version is tighter and more concise.
For modern viewers, it probably is enough. Fans who want everything are hoping for an expanded physical release, but that might be wishful thinking. […]
What everyone was waiting for — and what is likely to become the most rewatched episode — is “Anthology 9,” featuring previously unseen 1990s footage of Paul, George and Ringo Starr filmed for the “Anthology” project.
It’s fitting that Episode 9 serves as a Beatles reunion of sorts. This episode shines a spotlight on John and his demos, which he recorded after the band’s breakup. Years later, these recordings were revisited and transformed into three new Beatles songs by Paul, George and Ringo (“the Threetles”), bringing John’s voice back into the story, allowing the surviving Beatles to reunite musically and offering fans a sense of closure. […]
From ‘Beatles Anthology 2025’ Series: It’s Still Great Hanging Out With These Guys | SOMETHING NEW
