History Series / TheBeatlesGetBack

''The Beatles: Get Back'' is a 2021 three-part MiniSeries directed by Creator/PeterJackson. It is a {{documentary}} about the making of what eventually became Music/TheBeatles' final album, ''Music/LetItBe''. [[note]] ''Music/AbbeyRoad'' was recorded last, but released before ''LetItBe''.[[/note]]

''The Beatles: Get Back'' is a 2021 three-part MiniSeries directed by Creator/PeterJackson. It is a {{documentary}} about the making of what eventually became Music/TheBeatles' final album, ''Music/LetItBe''.

* BunglingInventor: Alexis "Magic Alex" Madras had promised to design a new state-of-the-art 72-track recording studio at Apple Records, but the result is only partly assembled when the Beatles get there. What he is able to get working is virtually unusable, with small speakers of such distorted sound quality and background noise that George Martin is finally driven to borrow a portable four-track console from [=EMI=] just so they can record anything at all. Magic Alex also gives John a prototype of a new musical instrument that is a convertible rhythm guitar / electric bass with a swiveling neck; the concept has a few small design flaws such as being impossible to tune or play.

* BunglingInventor: Alexis "Magic Alex" Madras had promised to design a new state-of-the-art 72-track recording studio at Apple Records, but the result is only partly assembled when the Beatles get there. What he is able to get working is virtually unusable, with small speakers of such distorted sound quality and background noise that George Martin is finally driven to borrow a portable studio console from [=EMI=] just so they can record anything at all. Magic Alex also gives John a prototype of a new musical instrument that is a convertible rhythm guitar / electric bass with a swiveling neck; the concept has a few small design flaws such as being impossible to tune or play.

* AccentuatingTheNegative: Done at the end of Part 1, in which the camera continuously cuts back and forth between Paul and John talking, laughing and fooling around and George watching in frustration from a corner. When combined with the band visibly spending little time on George's songs, it helps to make his sense of being a third wheel in the creative process more obvious, and contextualizes his decision to (temporarily) leave the band.

* LimitedWardrobe: Very much averted for Paul, George and Ringo, who are often decked out in an array of colorful vests and turtlenecks, but played straight with John, who is seen wearing the same outfit on most of the days the group worked at Twickenham. He [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this himself by claiming that it's for continuity reasons. In actual fact, his heroin addiction meant that he was putting minimal effort into his personal hygiene and appearance during this period (as is also evidenced by his often unwashed hair).

* ProtestSong: After [=McCartney=] comes up with the idea for the song "Get Back", it briefly becomes a protest song called "Commonwealth" that was satirizing anti-immigrant, incendiary British politician Enoch Powell. Eventually, the group abandons that idea and starts singing about Jo-Jo and Loretta, although there's still an artifact of "Commonwealth" in the lyric "get back to where you once belonged."

''The Beatles: Get Back'' is a 2021 three-part MiniSeries directed by Creator/PeterJackson. It is a {{Documentary}} about the making of what eventually became Music/TheBeatles' final album, ''Music/LetItBe''.

In January 1969 the Beatles assemble for their next project. The idea is to get away from the intricate, complex studio recordings that had been much of the band's output in recent years, and, well, ''get back'' to a more ThreeChordsAndTheTruth style of rock 'n roll. The band will rehearse and record fourteen songs that will be played live. The Beatles will also play a live show with their new material, which will be their first live performance since they quit touring in 1966. Finally, a film crew will be there to document their new record as they rehearse and record it, as part of a television special.

The project immediately runs into problems: Music/GeorgeHarrison isn't very enthusiastic about the whole affair, and he also resents Music/JohnLennon and Music/PaulMcCartney for relegating him to a secondary role in the band. Lennon is struggling to come up with material, and has become more dependent on his soon-to-be wife Music/YokoOno, whose near-constant presence unnerves the others. [=McCartney=] is finding himself having to be the boss of the group even as he specifically states that he doesn't want to act like the boss. No one likes the sound stage at Twickenham Studios, a large building with bad acoustics. No one can agree on where to play the live show--a cruise ship? an orphanage? Primrose Hill in UsefulNotes/{{London}}? An amphitheater in UsefulNotes/{{Libya}}? And they need to be ready before the month is out, because Music/RingoStarr is going to shoot [[Film/TheMagicChristian a movie]]. Tensions rise, and eventually Harrison quits the group.

The footage shot at Twickenham and Apple in January 1969 was, after the idea of the TV special was dropped, made into the feature film ''Film/LetItBe''. That movie, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, was theatrically released in 1970. Fifty years later, director Creator/PeterJackson took all the material recorded by Lindsay-Hogg, some 60 hours of film and 150 hours of audio recordings, and reassembled it into a new documentary. The original idea was for Jackson to make a documentary feature film like his UsefulNotes/WorldWarI documentary ''Film/TheyShallNotGrowOld'', but after the UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic forced postponement of the feature, Jackson instead assembled a three-part documentary series that in total runs nearly eight hours. The series premiered on Creator/DisneyPlus on (American) Thanksgiving weekend, November 25-27, 2021.

* CheerfulChild: Linda’s (and later Paul’s) six-year-old daughter Heather shows up to visit with her mother and is clearly delighted to be hanging out with Paul and the rest of the band. The other Beatles all obviously adore her too, and let her dance and play with their instruments and gear. She even gets into a playful argument with John about why one should not eat kittens. Ringo has fun letting get in on the drumming.

* CheerfulChild: Linda’s (and later Paul’s) six-year-old daughter Heather shows up to visit with her mother and is clearly delighted to be hanging out with Paul and the rest of the band. The other Beatles all obviously adore her too, and let her dance and play with their instruments and gear. She even gets into a playful argument with John about why one should not eat kittens.

The project immediately runs into problems. Music/GeorgeHarrison isn't very enthusiastic about the whole affair, and he also resents Music/JohnLennon and Music/PaulMcCartney for relegating him to a secondary role in the band. Lennon is struggling to come up with material, and has become more dependent on his soon-to-be wife Music/YokoOno, whose near-constant presence unnerves the others. [=McCartney=] is finding himself having to be the boss of the group even as he specifically states that he doesn't want to act like the boss. No one likes the sound stage at Twickenham Studios, a large building with bad acoustics. No one can agree on where to play the live show--a cruise ship? an orphanage? Primrose Hill in UsefulNotes/{{London}}? An amphitheater in UsefulNotes/{{Libya}}? And they need to be ready before the month is out, because Music/RingoStarr is going to shoot [[Film/TheMagicChristian a movie]]. Tensions rise, and eventually Harrison quits the group.

The project immediately runs into problems. Music/GeorgeHarrison isn't very enthusiastic about the whole affair, and he also resents Music/JohnLennon and Music/PaulMcCartney for relegating him to a secondary role in the band. Lennon is struggling to come up with material, and is growing more dependent on his soon-to-be wife Music/YokoOno, whose near-constant presence unnerves the others. [=McCartney=] is finding himself having to be the boss of the group even as he specifically states that he doesn't want to act like the boss. No one likes the sound stage at Twickenham Studios, a large building with bad acoustics. No one can agree on where to play the live show--a cruise ship? an orphanage? Primrose Hill in UsefulNotes/{{London}}? An amphitheater in UsefulNotes/{{Libya}}? And they need to be ready before the month is out, because Music/RingoStarr is going to shoot [[Film/TheMagicChristian a movie]]. Tensions rise, and eventually Harrison quits the group.

The project immediately runs into problems. Music/GeorgeHarrison isn't very enthusiastic about the whole affair, and he also resents Music/JohnLennon and Music/PaulMcCartney for relegating him to a secondary role in the band. Lennon is struggling to come up with material, and is growing more dependent on his soon-to-be wife Music/YokoOno, whose near=constant presence unnerves the others. [=McCartney=] is finding himself having to be the boss of the group even as he specifically states that he doesn't want to act like the boss. No one likes the sound stage at Twickenham Studios, a large building with bad acoustics. No one can agree on where to play the live show--a cruise ship? an orphanage? Primrose Hill in UsefulNotes/{{London}}? An amphitheater in UsefulNotes/{{Libya}}? And they need to be ready before the month is out, because Music/RingoStarr is going to shoot [[Film/TheMagicChristian a movie]]. Tensions rise, and eventually Harrison quits the group.

The project immediately runs into problems. Music/GeorgeHarrison isn't very enthusiastic about the whole affair, and he also resents Music/JohnLennon and Music/PaulMcCartney for relegating him to a secondary role in the band. Lennon is struggling to come up with material, and is becoming more dependent on his soon-to-be wife Music/YokoOno, whose constant presence unnerves the others. [=McCartney=] is finding himself having to be the boss of the group even as he specifically states that he doesn't want to act like the boss. No one likes the sound stage at Twickenham Studios, a large building with bad acoustics. No one can agree on where to play the live show--a cruise ship? an orphanage? Primrose Hill in UsefulNotes/{{London}}? An amphitheater in UsefulNotes/{{Libya}}? And they need to be ready before the month is out, because Music/RingoStarr is going to shoot [[Film/TheMagicChristian a movie]]. Tensions rise, and eventually Harrison quits the group.

The project immediately runs into problems. Music/GeorgeHarrison isn't very enthusiastic about the whole affair, and he also resents Music/JohnLennon and Music/PaulMcCartney for relegating him to a secondary role in the band. Lennon is struggling to come up with material, and is becoming more dependent on his soon-to-be wife Music/YokoOno. [=McCartney=] is finding himself having to be the boss of the group even as he specifically states that he doesn't want to act like the boss. No one likes the sound stage at Twickenham Studios, a large building with bad acoustics. No one can agree on where to play the live show--a cruise ship? an orphanage? Primrose Hill in UsefulNotes/{{London}}? An amphitheater in UsefulNotes/{{Libya}}? And they need to be ready before the month is out, because Music/RingoStarr is going to shoot [[Film/TheMagicChristian a movie]]. Tensions rise, and eventually Harrison quits the group.

The project immediately runs into problems. Music/GeorgeHarrison isn't very enthusiastic about the whole affair, and he also resents Music/JohnLennon and Music/PaulMcCartney for relegating him to a secondary role in the band. Lennon is struggling to come up with material and is becoming more dependent on his soon-to-be wife Creator/YokoOno. [=McCartney=] is finding himself having to be the boss of the group even as he specifically states that he doesn't want to act like the boss. No one likes the sound stage at Twickenham Studios, a large building with bad acoustics. No one can agree on where to play the live show--a cruise ship? an orphanage? Primrose Hill in UsefulNotes/{{London}}? An amphitheater in UsefulNotes/{{Libya}}? And they need to be ready before the month is out, because Music/RingoStarr is going to shoot [[Film/TheMagicChristian a movie]]. Tensions rise, and eventually Harrison quits the group.

The project immediately runs into problems. Music/GeorgeHarrison isn't very enthusiastic about the whole affair, and he also resents Music/JohnLennon and Music/PaulMcCartney for relegating him to a secondary role in the band. Lennon is struggling to come up with material. [=McCartney=] is finding himself having to be the boss of the group even as he specifically states that he doesn't want to act like the boss. No one likes the sound stage at Twickenham Studios, a large building with bad acoustics. No one can agree on where to play the live show--a cruise ship? an orphanage? Primrose Hill in UsefulNotes/{{London}}? An amphitheater in UsefulNotes/{{Libya}}? And they need to be ready before the month is out, because Music/RingoStarr is going to shoot [[Film/TheMagicChristian a movie]]. Tensions rise, and eventually Harrison quits the group.

* CheerfulChild: Six-year-old Heather [=McCartney=] shows up with her mother Linda and is clearly delighted to be hanging out with her dad and the band. The other Beatles all obviously adore her too, and let her dance and play with their instruments and gear.