17 Reasons Why The Beatles Documentary "Get Back" Is Actually A Momentous Release

This might be the most unique music documentary ever made.

This week, The Beatles: Get Back landed on Disney+. The docu-series – which was directed by THE Peter Jackson – charts the band's journey towards recording their final album Let It Be wayyyy back in January 1969.

Linda McCartney/Disney+

Everyone knows the Beatles, but this doc shines a new light on the band's history and dynamic like never before! Here are 17 reasons why you should check it out.

1. This project has been four years in the making, and a team of 14 people had to remaster all of the never-before-seen footage before editing could even begin!

Disney+

150 hours of audio and 60 hours of footage – that’s how much Peter Jackson and his team had to work with! The famous director was the first person to go through the archived material in over 50 years, and it took a team of 14 technicians to clean it all up before the "real work" of editing could start.

2. Peter Jackson himself volunteered to lead the project, and it was his WW1 documentary They Shall Not Grow Old that helped seal the deal.

Kevin Winter / Via Getty Images

Peter Jackson is, of course, best known for his work directing The Lord of the Rings trilogy – one of the highest-grossing film series of all time. However, it was his documentary film They Shall Not Grow Old – which uses similar remastering techniques to those used in The Beatles: Get Back – that ultimately scored him a job offer to direct the project.

During a meeting with the Beatles' company Apple Corps, Jackson enquired about the whereabouts of outtakes from Michael Lindsay-Hogg's 1970 documentary Let It Be. When he realised Apple Corps had all of the footage archived in its vaults, he immediately suggested reworking it into a brand new remastered documentary series.

3. Speaking of, this new docu-series wouldn't have been possible without the efforts of filmmaker Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and his 1970 documentary.

Evening Standard/Hulton Archive / Via Getty Images

Much has been said of the original film Let It Be, but I must say, it's great to able to see Michael's footage flourish. Thanks to the longer runtime and the advanced restoration undertaken on the material, fans can truly appreciate the footage for how amazing it is!

4. The way the footage has been restored ~really~ pays off.

Disney+

No one could deny that Michael's original footage was in desperate need of a clean up. The original film was shot on 16 mm cameras and then put on to 35 mm film – do you know what that equals? Film grain on more film grain! After being carefully restored using A.I. as well as manual quality checks, the new footage feels genuinely modern, and will put anyone watching it right in the moment!

5. Not to mention the sound remastering for The Beatles: Get Back is genuinely the stuff of science-fiction!

Apple Records

I really hope they publish how extensive the audio restoration was. The original sound was recorded on mono tapes, and this rendered certain conversations essentially inaudible. The technology that ended up being used to recover this was beyond Jackson's wildest dreams! Audio that had been mono tracked was separated into separate layers so that viewers could actually hear what the band was saying. If technology can achieve that, what can't it do?!

6. Getting to observe the Beatles' in their creative element is genuinely mind-blowing.

Disney+

We all love getting a peek behind the curtain to see how an artist does what they do. I got a kick out of seeing Paul McCartney getting frustrated when the band weren't in sync, leading him to start riffing on his guitar. Everyone stops to listen, and there it is – the song "Get Back" is born! I felt like I witnessed a creative breakthrough right in front of me.

7. And the talent on display is so inspiring, especially considering the deadline they were up against.

Disney+

The band had less than a month to finish recording Let It Be and it was a pretty rocky road along the way! The Beatles were talented, but it wasn't effortless. Watching them cycle through weak material and turn okay songs into hits is just amazing!

8. Incredibly, they often forgot they were being filmed, and so much of the footage is super candid.

Disney+

As the story goes, the band wanted to create a companion documentary to a concert broadcast they were planning. However, when the broadcast was cancelled, the documentary became a separate film and the cameras pretty much never stopped rolling. No moment of frustration or excitement gets missed here – it's honestly wild!

9. This isn't just a montage of miserable break-up footage.

RDImages/Epics/Disney+ / Via Getty Images

One thing many fans assumed was that the outtakes of Let It Be would just be the band arguing all the time – after all, it was their last ever studio album released. In reality, The Fab Four kept themselves entertained at every possible moment.

10. Their on-screen chemistry is just so irresistible.

Disney+

There are some really special moments throughout this docu-series – like whenever Ringo and Paul break into frantic piano covers, or one of the band starts strumming a guitar mid-conversation! The four of them are just effortlessly entertaining to watch. Their personalities are so tangible, and you really feel it whenever one of them isn't around.

11. The series puts to bed several infamous myths about the band.

Disney+

There's this great scene in which Paul is talking – unaware of the camera – and he says, "it'll be funny in fifty years if people look back and say the Beatles broke up because Yoko sat on an amp". For decades, the notion that John's second wife Yoko Ono broke up the band has persisted, so it's great to see the band address this rumour specifically, inadvertently, and in a playful way!

12. Peter Jackson had to convince Disney to allow swearing in the movie so that it would feel more "modern".

Disney+

Disney has a very strict no swearing rule across all of its content, but Jackson managed to convince execs that profanity was part of the band's charm! Speaking to Radio Times magazine he admitted that he "got Disney to agree to have swearing, which I think is the first time for a Disney channel... The Beatles are Scouse boys and they freely swear but not in an aggressive or sexual way".

13. Their famous impromptu rooftop gig – the last public performance of the four together – is captured in its full 42 minute glory!

Disney+

This is a legendary moment in the band's history, and all done without letting the general public know about it! The Beatles, plus keyboardist Billy Preston, climbed to the top of Apple Corps headquarters and played a 42 minute set before London police asked them to turn the music down. Random passers-by and office workers were lucky enough to hear the band play nine songs including "Get Back", with some tracks were even recorded live for the album – talk about talent!

14. The long runtime is actually perfect, and does total justice to the source material.

Disney+

The original plan for The Beatles: Get Back was for it to be a two hour feature film, but pandemic-related delays and a switch to Disney+ changed the scope of the project. I'd argue this was absolutely for the best – the series doesn't feel padded out at all, and why would it? They had sixty hours of film footage alone, after all!

15. Watching The Beatles: Get Back is like stepping back in time, which is a pretty magical experience!

Disney+

The spirit of the swinging sixties was still in the air when Let It Be first came out, and this remastered version is sort of like a time capsule for that iconic era. It's fascinating to "go back in time" and see what life was like for the Beatles at this turning point in their careers.

16. This is probably the first time I've related to the notion that the Beatles can appeal to any generation.

Disney+

My dad has been waiting ages for this to be released, and watching the series myself made me understand why Beatles fans have been anticipating it for so long. What Jackson has crafted here is beyond cinematic – I genuinely kept forgetting that I was watching real people making real music! The Beatles: Get Back is as absorbing as any fictional film or series.

17. This might be the most unique music documentary ever made.

Disney+

Many artists have behind-the-scenes documentaries, but I don't think any are as singular and in-depth as this is. This series took Jackson and his team four years to edit – for perspective, each The Lord of the Rings film took four months in the edit room. Also, though there are few bands that compare to the Beatles, certainly none have this much material within a single recording period.

Additional facts via Disney+

Have you seen The Beatles: Get Back yet? Let us know what you thought of it in the comments below!