Alternate versions

The 2001 special edition features alternative dialogue when Arthur and Bedevere meet Rodger the Shrubber.

The UK cinema release in 1975 had edited some of the lines to receive an 'A' certificate. These lines include some of Zoot's texture about the oral sex and the overdubbing of uses of 'Jesus Christ'. It was not till 1996 that the UK video's became completely uncut.

Early home video release lack the Dentist on the Job (1961) false start scene that comes before the "actual" film. It is reinstated on later releases like the Special Collector's Edition DVD.

The "restored" DVD version of the film includes a grand total of 23 seconds cut from the original release. Dingo, just before explaining the punishment of lighting the Grail Beacon, turns to the audience and asks "Do you think this scene should have been cut?" and then 'debating' the issue with the Constitutional Peasants and the 3-Headed Knight. Finally the Old Man from Scene 24, Tim the Enchanter, God and Arthur's army scream "Get on with it!"; the directors feared that this line would invoke a scathing response from critics and so dropped it. When the intact film was shown to a paying audience, however, it received one of the biggest laughs of the film and the directors tried to rescind the cutting order, but it was too late.

On the 2001 Region 1, 2-disc DVD, the mock-Scandinavian subtitle "Mønti Pythøn ik den Hølie Gräilen" is missing. This subtitle is restored on the 2006 Region 1 "Extraordinary Deluxe Edition".

The false Dentist on the Job (1961) opening was added for the 2001 Special Edition DVD release as a joke that the wrong movie is being played. However, it was removed again for the Blu-ray release.

For the 5.1 Surround Sound remix found on the Special Edition DVD and Blu-ray releases, the narration during the Book of the Film segments has been re-dubbed (or an alternate take is used) by Michael Palin. Along with that sound effects were also replaced like explosions and sword clinking sounds. Flipping between the remastered audio and the original mono track reveals a significant difference in the performance.

UK video 1996 re-release, titled "21st anniversary edition" includes 24 seconds of previously unseen footage: Zoot (Carol Cleveland) in Castle Anthrax has more lines; there are reaction shots of a crowd yelling "Get on with it" and even God shouting the same phrase.

The same extra footage from the 1996 re-release had previously been seen in the US on the RCA Video Disk edition of the film. Note: not laser disk, but the now-obsolete proprietary format RCA promoted in the early 1980's.

That same extra footage was also on the original UK pre-certificate Brent Walker Video, which also included the theatrical trailer with what sounds like Burt Kwouk doing the voice over in Chinese/Cantonese. As well as this it also included the few minutes of organ music at the end of the film. This version was released in widescreen.

In the "21st Anniversary Edition", and also on the recent worldwide DVD releases, all of the original dialogue is included. On the original releases prior to 1996 all references to the word "Jesus Christ" as a swear word were dubbed over with "Bleedin' 'ell".

On all of the post-"21st Anniversary Edition" all of the film has been cleaned up considerably from the original to give a much clearer picture, also some "waste-of-time" moments have been removed completely. Most notably of this is before King Arthur looks up to speak to the French soldiers he looks to the left, he says (Very quietly, possibly muted in the final dub), "What's the next line?", and a person off camera tells him the line, as they are telling him you can see him moving his lips to help him prompt himself. This only happens for about 2 seconds, but happens every time that King Arthur looks up to reply or speak to the French soldiers at the castle.

The version shown on Comedy Central runs the opening credits again at the end of the film instead of the usual black screen with the music.

In the version aired on Comedy Central, one of the scenes that was "censored" was the castle Antrax scene. Near the end of this scene, when Zoot is discussing punishment she says, "and then the oral sex." However in this version they cut out her saying the words "oral sex" yet you can still clearly hear all the girls in the back ground chanting "Oh yay, the oral sex, the oral sex!"

The film was re-released in the USA starting June 15, 2001 in a remixed Dolby Digital Stereo version. The film was the same as the 21st Anniversary, including the additional 24 seconds of footage.

The special edition DVD offers subtitles taken from Shakespeare's Henry IV Part II "for people who don't like the film."

In early versions, when the witch is accused of having a wart, she replies: "it's a pimple", but for some reason this line was cut from later editions.