WHV Announcement: Looney Tunes Super Stars (1 Viewer)

[Eric Peterson]

By this, it appears that the so-called "Censored 11" will eventually be restored

I wouldn't count on them making it to pressed discs though. My guess is that these will make my first archive purchase. I hope I'm wrong, but WB has showed very little guts when it comes to releasing questionable material.

 

[Christian Preischl]

Originally Posted by Traveling Matt

(both the Golden Collections and Spotlight Collections were too expensive for the average consumer).

Ironically enough, these new releases actually cost more. 15 shorts per disc with an SRP of 20 bucks means $80 for 60 shorts. The Golden Collections had an SRP of $65... with 60 shorts and loads of extras.

Sure, one or two purchases @ 15 bucks each is not the same as over 50 bucks in one purchase, I get that. But as someone who has bought all the Golden Collections I must admit that I'm still a bit peeved that I now pay more to get less.

 

[Midnight Mike]

The Golden Collections were going for approx. $50 bucks at amazon and some retail stores on release week. that comes out to .83 cents a short. If you paid SRP of $65, that comes out to $1.08 per short.

The new collection is currently $13.99 at Amazon. .70 cents a short.

You might actually be paying less.

 

[Traveling Matt]

Originally Posted by Eric Peterson

I wouldn't count on them making it to pressed discs though. My guess is that these will make my first archive purchase. I hope I'm wrong, but WB has showed very little guts when it comes to releasing questionable material.

The Archives stand as a way of releasing films that do not have a justifiable retail audience. There's no reason to assume content issues would keep any release from store shelves.

 

[mdnitoil]

Originally Posted by Traveling Matt


The Archives stand as a way of releasing films that do not have a justifiable retail audience. There's no reason to assume content issues would keep any release from store shelves.

While you may technically be right, by the time they even bother to put out those cartoons, there probably won't be much of a retail audience left. I'm not convinced you're right, mind you. I think everyone here has mentioned at least once about some particular title that found it's way into the Archive that probably could have weathered a retail release. But that's a whole different matter.

 

[Christian Preischl]

Originally Posted by Midnight Mike

The new collection is currently $13.99 at Amazon. .70 cents a short.

You might actually be paying less.

15 shorts for $14 is .93 a short, not .70.

 

[ChrisPearson]

Originally Posted by ChrisCook

If there aren’t any extras included in this new series of sets, I will greatly miss the audio commentaries and the music and effects only tracks.

Me too. Surely it wouldn't kill Warner to include these? It's common knowledge that most commentaries are done by the commentators for free, and the music and effects tracks for most of the post-48 shorts are readily available. Another example of Warner treating DVD as a shiny round video cassette.

Originally Posted by Christian Preischl

Ironically enough, these new releases actually cost more. 15 shorts per disc with an SRP of 20 bucks means $80 for 60 shorts. The Golden Collections had an SRP of $65... with 60 shorts and loads of extras.

Sure, one or two purchases @ 15 bucks each is not the same as over 50 bucks in one purchase, I get that. But as someone who has bought all the Golden Collections I must admit that I'm still a bit peeved that I now pay more to get less.

Well said. I thought the Golden/Spotlight Collection was a pretty good model. Apparently there will be more single disc releases later this year. Is there any reason why Warner couldn't have packaged a four-disc set for hard-core collectors and release them in singles for the casual buyer?

Whereas I would preorder the Golden Collections and look forward to them with excitement, I shall be waiting for these to drop into a sale. They are clearly good sets, but for me they don't have the "wow" factor.

 

[Traveling Matt]

Originally Posted by mdnitoil

While you may technically be right, by the time they even bother to put out those cartoons, there probably won't be much of a retail audience left.

Maybe, maybe not. Either way, the indication is that all the films (PC or un-PC) will be restored and released to retail. There's no reason to believe WB will suddenly shun the un-PC cartoons due to their content. That has yet to happen after six Golden Collections.

 

[Midnight Mike]

"15 shorts for $14 is .93 a short, not .70."

Opps, that's right. I stand corrected.

 

[Kevin Martinez]

I wonder how this new line will progress.

There are enough Tweety and Sylvester, Road Runner, Foghorn Leghorn and Pepe le Pew cartoons for them to get their own DVD in this series (some could even get two). But most of the Bugs and Daffy shorts have already been released (likewise Speedy Gonzales), so WB at the rate they're going will exhaust all their star character shorts in 2-3 years.

For the sake of getting as much of the LT library as possible, I hope WB will eventually do "All-Stars" discs in which remaining star character shorts are mixed in with a few one-shots and lesser recurring series. Doing single-disc collections already removes the largest barrier to entry for Looney Tunes' DVD's (cheaper, more attractive to blind buys, more likely to be stocked by major chains, etc.)

I'd also at least like to see the B/W Porky and Daffy shorts released. I can understand how expensive, all-B/W collections like Popeye or the Three Stooges sets might've been too much for the average consumer, but would a couple of monochromatic shorts mixed in with color shorts be such a deal breaker?

 

[Traveling Matt]

I've been wondering about that too. They'll definitely need to be clever in organizing and marketing this new series, especially if they stick to single discs. I think they can do it.

 

[WillG]

According to Amazon, these have been pushed back to August 10th. I received an e.mail notification today regarding my pre-order.

 

[Kevin Martinez]

The big question is; why did they delay it?

Probably some moron in the WHV mastering department grabbed an unrestored print, or they've gotten cold feet about the un-PC cartoons. Either way, a four-month delay couldn't have been for a geniunely positive reason.

 

[Dick]

Warner: Thanks for the new collections. If you're reading this, I appeal to you yet again for the classic OF FOX AND HOUNDS (1940), which was part of an imported Tex Avery laser disc collection but has never seen the light of day in the U.S. Thousands of us are no doubt awaiting an Avery set that includes scores of great cartoons from MGM and WB that haven't appeared yet.... pretty please!!!

For those who haven't seen OF FOX AND HOUNDS:

http://klangley.blogspot.com/2007/10/tex-avery-of-fox-and-hounds.html

 

[Traveling Matt]

GoldenAgeCartoons has confirmation from Jerry Beck that the delay is due to quality assurance. He also confirms four individual titles still on the schedule for this year.

http://forums.goldenagecartoons.com/showthread.php?t=14221&page=31

http://forums.goldenagecartoons.com/showthread.php?t=14565

 

[Ed Moroughan]

I don't know if this is rain on everyone's parade, but the 'toons are mostly in widescreen.


http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/daffyduckfowl.php


-OR-


http://forums.goldenagecartoons.com/showthread.php?t=15157

 

[mdnitoil]

Doesn't rain on my parade, but I appreciate the head's up. I personally have no problem with the stuff being presented in the original theatrical presentation even if a full frame negative exists. That appears to be the case here.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by Ed Moroughan

I don't know if this is rain on everyone's parade, but the 'toons are mostly in widescreen.


http://www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/daffyduckfowl.php


-OR-


http://forums.goldenagecartoons.com/showthread.php?t=15157

If Theatrical presentation is the intention on home video, than the post-1953 films being matted to 1.85:1 (or more likely 1.78:1 on DVD) is correct. They were shown theatrically both open matte and matted as the shift in aspect ratios took place in Hollywood, and they were animated to room to be matted.

 

[JoHud]

A little weird since this was never done to any of the cartoons in the Golden Collections from this period. Not sure why WB felt they had to do this now. At least they're doing it to the ones that were made with widescreen matting in mind.

 

[Brandon Conway]

I suspect their policy about Theatrical Aspect Ratio presentation has become more strict as widescreen TVs have come to dominate the market.