WHV Press Release: Saturday Morning Cartoons Volume 2 (1 Viewer)

[RickER]

I bought the 70s Vol. 1 just for the episode of Tarzan. Hope we get a series set of that show. I remember liking Valley of the Dinosaurs as a kid, but not enough to get me to buy Vol. 2, as the other shows just dont thrill me. Many of them i didnt care for as a kid. As a kid i was really into the action/ superhero/ sci-fi cartoons, not a fan of the funny talking animal shows.

 

[Regulus]

Does anybode here remember Hot Wheels and/or Skyhawks both of which ran on ABC from 1969 to 1971? If these two ever become available I'll buy em in a Heartbeat!

 

[Aaron Handy III]

I noticed that the set includes 2 different eras of Tom & Jerry on TV. The 1960s disc has an installment of the original show Tom And Jerry from the 1965-72 CBS Saturday/Sunday morning run which featured repeats of cartoons from the MGM theatrical era. The 1970s disc, of course, includes the debut broadcast of The New Tom & Jerry/Grape Ape Show (show #TJGA-1) from Saturday, September 6, 1975 on ABC Funshine Saturday.

Something for everybody.

 

[JamesSmith]

Guys! Do you think volume 2's will do well enough in sales for WB to consider releasing third volumes?

I'm going to go out on a limb to say yes. Both the 60's and 70's did fairly decent on amazon.com and since they were still getting the kinks out of this set--they may do better on the upcoming second editions.

I hope the producers do a fairly decent job on getting some extras put together


James

 

[younger1968]

Hi James,


I agree with you. I am thinking we could see Jabberjaw, Captain Caveman, Scooby-doo Laff-lympics, Skatebirds, etc on future releases. I grew up with saturday morning cartoons and glad i have been able to purchase several dvd relesaes. I just hope more are coming down the pipeline.

 

[Joe Tor1]

Originally Posted by JamesSmith


Guys! Do you think volume 2's will do well enough in sales for WB to consider releasing third volumes?

That would depend on ALL OF US, wouldn't it?

I know I'll be there!

Besides, Warner is not releasing very many animated products in the near future... not counting "Complete Series" of things already released and repackagings of Scooby-Doo Where Are You and Looney Tunes Golden Collections into a new Spotlight Collection, so it will probably benefit from the unfortunate lack of competition.

 

[younger1968]

i pre-order my copies of both 1970s and 1960s volume 2 for saturday morning cartoons. I am looking forward to re-living my childhood.

 

[younger1968]

Has anyone received their copies of Saturday Mornings Cartoons Volume,2 for both 1960s and 1970s. I still think 1960s is very weak with their selections. The 1970s is ok, because it includes banana splits/New Adventures of Gilligan/Sealab. I am not sure why banana splits is included in the 1970s volume, because it was really from 1968-1969 and ran in re-runs in the 1970s. Overall, i think they could have picked a better selection. I still prefer the 1st volume over the second volume, especially the 1960s version, because it included the herculoids. I have been looking for the herculoids. I actually purchased Space Ghost/Dino Boy, because i like this cartoon. I welcome people thoughts and/or concerns.

 

[younger1968]

I went through a couple of episodes tonight and the dvds are not as good as previous volume. I did like Banana Splits, but it makes you want more, because you have two scenes from Danger Island. i also like New Adventures of Gilligan's Island, which was very good show along with Sealab. You could also include the cartoon called Land of the dinosaurs, which is the cartoon version of the land of the lost. I was disappointed with some of the other selections, like peter potamus, hair bear bunch, etc. I would have prefer Jabberjaw or Partridge Family 2200, etc.

 

[Michael Rogers]

Looking forward to Gilligan the most. In case you are unaware Younger, there are 2 episodes of Partridge Family 2200 AD on the first season set of The Partridge Family.

 

[Joe Tor1]

Limited myself to the 1960s set, as that is where my greatest interest lies.

I skipped around Disc One a bit, starting with “The Wally Gator Show” – mostly because (to the best of my recollection) there never was a REAL “Wally Gator Show”. The three cartoon series that comprised it were syndicated “stand-alones” (here in New York, at least) that were run as part of weekday shows starring local kiddie-hosts.

“Droopy Dragon” WAS the first Wally Gator run back in 1962 (again, here in New York, at least). My recollection is clear on that. I don’t think it was the case for the other two.

The Touché Turtle was somewhat dark for a Hanna-Barbera cartoon – particularly one not made for prime time. No spoilers, but imagine getting away with the line “I didn’t lose that leg in a poker game!” – or the ending gag – today! ...Or, even a few years later.

Lippy the Lion seemed remastered, while Wally and Touché certainly were not! Odd!

How can you not love a “Bugs Bunny Show”, even if some of the Goofy Gopher interstitials were missing! They used to exist after every cartoon. I’m guessing they presented whatever was preserved.

The line “Presenting that Oscar-winning Rabbit… Bugs Bunny!” was (awkwardly) excised from the opening! Could that be because “Oscar” is now copyrighted – like “Super Bowl” – and perhaps you can no longer use the term freely?

And “Big House Bunny” seemed to be uncut (unlike like many a Saturday morning broadcast that I can recall), with all of the “prisoner beating”, hanging, and electric chair gags left intact! Let’s hear it for WB on that one!

The end credits for “The Bugs Bunny Show” are the proper ones, as you can glimpse the titles of the cartoons (nearly microscopically) at the lower left at one point in the end credits.

The original “Bugs Bunny Shows” also had teaser previews and “next week scenes”, but I don’t believe those ever survived prime time to make it into the Sat AM version of the show – so we can appreciate the “authenticity of the Sat AM experience”, if not the completeness. Now, bring on a set of “The Bugs Bunny Show”!

The first Quick Draw McGraw show was also great – with the original Kellogg’s opening and closing. The interstitials – where Quick Draw introduces Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy and Snooper and Blabber – were missing… BUT the full credits to each of the three cartoons (with the writing credits for Michael Maltese and other animation credits) were there. These are usually cut for Boomerang. So, it’s a trade off.

The first Quick Draw also looked pretty nice. I’ll hope the same for the second one on Disc Two. It was from the third season (1961-1962) where the familiar Hoyt Curtin music scores create no music clearance issues for WB.

By this time in the run, each of the three cartoons also reference “past continuity” (maybe unusual for an animated TV show at this time?). Snooper and Blabber have a second (or maybe third) rematch with “Quick Change Quinton”, Augie Doggie again contacts his Martian friend, and Quick Draw has another outing with (now semi-regular) Snuffles, his dog biscuit-addicted blood hound.

Quick Draw McGraw is a show that NEEDS a full release! Maybe good sales on this volume (and Volume One) might help matters along.

That’s all I’ve done for tonight. Hope you all find these comments helpful.

 

[younger1968]

The Gilligan/Sealab/Valley of Dinosaurs/Banana Splits are the best episodes in my opinion. The rest of the dvd for the 1970s show is very weak and i would not be surprise if this volume has poor sales. The selection of cartoons in the 1970s could have been better. I prefer volume #1 better.

The 1960s is also very weak. I like Gulliver, but, the rest of the release is also very weak. It is almost like the studio is trying to promote lesser cartoons, instead of looking at what may interest the consumers.

 

[JamesSmith]

Well. I just had time to look at the "extras." The featurette on Shazzam was the best, and the one on Magilla Gorilla filled in a few facts that I didn't know previously. For example, the word "magilla" has a yiddish meaning that the producers were concerned about during the development of the show.

While the two extras were okay. Other supplemental material on Sealab 2020, Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch and Valley of the Dinosaurs would have been appreciated.

Or someone could have dicussed Lennie Weintrub, who did the voice for Inch High Private Eye and other Kroft and Hanna Barbara shows during the seventies. He recently passed away, and it would have been nice to have a bit more information on him. That was the era when Michael Bell and he, both did a some kind of "Don Adams--Get Smart" spin on animated characters.

I'm fairly satisfied with the discs, and I'm glad that they were able to include an episode of the Further Adventures of Gilligan, but I hope sales are strong enough to do a set 3 with Jabberjaw, Butch Cassidy, Captain Caveman, Jennie, Clue Club, Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, Harlem Globetrotters, Devlin and a few other unreleased series.
I also would like to see WB do a Saturday Morning in the 80's volume for some other programs that I would like to see sampled.
Some of the cartoon experts like Jerry Beck should briefly mention that this was before the age of the 24 cartoon and Disney networks--and how some of these shows lasted two years before the networks put them on the shelf. How they would get a first season of about 15-17 episodes, than if they were successful, they would get a second season of about 6 to 8 shows. Again that wasn't a hard and set rule--there were exceptions like Emergency + 4 which got a full second season order while Star Trek Animated only got 6 new episodes in its second year.

Some of the best things about these shows were the theme songs-- they really do stay in the mind.

James

 

[Joe Tor1]

Originally Posted by younger1968 ">[/url]

The 1960s is also very weak. I like Gulliver, but, the rest of the release is also very weak. It is almost like the studio is trying to promote lesser cartoons, instead of looking at what may interest the consumers.[/QUOTE]Again, speaking strictly for the Sixties volume:

It contains [b]BUGS BUNNY, PORKY PIG, THE ROAD RUNNER, TOM AND JERRY, QUICK DRAW McGRAW, THE JETSONS, [/b]and[b] MAGILLA GORILLA…[/b]

…So how could you possibly say that?!

Are these NOT iconic properties that still have notable followings today? Certainly so, to one degree or another!

And it’s nicely balanced off with some lesser lights that could use the exposure. There’s nothing wrong with that!

I’ll leave the seventies discussion to those better acquainted with the period.


[QUOTE]Originally Posted by [b]JamesSmith[/b] [url=/forum/thread/290047/whv-press-release-saturday-morning-cartoons-volume-2/90#post_3622100]

 

[younger1968]

i guess i grew up for with the 1970s cartoons, since i was born in 1968. The only 1960s cartoons/shows i liked were Rocket Robin Hood, Aquaman, Superman, Batman and Robin, Jonnie Quest, Herculoids, Gullivers, etc. I guess i had expectations that with 1960s they would include more of the herculoids and a few other shows.

I was big on the 1970s shows like Jabberjaw, Jeannie, Scooby-doo, Emergency +4, New Adventures of Gilligan, Star Trek, Josie and the pussycats, etc.

 

[Joe Tor1]

Originally Posted by younger1968

i guess i grew up for with the 1970s cartoons, since i was born in 1968. The only 1960s cartoons/shows i liked were Rocket Robin Hood, Aquaman, Superman, Batman and Robin, Jonnie Quest, Herculoids, Gullivers, etc. I guess i had expectations that with 1960s they would include more of the herculoids and a few other shows.

I was big on the 1970s shows like Jabberjaw, Jeannie, Scooby-doo, Emergency +4, New Adventures of Gilligan, Star Trek, Josie and the pussycats, etc.

Fair point, Paul.

For what it’s worth, I am also disappointed at the exclusion of HERCULOIDS from the sixties set – and (in previous posts) have also suggested that they include Filmation’s 1968 BATMAN.

But, both AQUAMAN and JONNY QUEST are already complete on DVD – and Filmation’s SUPERMAN is fairly well-covered – and double-dipping should be kept to a minimum!

And it IS, with this sixties set. The only TRUE double dip would seem to be THE JETSONS, as MAGILLA GORILLA is presented with opening and closing title sequences, which were not part of the previous MAGILLA set.

I’ll assume (though I haven’t gotten there yet) that the TOM & JERRY SHOW also has the made-for-TV sixties opening and closing sequences – that would not have belonged on the T&J Spotlight Collections – making that also not a true double-dip.

But personal want-lists (both yours and mine) aside… That, in no way, should diminish the importance and appeal of Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry, Quick Draw, et al as icons of Sat AM Sixties Television.

 

[younger1968]

If it was no for licensing issues, then we could easily seen shows like Hardy Boys and Journey to the Center of the Earth, etc.

There are some shows like Laurel & Hardy or Beatles or Abbott & Costello. You could really group Banana Splits as 1960s show rather than classifying it as 1970s show. Banana Splits was run in syndication in the 1970s.

For what it is worth i do have Jonnie Quest/Aquaman/Superman/Space Ghost and Dino Boy/Perils of Penelope Pittsop and Dastardy flying machines. I am always on the lookout for more cartoons that complement my collection.

I agree with Batman cartoon from 1968 should be release. It is interesting they release the 1977 version of the show, but, not the 1968 version.

Did anyone see the back of the dvd were it has disclaimer these cartoons are suited for adult audience and may not be suitable for kids (gee, i wonder what market they are pushing these dvds too?, lol)

 

[Randy Korstick]

I was born in 1965 and so pretty much grew up with the same 70's period as you but I disagree with your assesment of the 70's volume. I never cared for Valley of the Dinosaurs or Sealab. I thought the best stuff was: Tom and Jerry/Grape Ape, Hair Bear Bunch, Inch High Private Eye, Banana Splits. I'd say this volume is on par with the 1st. But everyone will like different stuff from these eras thats why they can't please everyone with their choices. I'm still sad that these collections almost certainly spell the end for all the complete Hanna Barbera sets we got which I would have greatly preferred for all these shows. We will probably get one or two more of these volumes and that will probably be it for Hanna Barbera on DVD with the exception of a few more scooby doo releases.

Originally Posted by younger1968

i guess i grew up for with the 1970s cartoons, since i was born in 1968. The only 1960s cartoons/shows i liked were Rocket Robin Hood, Aquaman, Superman, Batman and Robin, Jonnie Quest, Herculoids, Gullivers, etc. I guess i had expectations that with 1960s they would include more of the herculoids and a few other shows.

I was big on the 1970s shows like Jabberjaw, Jeannie, Scooby-doo, Emergency +4, New Adventures of Gilligan, Star Trek, Josie and the pussycats, etc.

 

[Corey3rd]

if the give us part 3, there better be Devlin and a globetrotter show

 

[younger1968]

along with jabberjaw or captain caveman or skatebirds.