Future Hanna-Barbera DVDs

Re: Future Hanna-Barbera DVDs

After the ScoobyDoo/Dynomutt show, came another new 8 shows, 1/2hr episodes,
from the 1977 season of "scooby's all stars Laff-a-lympics" season 1, not on dvd yet.
The episodes from 1978 "Scooby's all stars" are out on dvd as "season 3"

Then we're into 1979 "scooby-doo and Scrappy Doo" which has another 16 shows not out yet.

After that was the 1980 Richie Rich/Scooby show, which had
vol. 1 released on dvd, with the first 7 shows, (made up of shorts) but there is
another 13 shows from that series to be released, in 2 volumes I assume.
(are they ever coming? it's been more than a year since vol.1)

Then there are a bunch of 1982 shorts from "the scooby&scrappy do puppy hour"....

it keeps going:

Scooby Doo, We Love You

I've been wondering for a while now if the Laff-a-Lympics stuff is ever going to be
released, and if they're saving those 8 episodes of 1/2 hour scooby to include with
that set. I don't expect to ever see the Captain Caveman and the teen angels
to be released on dvd. Personally, i'd prefer to watch all those shows in their
original cartoon blocks. For the record, there are 4 Blue Falcon & Dynomutt episodes
from this block too that didn't get released on the SD/DM dvd.

Re: Future Hanna-Barbera DVDs

There were only two seasons of "Scooby Doo, Where Are You" under that title (1969-70 and 1970-71). WB released some of the later Scooby-Doo shows under the "Season 3" banner, which is as much of a misnomer as calling the first batch of 1980s Jetsons revival shows "Season 2."

Even Scooby-Doo is a mess, for as much of a "flagship" character as he is. They skipped a group of Scooby-Doo and Dynomutt segments which first aired as part of "Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics." The shows which were released as part of the "Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour" DVD set were just the half-hour versions seen in syndication or on USA Cartoon Express -- so while I applaud the effort to present things in something approaching their original context, if they were just going to use the half-hours, then why not include all of them, maybe in a Volume 1 and a Volume 2 (or more sensibly, separate sets for S-D and Dynomutt). It seems more like they released it the way they did to bolster (the then-popular but now more obscure) Dynomutt, knowing Scooby-Doo would generate X number of guaranteed sales. (Now, if they would have actually reassembled the shows into their original formats as "The Scooby-Do/Dynomutt Hour," with the correct original titles, etc., that would have been an entirely different story -- I actually picked up the set at the time of its release naively guessing that that's what it was -- I really should have known better. If I had realized they had just thrown together the half-hours as seen in reruns, I probably would not have sprung for the set.)

Skipping those (1977-78 season) segments might suggest that there was an intention to eventually release a "Laff-A-Lympics" set. But how in the world would they reconstruct those shows? The few new "Scooby-Doo" and "Dynomutt" segments which first aired on L-A-L were shown alongside repeats of earlier episodes. What are they going to do, repeat them all again (that's even assuming there are any records of which ones aired on L-A-L, and in what sequence). "Captain Caveman" was also first seen on L-A-L, later repeated as a stand-alone series. It would clearly present some logistical issues.

I did think it was kind of silly to note on the back of the SD/D DVD set that it included "bonus episodes" of "The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt SHOW." Or whatever it said. Even if the show did run under that title at one point. (Given that they were all presented as separate S-D or D half-hours anyway.)

Re: Future Hanna-Barbera DVDs

Just out of curiosity, I took some time this morning to do sort of a "study" on the above. I reviewed a one-hour Season 1 Banana Splits show (show #5). The version I viewed was from one of the extant network tapes (so it's a Season 1 show with Season 2 titles and bumpers). Here's what I found:

Total time for the show came out to 0:45:23 -- including show opening, closing, bumpers, sponsor billboards, "Danger Island," two songs and two cartoons.

Cartoons (Arabian Knights and The Three Musketeers) each ran about nine and a half minutes. (In Season 2, they replaced "The Three Musketeers" with "The Hillbilly Bears" -- the latter run six and a half minutes.)

"Danger Island," in two segments, came out to about 10 minutes and 40 seconds.

There is also:
Opening sponsor billboard (10 seconds)
Show opening (1 minute, 15 seconds)
Bumper #1, Banana Vac (5 seconds)
Mid-show bumper and sponsor billboard (20 seconds)
Bumper #2, Gopher (5 seconds)
Show closing (1 minute, 10 seconds)
(All of which is actually Season 2 material edited into a Season 1 episode, but we can assume comparable time in the first run of the show.)

Two songs:
The Beautiful Calliopa (0:02:03)
Doin' The Banana Split (0:02:40)
(It appears most, if not all, of the song segments in Season 2 were repeated from Season 1.)

As far as original Banana Splits footage, this particular episode included the following segments (these are my own "unofficial" descriptions):

Club Opening (Backwards list)
Secret Password (Baseball)
Clean The Pad (Sneezing bust)
*Trash Can (Confetti) (*cut from the syndicated half-hours)
Banana Splits News (Three-legged race)
Mailbox (Boxing glove)
Riddle Time (It's a banana) (Repeated from show #2)
Cuckoo Clock (Watch stopped)
Dear Drooper (Hand-me-downs)
Misc. (Giant mouse at door)
Ogre (New doghouse)
Mildred The Robot (Put me to sleep)
Misc. (Keep two fellows from fighting)
Club Closing (Motion to leave)
Riddle Time (Super Banana)
Misc. (Paper airplane to the moon)

All of these segments came out to about nine minutes. (And just looking at this list, if it's true that all the 35mm film of the show is archived as individual separate segments, to reassemble these shows would indeed be a nightmare!)

Most of the 18 Season 1 shows have at least two segments that didn't make the half-hour syndicated shows. This one turned out to only have one.

Assuming comparable overall show length between the first and second seasons, and allowing for a three-minute difference due to changing one of the featured cartoons -- this would come out to about 12 minutes of "new" Banana Splits content in each of the 13 Season 2 shows. (Of course, we can assume nothing -- but all new Banana Splits segments were produced for Season 2, and apart from the "Club Opening," "Club Closing" and "Cuckoo Clock" segments, they were all different routines from Season 1. In the Season 1 shows, there are a few cases of segments being repeated from one show to another -- as it turns out, including the show reviewed here -- but only a very few.)

If the above is correct, then I can make an "educated guess" that the newly-produced Banana Splits material for Season 2 would have come out to about 2 hours and 36 minutes. I imagine trying to even "guess" at which segments went into which shows would be pointless, but they would make good extras. (Depending on how much of this material is in WB's archives.)

Re: Future Hanna-Barbera DVDs

My guess would be they'd release "Laff-A-Lympics" as 2 volumes,
12 episodes each, and put 4 of the skipped Scooby Doo shows on each set as
'bonus' material, so they can market the whole thing as a Scooby Doo release.

For sure they won't now release a reconstructed cartoon block of the whole
'Laff-A-Lympics' show. There seems to be no interest in doing them that way.

Re: Future Hanna-Barbera DVDs

Does any one know if their coming out with seson two for wait unitl your father gets home?

It would be great if Yogi Bear got his own series of direct-to-video movies like his fellow hanna-barbera co-stars and friends, Tom and Jerry and Scooby-Doo has.
Edited by happyfa5 - 7/24/2009 at 04:06 am GMT

Guys. If there was a THIRD volume of Saturday Morning in the 60's and 70's coming out next year, which series would you like to see come out than. From the ads, I'm guessing that Sealab 2020, Inch High Private Eye, Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch, Valley of the Dinosaurs, Shazzan, and the new Tom and Jerry show will make it out on the 2nd Seventies set.

For the third: I'd like to see Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, Clue Club,  Captain Caveman, Jabberjaw, Where's Huddles?, Those Were the Days and Korg 70000 BC.

I'd also like to see the seventies HB animated Addams Family, but I doubt that.

James

Considering the poor quality of the masters for some of these shows, combined with supposedly poor sales for other releases, then I think any future releases will be few and/or far between.  Why go to the trouble and expense of remastering and promoting a series when the previous releases did not do well ?  That would not make any business sense. If people love these wonderful and legendary shows they should buy them. That's how you'll possibly get future sets.

I'm not sure where the idea came from that Boomerang is somehow a little-known, lowrent channel. It's very popuular and carries some of the best, most classic family programming ever made. It's also available in MILLIONS of homes. DirecTV and Dish are hugely successful. They are not some sort of public access channel where only a few hundred people watch.

The idea of channels carrying more variety is nice on paper but doesn't always work in reality. For a channel to stand out and be popular they have to be known for something. Just throwing on old random movies and TV series does not give a channel it's identity. If every channel did this then they'd all be the same and would ultimately sap each other's audiences.

Boomerang is known for the home of classic cartoons. It's a terrific idea for a channel. Cartoon Network may have originally used this as their claim to fame but they have long since moved onto their own type of programing. Anyone whose bothered to actually watch it in the last few years could tell you that. If you miss the classic toons they used to air then switch over to Boomerang. If you don't get Boomerang on your cable outlet then write in and request and get your fellow fans to do the same.

As much as I would love to have all of these shows neatly packaged on DVD, that's simply not going to happen. Low sales, bad-quality master tapes, music rights and sniping among fans will make sure of that.

There are many arguments out there around why Hanna Barbera cartoons have not been releasd anywhere from music rights, poor quality of the original tapes, poor sales of existing releases.

However, i also think something is going on in the background due to the fact they have started to released the saturday morning cartoons in various volumes

Volume #1 - 1970s
Speed Buggy
Goomber and the Ghost Chaser
The Funky Phantom
Scooby Doo Movies - Harlem Globe Trotters

Volume #2 - 1970 (schedule and subject to change)

1. Yogi's Gang: The Greedy Genie
2. The Bugs Bunny Show: Whoa Begone/To Itch His Own/Gee Whiz-z-z
3. Hong Kong Phooey: Cat Theives/Zoo Story
4. Pebbles and Bamm Bamm: Gridiron Girl Trouble
5. Scooby Doo: What a Night for a Knight
6. Shazzan!: The Living Island
7. The Jetsons: Jetson's Night Out
8. The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Hour: Snow Business/Two Crows from Tacos/Ready, Set, Zoom!
9. Dastardly & Muttley: Stop that Pigeon
10. Wacky Races: See-Saw to Arkansas/Creepy Trip to Lemon Twist
11. Banana Splits: Joining the Knights/The Littlest Musketeer/"Danger Island" Episodes 1 & 2
12. The Flintstones: No Biz like Show Biz
13. Penelope Pitstop: The Diabolical Department Store Danger
14. The New Adventures of Superman: Mermen of Emor

It is interesting with volume #2, because Wacky Races, Dastardly and Muttley, Perils of Penelope Pittstop, Hong Phoey and Scooby Doo (i am sure there are a few i missed), but have already been released on dvd. You almost wonder if they are doing marketing promotion to move the old sets. Plus, what i find interesting is some of those shows were not actually 70s, but 60. These particular shows were run in re-run in the 1970s, but, the original airdate was 1967-1969.

I would think if Hanna Barbera was series about individual shows then they would have did the second volume to include:

1. Partridge Family Cartoon
2. Jabberjaw
3. Captain Caveman & Teen Angels
4. More Speed Buggy
5. Scooby doo alstars
6. Josie and the Pussycats in outer space.

I have several cartoons on dvd and if more come out then that is fine with me. If not, there are still box sets out there to buy.

I wonder why studios don't try and get fans involved? I think they are really missing a big opportunity. Why not organize an army of volunteer fans and somehow let them get involved in contributing to their favorite shows coming out on DVD? I see many possibilities from having fans help generate interest in a possible release to possible fun raisers to help pay for the remastering and production of these shows. There are ways to make the investment of putting out a particular show less of a gamble.

Instead of fans feeling like studios don't care this would engender positive public relations with fans by teaming up with them in putting out these shows. I could think of many practical ways this might work.

Studios don't undertake these projects because they feel it won't be successful or it's too risky. There are things you could do to greatly ensure their success. For example. fund raising, fan generated marketing and other volunteer services could pay for cost up front. You could offer fans, once a project is successful, a free copy of the release and maybe a little certificate thanking them for being a member of a certain committee to get a certain title released. It's a way fans can get involved and take an active role in the shows they love.

One problem with the H-B catalog is that so many of their cartoons have not been shown regularly in years and are forgotten by a lot of people. Younger viewers will not even have heard of a lot of these titles. So I think the chances of seeing some of the lesser-known ones released is very small, short of some sort of large box set.

Also, for people who are not aware Boomerang is showing some of the slightly more obscure H-B shorts in between their other shows. For example, stay tuned after the end of Atom Ant for an extra cartoon such as Robonic Stooges, Crazylegs Crane, Frankenstein Jr., Dino & Space Mutts, etc. There are probably a dozen or so shows like this that are being shown this way.

Set your DVR's, folks. Also, make sure you set your programs to go over by about a minute so you don't get the dreaded cut off.

I think the other problem is that H-B cartoons just feel outdated (at least to me, anyway). I mean, I was watching some of the stuff on Boomerang, and find myself saying things like "that's so 70's", whether it's the pop culture references or simply the animation.

Luckily I have my tapes of 2 Stupid Dogs with the Secret Squirrel shorts, because I don't see those shows ever being released on DVD.

 the kids today aren't hip to Monty Hall and Mama Cass?