Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5 - Page 6

Keith Paynter · 08-07-2007, 01:36 AM

Ditto for me on Disc 4. The black & white Porky Pig & Daffy Duck 'toons have been (for the most part) sadly lacking until now. As long as they stay b&w and not use the digitally colored versions. Discs 3 and 4 are supposed to be for collectors, so let's see them stay true to that theme.

David Rain · 08-07-2007, 03:28 AM

You're talking about thousands of cartoons of varying quality. There is no way that they can please everyone with every box set. It's just not going to happen. People will complain about which characters are featured, which animators are spotlighted, which era the toons are from, etc. If you're looking for the perfect collection it simply will never exist.

Kevin L McCorry · 08-07-2007, 07:28 AM

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Originally Posted by David Rain

You're talking about thousands of cartoons of varying quality.

Actually, just over a thousand.

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There is no way that they can please everyone with every box set. It's just not going to happen. People will complain about which characters are featured, which animators are spotlighted, which era the toons are from, etc. If you're looking for the perfect collection it simply will never exist.

True, but the only hope for those of us who were raised on The Bugs Bunny Show, etc, to see a copious amount of the cartoons that aired on CBS and ABC (and on CBC and Global in Canada) would be this Bugs Bunny Show DVD release that's been talked about on the 'Net. It's abundantly clear by now that the LTGC range is tailored to people who want first and foremost the pre-1948, pre-1945 stuff, with only a smattering of the later cartoons. They have the "consensus" now that theirs are the cartoons worth owning, and that's what we're getting. Which is why we're seeing Tashlin, Clampett, and no doubt Avery discs and why Foghorn, Pepe, Hippety Hopper, Taz, Marvin, Porky and Daffy's later cartoons, Chuck Jones' many supporting characters (Charlie Dog, Ralph Phillips, Three Bears, Chow Hound, etc.), and some of Sylvester's other cartoons (e.g. "Tree For Two", "Dr. Jerkyl's Hide") being left to the end, if that.

Personally, I'm skeptical about DVDs of The Bugs Bunny Show. If these are to be released, WB had better get cracking on restoring those later cartoons that make up the "meat" of the BB Show. And even that's not counting a colorization of the stage scenes. And the fact we only tend to see excerpts from Season 2 as bonus features doesn't bode well for a full series release.

PaulP · 08-07-2007, 09:29 AM

I believe WB will eventually restore every single LT/MM short and release as many GCs as necessary. So you all will see your favorites. Eventually.

John Stell · 08-07-2007, 12:33 PM

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Originally Posted by PaulP

I believe WB will eventually restore every single LT/MM short and release as many GCs as necessary. So you all will see your favorites. Eventually.

Yes, that is what George Feltenstein (sp?) said in the restoration featurette on the third collection: that they'd like to restore and release all of them. If anyone who has that set hasn't watched that featurette yet I highly recommend it.

Personally, I love the fact they're releasing these older cartoons and this looks to be another great set. In fact, the further the series moves along the more excited I get about each future release because it means an increased chance of the more obscure stuff.

Joe Karlosi · 08-07-2007, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by george kaplan

I'll be buying and enjoying this, but am very disappointed that they've copped out again on the controversial cartoons.

I would have thought you would prefer not to have these controversial cartoons, George?

Kevin Martinez · 08-07-2007, 08:09 PM

Oh, this ridiculous. The first set was practically nothing BUT the cartoons that aired on the various Saturday Morning Looney Tunes programs, and the last three sets have had copious amounts of such cartoons (particularly the fourth one). And as been pointed out, the Post-48's on the Golden Collections actually outnumber the earlier ones.

That brings me to another point, the TV rights to the WB cartoon library was split up like postwar Germany, which was in no way reflective of how the cartoons were originally produced (There were two series of cartoons, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, that featured the same characters, were shown in the same venue, produced and distributed by the same studio, and worked on by mostly the same people). The Turner-Warner merger reunited the cartoons under one single corporate owner and tore down the Berlin Wall that seperated the cartoons based on which ones were made before September 1948.

All of this brings me to say; Why should the arbitrary ownership divisions that these cartoons were given decades after the fact cloud our opinions of these DVD's? Say what you want about whether this topic belongs here or another forum, I think the way Warner is packaging these films (as selections of a wildly diverse series of cartoons that ran for 39 years in theaters, as opposed to basing what they release on archaic TV packages) is just fine

Patrick McCart · 08-07-2007, 08:15 PM

Where's ______? There's too much of _____!

This volume has an unusual lineup and there's a lot I've never seen before. There's plenty of gold in the 1950s era, but most of it has had plenty of broadcast time in the last decade. It's more fun to see cartoons that have had minimal airtime. I'm excited to finally see Porky's Poppa with the original ending and Scrap Happy Daffy in better quality than all the dismal public domain transfers.

No one ever seems to be happy with these sets because they're not custom tailored. Some want nothing to do with anything before 1950, some want more of the long unaired stuff, some want more or less of a character, and so on.

It's just as bad when movies are announced. WB (or any studio) can announce a box set with 10 films new to DVD and people just complain about what wasn't announced. I'm perfectly happy with waiting a few more years to get the rest of the Looney Tunes on DVD in proper quality.

Kevin L McCorry · 08-07-2007, 08:52 PM

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Originally Posted by Kevin Martinez

Oh, this ridiculous. The first set was practically nothing BUT the cartoons that aired on the various Saturday Morning Looney Tunes programs...

No, it wasn't "practically nothing BUT". I seem to recall "Elmer's Candid Camera", "Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears", "Haredevil Hare", "Baseball Bugs", "Tortoise Wins By a Hare", "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid", "Hair-Raising Hare", "Yankee Doodle Daffy", and "Wabbit Trouble" being in Vol. 1.

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, and the last three sets have had copious amounts of such cartoons (particularly the fourth one).

Yes, but we're seeing a lot of skewing toward whole discs of same characters, discs which are panned for that very skewing.

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And as been pointed out, the Post-48's on the Golden Collections actually outnumber the earlier ones.

Actually, after this volume, they don't. And they definitely don't if we also factor in the cartoons in the bonus features (Bugs Bunny Superstar, What's Up Doc?: Tribute to Bugs Bunny).

And of course, where there are post-48s, we have to listen to John K. or others putting them down, if there are commentaries at all on them. And I have to read online put down after put down, with barbs like, "Oh, the Sat AM crowd have to get their little, banal vittles to keep them happy." And there is in fact a myth circulating that all the '50s cartoons of note have been released and the rest of the volumes can therefore concentrate on older, "rarer" cartoons.

If I'm still alive in 2015 or whatever and every cartoon is released and the last volumes aren't all post-'48s, then I'll stand on these forums and take my lumps, but for the time being I've a right to be concerned.

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That brings me to another point, the TV rights to the WB cartoon library was split up like postwar Germany, which was in no way reflective of how the cartoons were originally produced (There were two series of cartoons, Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, that featured the same characters, were shown in the same venue, produced and distributed by the same studio, and worked on by mostly the same people). The Turner-Warner merger reunited the cartoons under one single corporate owner and tore down the Berlin Wall that seperated the cartoons based on which ones were made before September 1948.

And what a sad day that was, too.

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All of this brings me to say; Why should the arbitrary ownership divisions that these cartoons were given decades after the fact cloud our opinions of these DVD's?

Because generations of people were raised on the divided pattern in the '60s. '70s, '80s, early '90s. To deny the imprinting on us of that pattern is to deny our existence. Or at least the existence of the portion of us who were raised on the "incorrect" latter half of the library and whose aesthetic sensibilities are attuned to that. "Consensus" builders at GAC were endeavoring to do just that when I opted out.

Steve...O · 08-07-2007, 11:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick McCart

Where's ______? There's too much of _____!

This volume has an unusual lineup and there's a lot I've never seen before. There's plenty of gold in the 1950s era, but most of it has had plenty of broadcast time in the last decade. It's more fun to see cartoons that have had minimal airtime. I'm excited to finally see Porky's Poppa with the original ending and Scrap Happy Daffy in better quality than all the dismal public domain transfers.

No one ever seems to be happy with these sets because they're not custom tailored. Some want nothing to do with anything before 1950, some want more of the long unaired stuff, some want more or less of a character, and so on.

It's just as bad when movies are announced. WB (or any studio) can announce a box set with 10 films new to DVD and people just complain about what wasn't announced. I'm perfectly happy with waiting a few more years to get the rest of the Looney Tunes on DVD in proper quality.

Agreed. These sets have been wonderful and I've enjoyed each and every one. I relish the unfamiliar ones just as much as the old favorites because it's like discovering them for the first time as I did when I was a kid. It's very apparent that WHV is committed to this product line so I can't really understand all the griping when all it will take is a little patience if one's favorite cartoon isn't included.

Regarding the "banned" cartoons...I hope that WHV will release those, fully restored, at some point. The WW2 era ones really have no basis to be held up in my opinion. The Japanese/Germans were the enemy during those years and it's very understandable to me that they would be portrayed in a less than favorable light.

The racial ones are understandably more delicate and should be handled with appropriate sensitivity but a disclaimer placing them in their historical context should suffice. The adults that buy these sets aren't stupid and are capable of recognizing these as a product of their time.

Steve

Kevin Martinez · 08-08-2007, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin L McCorry

No, it wasn't "practically nothing BUT". I seem to recall "Elmer's Candid Camera", "Bugs Bunny and the Three Bears", "Haredevil Hare", "Baseball Bugs", "Tortoise Wins By a Hare", "Bugs Bunny Gets the Boid", "Hair-Raising Hare", "Yankee Doodle Daffy", and "Wabbit Trouble" being in Vol. 1.

Those were the only Pre-48's on Volume 1. Pretty much everything else on Volume 1 was Post-48 (and on a set with 56 cartoons, that not exactly a minority representation).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin L McCorry

Yes, but we're seeing a lot of skewing toward whole discs of same characters, discs which are panned for that very skewing.

Outside of the Bugs discs, only 4 have highlighted individual characters (Daffy/Porky, Road Runner, Sylvester/Tweety, Speedy) out of 20 discs

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin L McCorry

Actually, after this volume, they don't. And they definitely don't if we also factor in the cartoons in the bonus features (Bugs Bunny Superstar, What's Up Doc?: Tribute to Bugs Bunny). .

Even if we take this volume into consideration, there's still