The Looney Tunes are HERE! (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

Got my hands on an early copy of the 2-disc
Premiere Collection (I ordered the GOLDEN
COLLECTION which is due shortly).

Let's start with cover art....



It's about lunchtime now. Just had a 10-minute
opportunity to watch bits of one short, Hair-Raising
Rabbitt.

The one thing you immediately notice is how vibrant
the colors are -- especially in the greens and reds.
The cartoons don't look nearly as faded as I remember
seeing them all these years.

There is a lot of background abnormalties such as
dirt in the whites and a sort of grainish base.
This isn't a complaint -- this is the first time
I have seen Bugs projected on a 57" television, and,
I know how bad a shape these cartoons were originally
in.

Overall, the cartoons look damn good but nothing
like you would expect from a Disney film.

This is sort of a quick-look review. I'll post
more as I watch more later today.

 

[Tony Whalen]

Impatiently waiting.

I've been dying to hear how these cartoons look!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Tony,

A small update above

 

[David Galindo]

Great, but I want to get the Golden Collection more than anything else. Hope you get that soon

 

[JustinCleveland]

Ron,

Oh... baby...

I'm giving this to the wife for Christmas... think I should just cut the packaging open and watch them before I wrap them?

 

[Patrick McCart]

Just a reminder...

Avoid the 2-disc like the plague. The 4-disc one has twice the amount of cartoons, plus supplements that not even Disney has matched in quality and quantity on their Treasures sets.

Also, as seen on the beautiful prints of Feed the Kitty and Duck Dodgers on the Chuck Jones DVD... the prints themselves are immaculate, but lack the dye-transfer softening which would cover up cel dust, cel scuffing, paint textures, etc. So, this "print damage" may just be the imperfections of the original photography.

 

[Tony Whalen]

Sounds good so far Ron! Didn't think it would be a frame-for-frame speck-removal like some recent Disney stuff... just so long as it looks good and the colors have been restored, I'll be THRILLED. Well, that and the cartoons are back in their unedited form.

(I caught a few Looney Tunes on late-night TV the other night... not only did they look horribly washed out, but I couldn't believe how much they'd edited out. ESPECIALLY out of Road Runner shorts.)

Tell us more! Tell us more!

 

[Dan Stone]

Very strange to see Bugs in anamorphic. After all
these years of watching these cartoons in standard
ratio, it takes some getting used to.

What aspect ratio are these presented in then? I thought the original aspect ratio for all of these was 4:3.

 

[Douglas R]

What aspect ratio are these presented in then? I thought the original aspect ratio for all of these was 4:3.

Yes I'm puzzled by this as well. I didn't think Warners had made any Cinemascope Looney Tunes.

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

All the cartoons were made in 1.33:1 (the cartoons made after 1954 were made in such a way that they could be "matted" to 1.85:1, but they're not usually shown that way, even in theatres, and they won't be shown that way on the DVDs).

And yes, stay far far away from the Premiere Collection. The Golden Collection is The One To Buy.

 

[Gary Seven]

I'm in a bit of a quandry over getting this.

I currently have on laserdisc Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 1 through 4. I also own about a dozen laserdiscs of indivual volumes of Bugs Bunny, More Bugs Bunny, Curtain Calls, Sylvester and Tweety, etc. That's about 300 cartoons total. I always thought the quality was excellent. I need to check out specifically what's on thses discs and the extras as well.

In my collection I have many that would be deemed non-PC by todays prudish standards (Bugs against Germany, Japan, etc.). I wonder if this collection will omit these.

There were some looney tunes produced wide-screen in the early 60's but the drawing and animation were sub-par compared to their 30 - 40s counterparts. But I thought this collection contained more of the classics so I too am puzzled by this "anamorphic" presentation. Perhaps the original poster was in error.

Hmmm... just noticed the original poster was Ron. Anamorphic? Are you sure Ron?

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Very strange to see Bugs in anamorphic. After all these years of watching these cartoons in standard ratio, it takes some getting used to.

Hair-Raising Hare (1946)? Widescreen? Oh, NO!

(please tell me this was a mistake)

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Actually, I owe you all an apology.

The cartoons I have watched thus far are
not anamorphic.

I had my set professionally calibrated last week
by an ISF tech (I won't mention names -- Gregg).

Apparently, he must have set the Aspect Ratio
setting on my Panasonic RP95 to "normal." This
blew the picture up to fill the screen.

Since this is the first time I have watched a DVD
since last week's callibration, I had no idea that
the settings on the player were changed.

It seemed "odd" that Bugs Bunny would be in
anamorphic, but I figured it was possible and
didn't think twice about it until I read your
replies.

Now to go fire off a angry email to the calibrator...

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Ah, huge sigh of relief.

Didn't you notice that Bugs needed to go on a diet?

AFAIK, there are no widescreen LT/MM. There are some MGM shorts, Pink Panther, and a few other wide cartoons.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Next Tuesday can't come soon enough for me. I'll agree with everyone else, stay far away from the 2 disc set, go for the gold!

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Thank you so much for sharing this with us Ron !It makes all the waiting worthwhile ! With all the spending on dvds ive done lately, and will spend in the weeks to come, ill only be able to afford the premiere, but eventually ill upgrade to golden.But from Rons thoughts the premiere doent seem to shabby, aside from being barebones, cant wait !

 

[Ronald Epstein]

How do they look compared to the Disney Treasures (Mickey, Goofy, etc)?

Just threw The Complete Goofy in my DVD
player for comparison. Here's what I found....

The DISNEY shorts look far cleaner and polished
than the LOONEY TUNES cartoons.

On the other hand, the LOONEY TUNES cartoons
definitely show more vibrant color, but with quite
a noticeable amount of background dirt, noise and
animation abnormalities (if that is what it can be
called).

Despite the fact these cartoons are not a perfect
restoration (I would never expect them to be), they
have never looked better anywhere than they now do
on DVD.

I also would steer people away from the 2-disc
Premiere Collection in favor of the expanded
Golden Collection. However, if money is
tight, the selection of shorts here is quite good.

The SAME shorts on the Premiere collection
appear on the Golden Collection, and thankfully,
Warner Brothers has put a sticker on the boxes so
customers are not confused.

Once again, I apologize for the mistake about
these being presented anamorphic. I wasn't in
the room during the calibration and how no idea
that the tech readjusted the default position
on the player's aspect ratio.

 

[Dan Stone]

Thanks for the clarification about the aspect ratio.

I'm in a bit of a quandry over getting this.

I currently have on laserdisc Golden Age of Looney Tunes Volume 1 through 4. I also own about a dozen laserdiscs of indivual volumes of Bugs Bunny, More Bugs Bunny, Curtain Calls, Sylvester and Tweety, etc. That's about 300 cartoons total. I always thought the quality was excellent. I need to check out specifically what's on thses discs and the extras as well.

I had debated this myself, until I found the Chuck Jones DVD on sale for $9.99 and bought it to watch the two restored cartoons (not to mention everything else on this wonderful disc) and compare them to my laserdiscs firsthand. While the laserdiscs were always a vast improvement over VHS/TV viewings, the look of the restored cartoons makes the laserdiscs look rather washed out/pale in comparison IMHO. As Ron already pointed out, the colors are simply stunning now (and not overdone like I had feared before getting the CJ DVD and seeing for myself). If you have any doubts, try making this same comparison for yourself. Even if you ultimately decide not to get the DVD's (which I find unlikely), I doubt you'll say the cost of the CJ DVD was a waste after viewing it.

Hope this helps,

Dan

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I'm definitely buying the DVDs. I'm also paranoid enough to hang onto my laserdiscs, since you never know if they'll release every short and in uncut form.

 

[Herb Kane]

I also received the Premiere Collection and the Golden Collection will be arriving tomorrow morning. I'm hoping to have everything completed and posted by late tomorrow (assuming I get the Golden set tomorrow in the am).

I can echo what Ron has said though... unfortunately, there is a fair amount of video noise and film scratches. However, the colors jump off the screen... they look GREAT! I have completed disc one so far and I am really impressed...!!

Herb.