Finally: Looney Tunes (1 Viewer)

[Eric Peterson]

I'm all over that 4 disc set. My concern is still whether or not more are coming? I didn't see anything that said "Volume 1", "Wave 1" or anything of the sort. Somebody, please tell me that there will be a new box every year or something along those lines. I want every one of these cartoons that's possible. They also state "Uncut", but I didn't see anything that mentioned if any of the "Black-listed" cartoons are present.

Edit:
I found in the 2nd link that they said this is the first wave. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You. Now bring on the Tom & Jerry, and Tex Avery sets. I want to be able to retire my laserdisc player.

 

[Roderick Gauci]

I’m ecstatic that Warners have committed themselves to releasing quality DVD editions of their Looney Tunes cartoons. I’ll definitely pre-order the 4-Disc Set; I can never get enough of Bugs, Daffy, Sylvester, et al.

I too hope that every last one of these classic cartoons will make it to disc (although I’m not interested in their recent “reincarnations”), but I’m also impatient for the announcement of similar sets for the Tom & Jerry and Tex Avery cartoons. What with these and the "Walt Disney Treasures" sets, these infectiously enjoyable yet highly important films will not only appease their longtime admirers but also give them a new lease of life and garner them legions of new fans!

 

[Patrick McCart]

It'll take roughly 15-20 4-disc sets to cover EVERYTHING from the Bosko pilot to the Snafu cartoons to the post-1969 cartoons.

ALL need to be themed or character centered by the fact that...well, there are a lot of cartoons that even fans don't like. The Buddy and B&W Merrie Melodies made after Hugh Harmon and Rudolf Ising left WB have been out of circulation for over a decade and don't have a huge following.

It looks like WHV is taking the route that Turner did for the "Golden Age of Looney Tunes" sets by putting a good blend of cartoons. I'm eager to find out what will be on the set...with 1050+ cartoons overall... they have a lot to pick from.

 

[Sean Moon]

Sweet Jesus! I have to quote Darth Vader on this one and say that "this will be a day long remembered"
Bravo Warner Brothers. You treat your treasures with such care. If only we had more sets now! October cant come fast enough.

 

[James L White]

Wow,looks like WB is trying to be studio of the year

 

[Mike Broadman]

If the 2-disc set are the same as the 3rd and 4th of the bigger set, then that means, according to the box details, that the 2-disc version doesn't have Duck Dodgers.

Yeah, definitely getting the 4-disc set.

This is sweet.

 

[Dave Hahn]

JohnS, thanks for the link, very cool stuff!

 

[oscar_merkx]

yeah man this is fantastic stuff indeed, especially with all the extra on these 4 discs. I will need a second job for what is coming out over the coming months

I think it is safe to say that WB will be dvd studio of the year now



Update

Can anybody tell me what is so special about the following

• The complete "BOSKO THE TALK-INK KID" pilot

Thnaks

 

[gregstaten]

Speaking of isolated soundtracks, have any of you all ever seen/heard the CD "The Carl Stalling Project"? It came out in 1990 and was 70 minutes of Looney Tunes soundtracks, themes, and so on. They released a second volume about five years later. If you're into the music of Looney Tunes, you have to pick both of these CDs up. Highly recommended for all cartoon fans.

-greg

 

[Jeff Reis]

The specs on the 4-disc are truly way more than anyone could have expected and BIG kudos to Warner for listening to the fans and getting experts like Beck involved. As long as these are uncut, this will be the release of the year for me, in a year of phenomenal releases. That's an especially strong statement in a year that includes the mighty Season 3 of The Simpsons, IMHO probably the best season of any TV show, ever. In other words, Looney Tunes are pretty much the holy dvd grail for me. They are truly timeless classics.

I know that many people look askance at grown men who are this into a bunch of old cartoons. But I can honestly say these cartoons I watched over and over when I was 7 or 8 were crucial in forming my sense of humor, AND in fostering an appreciation and an interest in old-school show business. And they still hold up as one of the earlier examples of cartoons which were whimsical and cute, but also insanely funny, mean spirited and absurd.

It's heartening to see "Speedy Gonzales" included--that tells me they (hopefully) haven't caved in to the hysterical PC zealots.

Haven't seen a complete list yet but here's the partial list from the commentary specs:
RABBIT SEASONING
LONG HAIRED HARE
HIGH DIVING HARE
BULLY FOR BUGS
WHAT'S UP DOC?
RABBIT'S KIN
BIG TOP BUNNY
WABBIT TWOUBLE
DUCK AMUCK
DRIP-ALONG DAFFY
THE SCARLET PUMPERNICKLE
WEARING OF THE GRIN
DUCK DODGERS IN THE 24 1/2 CENTURY
FAST & FURRY-OUS
HAIR RAISING HARE
HAREDEVIL HARE
FOR SCENT-I-MENTAL REASONS
BUGS BUNNY GETS THE BOID
FEED THE KITTY
BUGS BUNNY AND THE THREE BEARS
TWEETY'S S.O.S.
THE FOGHORN LEGHORN
CANARY ROW
DEVIL MAY HARE
CANNED FEUD
SPEEDY GONZALES

Almost half of them have commentary! I would love to have seen commentary on all of them, but it would be ridiculous to find any fault with the huge amount of material we're getting. It would just be a shame for classics like "One Froggy Evening" or "What's Opera Doc" to not have commentary if possible. But of course those may not be on this set--we've got a looong way to go with this. I'm just thrilled they are being released at last!

These are listed as having storyboards--I would guess the original shorts are included too:

PUTTY TAT TWOUBLE
BROKEN LEGHORN
THE HYPO-CHONDRI-CAT
RABBIT FIRE

That's a total of 30...

To quote a certain irascible duck..."Drool, Drool".

 

[Patrick McCart]

Bosko The Talkink Kid is the "pilot" which started the Bosko series (Looney Tunes). It was totally animated by Isadore "Friz" Freleng and was likely one of the first pieces of animation synchronized to dialogue. (Steamboat Willie has only effects sync )

It's a really neat piece...you can see a lot of the Disney and Fleischer influence in it.

 

[PaulP]

Since Jerry Beck states on his site that this is Wave 1, I wonder what sort of an interval we're looking at between waves. A year, like Disney's Treasures? I hope it's 6 months. They need to release every single short.

 

[PhilipG]

If the 2-disc set are the same as the 3rd and 4th of the bigger set, then that means, according to the box details, that the 2-disc version doesn't have Duck Dodgers.

Duck Dodgers fans should already have the excellent Chuck Jones documentary DVD... although I can't wait for the commentary!

"And brother, when it dithinnagrateth, it dithinnagrateth!"

 

[Paul Penna]

Regarding the MGM Cinemascope cartoons, it should be pointed out that at least some of these were remakes, of a sort, of cartoons originally produced in Academy ratio. The original animation drawings were either closely adapted or rotoscoped and merely combined with wide backgrounds, not making any particular use of the wide frame per se. This was done with at least two earlier Tex Avery titles; 1949's "Wags to Riches" became 1956's "Millionare Droopy" and 1950's "Ventriloquist Cat" became 1957's "Cat's Meow." Still, for the sake of completeness, these should be released in "OAR." Those two Averys were letterboxed in the "Compleat Tex Avery" laserdisc set.

 

[oscar_merkx]

Thanks Patrick for the update on my question

 

[Jeremy Allin]

"One Froggy Evening" or "What's Opera Doc"

Can someone answer this, I just wanted to clarify these episodes:

ONE FROGGY EVENING
This episode has the frog singing, "Hello my baby, hello my honey...!"?

WHAT'S OPERA DOC
This episode has Bugs interrupting the singer's practising and has him dressed up as the famous conductor 'Leopold' towards the end?

I really hope these episodes (along with RABBIT OF SEVILLE) are included!

 

[Roger Rollins]

WHAT'S OPERA DOC-This episode has Bugs interrupting the singer's practising and has him dressed up as the famous conductor 'Leopold' towards the end?

The cartoon you're referring to is not WHAT'S OPERA, DOC? (although that could have been an appropriate title), but is actually called LONG HAIRED HARE.

WHAT'S OPERA, DOC isn't in this "first wave", but I'm now certain LONG HAIRED HARE and RABBIT OF SEVILLE are.

The collection contains enough of the essentials to really get excited about, and yet they've clearly saved many jewels for future releases. Thankfully they're not including any of the bad ones, of which there are many (Most of the post-'60 cartoons, and many of the early 30's cartoons are snooze-fests). Also, since each cartoon has been restored (ON FILM!) from the original successive-exposure camera negatives, and then given a new state-of-the-art transfer, this takes a huge amount of time and money, so they couldn't obviously have them ALL ready to go.

A fried of mine works at a local film lab that specializes in restoration, and he tells me that they are working on about ten different nitrate Looney Tunes negs as the present time, as are other local labs. He says they've also gone so far as to restore the original titles wherever possible, and eliminate the "blue ribbon" (shorter) reissue
titles.

These are ALL new masters. Even Disney didn't do that for their "treasures" series.

Impressive

 

[Scott Merryfield]

What's Opera, Doc is the spoof of Wagner's Ring Cycle opera (specifically "The Ride Of The Valkyries"), with Elmer Fudd playing a Norseman and Bugs playing a valkyrie.

ELMER (to the tune of "Ride of The Valkyries): "Kill da wabbit! Kill da wabbit! Kill da wabbit!"

BUGS: "Kill da wabbit?"

I've been waiting for the Looney Tunes collection to hit DVD for 5 years. I'm really looking forward to this set.

 

[Deane Johnson]

Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether WB is likely to master these so they will play through non-stop if desired?

I picked up a Three Stooges (Sony) disc for my handicapped son and you have to select each feature from a menu. Doesn't work for him and the DVD is useless as a result. I'm hoping the Looney Tunes set can be made to play through non-stop. I can't imagine why anyone would want to go back to a menu each time to select the next one.

 

[Chris Farmer]

As someone who worked two summers (1999 and 2000) as a Looney Tune at the Six Flags in San Antonio, I'm big time looking forward to this release. Bring it on.