DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Looney Tunes - Golden Collection Volume Two (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). (1 Viewer)

[george kaplan]

In a cartoon world where the coyote is still around after being blown up, run over, thrown off a cliff, etc., etc., they could certainly have the road runner eaten and still come back.

 

[Roger Rollins]

As a die-hard Warner Bros. cartoon fan, let me state that I
do not like any of the Road Runner cartoons. Period.

However, I'm in the minority here. These cartoons are beloved by people around the world and have been for decades. Ditto Tweety & Sylvester. Not my cup of tea, but with a rabid worldwide fan base. I do not mind WB catering to the fans of these characters, because they are very popular, they're restored, look amazing, and will make a lot of people happy.

I'm just thrilled I can now watch LITTLE RED RIDING RABBIT or THE BIG SNOOZE with exploding colors in pristine form, not to mention about 25 other cartoons that are true favorites. WB has created another crown jewel with this set and my appplause goes to them.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I'm with George and Roger on this one. I've watched the whole set, and the Road Runner disc was easily my least favorite of the four. Honestly, I feel that if you've seen one RR cartoon, you've seen them all. Tweety/Sylvester cartoons use similar plots, but at least they vary SOME of the settings and other elements. RR/Coyote? Same thing, over and over.

Gimme Bugs any day of the week! And Daffy - especially early Daffy when he was truly nuts!

 

[Roger Rollins]

...but again, to each his own.

These sets are fantastic. Vol. 1 only had one RR cartoon on it and the outcry was for more. I can't stand Foghorn Leghorn, and many are decrying his absence on v.2. You just can't please everyone with these compilations. However, I'd take Foghorn Leghorn any day over Disney cartoons which totally lack any viable humor.....

Bottom line is, no one could top WB when it came to cartoons, and these sets prove it, with luscious restored cartoons, happily untampered with (let the Disney folks keep their Black & Decker dustbusters to themselves, thank you very much), and we can enjoy these shorts for the first time since theatrical release with great color, sound, and presented with cleverness and intelligence.

Amen.

 

[Patrick McCart]

While Disney applied a lot of digital work to their feature films for DVD (except for Fantasia and The Reluctant Dragon), most of their shorts did not have "dustbusting" applied. I think only the "banned" shorts on the On The Front Lines WDT set had extensive digital restoration (and it's obvious, especially on Victory Through Air Power).

 

[Jay Pennington]

I think the Sorcerer's Apprentice segment was, probably for its inclusion in Fantasia 2000.

 

[Mark Edward Heuck]

I thought for sure someone would have gotten my little Ralph Phillips reference in the previous post. :frowning:

But that's what I get for using obscure jokes. Maybe I'm the one who needs a puhskyatrist.

 

[WilliamG]

OK -- count me in as one who LOVES the long-legged one!
I don't know the title, but there's one where Wile E. DOES catch the Road Runner. It happens after RR eats something that makes him a gargantuan- like 50 or so feet tall. Coyote grabs him around one leg, after the requisite chase; RR looking down at him ... As I recall (through very faded memory ) Wile E. looks at the camera, holding up a card that said something to the effect of "Well, you always wanted me to catch him. NOW what do I do with him?!!"

That was a blast! Does anyone know the name of that 'toon, and is it on this collection?

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Same here. Sure I might have seen the Coyote fall of that damn cliff a hundred times or more, but damn if it isn't still funny to me every single time I see it. I don't know what it is, usually I'm one of the first people that gets tired of the "one note jokes" which I freely admit the Road Runner cartoons are, but I've never gotten tired of this.

Of course, I never met a Looney Tune or a Merrie Melody I didn't like.

 

[Patrick McCart]

A little late, but here's a ton of screenshots from the cartoons:












And someone on the Golden Age Cartoons forums posted this comparison between the old master of The Heckling Hare with the restoration:

 

[Drew Salzan]

Is the animation sequence from My Dream Is Yours included as an extra? I can't seem to locate it on the collection except for part of the documentary.

 

[Roger Rollins]

The excerpt from MY DREAM IS YOURS can be found on Volume ONE. It's great!

 

[Michael Boyd]

Question about Book Revue . . .

Was the Uncle Tom's Cabin gag zoomed in to try and hide the offensiveness? Or is it just typical of what you lose with overscan. You couldn't really see most of the title or what I'm guessing was Daffy running out of the cabin as black woman. BEen years since I've seen that toon.

 

[Patrick McCart]

The edited version that used to run on Cartoon Network had the whole gag cut out. I'm pretty sure this is the correct framing... after all, Warner didn't zoom in on the newspaper headline in Tortoise Wins By a Hare (in Vol. 1) which had "Jap Cruiser Sunk" or something.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

One of the animation forums indicates that five or six of the cartoons on this set suffer from the same combing issues that spoil "Two Little Indians" on the Tom & Jerry set. Since there's no reason for there to be a PAL conversion, I have to assume that these are improperly flagged, like the Monty Python Meaning of Life disc. Did anyone notice these issues?

 

[Patrick McCart]

Book Revue, A Corny Concerto, Have You Got Any Castles, Hollywood Steps Out, and I Love to Singa have the interlacing problem. While the T&J set probably used existing masters for a few cartoons, the 5 cartoons on the 2nd GC should be progressive like the other 55 (especially since they ARE the restored versions). I'm guessing Warner will do another replacement disc for the 4th disc.

 

[Jonny_L]

Holy Crappola, thats incredible. Thanks for these. When the cartoons air in my area they look more like the former of Bugs looking over the cliff, not the latter. I can't wait till Xmas now. Where's a fat man when you need him?

 

[Matt Rexer]

Wow, those screenshots are beautiful! Only 15 more Golden volumes to go, by my calculations. It's too bad they're not doing these things chronologically. They've built in a diminishing returns effect by throwing bunches of favorites on the same sets. Volume 17, should it ever arrive, will be left with the dregs of the lot...

Edit: Of course, if they aren't planning on going the distance, their current release plan makes more sense.

Edit Again: Actually, volume 17 would be the dregs of the lot either way! *shudder* at the LT cartoons from the late 60s...

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

3 discs of 60s Looney Tunes with a fourth "The complete Bosko and Sniffles" themed disc.

Regards,

 

[Patrick McCart]

Actually, they wouldn't be nearly as popular if they did it chronologically. While Disney can release B&W Mickey sets since the character is popular, Warner's cartoons from 1930 to 1935 have almost no familiar characters. If they did character sets in chronological order (like Disney's Mickey in Color and Donald Duck sets), you'd end up having a B&W Porky set with a bunch of Jack King episodes at the start... or with Bugs, you'd have stuff like Porky's Hare Hunt, Hold the Lion, Please! and Elmer's Pet Rabbit (despite having the great Avery and Clampett Bugs cartoons from this period).

However, I really doubt Warner is going to worry about including all of the Bosko, Buddy, and 1965-1969 cartoons. They'll probably put a nice selection of Harmon-Ising cartoons (a lot of the Bosko cartoons are fun, as are their early Merrie Melodies), perhaps one Buddy cartoon (it's generally agreed that they're awful), and perhaps a handful of the 1965-1969 cartoons (Sugar & Spies, Norman Normal, Bunny & Claude, Cool Cat, and maybe Tease for Two).

I'm hoping they gradually work the lesser stuff in, so that even by Volume 15 or 16, there will still be a few gems.