Looney Toons on DVD...NOT! Please Sign Petition Link Here! (1 Viewer)

[Michael Caicedo]

Signed-Number 896. Hey, New Yorkers, Do they still have that annual Looney Tunes festival in a theater in the Village?(I forget the name). I attended a couple of times in the early 90's when I used to live in the area. Saw some of the real gems. I would love to have them on DVD.
------------------
Michael Caicedo
Winter Park, FL
- At my signal, unleash hell...

 

[Marvin Richardson]

Hmmm...according to both Dark Horizons and DVDFile:
Warner has put a Roots 25th anniversary box set into production for a late 2002 release, and is working on a Looney Toons collection for release sometime in the future, though due to the amount of work required it may not arrive in 2002. Other series that are not planned at this time for DVD release but as always are "under consideration" as always include Xena, more V releases, Animaniacs, Tiny Toons and Batman: The Animated Series.
Links:
www.darkhorizons.com/news.htm
http://www.dvdfile.com/news/special_...01/warner.html
I'm confused. Where did you read on Dark Horizons that they are not going to release it due to lack of demand?

 

[Kevin McCorry]

I was signer number 32.
While it's encouraging that this petition is getting this
much attention, I must point out that some shilling (multiple signings by same person using aliases) seems to be going on, and first-name-only signitures cannot be of much value. If we subtract this, it's still a good 600 or so signitures and counting.
The overriding question is, will it matter? Warner has been saying for years now that they were working on restoring the cartoons, and now to learn they have no concrete plans for
a release. What's the truth? Probably the latter, in which case the former is...
The Japanese Tweety DVDs are gorgeous. Everything about them is superior to laserdisc. There's no excuse for not releasing a Tweety collection in North America, then collections for all of the other characters, some themed collections, and then cartoons starring none of the regulars. Put them out one at a time. Release the post-1948 cartoons while the pre-1948s are being worked on.
Really, how much effort could it take to go to the LD
masters of the post-1948s and digitize and adjust them and put them out with quality comparable to the Tweety DVDs?
[Edited last by Kevin McCorry on October 10, 2001 at 01:18 PM]

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Look, to be blunt, what other web sites say doesn't matter. Here is what Jerry Beck has to say at Cartoon Research:

Despite reports from a recent "Studio Day" event in Los Angeles, where DVD execs met with fans to answer questions and plug new releases, there are no concrete plans to release any Looney Tunes on DVD in the U.S. that I know of. And take it from me, I know.

If you know Jerry, then you know that he doesn't blow smoke. Period.
Please do not try to discredit the need for action! Support the cause!

 

[Michael St. Clair]

dupe post.
[Edited last by Michael St. Clair on October 10, 2001 at 01:38 PM]

 

[Dave Koch]

Michael:
Hope you do not mind- I swiped your Looney Tunes logo for a link from some of my cartoon-related sites, obviously with a link to the petion. (Did not think you would mind.... but if you do, just let me know!
Dave Koch
http://www.bcdb.com/

 

[GaryEA]

Why do we really need 5.1 mixes for these cartoons? To have the Road Runner come from the left rear speaker to the right? Does everything released in this format have to have a new soundtrack different from the original? Film should not have to cater to consumer's sound systems, especially when we're talking about decades old cartoons. It supposed to be the reverse.
If there's a choice between the two, fine. You get yours and I get what I think is the only way these cartoons should be. I'm not going to be playing Looney Tunes in 5.1; The idea is ridiculous to me. But if a good clean momo track isn't available, then forget it. They're just wasting my time.
Gary

 

[Dave Koch]

I agree- no need at all for 5.1. It would be nice (historically) to get the original title cards instead of the Blue Ribbon titles. But the full restoration is needed.
I saw on a site recently a comparison of the currently available release of Falling Hare with a restored version. I wish I could remember where. But a night and day difference. Well worth doing... they DID use bright colors back then, but you would be hard [pressed to tell from the Laser disk versions.
Whether they do it asd a seperate disk, or integrate it into a box set, I think they shoudl also include ALL of the cartoons, including "Nips the Nips" and "Coal Black." Not to be argumenative, but I deal with old cartoons. It does seem a bit ubsurd to pull "Noips the Nips" and keep "Daffy the Commando."
Just my opinion!
Dave

 

[Michael St. Clair]

quote: Hope you do not mind- I swiped your Looney Tunes logo for a link from some of my cartoon-related sites, obviously with a link to the petion. (Did not think you would mind.... but if you do, just let me know!
[/quote]
Please do! I didn't make it, there is a page that includes that logo and some banners to boot!
They are available at:
http://www.animationondvd.com/petition_looneytunes.html
Michael St. Clair
you know what to do...
[Edited last by Michael St. Clair on October 10, 2001 at 03:14 PM]

 

[Anthony Hom]

If there are plans, most likely they will not restore all 1,000 LT/MM. the task is just too big and costly. I see them restoring a select group of the more popular characters (Bugs, Tweety, Daffy, Roadrunner, etc.) I don't see much in restoring Buddy and some of the early B&W ones. Of course, Bosko is public domain as someone pointed out.
Another factor is the licensing of the music. With new copyright laws going in, this alone could stop the whole restoration idea. The original point of LT/MM is to put on media in some for or another a big music catalog that Warner Brothers acquired. The main goal was to perform the songs, not really show cartoons (That's why they are called Looney TUNES). I see that if they have any contract problems with securing the music, I don't see them lifting a dime to restore if the expected profits do not meet estimated costs. Also tracking down ALL the owners of the music, especially if WB does not own them anymore.
I would like to have the collection on DVD. I have about 700 of the 1,000 LT/MM across 15 6 hour VHS tapes. That took alot of bookkeeping to avoid repeats. that includes some Bosko and Buddy episodes.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I want them windowboxed, as they are not 1.33:1 and have very clear cropping on the sides that drives me crazy.

Matt,
Agreed. I wish that *ALL* 1.37:1 titles would be trasfered with letterboxing to preserve the OAR. That includes live-action like Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind.
Most people would never even know, as you say, because of overscan.
-dave

 

[Sarah S]

Well, I am signer #971 on the petition. It seems to be going strong.

 

[Dave Koch]

I was just speaking with someone at WB about this. It seems WB has a couple of problems OTHER than restoration with this. It seems that for whatever reason, WB does not want to put out any cartoons Director or copyright info intact. I do not know why... but that is what I was told.
Go figure.... it isn't as if that info is not already out there! But no one ever said studios make decisions based on facts, either.
So, there you go, for waht it is worth.
dave

 

[Anthony Hom]

That last reply says it all. If they want to omit certain directors names, it because they don't want to divide the profits or royalties made on these films to everyone or their estates.
That alone would be a reason for changing all the titles. That may explain why the Saturday morning version on ABC omitted the original titles for years.

 

[Hendrik]

"Warner Bros. has been associated with many classic films through the years - Casablanca, Gone With The Wind(huh?), Singin' In The Rain(wha'?), Citizen Kane(eh?), and The Wizard Of Oz(say what?) to name but a few...
...WTF???...
...note that of the five titles listed, only one - Casablanca - is directly associated with Warner Bros - the others are 'associated' only insofar as their current DVD incarnation happens to be on the WB label (in the days of LD four of them appeared on the MGM label, one was #1 on the Criterion label).
...Singin' In The Rain and The Wizard Of Oz were, are, and - in my mind at least - always will be MGM musicals...
...Citizen Kane is an RKO film...
...even Gone With The Wind is originally a Selznick International production (poor David.O. would be spinning in his grave if he knew his name wasn't even mentioned in the same breath as GWTW).
...the statement quoted above was apparently (obviously?) composed by someone who didn't know his film history very well ... the author should have done his homework - it would have been very easy to come up with genuine Warner titles:
* Gold Diggers Of 1933 , Yankee Doodle Dandy , Night And Day , Rhapsody In Blue , The Music Man are only a few Warner musical movies...
* The Adventures Of Robin Hood , The Private Lives Of Elizabeth And Essex , They Died With Their Boots On , The Adventures Of Don Juan , So Big are only a few of the quite respectable, no-expense-spared big-scale films carrying the Warner logo...
...sigh...
(signed) Hair-Splitting Graybeard, Feeling Very Old
. . .
[Edited last by Hendrik on October 10, 2001 at 07:03 PM]

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I can't buy the title card argument. Anybody claiming intellectual property issues would have plenty of other evidence.
Also, more than a hundred restored cartoons with original title cards have shown up on cable and the VHS Columbia House series, which still has new tapes being released.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

The title card argument doesn't make any sense at all. Any intellectual property or contract/residual rights that the directors, VAs etc. have would apply regardless of whether WB changes the title cards after the fact. I should think that the Directors Guild would have issues about removing the names of directors as well, regardless of money issues. Since these would all have been work for hire anyway, I can't see the issue that they're trying to avoid. And changing the year of the original copyright? What the heck is THAT all about? Someone at WB legal is smoking the hard stuff.

------------------
"This movie has warped my fragile little mind."

 

[Dave Koch]

Michael/Mark:

I can't buy the title card argument. ...

I can agree with you on that... it does not make sense to me, either (I hope this was evident from my post!) But as anyone who has ever dealt with studio management knows, reality does not always have a bearing on their decisions.
That being said, the aforementioned reasoning is at least a concern at WB in this matter at this time.
dave

 

[Kevin McCorry]

Warner just doesn't want the cartoons on DVD in North
America. On videotape, fine. On OOP, rotting laserdisc,
fine. Elsewhere in the world to a limited extent, fine. But not DVD in North America. We can puzzle over the reasons until the 24 1/2th Century, but this is the bottom line.
I think they just don't want people owning long-term archival copies of the cartoons as that would hurt their success on ppv video-on-demand. The director credit excuse is hogwash. And this talk year after year about the cartoons being restored for DVD is hogwash, too. Just a hunch, but the petition will probably be no more successful than the one for Star Wars 4-6.

 

[LarryDavenport]

I expect one of you guys to bring this up at the Warner Chat (I can't attend).
------------------
These chicks know how to party! - MoJo JoJo