Warner Archives Announces Porky Pig Collection 1934-1943 (1 Viewer)

[phillyrobt]

Not to hijack the thread, but I have a question of sorts. I grew up watching Looney Tunes on Saturday mornings (as did a lot of us). Obviously I don't believe this era was represented on TV (I can't remember ever seeing a b&w episode). What era were those and is there a website that would explain the various eras?

Warner Brothers sold a portion of their library to Associated Artists Productions including their pre July 1948 titles. So the post 1948 were on CBS/NBC/ABC. the pre1948 cartoons I would see on independent UHF stations (17, 29. and 48 here in Philadelphia). Later on in the 90s Turner Broadcasting regained the rights. The black and white cartoons were "badly" recreated in color (every other cel redrawn)

 

[Paul Penna]

Press release: http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Bugs-Bunny-Looney-Tunes-Comedy-Hour-Porky-Pig-101/23656

"Porky Pig 101" arrives from WAC after the long-planned collection's five-year internal journey, including the restoration and remastering process of 101 animated shorts. All of the cartoons in the collection have now undergone varying degrees of remastering from the best available 35mm elements, including archival nitrate sources.

This sounds somewhat promising, but I definitely need to learn more. If this is truly the next series for collectors with new cartoons, the restorations need to be darn close to the Golden Collections.

Assuming that's authoritative, I'm very encouraged - of course, I ordered the set when it was first announced. New transfers (undoubtedly in hi-def and down-rezzed for the DVD) of early-generation 35mm elements are going to look darned good.

 

[Ken_Martinez]

Yeah. If WAC was forward thinking and did 2K scans of the new-to-DVD shorts from interpositive material (like they do for their films), then they'll look great and could even be cleaned up later on.

 

[Ken_Martinez]

Podcast with George Feltenstein and associates about the set. Worth a listen if you have an hour and change to spare.

https://www.acast.com/warnerarchivepodcast/porky-pig-101

 

[Traveling Matt]

Thanks Ken, definitely worth the listen. More sets need to happen so George and Jerry Beck can keep talking about this stuff. Some interesting info:

• Five years went into reassembling many cartoons that were part of a long and tangled ownership history. Openings and closings were chopped off, etc.
  
• The new cartoons are remastered, not restored, and were done on DVD rather than Blu-ray due to budget limitations. Not sure if that's scanning costs or cleanup necessary for quality in 1080p, or both.
• Classic theatrical animation is only now happening at WAC because Feltenstein wanted to do it as well as possible, plus they were waiting for traditional retail opportunities to more or less completely dry up before transitioning to WAC.
• Looney Tunes DVDs will always need to make money because Warner Brothers needs to be "financially responsible because we are a public company and we are accountable to be profitable."

I don't agree that Looney Tunes can't be an exception considering their place both in film history and at this particular studio, but I guess that's their harsh reality. It does sound like they constantly have people working to maintain the elements, even if it's only analog, so that's some comfort.

 

[Ken_Martinez]

• The new cartoons are remastered, not restored, and were done on DVD rather than Blu-ray due to budget limitations. Not sure if that's scanning costs or cleanup necessary for quality in 1080p, or both.

The use of the word "pristine" implies the latter. WAC does a lot of cleanup and restoration work on their Blu-Ray's, and apparently the budget wasn't enough to do that on all the new-to-DVD shorts. Warner MPI handled the new transfers, so hopefully they did their usual 2K scans.

George Feltenstein says that they did new transfers on "almost 50" shorts specifically for this set. But of the 101 cartoons, only 37 were restored in the days of the Golden/Platinum Collections. I wonder; were there cartoons that restored in the days of the Golden/Platinum discs, but not used on them for whatever reason?

 

[Traveling Matt]

George Feltenstein says that they did new transfers on "almost 50" shorts specifically for this set. But of the 101 cartoons, only 37 were restored in the days of the Golden/Platinum Collections. I wonder; were there cartoons that restored in the days of the Golden/Platinum discs, but not used on them for whatever reason?

I took him to mean the new transfers were done for unreleased, unplanned cartoons. Not anything from the Golden Collections.

 

[ClassicFlix]

For those wondering whether or not replicated sets are exclusive to WBShop, we just got our first batch and can confirm they are replicated (Not MOD).

- David

 

[Ken_Martinez]

I took him to mean the new transfers were done for unreleased, unplanned cartoons. Not anything from the Golden Collections.

I know, but he said that they did "almost 50" new transfers specifically for this set. The 37 previously restored shorts will obviously be the copies from the Golden/Platinum sets.

That's 83-87 shorts right there, between the new transfers and the old GC/PC transfers. That leaves 14-18 shorts unaccounted for.

 

[Traveling Matt]

If they're not new transfers and they're not restorations, presumably they're old transfers cleaned up as best as possible. Hence "varying degrees of remastering."

 

[Ken_Martinez]

If they're not new transfers and they're not restorations, presumably they're old transfers cleaned up as best as possible. Hence "varying degrees of remastering."

If that's the case, then the older transfers must have been film-to-digital because they emphatically say in the podcast that they did not use analog videotape masters for this set.

Some of the non-Golden Collection shorts were included as bonuses on other DVD's, but from videotape masters from the Nickelodeon days.

 

[Paul Penna]

Here's a listing of the contents from a WAC new release email I got today:

Here's a complete list of all the shorts! Disc One: I Haven't Got a Hat; Gold Diggers of '49; Boom Boom; Alpine Antics; Blow Out; Westward Whoa; Plane Dippy; Fish Tales; Shanghaied Shipmates; Porky's Pet; Porky the Rain-Maker; Porky's Poultry Plant; Milk and Money; Porky's Moving Day; Little Beau Porky; The Village Smithy; Porky in the North Woods; Porky the Wrestler; Porky's Road Race; Picador Porky. Disc Two: Porky's Romance; Porky's Duck Hunt; Porky and Gabby; Porky's Building; Porky's Super Service; Porky's Badtime Story; Porky's Railroad; Get Rich Quick Porky; Porky's Garden; Rover's Rival; The Case of the Stuttering Pig; Porky's Double Trouble; Porky's Hero Agency; Porky's Poppa; Porky at the Crocadero; What Price Porky; Porky's Phony Express; Porky's Five & Ten; Porky's Hare Hunt; Injun Trouble. Disc Three: Porky the Fireman; Porky's Party; Porky's Spring Planting; Porky & Daffy; Wholly Smoke; Porky in Wackyland; Porky's Naughty Nephew; Porky in Egypt; The Daffy Doc; Porky the Gob; The Lone Stranger and Porky; It's an Ill Wind; Porky's Tire Trouble; Porky's Movie Mystery; Chicken Jitters; Porky and Teabiscuit; Kristopher Kolumbus Jr.; Polar Pals; Scalp Trouble; Old Glory. Disc Four: Porky's Picnic; Wise Quacks; Porky's Hotel; Jeepers Creepers; Naughty Neighbors; Pied Piper Porky; Porky the Giant Killer; The Film Fan; Porky's Last Stand; Africa Squeaks; Ali-Baba Bound; Pilgrim Porky; Slap Happy Pappy; Porky's Poor Fish; You Ought to Be in Pictures; The Chewin' Bruin; Porky's Baseball Broadcast; Patient Porky; Calling Dr. Porky; Prehistoric Porky. Disc Five: The Sour Puss; Porky's Hired Hand; The Timid Toreador; Porky's Snooze Reel; Porky's Bear Facts; Porky's Preview; Porky's Ant; A Coy Decoy; Porky's Prize Pony; Meet John Doughboy; We, the Animals - Squeak!; The Henpecked Duck; Notes to You; Robinson Crusoe Jr.; Porky's Midnight Matinee; Porky's Pooch; Porky's Pastry Pirates; Who's Who in the Zoo; Porky's Café; Confusions Of A Nutzy Spy; Porky Pig's Feat

 

[Vic Pardo]

Here's the synopsis from the WBShop.com page for this set:

"That's NOT all, folks! Warner Bros. first cartoon superstar, everyone's favorite pantless porcine, Porky Pig, takes center stage. From his humble beginnings as the breakout star of a schoolhouse talent show in I Haven't Got a Hat to his slimmer, slaphappy sidekick stage alongside Daffy Duck in Porky Pig's Feat, across Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes, in two-strip Technicolor® and scintillating black and white, Porky's ascent from rascally school gang member to superstar spokespig is fully on display in this 5-disc, 101-cartoon (plus some bonuses) collection. Presented in chronological order, with key commentaries by noted animation scholars and superfans on select shorts of significance, this tome contains all the 'toons you need to become a true professor of Porky Pig-ology."

There's an astounding inaccuracy in there. I'm quite certain that every Porky Pig Merrie Melodies cartoon was shot in 3-strip Technicolor, not 2-strip, including the very first Porky Pig cartoon, "I Haven't Got a Hat." Some of the early Merrie Melodies were shot in 2-strip because Disney held a monopoly on 3-strip Technicolor for cartoons until 1935. But none of those had Porky Pig in them.

 

[Michael Elliott]

So are these the first 101 shorts in the series or were some skipped over for whatever reason?

 

[Paul Penna]

There's an astounding inaccuracy in there. I'm quite certain that every Porky Pig Merrie Melodies cartoon was shot in 3-strip Technicolor, not 2-strip, including the very first Porky Pig cartoon, "I Haven't Got a Hat." Some of the early Merrie Melodies were shot in 2-strip because Disney held a monopoly on 3-strip Technicolor for cartoons until 1935. But none of those had Porky Pig in them.

"I Haven't Got a Hat" is most definitely two-color Technicolor. The next Porky color cartoon wasn't until "Old Glory" in 1939, and of course in full 3-color Technicolor.

There were a whole slew of B/W Porkys broadcast in 1990's computer-colorized versions, though.

 

[Vic Pardo]

"I Haven't Got a Hat" is most definitely two-color Technicolor. The next Porky color cartoon wasn't until "Old Glory" in 1939, and of course in full 3-color Technicolor.

There were a whole slew of B/W Porkys broadcast in 1990's computer-colorized versions, though.

I stand corrected about "I Haven't Got a Hat." I just looked at my copy and damned if that isn't 2-strip. IMDB confirms it. I just remember it being more colorful than it was. Are there any other color cartoons in the set besides "I Haven't Got a Hat" and "Old Glory"? If not, I was way too hasty to criticize the announcement. (Not the first time, surely won't be the last.)

Thanks.

 

[TravisR]

So are these the first 101 shorts in the series or were some skipped over for whatever reason?

Yeah, they must not have skipped any or you'd see a lot of hardcore fans wondering where X or Y is.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Just got my copy today. It's DVD-R, but I ordered from Amazon instead of WBShop directly. Not a big deal to me since I store all my short films on a hard drive for easier access.

I've only checked a few shorts on the first two discs, but good so far. As expected, the Golden/Platinum cartoons are the exact same masters as before. I wouldn't be surprised if they simply copied them down to the encodes.

As for the new-to-disc cartoons, the transfers and encodes are first-rate. While little to no digital cleanup has been applied, they seemed to stabilize the image for the most part. The prints range from looking just as great as the fully restored shorts on the GC/PC sets to looking a bit dupey. I'd compare this set to something like the Walt Disney Treasures Mickey B&W or More Silly Symphonies sets.

Here's some screencaps (from Plane Dippy, The Blow Out, Fish Tales, and Porky's Moving Day):

I played a few cartoons on my 4K display and they upscale beautifully. If you're on the fence because it's not a Blu-ray set, you're missing out.

 

[Michael Elliott]

Thanks Travis. I wasn't sure if there were any "banned" or controversial shorts that got skipped over. My copy is in my mailbox so I can't wait to get off work and go through them.

 

[Patrick McCart]

More screencaps:

https://i.imgur.com/Ac2Zriq.png (linked since it's kind of inappropriate)

For those interested, the discs seem to be maxed out - Disc 1 uses 8.3 GB and the bitrate seems to stay in the 7 mbs range.