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May 19, 2013
In stores July 23!
Warner Home Video has finally revealed the back cover artwork for its upcoming second-season set of the Cartoon Network series Duck Dodgers, Duck Dodgers: Deep Space Duck. The DVD-only release is still scheduled to be released on July 23.
Containing all of the episodes of the show's second season, ir will feature the following episodes....
Disc One
Pig Planet
Invictus Interruptus/Pet Peeved
The Menace of Maninsuit/K-9 Quarry
Talent Show A-Go-Go/The Love of a Father
The New Cadet/The Love Duck
The Fudd
The Mark of Xero/I See Duck People
Disc Two
Deathmatch Duck/Deconstructing Dodgers
MMORPD/Old McDodgers
Diva Delivery/Castle High
Surf the Stars/Samurai Quack
Of Course You Know, This Means War and Peace
Of Course You Know, This Means War and Peace (part two)
All thirteen episodes will be presented in widescreen as they originally aired. Sadly, there will be NO special features on this release.
The text on the back of the DVD reads as follows....
Space is the final fun-tier! Return to the 24 1/2th Century with Daffy Duck as Captain Duck Dodgers and his cadet sidekick, Porky Pig, as these two space-faring screwballs embark on one wacky intergalactic exploration after another. The universe had better watch out as the duck with no pluck tries to outrun Marvin the Martian's mechanical minions, prevent an interplanetary war between Earth and Mars, and foil a universal takeover by armies of Elmer Fudd! Blast off with the whole family and see if this mischievous mallard will save the universe...or quack under pressure!
Duck Dodgers: Deep Space Duck will be released on July 23 and will retail for $19.97. Pre-order it now on Amazon.
May 19, 2013
Still coming August 6!
And this one still hasn't been formally announced by the studio yet (in fact, we believe that ours and Amazon are the only two web sites that have even mentioned it), but Warner Home Video has finally revealed the cover art for its upcoming single-disc Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Award-Nominated Animation: Cinema Favorites DVD. Still just a pare-down of the three-disc Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection: 15 Winners/26 Nominees set from 2008, this new title is still set to be released on August 6.
The cover finally confirms something that had been confusingly unclear as information slowly trickled out from the studio: there will only be thirteen shorts on this release. This title is ostensibly just the second disc from the 15 Winners/26 Nominees collection, which contained fourteen cartoons, yet all of the very vague content information for this new release had been omitting 1949's Mouse Wreckers, which closed the earlier set's second disc. It turns out that it is no oversight and that--for whatever reason--Mouse Wreckers will NOT be appearing on this DVD.
SO, here is the final list of shorts that will appear on this DVD....
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor (1936 Paramount Popeye cartoon)
Peace on Earth (1939 MGM cartoon)
A Wild Hare (1940)
Puss Gets the Boot (1940 MGM Tom and Jerry cartoon)
Superman (1941 Paramount Superman cartoon)
Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (1941)
Rhapsody in Rivets (1941)
The Night Before Christmas (1941 MGM Tom and Jerry cartoon)
Blitz Wolf (1942 MGM Tex Avery cartoon)
Pigs in a Polka (1942)
Swooner Crooner (1944)
Walky Talky Hawky (1946)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse (1947 MGM Tom and Jerry cartoon)
The question remains now why such a change was made. It has been suggested by at least one reader on our Facebook page that perhaps it was done to even out the number of cartoons in case a second volume is planned with the remainder of the nominees from the 15 Winners/26 Nominees collection. That's certainly possible, but at the same time one would have to question if the amount of work, effort, time, and cost needed to newly program two DVDs just to shift one seven-minute cartoon over would be worth it. Such resources could be better spent on something a little more worthwhile, like an all new compilation or corrected reissues of the Bugs and Daffy Super Stars DVDs.
Surprisingly, the cover art continues the same theming as the two original Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection releases from 2008. As readers may recall, this title recently had a name-change that was, in a small way, divorcing itself from the earlier series, suggesting that maybe Warner was looking to rebrand the franchise the way it had when it reissued some of the Saturday Morning Cartoons collections last year under the 4 Kid Favorites banner...but clearly now that is not the case. It's still nice to see Bugs, Popeye, Superman, and Tom and Jerry all hanging out together...even though they seemed to be joined by a rather out-of-proportioned Porky. If a second volume gets released, it would be interesting to see if Warner Home Video could actually market a general-audience animation DVD with just the likes of Droopy and Speedy Gonzales on the cover.
Again, we CANNOT recommend this title, especially when the more complete Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection: 15 Winners/26 Nominees set is still widely available.
Still, if one must, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Award-Nominated Animation: Cinema Favorites is scheduled to be released on August 6 and will retail for $9.97. Pre-order it now on Amazon.
May 14, 2013
Still coming August 6!
This one still hasn't been formally announced yet (there is still no cover art, either), but Warner Home Video has changed the title of its upcoming single-disc Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Nominees Part 1 DVD. Now titled Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Award-Nominated Animation: Cinema Favorites, it is still set to be released on August 6.
Again, this new release is just the second disc from the 2008 Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection: 15 Winners/26 Nominees three-disc set. The contest list as provided by the studio is still as incomplete as it was when the title was revealed last week, still with the curious omission of 1949's Mouse Wreckers.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Award-Nominated Animation: Cinema Favorites is scheduled to be released on August 6 and will retail for $9.97. Pre-order it now on Amazon.
May 14, 2013
First thirteen episodes in broadcast order!
Today's the day, Taz fans! Warner Home Video has released the first ever DVD of the early '90s Saturday morning series Taz-Mania. Acting as a "season one, part one" release, the DVD Taz-Mania: Taz on the Loose is now in stores and available online.
The two-disc DVD set features the first thirteen episodes (in order of airdate) of the Emmy-nominated half-hour series that aired as a part of the Fox network's Fox Kids programming block. This not only marks the show's DVD debut in North America but also its first ever domestic home video release since a trio of VHS collections two decades ago.
The episodes featured on this release are as follows....
Disc One
Like Father, Like Son/Frights of Passage
The Dog the Turtle Story
War & Pieces/Airbourne Airhead
Battling Bushrats/Devil in the Deep Blue Sea
A Devil of a Job
Woeful Wolf
It's No Picnic/Kee-Wee ala King
Disc Two
Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty/Enter the Devil
Mishap in the Mist/Toothache Taz
Bewitched Bob
Instant Replay/Taz and the Pterodactyl
Comic Madness/Blunders Never Cease Pup Goes the Wendal/I'm OK, You're Taz
The DVD contains no special features.
Meanwhile, Warner Home Video had already announced a second volume in its Taz-Mania DVD series, containing the show's next thirteen episodes. Taz-Mania: Who Let the Taz Out?! is scheduled to be released on August 6 and can be pre-ordered on Amazon.
Taz-Mania: Taz on the Loose is now in stores and retails for $19.97. Order it now on Amazon.
In stores August 6!
This one kinda slipped under the radar, but last week Warner Home Video didn't so much announce but rather quietly began soliciting orders for a "new" release in its Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection series. The single-disc Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Nominees Part 1 will be released on DVD on August 6.
This new release is just the second disc from the 2008 Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection: 15 Winners/26 Nominees three-disc set. Why the studio felt offering a pared-down version of that collection was necessary--and five years later--is anyone's guess, especially since it had already been diced into a smaller set with the concurrent Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Animation Collection: 15 Winners DVD that featured the same cartoons as on the first disc of the larger collection.
The new title was "announced" with no fanfare, no cover artwork, no synopsis, and--as far as we can tell--no tie-in with any Warner Bros. event or theatrical release. August is not usually thought of as a time when one thinks about the Oscars, so whatever motivation the studio has for this new release remains to be seen.
There is so little information released by the studio that even the content list is seemingly incomplete.
These are the shorts found on the second disc of the 15 Winners/26 Nominees collection....
Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor (1936 Paramount Popeye cartoon)
Peace on Earth (1939 MGM cartoon)
A Wild Hare (1940)
Puss Gets the Boot (1940 MGM Tom and Jerry cartoon)
Superman (1941 Paramount Superman cartoon)
Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt (1941)
Rhapsody in Rivets (1941)
The Night Before Christmas (1941 MGM Tom and Jerry cartoon)
Blitz Wolf (1942 MGM Tex Avery cartoon)
Pigs in a Polka (1942)
Swooner Crooner (1944)
Walky Talky Hawky (1946)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse (1947 MGM Tom and Jerry cartoon)
Mouse Wreckers (1949)
Yet, Warner Home Video's product info for the new release doesn't include Mouse Wreckers. We have to assume that is merely an oversight on their retailer site. It is extremely doubtful that a newly programmed disc was produced. This will very, very most likely be the exact same disc as on the 15 Winners/26 Nominees set, but maybe with new art on the disc itself.
Obviously, we can't recommend this "new" title. The complete 15 Winners/26 Nominees collection is very reasonably priced on its own, and you get two additional discs of equally excellent material. If you haven't purchased that set yet, it's a decent addition (especially if you don't necessarily collect Tom and Jerry or non-Looney Tunes DVD releases)...while this one is just pointless.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Academy Awards Nominees Part 1 will be released on August 6 and will retail for $9.97. Pre-order it now on Amazon.
May 2, 2013
Second volumes of each still scheduled for summer!
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Containing all of the episodes of the show's second season, the Duck Dodgers release will feature the following episodes....
Pig Planet
Invictus Interruptus/Pet Peeved
The Menace of Maninsuit/K-9 Quarry
Talent Show A-Go-Go/The Love of a Father
The New Cadet/The Love Duck
The Fudd
The Mark of Xero/I See Duck People
Deathmatch Duck/Deconstructing Dodgers
MMORPD/Old McDodgers
Diva Delivery/Castle High
Surf the Stars/Samurai Quack
Of Course You Know, This Means War and Peace
Of Course You Know, This Means War and Peace (part two)
Yesterday's announcement of the Taz-Mania DVD said that it will contain the following episodes from the show's first season. This list is highly subject to change, as it is likely the DVD will present episodes in broadcast order rather than the announced production order....
Comic Madness/Blunders Never Cease
Mall Wrecked/A Dingo's Guide to Magic
Road to Tazmania
Boys Just Wanna Have Fun/Unhappy Together
Amazing Shrinking Taz & Co.
Oh, Brother/Taz-Babies
Taz-Manian Theatre/The Bushrats Must Be Crazy
Jake's Big Date/Taz Live
The Outer Taz-Manian Zone/Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty Part 2
Tazmania's Funniest Home Videos/Bottle Cap Blues
Heartbreak Taz/Just Be 'Cuz
Sidekicked/Gone with the Windbag
Return of the Road to Taz-Mania Strikes Back
Duck Dodgers: Deep Space Duck will be released on July 23 and will retail for $19.97. Pre-order it now on Amazon.
Taz-Mania: Who Let the Taz Out?! is scheduled to be released on August 6 and will retail for $19.97. Pre-order it now on Amazon.
In stores August 6!
And in the same virtual breath as today's Duck Dodgers announcement, Warner Home Video has also announced the next DVD volume for the early '90s Saturday morning series Taz-Mania. Acting as a "season one, part two" release, the horribly titled DVD Taz-Mania: Who Let the Taz Out?! will be in stores on August 6.
The announcement comes with still less than two weeks to go before the release of the debut Taz-Mania DVD, Taz-Mania: Taz on the Loose, due May 14.
The episodes that will be featured on this release are currently scheduled to be as follows....
Comic Madness/Blunders Never Cease
Mall Wrecked/A Dingo's Guide to Magic
Road to Tazmania
Boys Just Wanna Have Fun/Unhappy Together
Amazing Shrinking Taz & Co.
Oh, Brother/Taz-Babies
Taz-Manian Theatre/The Bushrats Must Be Crazy
Jake's Big Date/Taz Live
The Outer Taz-Manian Zone/Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty Part 2
Tazmania's Funniest Home Videos/Bottle Cap Blues
Heartbreak Taz/Just Be 'Cuz
Sidekicked/Gone with the Windbag
Return of the Road to Taz-Mania Strikes Back
The above list will most likely be updated in the future, as Taz on the Loose presented episodes in broadcast order, while the fourteen episodes in today's announcement are in production order. It will seem that "Taz-Manian Theatre/The Bushrats Must Be Crazy" and the two "Road to Tazmania" episodes will be among the later omissions. So take the current episode lineup with a huge grain of salt.
The studio's announcement e-mail for the title reads as follows....
Take another trip "to a land thatĖs down under, way under" with Looney TunesĖ very own snarling, sputtering screwball! Taz and his whole family round out Season 2 [uhh, still in season one] in thirteen episodes full of turbulent tomfoolery, endless eating [comma needed] and fast-paced fun. Bring home your very own Tazmanian [sic - his full name is spelled like the region] Devil and catch Taz-Mania all over again! Don't worry, he doesnĖt eat that much.
Taz-Mania: Who Let the Taz Out?! will be released on August 6, and a link to pre-order it on Amazon will be posted here as soon as it appears. The DVD will retail for $19.97.
Season two in stores July 23!
It's a double-whammy of Looney Tunes-related DVD news! First up, Warner Home Video has announced the second season of the Cartoon Network series Duck Dodgers. The DVD-only title Duck Dodgers: Deep Space Duck will be released on July 23.
The new volume will come less than half a year after the season-one Dark Side of the Duck release. The studio has recently shown a renewed commitment in plowing through its animated series, with final volumes of Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs coming out by year's end, so a third and final edition of Duck Dodgers in order to complete the series is extremely likely.
The episodes that will be featured on this release are as follows....
Pig Planet
Invictus Interruptus/Pet Peeved
The Menace of Maninsuit/K-9 Quarry
Talent Show A-Go-Go/The Love of a Father
The New Cadet/The Love Duck
The Fudd
The Mark of Xero/I See Duck People
Deathmatch Duck/Deconstructing Dodgers
MMORPD/Old McDodgers
Diva Delivery/Castle High
Surf the Stars/Samurai Quack
Of Course You Know, This Means War and Peace
Of Course You Know, This Means War and Peace (part two)
All thirteen episodes are expected to be presented in widescreen as they originally aired (as the season one episodes were). There is no indication yet of any special features.
The studio's announcement e-mail for the title reads as follows....
The Universally Loved Hero Is Finally Coming Home! Launch into a spectacular series of zany adventures with everyone's favorite fighter of Martian tyranny! Duck Dodgers is always ready to swoop in and save the day, the planet, and the galaxy--with a little luck and a lot of help, that is. He may be an intellectual featherweight, but his duckbilled laser gun counts as heavy artillery. So sit back, buckle up, and enjoy a hilarious flight of fantasy filled with light-years of intergalactic intrigue and futuristic fun. Season 2 is everything it's quacked up to be!
(Punctuation and spelling error-free for once!)
Duck Dodgers: Deep Space Duck will be released on July 23, and a link to pre-order it on Amazon will be posted here as soon as it appears. The DVD will retail for $19.97.
April 26, 2013
Not a normal news update, but we have revised and updated our Golden to Golden Guide that details where cartoons released in the classic 1980s Golden Jubilee VHS line have since been released on DVD.
Obviously, this latest update reflects the recent release of Sylvester & Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem on DVD, but we've also enhanced the page with a new feature. For each Golden Jubilee cassette we have scanned the original cover artwork and portions of the back cover, cleaned up the images as much as possible without compromising the original scans, and then posted them onto individual pages to create an archive page for each volume in the series. And to make it all the more complete, we have also included film critic Leonard Maltin's original liner notes, transcribed from the back of each box. Maltin's notes for the videos were for many fans their first bit of insight into the history of the Warner Bros. cartoon studio, yet it doesn't seem as if any attempt has been made to archive them online for the sake of historic preservation. This will hopefully correct that omission.
We are currently considering the possibility of expanding the Golden to Golden Guide to include a page for the follow-up Cartoon Cavalcade series (though we probably will not be archiving the very slapdash cover designs of those). Let us know what you think of such a plan on our Facebook page.
April 23, 2013
Includes 17 newly remastered cartoons (15 completely new to DVD!)
Today's the day! It's the first classic Looney Tunes DVD release of the year as the latest Looney Tunes Super Stars volume, Sylvester & Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem, is now in stores and available online.
Containing the entire Hippety Hopper series--plus the handful of kangaroo-less cartoons starring Sylvester and Sylvester, Jr.--the DVD contains eighteen cartoons total. Seventeen of the films have been newly remastered specifically for this release, while fifteen of them have never appeared on DVD before.
The title contains the following. Shorts that have already been released on DVD are noted....
Hop, Look And Listen (1948)
Hippety Hopper (1949) (released unremastered on Golden Collection Volume Six)
Pop 'Im Pop! (1950)
Who's Kitten Who? (1952)
Hoppy-Go-Lucky (1952)
Cats A-Weigh (1953)
Bell Hoppy (1954)
Lighthouse Mouse (1955)
Too Hop to Handle (1956)
The Slap-Hoppy Mouse (1956)
Mouse-Taken Identity (1957) (released unremastered on Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: Chuck Jones Collection)
Hoppy Daze (1961)
Freudy Cat (1964)
Cat's Paw (1959)
Fish and Slips (1962)
Birds of a Father (1961)
Claws in the Lease (1963)
Goldimouse and the Three Cats (1960) (Golden Collection Volume Five)
This new release leaves the Super Stars series with very few major characters who have not yet been featured on their own DVD--with Yosemite Sam, Speedy Gonzales, and Elmer Fudd being the most obvious omissions. And of course, we've already broken down a possible way most characters could be continued in the series in our hypothetical How Warner Home Video Could Conceivably Complete Most Looney Tunes Characters on DVD via the Super Stars Model editorial. Speaking of our web site, to reflect today's new release we have also updated our Golden to Golden Guide. Of the ninety-one cartoons originally included in the classic Golden Jubilee VHS collection, only sixteen remain unreleased on DVD. With such essential entries in that mix as Beanstalk Bunny and A Mouse Divided, that number is sure to decrease within the next year of upcoming releases, whatever they may be. In the meantime, we will also be enhancing our Golden to Golden Guide in the near future with some elements that members of our Facebook page are more than familiar with by now (and if you haven't friended us there yet, what's keeping you??).
And speaking of the Super Stars DVDs, we will soon be moving the widescreen blurb from our web site's main page to a new editorial page. Now that the series has completely done away with the cropped widescreen option, it's less of a dire need to get up in everyone's face about it. We are still nevertheless committed to urging and persuading Warner Home Video to reissue the Bugs and Daffy DVDs in the intended full frame aspect ratio, and this new page will reflect that and provide suggestions on how fans can help (contacting Warner through their Twitter page about such a reissue would be a start: @WB_Home_Ent).
Sylvester & Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem is now in stores and retails for $19.98. Order it now on Amazon.
April 9, 2013
Special features are 2010 Road Runner CGI shorts!
Warner Home Video has revealed the back cover artwork for its upcoming Best of Warner Bros.: 50 Cartoon Collection - Looney Tunes commemorative collection, produced as a part of the studio's all-encompassing DVD and Blu-ray collection celebrating its ninetieth anniversary. The two-disc set is still scheduled to be released on DVD only on June 25.
As if the DVD's all-repeat content wasn't depressing enough, the back cover reveals the release's only special features: the three CGI Road Runner shorts released theatrically throughout 2010; Coyote Falls, Fur of Flying, and Rabid Rider. For those that might have been hoping for some kind of new behind-the-scenes documentary, some sort of fluff piece about the legacy of the cartoon studio, or even some more classic shorts this must be disappointing, especially considering all three shorts have been released a number of times already, most notably on the 2011 Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote: Supergenius Hijinks DVD. This new revelation means that literally the entire DVD is nothing but previously released material.
The text on the back is word-for-word the same as the official synopsis provided by the studio when the title was first announced last month, though thankfully with the embarrassing capitalization errors corrected.
As expected, the back of the packaging makes no mention of including any widescreen versions of the cartoons. It is unknown, though, how the 2010 Road Runner cartoons will be presented.
Again, this release will contain the following in the main program. Shorts that have already been released on DVD are noted....
Disc One
Rabbit of Seville (1950) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (1953) (Golden Collection Volume One)
One Froggy Evening (1955) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Scaredy Cat (1948) (Golden Collection Volume One)
There They Go-Go-Go (1956) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Rabbit's Kin (1952) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Duck Amuck (1953) (Golden Collection Volume One)
A Ham in a Role (1949) (Golden Collection Volume Six)
Speedy Gonzales (1955) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Crockett-Doodle-Do (1960) (Foghorn Leghorn and Friends: Barnyard Bigmouth)
What's Opera, Doc? (1957) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Feed the Kitty (1952) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Gift Wrapped (1952) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Goo Goo Goliath (1954) (Golden Collection Volume Six)
Show Biz Bugs (1957) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Kitty Kornered (1946) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Wild Over You (1953) (Pepe le Pew: Zee Best of Zee Best)
The Hypo-Chondri-Cat (1950) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Broom-stick Bunny (1956) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Knighty Knight Bugs (1958) (Golden Collection Volume Four)
Baby Bottleneck (1946) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
From A to Z-z-z-z (1957) (Platinum Collection Volume One)
A Bear for Punishment (1951) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Ducking the Devil (1957) (Platinum Collection Volume One)
Disc Two
Rabbit Hood (1949) (Golden Collection Volume Four)
The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Birds Anonymous (1957) (Golden Collection Volume Three)
Often an Orphan (1949) (Golden Collection Volume Six)
Robin Hood Daffy (1958) (Golden Collection Volume Three)
Operation: Rabbit (1952) (Golden Collection Volume Four)
8 Ball Bunny (1950) (Golden Collection Volume Four)
It's Hummer Time (1950) (Golden Collection Volume Six)
Mouse Wreckers (1948) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
The Honey-Mousers (1956) (Golden Collection Volume Three)
A Corny Concerto (1943) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
A Pest in the House (1947) (Golden Collection Volume Five)
The Bashful Buzzard (1945) (Golden Collection Volume Five)
Chow Hound (1951) (Golden Collection Volume Six)
Water, Water Every Hare (1952) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Rabbit Fire (1951) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Birth of a Notion (1947) (Golden Collection Volume Six)
Dough Ray Me-Ow (1948) (Golden Collection Volume Four)
I Love to Singa (1936) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Three Little Bops (1957) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Hillbilly Hare (1950) (Golden Collection Volume Three)
The Wise-Quacking Duck (1943) (Golden Collection Volume Five)
Rocket-bye Baby (1956) (Golden Collection Volume Six)
The Dover Boys (1942) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
The Pied Piper of Guadalupe (1961) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Best of Warner Bros.: 50 Cartoon Collection - Looney Tunes is scheduled to be released on June 25 and will retail for $26.99. Pre-order it now on Amazon.
March 22, 2013
"Ohhh, there's bad news tonight...."
On March 20, animation historian extraordinaire Jerry Beck made his quarterly-ish appearance on Stu's Show, the online radio show hosted by cartoon/pop culture/television nut and home video pioneer Stu Shostak. The show was a free stream for those who tuned in live, but fans can hear a "rerun" of the episode for a mere ninety-nine cents at the show's web site: www.stusshow.com. If you have yet to listen to the program, it is well worth it.
News on the Looney Tunes home video front was extremely light, unfortunately. The focal point of the show, at least when it came to the topic of DVDs and Blu-rays, was the recent controversy over the removal of two cartoons--Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat--from the upcoming second volume in the Tom and Jerry Golden Collection series. Being as diplomatic as he could in his dual role as both a fan and an occasional consultant to Warner Home Video, Jerry was able to reveal that the decision to remove the two cartoons was not made by the home video division but rather by folks higher up on the corporate ladder, that the home video division knows fans are upset and are kinda sorta with them on their frustration, that possibilities are still being explored but that there are no guarantees, and that the decision came so late in the game that Jerry had already written liner notes for the two shelved cartoons for the collection's included booklet!
And although it was said in a kind of "read between the lines" way, fans are being encouraged to keep the pressure on Warner Bros. the way they've been doing it through Amazon reviews, posts on the Warner Classic Animation Facebook page, etc. For whatever it's worth, they are reading these comments.
Hitting a little closer to home, though, the recent Tom and Jerry debacle has been the result of a corporate decision that has indefinitely put on hold an arguably more sought-after--and long-promised, long-teased, and long-ago-worked-on--collection, that of the "Censored 11" cartoons. As readers of our news page know, such a set has been ready and rarin' to go for quite some time, with all the remastering and programming work done on it long ago. Well, now it's not looking good. On the show Stu was using the word "dead," and Jerry was quietly concurring, but for the moment whatever in-corporate entity ordered the removal of the two Tom and Jerry cartoons is dead-set against releasing anything "controversial" regarding its animated properties.
On a cheerier and funnier note, Jerry took the time to explain an issue that baffled fans earlier this year, the announcement of a Sylvester and Hippety Hopper Looney Tunes Super Stars DVD soon after Jerry had said on a previous Stu's Show appearance that no Sylvester DVD was in the works. It turns out, Jerry suggested such a DVD to Warner Home Video back when the Super Stars line first started in 2010...and he simply had no idea they were finally going through with his suggestion three years later. Jerry didn't mention if any other character DVDs were in the works, but he suggested that he long ago gave them a variety of ideas of series to explore, so we'll have to see if the Super Stars will continue.
But really, news about Looney Tunes DVDs was quite nonexistent. No mention of plans for the Warner Archive (though Jerry did suggest that the Archive's recent focus on Hanna-Barbera content will lead to good things), nor were any other nuggets dropped about the upcoming third Platinum Collection. Perhaps the biggest bits of news as far as any classic animation on DVD goes is that a tiny independent company has licensed a number of Paramount Puppetoon cartoons for inclusion on a Blu-ray of The Puppetoon Movie (no specific titles were mentioned)...and that Thunderbean Animation is in the process of finishing up a restoration of the Fleischer Gulliver's Travels for eventual release. And although it's pretty much been known news for a while now, the Warner Archive is preparing collections of the 1960s made-for-TV Popeye cartoons released by King Features, organized by production studio.
The rest of the episode was a lively discussion about future theatrical releases, plugs for current and upcoming books (including Thad's awesome Ren and Stimpy book and Jerry's new book about the art of SpongeBob SquarePants), and the usual round or two of "when is this coming out?" e-mails. As said, if you've never heard the show before, you don't know what you're missing! Jerry's appearances are practically required listening for the serious or even casual cartoon fan.
March 18, 2013
With Looney Tunes as bonuses! Due May 21!
On March 14 Warner Home Video announced two brand new Blu-ray boxed sets, with each one focusing on the studio's iconic gangster films. Both Ultimate Gangsters Collection: Classics and Ultimate Gangsters Collection: Contemporary will be released on Blu-ray only on May 21.
Though the Ultimate Gangsters Collection: Contemporary set includes such recent classics as Goodfellas and The Untouchables (as part of Warner's deal to handle home video distribution of Paramount's library), of interest to cartoon fans is the Ultimate Gangsters Collection: Classics set. Featuring the studio's timeless films Little Caesar, The Public Enemy, The Petrified Forest, and White Heat, the Classics collection will feature Looney Tunes shorts as special features on each disc. The four titles will also be released individually on Blu-ray on the same day.
Unfortunately, the cartoons will probably not be remastered in high definition, as all of the special features are merely just carried over from the movies' original DVD releases that included Warner's "Night at the Movies" gimmick. Anything's possible, of course, but the studio is stressing in both their announcement e-mail and on the packaging that special features "may not be in high definition."
As far as what will be included on each disc....
Little Caesar features Lady, Play Your Mandolin!, the somewhat rare very first Merrie Melody from 1931
The Public Enemy features Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! (1931)
The Petrified Forest featues The Coo-Coo Nut Grove (1936)
White Heat features Homeless Hare (1950)
The Coo-Coo Nut Grove and Homeless Hare both appear on Golden Collection Volume Three, while Smile, Darn Ya, Smile! can also be found on Golden Collection Volume Six. Only Lady, Play Your Mandolin! has yet to be properly remastered for inclusion on a Looney Tunes DVD or Blu-ray release.
The Ultimate Gangsters Collection: Classics set also includes as a bonus a DVD of Public Enemies: The Golden Age of the Gangster Film, a 2008 feature-length documentary that premiered on Turner Classic Movies and was originally released on the Warner Bros. Pictures Gangsters Collection Volume 4 boxed set. In that original set, the Public Enemies disc also included Racketeer Rabbit as a special feature. There is no word yet if the cartoon will be carried over onto this new DVD disc as well.
Ultimate Gangsters Collection: Classics is scheduled to be released on May 21 and will retail for $49.99. Pre-order it now on Amazon.
Little Caesar, The Public Enemy, The Petrified Forest, and White Heat are all also scheduled to be released on May 21 and will retail for $19.98 each. They can all be pre-ordered now on Amazon.
March 18, 2013
The future (and present) of Looney Tunes on home video!
This upcoming Wednesday, March 20, Jerry Beck will be making one of his regular appearances on Stu's Show, the online radio show hosted by cartoon/pop culture/television nut and home video pioneer Stu Shostak. Airing at 7PM EST, the show offers a free stream for those who tune in live, but fans can hear a "rerun" of the episode for a mere ninety-nine cents at the show's web site: www.stusshow.com soon after.
If you're a cartoon fan or collector at all, it is well worth the listen (either free or by paying). When Jerry appears he usually runs the gamut of the state of classic theatrical animation, talking at length about projects in print, on television, and of course on home video. Among the many topics that will come up will be the controversial removal of supposed "politicially incorrect" cartoons from the upcoming Tom and Jerry Golden Collection Volume Two Blu-ray set due this year.
You can send questions via the web site linked above, and Stu may or may not convey them to Jerry during the show.
Though we know our fellow fans are pretty smart and knowledgable people, for the sake of making it easier for Stu and Jerry, please remember that Jerry only works as a consultant for Warner Home Video. He does not control or have final say on programming or release matters; he can only try to comment on situations as best as he can, so please don't e-mail him unconstructive complaints about Tom and Jerry--he knows everyone's upset about it. And also, the information he gives is never meant to be inferred as any sort of official statement from the studio and that the studio can and does change its plans on a whim without telling him.
Having said all that, we will report a rundown here of the major DVD and Blu-ray news discussed during the show (sadly, this time we will be unable to post live updates on our Facebook page as we have in the past). Hopefully there will be something to look forward to.
So be sure to check on Stu's Show this Wednesday!
All repeats! Due June 25!
And the day's lackluster news continues as Warner Home Video has announced the latest addition to its all-encompassing DVD and Blu-ray collection celebrating the studio's ninetieth anniversary, one focusing entirely on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series. The two-disc Best of Warner Bros.: 50 Cartoon Collection - Looney Tunes commemorative collection will be released only on DVD on June 25.
Very unfortunately, though, instead of offering something unique, this collection merely presents fifty cartoons that had been previously released over the years on various Golden Collection volumes and the like. There is not a single short included on this collection that hasn't already been released on DVD, making the title completely unnecessary to fans and almost interchangeable with a number of other recent compilations including the DVD version of the first Platinum Collection and last year's whittled-down Looney Tunes Showcase Volume One Blu-ray.
Here is the breakdown of the two discs. Shorts that have already been released on DVD are noted....
Disc One
Rabbit of Seville (1950) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century (1953) (Golden Collection Volume One)
One Froggy Evening (1955) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Scaredy Cat (1948) (Golden Collection Volume One)
There They Go-Go-Go (1956) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Rabbit's Kin (1952) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Duck Amuck (1953) (Golden Collection Volume One)
A Ham in a Role (1949) (Golden Collection Volume Six)
Speedy Gonzales (1955) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Crockett-Doodle-Do (1960) (Foghorn Leghorn and Friends: Barnyard Bigmouth)
What's Opera, Doc? (1957) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Feed the Kitty (1952) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Gift Wrapped (1952) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Goo Goo Goliath (1954) (Golden Collection Volume Six)
Show Biz Bugs (1957) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Kitty Kornered (1946) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Wild Over You (1953) (Pepe le Pew: Zee Best of Zee Best)
The Hypo-Chondri-Cat (1950) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Broom-stick Bunny (1956) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Knighty Knight Bugs (1958) (Golden Collection Volume Four)
Baby Bottleneck (1946) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
From A to Z-z-z-z (1957) (Platinum Collection Volume One)
A Bear for Punishment (1951) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Ducking the Devil (1957) (Platinum Collection Volume One)
Disc Two
Rabbit Hood (1949) (Golden Collection Volume Four)
The Scarlet Pumpernickel (1950) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Birds Anonymous (1957) (Golden Collection Volume Three)
Often an Orphan (1949) (Golden Collection Volume Six)
Robin Hood Daffy (1958) (Golden Collection Volume Three)
Operation: Rabbit (1952) (Golden Collection Volume Four)
8 Ball Bunny (1950) (Golden Collection Volume Four)
It's Hummer Time (1950) (Golden Collection Volume Six)
Mouse Wreckers (1948) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
The Honey-Mousers (1956) (Golden Collection Volume Three)
A Corny Concerto (1943) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
A Pest in the House (1947) (Golden Collection Volume Five)
The Bashful Buzzard (1945) (Golden Collection Volume Five)
Chow Hound (1951) (Golden Collection Volume Six)
Water, Water Every Hare (1952) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Rabbit Fire (1951) (Golden Collection Volume One)
Birth of a Notion (1947) (Golden Collection Volume Six)
Dough Ray Me-Ow (1948) (Golden Collection Volume Four)
I Love to Singa (1936) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Three Little Bops (1957) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
Hillbilly Hare (1950) (Golden Collection Volume Three)
The Wise-Quacking Duck (1943) (Golden Collection Volume Five)
Rocket-bye Baby (1956) (Golden Collection Volume Six)
The Dover Boys (1942) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
The Pied Piper of Guadalupe (1961) (Golden Collection Volume Two)
There is no word yet on if there will be any bonus features. Though it doesn't seem to be an issue anymore, it is unlikely that any of the post-1953 titles will be cropped into the fake "widescreen" format as seen on earlier volumes of the Super Stars series.
Obviously, given the fact that everything in the main program has been previously released, we cannot recommend this title. It would have been nice if Warner Home Video thought a little bit outside of the box and attempted to present a more complete picture of the cartoon studio's history--by including such cornerstone pictures as Sinkin' in the Bathtub and Tweetie Pie--but instead it felt that yet another "best of" compilation was needed at retail. Amazingly, for some shorts this release marks their third or fourth (or even fifth!) appearance on DVD.
The studio's announcement e-mail for the title read as follows....
It's always "wabbit" season now that the best Looney tunes Cartoons [incorrect capitalization - "Tunes" needs to be capitalized while "cartoons" doesn't] from the Warner Bros. vault are available in this wild two-disc collection! Reunite with Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, Tweety Bird, Sylvester, Daffy Duck [comma needed] and all the Looney tunes [again, Tunes] gang in an animated assortment of hits that have tickled the funny bones of cartoon lovers for generations. There's something for everyone in this must--own [punctuation incorrect - only one dash is needed] collection of 50 Looney tunes [once again, Tunes] classics that helped contribute to 90 years of Warner Bros. cartoon magic. It's a timeless anthology for fans of all ages that will have you laughing long before "Tha-That-That's All, Folks!" [but that they made sure to capitalize]
It's a little depressing that the studio feels that the Looney Tunes cartoons only "helped contribute to 90 years of Warner Bros. cartoon magic." Surely many animation and film fans and historians would stress that the library rather defined the studio's supposed "cartoon magic," but alas apparently we cannot suggest anything that would devalue the contributions of other cartoon productions acquired by the studio over the years.
Best of Warner Bros.: 50 Cartoon Collection - Looney Tunes is scheduled to be released on June 25 and will retail for $26.99. Pre-order it now on Amazon.
March 13, 2013
No special features listed, plus episode change!
Warner Home Video has finally revealed the back cover artwork for its upcoming "season one, part one" set of the '90s Fox Kids Saturday morning series Taz-Mania. Titled Taz-Mania: Taz on the Loose, the DVD-only release is still scheduled to be released on May 14.
Unfortunately, the back cover reveals that there will be no additional content on the DVDs apart from the first thirteen episodes of the series. Considering that last month's Duck Dodgers DVD Duck Dodgers: Dark Side of the Duck contained the classic 1953 Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century as a bonus feature, there was always a slim chance that this new title would have contained at least one classic Tasmanian Devil cartoon. Sadly, that is not the case.
The text on the back cover reads as follows....
Check in with your favorite furry little devil for a whimsical whirlwind of wild times in this 13-episode collection of exciting adventures from Season 1! Propelled by an insatiable appetite for fun, and virtually everything else he discovers along the way, Taz works fast, plays hard [comma needed] and lives life on overdrive. The end result is always a thrill ride of nonstop hilarity. So if you can't go to Tazmania, bring Taz-Mania home with you, and chew through every uproarious scene with reckless abandon!
There is also a change in the episode lineup from when the title was first announced back in January. The half-hour episode "Devil with the Violet Dress On/Kidnapped Koala" has been replaced with "Comic Madness/Blunders Never Cease." The original episode lineup was going in production order, and this updated lineup is now going in airdate order. The "Devil with the Violet Dress On/Kidnapped Koala" episode will now presumably be included in the fourth volume of the DVD series (should sales warrant that it last that long).
So, the episodes that will be featured on this release are now as follows (and now in order according to the back cover)....
Disc One
Like Father, Like Son/Frights of Passage
The Dog the Turtle Story
War & Pieces/Airbourne Airhead
Battling Bushrats/Devil in the Deep Blue Sea
A Devil of a Job
Woeful Wolf
It's No Picnic/Kee-Wee ala King
Disc Two
Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty/Enter the Devil
Mishap in the Mist/Toothache Taz
Bewitched Bob
Instant Replay/Taz and the Pterodactyl
Comic Madness/Blunders Never Cease Pup Goes the Wendal/I'm OK, You're Taz
Taz-Mania: Taz on the Loose is still scheduled to be released on May 14 and will retail for $19.97. Pre-order it now on Amazon.
February 12, 2013
Season one available now?
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When this title was first announced back in November, it was originally given a street date of February 19. An excerpt of the original studio announcement e-mail with that date is seen at the right below the cover art. At some point, it seems as if Warner Home Video bumped the release up a week with little (if any) fanfare. Both Warner and retailers such as Amazon are now listing the new February 12 release date, so theoretically it should be available now...though it wouldn't be too surprising if some stores were still following the original February 19 street date.
The episodes that are featured on this release are as follows....
Disc One
The Trial of Duck Dodgers/Big Bug Mamas
The Fowl Friend/The Fast and the Feathery
Duck Deception/The Spy Who Didn't Love Me
Duck Codgers/Where's Baby Smarty Pants
I'm Going to Get You Fat Sucka/Detained Duck
K-9 Kaddy/Pig of Action
Shiver Me Dodgers
Disc Two
The Wrath of Canasta/They Stole Dodgers' [sic] Brain
The Green Loontern
Quarterback Quack/To Love a Duck
Hooray for Hollywood Planet
The Queen Is Wild/Back to the Academy
Enemy Yours/Duck Departure
All thirteen episodes are presented in widescreen as they originally aired. The DVD's lone special feature is the original 1953 Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century cartoon, found on disc two.
Duck Dodgers: Dark Side of the Duck retails for $19.97 and is now available everywhere...um, maybe. Order it now on Amazon.
January 26, 2013
No mention of widescreen!
Warner Home Video has revealed the back cover artwork for the upcoming next edition in the Looney Tunes Super Stars series, Sylvester & Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem. The DVD-only release is still scheduled to be released on April 23.
The text on the back is word-for-word the same as the official synopsis provided by the studio when the title was first announced earlier this month, though thankfully with most of the needless punctuation corrected.
The bigger, more important revelation, though, is that the back cover makes no mention whatsoever of any cropped "widescreen" versions of any of the shorts! We have been keeping track of the ever-changing "aspect ratio" box on the back cover for the Super Stars releases since we began our news page, and this time it is only mentioning the full frame versions!
The box reads as....
STANDARD VERSION PRESENTED IN A FORMAT PRESERVING THE ASPECT RATIO OF THEIR ORIGINAL THEATRICAL EXHIBITIONS."
This is big. Granted last year's Porky & Friends DVD contained only full frame material, the packaging nevertheless still listed widescreen aspect ratio information on the back. This marks the first time since the initial controversy that a Super Stars release makes no mention whatsoever of widescreen versions. From all indications it looks as if the studio is finally dropping the concept from these releases altogether. This can only bring about good things for future titles; we're already seeing some promise, as there is now more space per disc to include additional cartoons.
The title will contain the following. Shorts that have already been released on DVD are noted....
Hop, Look And Listen (1948)
Hippety Hopper (1949) (released unremastered on Golden Collection Volume Six)
Pop 'Im Pop! (1950)
Who's Kitten Who? (1952)
Hoppy-Go-Lucky (1952)
Cats A-Weigh (1953)
Bell Hoppy (1954)
Lighthouse Mouse (1955)
Too Hop to Handle (1956)
The Slap-Hoppy Mouse (1956)
Mouse-Taken Identity (1957) (released unremastered on Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: Chuck Jones Collection)
Hoppy Daze (1961)
Freudy Cat (1964)
Cat's Paw (1959)
Fish and Slips (1962)
Birds of a Father (1961)
Claws in the Lease (1963)
Goldimouse and the Three Cats (1960) (Golden Collection Volume Five)
Also, since it's kinda sorta Looney Tunes-related, this past week Warner Home Video announced a new Hanna-Barbera commemorative collection as a part of the studio's ninetieth anniversary celebration, Best of Warner Bros.: 25 Cartoon Collection - Hanna-Barbera. On the initial cover art released by the studio, among the characters featured is Rapid Rabbit, who starred in the 1969 Merrie Melodies short Rabbit Stew and Rabbits Too! This led to a few fans wondering if the short was scheduled to be included, even if it didn't even make sense as far as the DVD's concept goes. The one and only Jerry Beck posted on Cartoon Brew that he confirmed with the studio that Rapid Rabbit's inclusion on the cover was an error, that the artwork will be corrected upon its release, and that the cartoon will NOT be included on this collection.
And, for a quick non-important update, we have begun the long process of selling various used vintage Looney Tunes VHS collections. We will no longer have a "Looney Tunes Garage Sale" page here at the site the way we did in the past, so instead just check out our auctions on...where else?...eBay. More will added over time.
Sylvester & Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem is scheduled to be released on April 23 and will retail for $19.98. Pre-order it now on Amazon.
January 22, 2013
Not a normal news update, but we have revised and updated our Looney Tunes Super Stars hypothetical guide that we first posted last year, now reflecting the upcoming April release of Sylvester & Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem.
In the course of our updating, we were able to whittle away yet another potential release from our guide (not surprisingly, the potential Sylvester/Hippety Hopper DVD that we plotted out), leaving only a very few amount of characters not given their own Super Stars title yet.
Speaking of housekeeping, in the near future (most likely at the beginning of the new month), we will be purging all of our pre-2013 news updates from this main page, leaving them only on the "2012 Archive" page linked to at the bottom. So if you've linked to any our updates in the past year, be prepared to update any links to go to the archive page. Just a heads up.
In stores May 14!
And the Looney Tunes DVD news is coming in fast and furious, as Warner Home Video has announced the first ever DVD release of the early '90s Saturday morning series Taz-Mania. Acting as a "season one, part one" release, the DVD Taz-Mania: Taz on the Loose will be in stores on May 14.
The two-disc DVD set will feature the first thirteen episodes of the Emmy-nominated half-hour series that aired as a part of the Fox network's Fox Kids programming block. This not only marks the show's DVD debut in North America but also its first ever domestic home video release since a trio of VHS collections two decades ago.
The episodes that will be featured on this release are as follows....
The Dog the Turtle Story
Like Father, Like Son/Frights of Passage
War & Pieces/Airbourne Airhead
It's No Picnic/Kee-Wee ala King
A Devil of a Job
Battling Bushrats/Devil in the Deep Blue Sea
Woeful Wolf
Devil with the Violet Dress On/Kidnapped Koala
Mishap in the Mist/Toothache Taz
Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty/Enter the Devil
Bewitched Bob
Instant Replay/Taz and the Pterodactyl
Pup Goes the Wendal/I'm OK, You're Taz
It is not known at press time if there will be any bonus materials on either disc.
The studio's official synopsis reads as follows....
The daily satirical adventures of the Looney Tunes star The Tazmanian [sic - the character's name is spelled "Tasmanian"] Devil, along with his extended family, friends, and enemies on the island of Tasmania.
Taz-Mania: Taz on the Loose is scheduled to be released on May 14 and will retail for $19.97. Pre-order it now on Amazon.
In stores April 23!
Just when everyone was no doubt feeling the post-Platinum Collection shakes, Warner Home Video has announced the next edition of its Looney Tunes Super Stars DVD series. It's not the long-rumored "Sylvester and friends" DVD, but oh yeah, there's Sylvester! In fact, the DVD focuses on the entire series of shorts starring Sylvester and Hippety Hopper. The DVD Sylvester & Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem will be in stores on April 23.
The DVD will contain not only Hippety Hopper's entire filmography--a series that had been quite underused on home video in the past--but also all of the non-Hippety shorts of the early 1960s starring Sylvester and Sylvester, Jr. (including one, but just one, official repeat).
Similar to previous releases in the Super Stars series, the number of shorts on this disc is well over the series's original norm of fifteen, with eighteen on this collection. And it also follows the same formula as 2011's Pepe DVD by containing an entire series. In fact, only one of the cartoons on this DVD has been remastered and released on a past Golden Collection volume; the other seventeen have been newly remastered just for this release, including 1964's Freudy Cat, which for the past decade has only been seen in a hideously mangled television version prepared for foreign distribution that mutes out all of the characters' dialogue with music cues from completely different films.
As we reported last month, animation historian and Looney Tunes DVD consultant Jerry Beck appeared on the Stu's Show online-radio program to discuss the future of the shorts on home video. Though he didn't mention any specific character names, he did promise that the Super Stars series would continue. He also categorically denied the rumors that the long-ago-leaked "Sylvester and friends" DVD was coming out. Strangely, this new title wasn't even hinted at during the interview at what would have seemingly been the perfect moment. Granted a Sylvester solo DVD is different from a Sylvester/Hippety DVD, but still, even a coy "Well, something Sylvester-related is planned" would have sufficed.
There also seems to be a bit of a pattern emerging with the Super Stars titles. After a Road Runner DVD of random titles, we get the complete Pepe le Pew, and then a Porky DVD of random titles, and now the complete Hippety Hopper. It's probably just a coincidence, but "major character assortment, complete series, major character assortment, etc." would be a nice way to see the series continue in the future. It would definitely, and quickly, fill up a lot of holes in fans' collections.
The title will contain the following. Shorts that have already been released on DVD are noted....
Hop, Look And Listen (1948)
Hippety Hopper (1949) (released unremastered on Golden Collection Volume Six)
Pop 'Im Pop! (1950)
Who's Kitten Who? (1952)
Hoppy-Go-Lucky (1952)
Cats A-Weigh (1953)
Bell Hoppy (1954)
Lighthouse Mouse (1955)
Too Hop to Handle (1956)
The Slap-Hoppy Mouse (1956)
Mouse-Taken Identity (1957) (released unremastered on Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles: Chuck Jones Collection)
Hoppy Daze (1961)
Freudy Cat (1964)
Cat's Paw (1959)
Fish and Slips (1962)
Birds of a Father (1961)
Claws in the Lease (1963)
Goldimouse and the Three Cats (1960) (Golden Collection Volume Five)
It is not known at the moment if the post-1953 cartoons will be presented in both full frame and the fake cropped "widescreen" format, especially since none of the shorts on last year's Porky DVD had the widescreen option regardless of year of release. Five of the shorts on this DVD are pre-1953, while one was from the former "pre-1948" AAP/Turner package. Hopefully Warner Home Video has dropped the "widescreen Looney Tunes" novelty once and for all in order to utilize shorts from all eras of the studio...and certainly the lack of widescreen versions creates more disc space for a larger variety of cartoons.
Interestingly (for us, anyway), a "Sylvester and Hippety Hopper" DVD was one of the releases we listed in our hypothetical How Warner Home Video Could Conceivably Complete Most Looney Tunes Characters on DVD via the Super Stars Model editorial from last year...and just this past weekend such a release was brought up and cheered in a fan discussion thread on our Facebook page. Of course, we will eventually be updating and revising our editorial to reflect this new release and the cartoons featured. We will also be updating our Golden to Golden Guide upon the DVD's release, so you VHS collectors out there can finally pack away your A Salute to Mel Blanc cassette (not to mention your Looney Tunes Video Show #1 tape, as reminded by Ken on our Facebook page!).
The studio's official synopsis reads as follows....
From the moment they teamed up, the endlessly-persistent Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr. and the hyperactive young kangaroo Hippety Hopper would go on to became one of Warner Bros. most reliably hilarious animated duos. Now, together for the first time on DVD, it's the best of the failure-prone feline and spring-loaded little marsupial in 18 classic cartoons re-mastered to all their Golden-Age-of-Animation glory! Featuring 17 shorts never-before-seen on DVD, these timeless cat vs "giant mouse" gems include Sylvester's riotous pursuit of Hippety after the 'roo escapes the zoo in Hop, Look and Listen, Sylvester's hapless attempts to impress his son Sylvester, Jr. in Pop 'Im Pop! and the acclaimed Hoppy-Go-Lucky, a brilliant send-up of John Steinbeck's classic Of Mice and Men. And that's just the beginning of the bounding, bouncing, cat-confounding fun in this cartoon cornucopia from the heyday of Warner Bros. animation!
Sylvester & Hippety Hopper: Marsupial Mayhem is scheduled to be released on April 23 and will retail for $19.98. Pre-order it now on Amazon.
January 11, 2013
In stores February 19!
Warner Home Video has finally revealed the back cover artwork for its upcoming first-season set of the Cartoon Network series Duck Dodgers, Duck Dodgers: Dark Side of the Duck. The DVD-only release is still scheduled to be released on February 19.
The text on the back is word-for-word the same as the official synopsis provided by the studio when the title was first announced back in November.
The episodes that will be featured on this release are as follows....
Disc One
The Trial of Duck Dodgers/Big Bug Mamas
The Fowl Friend/The Fast and the Feathery
Duck Deception/The Spy Who Didn't Love Me
Duck Codgers/Where's Baby Smarty Pants
I'm Going to Get You Fat Sucka/Detained Duck
K-9 Kaddy/Pig of Action
Shiver Me Dodgers
Disc Two
The Wrath of Canasta/They Stole Dodgers' [sic] Brain
The Green Loontern
Quarterback Quack/To Love a Duck
Hooray for Hollywood Planet
The Queen Is Wild/Back to the Academy
Enemy Yours/Duck Departure
All thirteen episodes are presented in widescreen as they originally aired. The DVD's lone special feature is the original 1953 Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century cartoon, found on disc two.
Duck Dodgers: Dark Side of the Duck will be released on February 19 and will retail for $19.97. Pre-order it now on Amazon.
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