WB Archive Collection: Discs On Demand!

[Ben]

The joys of the deal.

Sometimes a company will accept a buyout, as I guess is the case for Jeanie, but sometimes (especially in the case of comics characters like Batman, Popeye or Addams) it’ll be a license for a specific project or episode. Luckily WB owns Bats, so no issue there, and they came to a deal with King Features for the Popeye releases, but it’s likely that those who own the Addams rights either wanted too much (maybe the anticipation of the new movie has them believing their characters are worth more than they think right now) or just didn’t want this incarnation getting confused with the new movie, which is dumb but the way some of these corporations think.

[Randall]

And now it looks like the (almost) compete series set is coming out on not just DVD but Blu-ray too! Nice. I may have to get that. There's maybe not much to be gained in HD, but I'll look forward to the reviews. It would be nice if a screener comes available.

[gaastra]

Whats new scooby-doo complete series boxset and 80s thundercats complete series boxset coming soon. No word if it will have the uncut movie version of thundercats ho the movie or the chopped up 5 part version.


https://www.facebook.com/tvshowsondvd/p ... __tn__=K-R

[droosan]

Warner Archive will be reissuing volume 1 of the Max Fleischer Popeye cartoons as a 4-disc DVD set, available on May 7th.

The set contains 58 black & white short cartoons from 1933-1938 .. as well as two of the 2-reel Popeye Technicolor featurettes. I'm unsure whether the bonus features or commentaries from the retail set may be carried over to this MOD version, though.

No word on whether a Blu-ray edition is forthcoming, either.

[Daniel]

I still treasure my original copy with the exclusive tin. One of my favorites!

[Randall]

Wally Gator is coming in June! One more classic show down! No details yet on what exactly is included, I expect it would include the Lippy the Lion & Hardy Har Har and Touche Turtle & Dum Dum shorts as well, but we'll see. Originally called The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series, it ran for 52 episodes (with 3 shorts each), so I doubt that they will all be on this set.

[droosan]

Wally Gator is coming in June!

Yay! I, too, hope it's the half-hour show .. with the additional segments.

Here's hoping a Quickdraw McGraw set is in the works, as well..!

----------------

I just got an email announcing WA pre-orders for Jonny Quest: The Complete Original Series on Blu-ray, and Popeye the Sailor: the 1940s, volume 2 (featuring 15 full-color Famous studios post-war Popeye cartoons).

addendum: as with volume 1, it looks like Popeye 1940s volume 2 will be available as a MOD DVD, too.

[EricJ]

Here's hoping a Quickdraw McGraw set is in the works, as well..!

After having finally looked up Quick-Draw and the undisked Huckleberry Hounds on bootleg sites, I'm guessing Warner's "Too poor condition to restore" alibi is just that--
Fact is, John Seely's library-music (most of which is owned by Columbia for the Bozo cartoons) is all over much of the H-B toons, QD&H included, and rights issues are worse than the Scooby-Doo movies. The music's also keeping a few of the later 50's WB cartoons off of disk as well.

(And if Cartoon Brew's St*v* C*rr*s was here, he'd be giving us six autistically researched pages on the history of Seely cartoon music, whether we asked him to or not.
Since the Usenet rec.arts.animation days, I still get a slight twitch when mentioning John Seely or June Foray, and I'm ashamed to be carrying on his legacy. )

[droosan]

Wally Gator is coming in June! One more classic show down! No details yet on what exactly is included, I expect it would include the Lippy the Lion & Hardy Har Har and Touche Turtle & Dum Dum shorts as well, but we'll see. Originally called The Hanna-Barbera New Cartoon Series, it ran for 52 episodes (with 3 shorts each), so I doubt that they will all be on this set.

Warner Archive just sent me notice of a Lippy & Hardy MOD set, scheduled for release in July .. so, it appears the Wally Gator set (which starts shipping tomorrow!) will contain only the title character's segments. Hopefully, a Touché & Dum Dum set will be coming, soon after..!

[EricJ]

Warner Archive just sent me notice of a Lippy & Hardy MOD set, scheduled for release in July .. so, it appears the Wally Gator set (which starts shipping tomorrow!) will contain only the title character's segments. Hopefully, a Touché & Dum Dum set will be coming, soon after..!

So, who's doing the sawing, on the Gator cover? (Thought that was Dum-Dum, but apparently not.)
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com ... SY445_.jpg

[droosan]

That's Snoozer, the zoo watchdog. Dum Dum's appearance is similar .. but he's taller, stouter, and wears a scarf & feathered hat.

-

SnoozerDumDum.jpg (43.91 KiB) Viewed 10124 times

[Randall]

This certainly explains the runtime on the Wally set.

Yes, I expect that Touche and Dum Dum will also be along shortly. I would have preferred keeping them together, even if in multiple volumes; but for marketing purposes, this likely works best.

Regardless, it's great seeing more classic H-B making it to disc. I've been watching Where's Huddles lately (admittedly getting a few years past H-B's prime years), and am enjoying it immensely, even if it's often recycling The Flintstones. Paul Lynde makes the difference!

[Daniel]

Yes, the Wally set is a bit of a gyp -- "Complete SERIES" it is not... however, considering we've been waiting YEARS since it was originally announced (and abruptly canceled) I'm not complaining. Will be nice to finally own Wally. Lippy the Lion and Hardy Har Har too!

[Daniel]

Looks like we may be waiting a while yet for the Touché & Dum Dum set. According to Jerry Beck:

They have prints of everything but a lack of negatives. That’s the problem. Wally Gator and Lippy the Lion had a higher percentage of negatives available. They are undecided on whether they should release Touché Turtle or not, so if you want them to, make your voice heard.

I sympathize wanting to make these releases the best they can be, but you can't release two-thirds of a show and leave us hanging. Surely they jest! At this point we just want it released regardless.

[EricJ]

Also, thought it might have been the same problem that kept "New Adventures of Huck Finn" off of disc for years--
Originally, when "Banana Splits" went into syndication, the wraparound segments were also used to air reruns of Tom & Huck, "New Adventures of Gulliver", and some of the B-team cartoons (Precious Pupp, Winnie Witch, Hillbilly Bears) that used to air with Atom Ant and Peter Potamus.

For years, H-B didn't know how to categorize the B-cartoons, and whose show to bring back on disk--In the last of the retail days, they were trying to figure out whether it was WORTH remarketing the Splits, just to give into fan demand for that Tom & Huck boxset...And that was one of the things that drove Warner cartoons to the Archive.