Looney Tunes Golden/Platinum Collections

[Daniel]

Good, lengthy review, Ben! Out of all the reviews I've glanced at, yours does seem to be more in-depth, as mostly everyone described the cartoons in two (give or take) sentences. That's what I like about A-V's reviews, you guys always go above and beyond.

No surprise, but with your review and your last paragraph, this is definitely on my wish list! Like you said, it is a little bit of a double-dip, but with gems that'll likely be while 'till they get released and great bonus features, it's a no brainer.

[Daniel]

Early word on Volume 6. "Crowing Pains", yes!

[EricJ]

Early word on Volume 6. "Crowing Pains", yes!

Another great hurdle in the boxset series has been reached:
"Russian Rhapsody", uncut and preserved.
Expect another lame John K. commentary on arguably THE most clinically insane Bob Clampett toon WWII ever produced...Easily worth digging out the South Park homage, to celebrate.

(And few might recognize "It's Hummer Time" or "Raw, Raw, Rooster" by title, but if were to say "No!...Not 'Happy Birthday'!!" or "Here comes RED!!"--
"Much Ado About Nuttin" has no dialogue to quote, but is easily one of the funniest obscure Chuck Jones cartoons.)

[Daniel]

Expect another lame John K. commentary on arguably THE most clinically insane Bob Clampett toon WWII ever produced...

But I thought John wasn't going to do anymore commentaries after Volume 3, because of his unwillingness toward DNVR?

[EricJ]

Thought there wasn't any DVNR on the Looneys to begin with (in R1, anyway)--
And that's never stopped John yet from shooting off his big fat Tim Burton mouth at every opportunity about how he's the only Clampett/H-B Expert In Existence...He certainly hasn't stopped, as he'd brought along a couple of fellow gen-y animators for Vol. 5's "Buckaroo Bugs" (yes, another spastic Clampett one), and the Popeye set.

[Daniel]

DVNR - yep. One of the complaints for the series, next to not be chronological.

Guess I was mistaken with John, didn't know he was on Volume 5 - haven't picked it up it yet. Probably just a rumor, I suppose.

[GeorgeC]

John K's nuts. Why do people care????

[Ben]

About John K? Or DVNR?

Can't say I'm totally into John K's output, but there are some gems. But his commentaries are <I>always</I> full of enthusiasm, his voice alone puts over how much he loves this stuff, which is good and fun to hear.

DVNR...it is a powerful tool that should be much more monitored than it is when it comes to some animation transfers. And when the viewer <I>can</I> notice it in missing cartoon lines, then it is very serious to care.

[EricJ]

The preliminary full it-happens-every-October list, courtesy of TSoD:

Yeah, I'm wondering about that "Final collection" thing, too--
Now that the in-demand classics are out of the way, my guess would be that they'd be taking a cue from Popeye and switching to two-disk Premiere collections, with mixes of old and new, to other themes.
(Maybe an excuse to go day/date with Blu?...Now we're getting into wishful thinking.)

[Ben]

Hmmmm...some good cartoons in there, but admittedly more for us geeks than casual buyers.

Me thinks the last two volumes have sold just about enough to warrant this collection, but not enough that WB feels more than just the geeks will continue with them after this one.

I hope Looney Tunes on DVD continue...but it sounds as if they may just be bonus items on other discs. This does otherwise sound like the end of the road, however, at least for now.

Who's betting the 15 bonus shorts don't include some of the Censored 11 or at least some wartime controversy? Might be the thing that swings sales of this set to even the hard core collectors who might opt out unless such real rarities were part of the deal...

[GeorgeC]

Well, it's too bad if this is the last set.

I'm sure somebody will start a petition to make WB continue the series or perhaps a Leonard Maltin or somebody of that stature might convince WB to alter its plans. It happened for the Disney Treasures.

I don't think the price-point of the Looney Tunes Golden Collections helped the series nor do I think the conspicuous absence of ANY kind of airing of these 'toons on free television has helped the case for sales, either.

I'm gonna repeat myself for the millionth time -- the fact that these cartoons have NOT aired on television in a regular timeslot that a new generation can enjoy them at, as they did when I was a little kid, has hurt sales of the sets. The sheer stupidity of not supporting the product on free television and sending it to the ghettoland of CN Boomerang, and, later the oblivion of non-broadcast, has still not entered the equation where WB's reasoning is concerned.

Besides that, we have gotten close to 400 cartoons on DVD, and, by far, the bulk of the really good WB animated classics. Let's face it -- after 1960, the Looney Tunes pretty much suck with very few exceptions. As for Looney Tunes in the 1930s, they didn't get really good until after Daffy Duck was introduced and didn't hit a creative peak until the World War II years.

(A Bosko and Honey I am not -- with apologies to the Jerry Becks of this world. There were enough bland animated characters running around well before Bosko entered the picture.)

If the deluxe sets have to end now, so be it. I'd rather be paying what I pay for the Tom & Jerry sets or most two-disc sets to be honestly truthful.

Somehow, I'm hopeful that the idea of the Golden Collections will continue in another form.

[Randall]

I'm fine with this series ending, really. I have hundreds of Looney Tunes cartoons on DVD and laserdisc now, and can't imagine needing more of them. These DVD sets have been fantastic, with awesome bonus material, but the best cartoons are out already.

[eddievalient]

In case you don't know, several of the "censored 11" have popped up on those $1 dvds you see some places (usually by the register as an enticement). That's how I got my hands on "Fresh Hare", "Scrap Happy Daffy", "Any Bonds Today?" and "All This and Rabbit Stew" (which, despite being appallingly racist, is still an extremely funny short).

[EricJ]

Accdg. to the good updating folks at TSoD:
---
Update: Don't be upset, after all. We've learned that Warner is planning to continue Looney Tunes on home video, but is not ready to share their plans at this time. You'll still see Bugs and his pals on DVD in 2009, just not under the Golden Collections labels. So, no worries.

Further update: We've also received word from a reliable industry source that there are no plans for the "post-Golden" releases to duplicate content from the six Golden Collection volumes. Expect Warner to continue to remaster and release Looney Tunes shorts which have never been seen on home video before.
---

(Particularly considering as the sets have yet barely scratched the surface for Foghorn, Pepe, Taz or Marvin...
Nor have we yet seen "Beanstalk Bunny" or "A Lad in His Lamp", my own two recite-from-memory favorites since childhood.)

[eddievalient]

No "Beanstalk Bunny"? But that's one of the really good ones!

"His name is Jack! Jackrabbit!"
"You are Jack and you know it because it is a fact."

Classic.