Looney Tunes Collector's Edition: Welcome To Wackyland

This is a great set AND a great value. While you are getting 25 (24 - I’ll tell you in a minute) new cartoons remastered (read: cleaned up) for a great price (about a dollar per cartoon), you ALSO get 25 cartoons that had previously been remastered in other sets but not released on BluRay. That’s a long sentence (with parenthetical content). The fact they were supposed to release 25 cartoons which were previously unreleased but I indicated there were just 24, means they made a mistake. They are aware of this fact and they have already stated that the next volume (yes, there is another one coming) will give us 26 cartoons that were not released on any prior format, and also a second disc of content not available on BluRay before. They used to price these one disc sets at about $22 or something in that area. For just a few dollars more, they include the extra disc. So you get 25 quality upgraded cartoons on the second disc.Since they decided not to renew the license for HBOMAX, this is the best way to see these cartoons. This is a great value for great quality content. They also have a great variety of different cartoons. I always show some before the feature every movie night. The #1 comment I get is, “Wow, I don’t think I ever saw that one before.” And they are amazed by the quality of the image on my 8 foot wide screen and projector. So if it looks great that large, it will look great on any screen. The sound is awesome. Mono, but clean. Any cartoon fan would love this set.

This two disc of classic Warner cartoon shorts cover a variety of eras and characters. While a chronological presentation would have been preferred, it’s hard to argue with the generous helping of shorts included here.Despite the hyper announcement, about half of these have been available on DVD but they haven’t looked this sharp or popped quite this much in terms of image quality. The colors look great. One can tell the older scans (“Terrier-Striken as an example) from the newer ones because they tend to be softer with less detail and sharpness. Nevertheless, they still outclass the DVD versions for those previous released. Likewise, there’s a bit too much grain management on some of the older scans. They don’t look horrible by any means just a bit too smoothed over for my taste. Film should look like film.The audio sounds quite good with a robust mo o presentation true to the original sound quality of the shorts.The extras? Aye, that’s the rub.The previously released versions of some these titles (10 or 11 by my count) had audio commentary tracks, music only/effects tracks and there were featurettes from the previous DVDs. All have been dropped. I realize this was to get these to be on budget however they are a loss as some were excellent. Why not release them online so folks can listen while watching? Many fans want the shorts and it’s great that Archives has put this out however many also like those features.Is this set perfect? No. Is it worth picking up? Absolutely. The quality and uptick in image quality makes this worthwhile. Great job Warner and George Feltenstein (who runs the label) however ai do w8th Warner would give you the budget to include the stuff missing that were on previous releases. We are not asking for new special features just port over the old ones.

This Blu-Ray edition of Looney Tunes doubles the program, combining never before available on disc titles with previously released material making debuts in HD. A smart move, considering the amount of previously unavailable celebrated shorts has been exhausted. There are still many classics that have not been released in HD, so all the major stars will maintain a presence on future editions.Disc one really starts to delve into the oddities and curiosities.We have one short from the misbegotten directing team of Ben Hardaway and Cal Dalton, Bars And Stripes Forever. Fans consider this one of their better efforts. I beg to differ, but I would like to see more of their shorts in future volumes.There are two new restorations from director Tex Avery, A Day At The Zoo and Of Fox And Hounds. The former isn’t one of his better shorts, but is best viewed back to back with other Egghead/Proto-Elmer shorts. The latter is easily one of his best from WB. Johnny Johnsen’s oil backgrounds look breathtaking in HD. Fortunately, better audio tracks were sourced.Beauty And The Beast, an early Cinecolor short, imitates the Silly Symphonies on a low budget, but is still a very charming short about childhood.Other early shorts include Let It Be Me, which (along with Bingo Crosbyana, which was in production at the same time) appears to have been made by Freleng to get Bing Crosby’s negative attention. He is portrayed in a negative light.Disc two features all star classics never before available in HD. I personally am not really eager to upgrade what I already own in SD, but some SD versions do look out of focus compared to the HD equivalent.Another home run compilation. Hopefully we’ll see more deeper cuts from Tex Avery, Friz Freleng (from his 30s musical stint), and Hardaway/Dalton. (Hoping for Plenty Of Money And You with a better audio source)On previously released material, I hope they redo the masters done in the early 2010s that either lacked color correction or used lesser materials (e.g. Mouse Menace and Pest Who Came To Dinner)There’s still a lot of cartoons to mine from the vault that will appeal to the casual viewer and the long time die hard.