Looney Tunes BD Platinum 1-3 compared to DVD Golden Collection 1-6? (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

Oh..just looked. Volume 2 was not a PRIME selection and it was more expensive. I think I got it from Best Buy for $17.99

 

[Jason_V]

I have a whole list of things I want to order tomorrow (hey, it's payday). My expectation is to pick up a good number of them in store at BBY over the weekend..and then not watch them for three years.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Jason, I am on the same page. I think I only opened one of my six Golden collections. The rest are in shrink wrap.

I will buy these, but God knows how long it will be till I actually watch them. Just good to have them.

 

[bigshot]

The way they laid out the cartoons on some of the Golden Collection discs is abysmal. A whole disc full of Speedy Gonzales cartoons! No one could sit through that. Originally, these cartoons were intended to be seen one at a time along with a feature. Organizing them into huge "super chunks" of the same thing for two hours straight is a great thing for people with OCD who want to just put the set on the shelf and not watch it. But people would actually get more enjoyment out of it if they mixed things up randomly.

 

[B-ROLL]

The way they laid out the cartoons on some of the Golden Collection discs is abysmal. A whole disc full of Speedy Gonzales cartoons! No one could sit through that. .

Hello ... my name is "no one" ... arrribaaa ...

 

[The Obsolete Man]

Got my copy of V1 today, and I have to say... the colors are brighter than I ever remember them.

Michigan J. Frog (as he's been retconned to be) is a brilliant green. Like, greener than green. Almost neon.

 

[SteveJKo]

Ron, thanks for the heads up about the prices on these sets. I love these cartoons, but for some reason I've never gotten around to purchasing them on disc before. That'll change with these blurays. And I must say these prices make me want to do a little Merry Melody style dance.

 

[bugsy-pal]

That is the only time in my life that I've heard Sniffles cartoons described as essential.

Haha, yes, it's a bit of a funny statement... let me rephrase that - I don't regard Sniffles as essential, but I think the set is. Obviously the Hubie and Bertie cartoons deliver a lot more fun and laughs. But I think some of the Sniffles cartoons display Chuck Jones and team doing great animation. I would rather watch some early Chuck cartoons like those than some of the later Bugs and Daffy stuff he did (later 50s and early 60s)

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Sorry, Ron -- that was a flubbed post. I was going to say that a large number of cartoons scattered among the 6 DVD sets never did show up on the Platinum sets. The good news is that a small bunch on the Platinums are new to disc (among them one of my favorites, BUCCANEER BUNNY). I suspect that many of the omissions on Blu-ray have to do with lesser quality source materials that were able to get by on DVD.

It's amazing that I can *clearly* remember every Bugs Bunny cartoon but can't remember where I left my glasses.

Been thinking of "Buccaneer Bunny." Which one is that? Is that the take-off on Mutiny on the Bounty or the one where Yosemite is yelling, "Don't light that match" as Bugs hurls one into the ship's gunpowder hold?

 

[Dick]

It's amazing that I can *clearly* remember every Bugs Bunny cartoon but can't remember where I left my glasses.

Been thinking of "Buccaneer Bunny." Which one is that? Is that the take-off on Mutiny on the Bounty or the one where Yosemite is yelling, "Don't light that match" as Bugs hurls one into the ship's gunpowder hold?

Both. Bugs does a quick impression of Captain Bligh to intimidate Yosemite Sam into running ragged with commands on the ship. Later, he also blithely tosses lit matches down into the hold while Sam races to put them out in time. It's a gem.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Both. Bugs does a quick impression of Captain Bligh to intimidate Yosemite Sam into running ragged with commands on the ship. Later, he also blithely tosses lit matches down into the hold while Sam races to put them out in time. It's a gem.

Oh man. One of my favorites. Sad to hear of the Blu-ray ommission.

 

[Dick]

Oh man. One of my favorites. Sad to hear of the Blu-ray omission.

I guess I wasn't clear. BUCCANEER BUNNY is on Volume 1 of the Platinum series, and is Blu-ray. It was omitted (or, rather, just not included) on any of the six earlier DVD sets.

Interestingly (for me, at least), there is a parallel between the three Blu releases and the three FLY movies of the 50's-60's. The first film, THE FLY (1958) was in color, had stereophonic sound, and a 2.35:1 ratio. Its sequel, RETURN OF THE FLY (1959) was still in 2.35:1 widescreen, but it dropped the color and stereo sound. The final entry, CURSE OF THE FLY (1965), was also black and white and had mono sound, but further went "backwards" by being filmed with a "flat" 1.85:1 OAR.

The first release of the Looney Tunes Platinum series (which, as I said, does contain BUCCANEER BUNNY), is a very elaborate affair with all the bells and whistles: it's presented as a hefty, beautifully-designed Digibook with an informative, built-in 56-page book that is lavishly illustrated with color stills, lengthy descriptions of each of the 50 cartoons on its three loaded (with isolated scores, commentaries, & documentaries) discs, and lots of additional information. The second release of the series drops the Digibook format and instead is mounted in a standard 3-disc keep case (still with 50 cartoons), including a 30-page booklet in which a lot of information is still to be had, but the typeset and photos are much reduced in size. For the third and final release, we're down to two discs (still with 50 cartoons and isolated scores and commentaries, but a many fewer documentaries). The insert booklet is again halved in size to 12 pages, and has only the most perfunctory notes about the toons.

Hmm. Well, evidently the diminishing monetary returns for these releases were not what Warner Bros. had hoped for, and led to progressively smaller investments from set to set. But, frankly, I think we were simply very fortunate to get the third set at all. And a grand total of 150 gorgeous-looking cartoons are ours for the taking, as well as some amazing bonus features. But, as has been pointed out, these 150 cartoons are significantly fewer than the 360 standard-def toons among the six Golden Collection DVD's (plus a slew of other titles on single-disc collections). Mostly, the Platinum Blu's duplicated selections from the earlier releases, but, as with BUCCANEER BUNNY, a few new-to-disc titles emerged.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Now re-reading your original post, Dick, I indeed did not understand clearly.

Sorry, and thank you.

VERY HAPPY to see Buccanneer Bunny is on the Platinum set.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Interestingly (for me, at least), there is a parallel between the three Blu releases and the three FLY movies of the 50's-60's. The first film, THE FLY (1958) was in color, had stereophonic sound, and a 2.35:1 ratio. Its sequel, RETURN OF THE FLY (1959) was still in 2.35:1 widescreen, but it dropped the color and stereo sound. The final entry, CURSE OF THE FLY (1965), was also black and white and had mono sound, but further went "backwards" by being filmed with a "flat" 1.85:1 OAR.

Not to clutter Ron's thread - which is making me buy Vol 2 & 3 - but Curse of the Fly was in 'scope as well.

 

[David Weicker]

I own the six GCs, the three PCs, and seven of the eight Superstars discs ( the eighth 'Tweety/Sylvester' was a full duplication from the GCs).

What hasn't been released is one of my favorites- Hare Brush ("my name is Elmer J. Fudd, millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht"). Still waiting on that one

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I own the six GCs, the three PCs, and seven of the eight Superstars discs ( the eighth 'Tweety/Sylvester' was a full duplication from the GCs).

What hasn't been released is one of my favorites- Hare Brush ("my name is Elmer J. Fudd, millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht"). Still waiting on that one

That's a favorite of mine, too -- just for the line you quoted alone. It really is a shame that Warner Brothers stopped releasing these in BD. Looney Tunes is one of their crowned jewels, IMO, and deserves to be available in high resolution.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

That's a favorite of mine, too -- just for the line you quoted alone. It really is a shame that Warner Brothers stopped releasing these in BD. Looney Tunes is one of their crowned jewels, IMO, and deserves to be available in high resolution.

That's an absolute essential. Can't believe that gem is missing.

Why do I think, like everything else, nobody is buying these sets and Warner just gave up?

 

[bugsy-pal]

I own the six GCs, the three PCs, and seven of the eight Superstars discs ( the eighth 'Tweety/Sylvester' was a full duplication from the GCs).

What hasn't been released is one of my favorites- Hare Brush ("my name is Elmer J. Fudd, millionaire. I own a mansion and a yacht"). Still waiting on that one

I too own all of the multi-disc sets and a few of the Superstars discs. I also have the Academy Awards set which includes a couple of LTs not found elsewher.

I picked up Warner's DVD of On Moonlight Bay because it was the only place to get the LT cartoon 'A Hound for Trouble' featuring Charlie Dog in Italy. I think there are a number of Charlie shorts MIA.

It's a shame that Warners have abandoned any systematic attempt to release all or most of their cartoons. Why couldn't they repeat what they did with the Lasdisc sets?

 

[David Norman]

That's an absolute essential. Can't believe that gem is missing.

Why do I think, like everything else, nobody is buying these sets and Warner just gave up?

They said as much 2-3 years ago after Set 3

 

[bigshot]

They marketed these to OCD movie collectors, not young families with kids. If they had packaged them in a kid friendly way with a variety of cartoons grouped into hour or half hour long "programs" on a basic theme and priced them as a sell through, they would have sold a lot of them. But instead, the loaded up on talking head documentaries, superchunk chronological groupings of the same kind of cartoon over and over, commentary tracks reciting facts like a wikipedia article, and packaged them in big expensive multi-disc sets. Rabid cartoon fans just isn't a big enough demographic to support all that. The real market for these is general family audiences.